South East China Sea; A Perfect Crisis for the International Crisis Group
by Christopher Black, James Henry Fetzer, Alex Mezyaev, Christof Lehmann.
A geo-political analysis of the background for the developments in the South-China Sea, the region, and suggested developments towards regional security and stability.
Christopher Black., James Henry Fetzer, Alex Mezyaev, Christof Lehmann. Subsequent to the dissolution of the USSR, the peaceful transition of Hong Kong from British to Chinese sovereignty and the subsequent opening of the Chinese market for Western investors, a superficial analysis may lead to the conclusion that the international community has missed the chance to establish a geo-political climate that could have facilitated the peaceful coexistence of sovereign nations.
However, on closer inspection, it is evident that it is a fallacy to speak in terms of a missed chance. The chance for peaceful coexistence between China, the USA, and to a lesser degree the E.U., has in fact never been given a real chance.
It is also a fallacy to conclude that this chance depended on a left/right paradigm in US and Western politics. From neo-conservative think tanks like the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) i , to left or liberal organizations like those funded by the multi-billionaire George Soros, which include Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group ii, to global strategists like Zbigniev Brzezinskiiii, national security adviser for multiple US-Administrations, whose declared goal is to engage both Russia and subsequently China in a military confrontation iv, the operand question is not whether a left/right paradigm determines the overall direction of US foreign policy but rather how the left/right paradigm manifests in strategic nuances in overall US foreign policy which has a clear propensity towards a Pax Americana and American, global, full spectrum dominance.
Mr. Larry Silverstein
President, Silverstein Associates
530 5th Ave.
New York,
NY 10036
USA
Phone: 212-490-0666
Fax: 212-687-0066
Rabbi Dr. Chaim Simons
P.O.B. 1775,
Kiryat Arba 90100,
Israel
tel and fax: 02-9961252
(within Israel),
972 2 9961252
(from outside Israel)
e-mail:
chaimsimons@gmail.com
Shalom Rabbi Simons,
4 BILLION JEWS MURDERED & NOT A WORD ABOUT IT FROM ABE FOXMAN!
The Talmud is Judaism’s holiest book (actually a collection of books). Its authority takes precedence over the Old Testament in Judaism. Evidence of this may be found in the Talmud itself, Erubin 21b (Soncino edition):
“My son, be more careful in the observance of the words of the Scribes than in the words of the Torah (Old Testament).”
Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby, in “Judaism on Trial,” quotes Rabbi Yehiel ben Joseph:
“Further, without the Talmud, we would not be able to understand passages in the Bible … God has handed this authority to the sages and tradition is a necessity as well as scripture. The Sages also made enactments of their own … anyone who does not study the Talmud cannot understand Scripture.”
4 BILLION JEWS SLAUGHTERED BY EMPEROR HADRIAN
Over four billion Jews were killed by the Romans in 135AD… 64 million children wrapped up in Torah scrolls and burnt…. apparently
The Jews’ last stand at Bethar, Judah
in the final Roman Jewish war 135AD
“The voice of Jacob’: this is the cry caused by the (Roman) Emperor Hadrian who killed in the city of Bethar four hundred thousand myriads”
Babylonian Talmud Gittin 57B
Myraid = 10,000
.
400,000 x a myraid = 4,000,000,000 (four billion)
“There were four hundred synagogues in the city of Bethar, and in every one were four hundred teachers of children, and each one had under him four hundred pupils, and when the enemy entered there they pierced them with their staves, and when the enemy prevailed and captured them, they wrapped them in their scrolls and burnt them with fire.”
Babylonian Talmud Gittin 58a
Four hundred synagogues each with
Four hundred teachers each with
Four hundred students
400 x 400 x 400 = 64,000,000 (sixty four million)
There wasn’t 4,000,000,000 people on Earth, until 1970, and ancient demography indicates that there were not 16 million Jews in the entire world at that time, much less 64 million Jewish children or four billion Jews.
