Good Riddance. Sheldon Adelson Dead at 87
DISPATCHES FROM MOON OF ALABAMA, BY "B"
This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches from Moon of Alabama
Adelson: He had loads of corrupt politicians doing his fanatical zionist bidding—from Netanyahu to the egregious Trump.
APARTHEID NEWS—
Sheldon Adelson, the casino oligarch who has financed far right causes as well as the political careers of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahoo, has died. In 2013 Adelson had called for nuking Tehran (vid).
Good Riddance.
Unfortunately his money will continue to flow to the far right as his Israeli wife is the one who is now running the show.
In other news B'Tselem, the topmost Israeli human rights organization, finally describes both Israel and its control of the Palestinian territories as a single apartheid regime:
B’Tselem rejects the perception of Israel as a democracy (inside the Green Line) that simultaneously upholds a temporary military occupation (beyond it). B’Tselem reached the conclusion that the bar for defining the Israeli regime as an apartheid regime has been met after considering the accumulation of policies and laws that Israel devised to entrench its control over Palestinians.
Nothing really new there but it makes it official.
With B'Tselem finally speaking out it is much easier to refute those who falsely denounce the much justified condemnation of Zionism and Israel as anti-semitic.
This comes at a time when Israel is scheming to derail the incoming Biden administration's plan to return to the nuclear deal with Iran:
Israel will start by sending a stream of envoys on visits to Washington, the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss private deliberations. It’s stated publicly that it doesn’t want the U.S. to abandon sanctions on the Islamic Republic without a new deal, and that a tougher stance should be taken toward its nuclear project, ballistic missile program and regional proxy forces.
That strategy runs against the Biden team’s willingness to re-enter the deal, then negotiate an expansion of its terms. It’s conditioned on Iran’s returning to compliance with the accord, whose limits it breached after President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018.
...
Israel also has a higher-risk card up its sleeve: the potential to upend diplomatic efforts through covert operations against Iran.
...
Netanyahu has been open about his intention to thwart renewed U.S. participation. In a rare public split, he rebuked his envoy to Germany for supporting Berlin’s push to expand the deal.“There should be no return to the Iran nuclear agreement of 2015 -- a deal which is flawed to its foundations,” Netanyahu said.
With Biden being an arch-Zionist and with a team of Zionist Jews leading the State Department the chances of a fast return to the deal can be regarded as slim.
Addendum
Select Comments
"...describes both Israel and its control of the Palestinian territories as a single apartheid regime"
Why not describe it as what it is: militant Western settler colony in Palestine, in the middle of the Arab world.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Jan 12 2021 18:36 utc | 2
Iran won't return to JCPOA unless all sanctions are lifted. Full stop. Why should they? Since there is no chance of that happening barring divine intervention, it won't happen pending other dramatic changes.
I think the trials of the Houthis have just begun. Nobody else looks weak enough.
---
Good riddance indeed. What money does to their brains.
Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 12 2021 18:46 utc | 3
The Outlaw US Empire's been absent from the JCPOA for 3+ years now and it continues to function, although it would operate much better if the EU would do its part to hold up its end of the Treaty. So, the question's begged: What good comes from the Outlaw US Empire rejoining the JCPOA? Recall that after its implementation Obama began moving the Goal Posts and signaled the coming Bad Faith exhibited by Trump's dumping it. Furthermore, it must be proven that BidenCo will be agreement capable, which IMO will be impossible for him and his group. The first beg test will come with action on New START the day after the inauguration. Indeed, there's quite a lot of action Biden's group must take if he's to be seen as a law-abiding international actor and not just another Outlaw--all the illegal sanctions, embargoes, and such need to disappear completely. Given the fact that Imperial Policy is generally continuous from one POTUS to the next, I don't see any attempt by the Outlaw US Empire to reject its Outlawry.
Perhaps Miriam Adelson has always been the one making all the charity investment decisions on hubby Sheldon's behalf so he could concentrate on the casino gambling business and keep pulling money from all the ordinary suckers addicted to poker machines.
Incidentally the article referenced in the third link mentioned in B's post says that Miriam A specialised in addiction medicine. There is mention of the use of methadone to wean people off heroin, without actually linking Miriam A to that form of treatment. I may have misunderstood my past reading but wasn't heroin once used to wean people off methadone? I'll need to check.
Posted by: Jen | Jan 12 2021 18:57 utc | 5
Posted by: Jen | Jan 12 2021 18:57 utc | 5
I have read that heroin was originally developed as a treatment for colds, and it's still a great treatment for colds, it's the side effects that are a problem. My mom used to give me cough medicine with codeine in it, sitting right there in the medicine cabinet.
I've never understood what was supposed to be good about methadone except that is is legal. And I think the idea was methadone would get you off heroin back then. Sort of like nicotine pills instead of cigarettes.
Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 12 2021 19:04 utc | 6
Jen @5--
Methadone was used to wean addicts from heroin, but methadone is just as addictive, although not as deadly.
Biden just can't announce the US is back in. JCPOA will have to be renegotiated, almost from scratch. Not only did the US formally leave it, the Europeans left it de facto by virtue of the sanctions. So the whole document is a dead letter.
A new JCPOA will obviously have to eliminate all sanctions. But that might not be enough. Iran might want compensation for the economic damage done, compensation from the UK, France, and Germany as well as the US. Moreover, Iran will want to keep its now much larger stockpile of low-enriched uranium. It might want an even larger stockpile, and the right to enrich to 20%, which it is now doing. A breeder reactor and a plutonium stockpile would be nice, too.
Posted by: bob sykes | Jan 12 2021 19:06 utc | 8
“There should be no return to the Iran nuclear agreement of 2015 -- a deal which is flawed to its foundations,” Netanyahu said.
Well, there should be no problem then, because in a way he is in agreement with Iran...
PressTV: Iran: Renegotiation of nuclear deal out of question
A high-ranking Iranian official has dismissed the possibility of any renegotiation of the 2015 landmark nuclear pact signed between Tehran and six major world states, stressing that the other sides only needs to fulfill its commitments and there is no need for further talks.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 12 2021 19:08 utc | 9
[premium_newsticker id="213661"]
"b" is Moon of Alabama's founding (and chief) editor. This site's purpose is to discuss politics, economics, philosophy and blogger Billmon's Whiskey Bar writings. Moon Of Alabama was opened as an independent, open forum for members of the Whiskey Bar community. Bernhard )"b") started and still runs the site. Once in a while you will also find posts and art from regular commentators. You can reach the current administrator of this site by emailing Bernhard at MoonofA@aol.com.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
1. I bookmarked B'Tselem, if for no other reason that I thought liberal Jewish thought was extinct. That they were all Likudists now.
2. The strong always complain about being in danger from the weaker people they are attacking. This is a particularly annoying thing I see when I read both Americans fretting over Venezuela getting a basket of corn, or Israelis living in dread that the war in Yemen might end. It drives me bonkers but I think this is common to anyone who is trying to justify their abusive use of power over someone else. They deny it but they know it's wrong.
BTW not a psychologist but I like to think about such things. I can always be wrong, but I'd go crazy if I didn't explore my curiosity since I am powerless to change things and have no desire to use force.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jan 12 2021 18:23 utc | 1