30-03-2013, 07:25 AM
A yes, Lawrence of Arabia....hats off to him for having learned to speak Arabic fluently. Damn him for all else. Few then and fewer today know he was a spy and covert operative, not an arabicist and on the side of the Arabs, generally. He was working for the Empire against the Turks and for the OIL and power or Empire. Hollywood, of course, made a lovely film, totally mis-portraying his real intentions and who he was working for.
I posted the original article and the thread to show how much more complex are the current and historical issues vis-a-vis the problems in the Middle East. For the best visual summary of how Britain behaved during their occupation of Palestine and Trans-Jordan, I'd strongly suggest the TV series called 'The Promise' - IMO historically accurate, heartrending and brings it right up to the current day in a very clever manner.
Yes, the Jews were less than welcome in many places other than Germany [my grandparents all fled the pogroms of the Russians at the turn end of the 19th C. to the USA - having watched their family and friends killed, raped, tortured by Cossacks and other soldiers only because they were Jews]. The Nazis carried it to the extreme, I'm sure most agree...but their original idea was to ship the Jews to Madagascar....then changed it to Palestine and then to the 'Work and Death Camps'. Many countries that came under Axis influence or domination [not all!] were more than happy to go along with the SS plans to ship the Jews [and others considered undesirable, such as the Roma - and others] wherever - as long as it was 'out'.
I posted the original article and the thread to show how much more complex are the current and historical issues vis-a-vis the problems in the Middle East. For the best visual summary of how Britain behaved during their occupation of Palestine and Trans-Jordan, I'd strongly suggest the TV series called 'The Promise' - IMO historically accurate, heartrending and brings it right up to the current day in a very clever manner.
Yes, the Jews were less than welcome in many places other than Germany [my grandparents all fled the pogroms of the Russians at the turn end of the 19th C. to the USA - having watched their family and friends killed, raped, tortured by Cossacks and other soldiers only because they were Jews]. The Nazis carried it to the extreme, I'm sure most agree...but their original idea was to ship the Jews to Madagascar....then changed it to Palestine and then to the 'Work and Death Camps'. Many countries that came under Axis influence or domination [not all!] were more than happy to go along with the SS plans to ship the Jews [and others considered undesirable, such as the Roma - and others] wherever - as long as it was 'out'.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass