Nobel-winning German writer Günter Grass publishs a poem denouncing Israel's nuclear program

By Heath Horn
The Atlantic, April 6th 2012

On Wednesday, Nobel-winning German writer Günter Grass published a poem denouncing Israel's nuclear program and aggression toward Iran. The poem, in which Grass says he has kept silent on the issue for fear of being labeled anti-Semitic, has sparked controversy within Germany, where relations with Israel are often colored by a sense of national guilt for the Holocaust. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the poem's assertion that Israel poses a greater threat to world peace than Iran a "shameful moral equivalence." The poem also laments Germany's decision to sell submarines to Israel that are capable of launching nuclear weapons.

Grass's history with regards to German-Jewish relations is complicated. The writer, now 84, spent decades pushing his country to confront its Nazi past, making him a hero to many Germans who share his desire to deal honestly with Germany's complicated and painful history. In 2006, he announced that he had served in Hitler's infamous Waffen SS division. He was 17 years old when the war ended in 1945, but the admission, coming so late, has darkened his previously bright legacy.

His poem, "What Must Be Said," is overtly and boldly political. It is not exactly the prettiest prose in its original German, and the English doesn't read much better. Translating it below, I've tried to untangle some of the needlessly Teutonic constructions where it doesn't undo the deliberately winding and parenthetical tone too much. Even more concise German can sound circuitous to an English ear, but Grass's writing here is an extreme example. The poem is, from a purely communicative standpoint, a relatively inefficient denunciation -- akin to writing up a paragraph of solid reasoning and then cutting it up and sticking little bits in fortune cookies.

What Must Be Said

Why do I stay silent, conceal for too long
What clearly is and has been
Practiced in war games, at the end of which we as survivors
Are at best footnotes.

It is the alleged right to first strike
That could annihilate the Iranian people--
Enslaved by a loud-mouth
And guided to organized jubilation--
Because in their territory,
It is suspected, a bomb is being built.

Yet why do I forbid myself
To name that other country
In which, for years, even if secretly,
There has been a growing nuclear potential at hand
But beyond control, because no testing is available?

The universal concealment of these facts,
To which my silence subordinated itself,
I sense as incriminating lies
And force--the punishment is promised
As soon as it is ignored;
The verdict of "anti-Semitism" is familiar.

Now, though, because in my country
Which from time to time has sought and confronted
The very crime
That is without compare
In turn on a purely commercial basis, if also
With nimble lips calling it a reparation, declares
A further U-boat should be delivered to Israel,
Whose specialty consists of guiding all-destroying warheads to where the existence
Of a single atomic bomb is unproven,
But through fear of what may be conclusive,
I say what must be said.

Why though have I stayed silent until now?
Because I think my origin,
Which has never been affected by this obliterating flaw,
Forbids this fact to be expected as pronounced truth
Of the country of Israel, to which I am bound
And wish to stay bound.

Why do I say only now,
Aged and with my last ink,
That the nuclear power of Israel endangers
The already fragile world peace?
Because it must be said
What even tomorrow may be too late to say;
Also because we--as Germans burdened enough--
Could be the suppliers to a crime
That is foreseeable, wherefore our complicity
Could not be redeemed through any of the usual excuses.

And granted: I am silent no longer
Because I am tired of the hypocrisy
Of the West; in addition to which it is to be hoped
That this will free many from silence,
Prompt the perpetrator of the recognized danger
To renounce violence and
Likewise insist
That an unhindered and permanent control
Of the Israeli nuclear potential
And the Iranian nuclear sites
Be authorized through an international agency
Of the governments of both countries.