Gittin 57b
R. Hiya b. Abin said in the name of R. Joshua b. Korhah: An old man from the inhabitants of Jerusalem told me that in this valley Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard killed two hundred and eleven myriads,1 and in Jerusalem he killed ninety-four myriads on one stone, until their blood went and joined that of Zechariah,2 to fulfil the words, Blood toucheth blood.3 He noticed the blood of Zechariah bubbling up warm, and asked what it was. They said: It is the blood of the sacrifices which has been poured there. He had some blood brought, but it was different from the other. He then said to them: If you tell me [the truth], well and good, but if not, I will tear your flesh with combs of iron. They said: What can we say to you? There was a prophet among us who used to reprove us for our irreligion, and we rose up against him and killed him, and for many years his blood has not rested. He said to them: I will appease him. He brought the great Sanhedrin4 and the small Sanhedrin5 and killed them over him, but the blood did not cease. He then slaughtered young men and women, but the blood did not cease. He brought school-children and slaughtered them over it, but the blood did not cease. So he said; Zechariah, Zechariah. I have slain the best of them; do you want me to destroy them all? When he said this to him, it stopped. Straightway Nebuzaradan felt remorse. He said to himself: If such is the penalty for slaying one soul, what will happen to me who have slain such multitudes? So he fled away, and sent a deed to his house disposing of his effects and became a convert. A Tanna taught: Naaman was a resident alien;6 Nebuzaradan was a righteous proselyte;7 descendants of Haman learnt the Torah in Benai Berak; descendants of Sisera taught children in Jerusalem; descendants of Sennacherib gave public expositions of the Torah. Who were these? Shemaya and Abtalion.8 [Nebuzaradan fulfilled] what is written, I have set her blood upon the bare rock that it should not be covered.9
The voice is the voice of Jacob and the hands are the hands of Esau:10 ‘the voice’ here refers to [the cry caused by] the Emperor Hadrian11 who killed in Alexandria of Egypt sixty myriads on sixty myriads, twice as many as went forth from Egypt. ‘The voice of Jacob’: this is the cry caused by the Emperor Vespasian12 who killed in the city of Bethar four hundred thousand myriads, or as some say, four thousand myriads. ‘The hands are the hands of Esau:’ this is the Government of Rome which has destroyed our House and burnt our Temple and driven us out of our land. Another explanation is [as follows]: ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob:’ no prayer is effective unless the seed of Jacob has a part in it. ‘The hands are the hands of Esau:’ no war is successful unless the seed of Esau has a share in it. This is what R. Eleazar said:13 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue;14 this means, thou shalt be protected from the heated contests15 of the tongue.
Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: What is meant by the verse, By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion?16 This indicates that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed David the destruction both of the first Temple and of the second Temple. Of the first Temple, as it is written, ‘By the rivers of Babylon there we sat, yea we wept’; of the second Temple, as it is written, Remember, O Lord, against the children of Edom17 the day of Jerusalem, who said, rase it, rase it, even unto the foundation thereof.18
Rab Judah said in the name of Samuel, or it may be R. Ammi, or as some say it was taught in a Baraitha; On one occasion four hundred boys and girls were carried off for immoral purposes. They divined what they were wanted for and said to themselves, If we drown in the sea we shall attain the life of the future world. The eldest among them expounded the verse, The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring again from the depths of the sea.19 ‘I will bring again from Bashan,’ from between the lions’ teeth.20 ‘I will bring again from the depths of the sea,’ those who drown in the sea. When the girls heard this they all leaped into the sea. The boys then drew the moral for themselves, saying, If these for whom this is natural act so, shall not we, for whom it is unnatural? They also leaped into the sea. Of them the text says, Yea, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.21 Rab Judah, however, said that this refers to the woman and her seven sons.22 They brought the first