Only this way are all, the Israelis and Palestinians,
Even more, all people, that in this
Region occupied by mania
Live cheek by jowl among enemies,
In the end also to help us.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/04/gunter-grasss-controversial-poem-about-israel-iran-and-war-translated/255549/

Syria's Rebels Execution Committees

The German daily Der Spiegel ran a story some two days ago on Syria's Rebels Execution Committees. Read the whole story here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,824603,00.html Finally, the newspapers that helped stage the so-called "Syrian Revolution" have the received the order to retreat: the original plan -that of destabilizing Syria through a bloody, but induced, revolution- seems to have failed. And in order to pave the way back, those at the very "top" have to find the right excuse to do that: the Syrian opposition is indited of being involved in cruel and bloody affairs (something those of us with a good sense of sight and hearing knew from day one!). First, it happens on paper. Then it happens in the real field. This is how wars, and everything else, is ran these days. And if this is the case, then it seems that it is time for the curtains to go down on the Syrian Revolution charade!

Obama Caught on Tape Grovelling to Medvedev

President Obama was caught on tape in a very compromising state during a meeting with President Dimitri Medvedev in Seoul, Korea a few days ago. Discussing NATO's intent to intsall a missiles' defence system in Eastern Euopean States, a matter -of course- rejected by the Russians, Obama was tapped grovelling to his Russian counterpart, telling him that he needs some "space" and that "after" his "elections" he "would have more flexibility". Obama wanted of Medvedev to pass on this message to President elect Putin.

Here is the content of the conversation as relayed by many news sources (and as heard on the tape):

President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.

President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…

President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibilitiy.

President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.

How embarassing...but at the same time, how truthful!

This is the true face of US politics: lier, double-faced, opportunist, no integrity what so ever, no ally what so ever, highly individualistic, no ethics what so ever...and the list never ends.

As I salute the Arab States that stupidly presume that they are on the good side of the US, I smile -in advance- while imagining their filthy leaders receiving the "boot" when their jobs as US pawns is done!

The Rafic Hariri Center for the Middle East: Friends with the AIPAC!

In September 2011, Bahaa Hariri, the eldest son of Lebanon's late PM Rafic Hariri, decided to step into the heart of the spotlight of international politics. He thus decided to establish the Rafic Hariri Center for The Middle East. It is noteworthy to mention that at the onset of the ridiculous US/ZIONIST staged CEDARS REVOLUTION in Lebanon in 2005, whoever in the Zionist Lobby was responsible for the itsy-bitsy details of this so called uprise decided to outcast Bahaa and deprive him from the glory of leading the 14 March bunch, the puppets that animated the revolution in question.

They, unaware of the level of stupidity -or may be aware, who knows- chose to hand on the TORCH OF THE NEW MIDDLE EAST to Saad, number two in the Hariri hierarchy. It is also crucial to note that Rafic Hariri Center for the middle East is erected under the umbrella of The Atlantic Council, the think-tank of the NATO. Bahaa was, probably thinking that this move his would ensure him a seat in the international affairs scene. What happened later may have granted him a rapid exit from that scene, rather than the long, long, stay, he was yearning for. Here goes. In March 2012, the center's director, a certain Ms. Michelle Dunne, took the liberty to participate in the most prominent pro-Zionist convention organized by the notorious self-announced fathers of Zion, the AIPAC. 

Ms. Dunne, and as indicated by the program's pamphlet, Ms. Dunne participated using her her officiaal, rather than personal, status as the director the center. More interestingly, Ms. Dunne shared her thoughts in a session attended by, of course, the Zionist war Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog. Interestingly, or better yet sadly, Herzog was one of the center military minds that planned and executed the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006. Stupid, stupid, Saad, and in response to this breaking news, issued a stupid, stupid, statement clarifying, and as usual, that the whole thing hogus-bogus. Of course, Hariri number 2, assumes that the rest of us have the same IQ as his, and that, also like himself, blindly take information and orders from our Masters without the slightest doubt or question. As for Hariri 1, i.e. Bahaa, he decided to adopt a smarter move, one that respects our minds to a certain extent. He, hence, issued a statement claiming that Ms. Dune participated in the AIPAC conference without his prior knowledge and in her personal status... 

 Yeah! We believe you Master Bahaa...and we believe you Master Saad. Even if you claim that the sky is green, yellow, pink, but not blue...we will believe you...Master!