before the Emperor and said to him, Serve the idol. He said to them: It is written in the Law, I am the Lord thy God.23 So they led him away and killed him. They then brought the second before the Emperor and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.24 So they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, He that sacrifices unto the gods, save unto the Lord only, shall be utterly destroyed.25 So they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next before the Emperor saying, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Thou shalt not bow down to any other god.26 So they led him away and killed him. They then brought another and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.27 So they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied; It is written in the Torah, Know therefore this day and lay it to thine heart that the Lord He is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is none else.28 So they led him away and killed him. They brought the next and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Thou hast avouched the Lord this day … and the Lord hath avouched thee this day;29 we have long ago sworn to the Holy One, blessed be He, that we will not exchange Him for any other god, and He also has sworn to us that He will not change us for any other people. The Emperor said: I will throw down my seal before you and you can stoop down and pick it up,30 so that they will say of you that you have conformed to the desire31 of the king. He replied; Fie on thee, Caesar, fie on thee, Caesar; if thine own honour is so important, how much more the honour of the Holy One, blessed be He! They were leading him away to kill him when his mother said: Give him to me that I may kiss him a little. She said to him: My son, go and say to your father Abraham, Thou didst bind one [son to the] altar, but I have bound seven altars. Then she also went up on to a roof and threw herself down and was killed. A voice thereupon came forth from heaven saying, A joyful mother of children.32
R. Joshua b. Levi said: [The verse, ‘Yea, for thy sake we are killed all the day long’] can be applied to circumcision, which has been appointed for the eighth [day]. R. Simeon b. Lakish said: It can be applied to the students of the Torah who demonstrate the rules of shechitah on themselves; for Raba said: A man can practise anything on himself except shechitah,33 and something else. R. Nahman b. Isaac said that it can be applied to the students who kill themselves for the words of the Torah, in accordance with the saying of R. Simeon b. Lakish; for R. Simeon b. Lakish said: The words of the Torah abide only with one who kills himself for them, as it says, This is the Torah, when a man shall die in the tent etc.34
Rabbah b. Bar Hanah said in the name of R. Johanan: Forty se’ahs
.
1. V. II Kings XXV, 8ff.
2. The son of Jehoiada the high priest. V. II Chron. XXIV, 22.
3. Hos. IV, 2.
4. The high court of 71 members.
5. The lesser court of 23 members.
6. One who merely abstains from idolatry but does not keep the commandments.
7. Who accepts all the laws of Judaism with no ulterior motive.
8. The predecessors of Hillel and Shammai. V. Aboth, I.
9. Ezek. XXIV, 8.
10. Gen. XXVII, 22.
11. [Graetz, Geschichte, IV, p. 426, on the basis of parallel passages emends; ‘Trajan’, the reference being to the massacre of Alexandrian Jews by Trajan as a result of an insurrection. V. Suk. 51b.]
12. This seems a mistake here for Hadrian. [V. J. Ta’an. IV.]
13. The remark made above that through malicious speech the Temple was destroyed etc. (Rashi). [Maharsha refers it to the efficacy of the ‘voice of Jacob.’]
14. Job V, 21.
15. Apparently this means ‘slander’. [According to Maharsba render: ‘Thou shalt be protected (find refuge) in the heated contests of the tongue’, i.e., prayer’.]
16. Ps. CXXXVII, 1.
17. Stands for Rome.
18. lbid. 7.
19. Ps. LXVIII, 23.
20. [H] of which [H] is taken as a contraction.
21. Ibid, XLIV, 23.
22. The same story is related of Antiochus Epiphanes in the second book of the Maccabees.
23. Ex. XX, 2.
24. Ibid, 3.
25. Ibid, XXII, 19.
26. Ibid, XX, 5.
27. Deut. VI, 4.
28. Ibid, IV, 39.
29. Deut. XXVI, 17, 18.
30. The seal had engraved on it the image of the king and by stooping down to pick it up he will make it appear as if he is worshipping the image (Rashi).
31. Lit., ‘accept the authority’.
32. Ps. CXIII, 9.
33. For fear that he might accidentally cut his throat.
34. Num. XIX, 14. The meaning in the context is of course quite different.
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