What Menachem Begin Did to Anwar Sadat and Jimmy Carter
David Finkel
Posted January 3, 2025
On the occasion of Jimmy Carter’s passing, I pulled up the archival recording of the signing of the Camp David Accords, September 17, 1978.
What I remembered most about the event happens just after the 25-minute point. Check it out for yourself. After Menachem Begin and Carter embrace, Begin walks over to Anwar Sadat, who looks to me like he’s ready for a handshake. Instead, Begin clasps him into a big hug, which Sadat of course can’t refuse.
From that moment, Sadat’s status as an independent Arab leader was finished. He would be totally dependent on U.S. benevolence. That bear hug was the kiss of death — Sadat knew it, Begin must have known it, only poor Jimmy Carter never knew it.
Sadat survived almost three years before he was assassinated. Begin would ultimately disappear into depression after Ariel Sharon tricked him into the full-scale invasion of Lebanon and siege of Beirut in 1982, which ultimately ended on Ronald Reagan’s orders, of all things. Sic transit gloria mundi, as they say.
On the global scene, Jimmy Carter is being remembered for two big things: the humanitarian and human rights work he did after his one-term presidency, and the supposed “crowning achievement” of the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty following Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s trip to Jerusalem in 1977 and to the Camp David summit in 1978.
Praising Carter’s post-presidential work, I think, is legitimate enough, especially when you compare his personal morality and commitments to many other presidents — a low bar to be sure. But it’s too easy to forget his legacy as a Cold Warrior, which included encouraging the jihadist war in Afghanistan and supporting brutal Central American dictatorships, all of which were escalated to whole new levels by Ronald Reagan…
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In the Time of Monsters
Frann Michel
Posted December 27, 2024
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
written & directed by Jane Schoenbrun
produced and distributed by A24
“THE OLD WORLD is dying and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters,” observed Antonio Gramsci (according to a 2010 translation by Slavoj Zizek).
Monster movies — or more broadly, horror films — are having a moment, and writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow is a horror film about, among other things, the meanings of horror media. It riffs…
The Chaos Known and Unknown
The Editors
Posted December 20, 2024
THE ADVENT OF “Trump 2.0” poses dangers and challenges in U.S. society as well as globally — including the non-trivial problem of surviving environmental catastrophe — and most certainly to the social movement and socialist left. We will attempt here to sort through those elements of the swirling chaos that are pretty well known, and suggest where the uncertainties may lie. We know for sure that all our movements will be under attack — and it’s absolutely…
Speaking about BDS
Huwaida Arraf
Posted December 14, 2024
HUWAIDA ARRAF, A Detroit area civil rights attorney and activist and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, prepared this presentation for a Wayne State University Board of Governors meeting on December 11, 2024 to advocate divestment from corporations complicit in Israel’s war crimes in Palestine. Nearly two dozen students, faculty and the general spoke….
Celebrate the Syrian People’s Victory!
Posted December 10, 2024
A Ukraine Solidarity Network Statement
THE UKRAINE SOLIDARITY Network (U.S.) wholeheartedly celebrates the liberation of Syria and its people from the half-century murderous Assad family tyranny. Like so many others, we are profoundly inspired by the scenes of people celebrating in the streets,…
Lebanon’s Ceasefire Is No “Divine Victory”
Gilbert Achcar
Posted December 6, 2024
COULD THE CEASEFIRE agreement between Israel and Lebanon be a new “divine victory”? That was how the agreement that ended the Israeli onslaught on Lebanon in 2006 was characterized by Hezbollah. Then, the party displayed that phrase on huge billboards featuring a picture of its Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, in a clear play on words, as the slogan could be read as both a victory attributed to God and a victory led by Nasrallah, whose name in Arabic means “God’s victory.”……
“Progressing by Grassroots Networks”
Posle Media interviews Catherine Samary
Posted November 27, 2024
HOW DOES THE left in France confront the global “right-wing” turn? Can leftist organizations supporting Ukraine develop a common strategy? Researcher and longtime activist Catherine Samary discusses the role of the left in today’s French politics for Posle Media.
Posle: Before we turn to the discussion of the war in Ukraine and prospects for left internationalism, let’s talk about the recent developments in your home country. How do you analyse the current…
Mazan, France: Rape as a Political Fact
Aurélie-Anne Thos
Posted November 21, 2024
WOMEN START QUEUEING at 6AM at the courthouse in Mazan, France so they can support Gisèle Pelicot at the open trial she requested. This rape case has caught international attention because it so perfectly illustrates how many men feel they are entitled to women’s bodies. This continuous outpouring of support demonstrates the determination of women to publicize and end the dehumanization women face the world over.–The Editors….
The Antisemitism Scare: Guide for the Perplexed
Alan Wald
Posted November 12, 2024
INTRODUCTION: As we enter a new political landscape following the election of Donald Trump, resistance to Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza and its bellicose military actions in the region takes on a greater urgency than ever before–even as political repression on US campuses intensifies….
Election 2024: First Response
Solidarity National Committee
Posted November 11, 2024
“IT SHOULD COME as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.” — Bernie Sanders
The November U.S. election has produced a sweeping victory, not just in the United States but internationally as well, for the far right. It has sent shock waves through not only the Democratic…
Conference in Honor of Boris Kagarlitsky: Imperialism(s) Panel
Robert Brenner, Ilya Matveev & Hanna Perekhoda
Posted November 9, 2024
Free Boris Kagarlitsky and all anti-war political prisoners in the Russian Federation!
A message from Boris Kagarlitsky, November 14, 2024
Suzi Weissman: Welcome to Jacobin Radio. I’m your host, Suzi Weissman. On October 8th, the Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Campaign held an online conference on “Boris Kagarlitsky and the Challenges of the Left.” Although Kagarlitsky is serving a five-year sentence in a Russian penal colony, he has just published a book called The…
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Ukraine and Georgia Today: A Firsthand Report
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23rd, 8PM ET
Against the Current
- The Chaos Known and Unknown—The Editors
- The Antisemitism Scare: A Guide for the Perplexed—Alan Wald
- Criminalizing Solidarity—Rachel Ida Buff
- The Democrats’ Path to Defeat—Kim Moody
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THE “SOCIALISM-FROM- BELOW” tradition views the working class as the central agent of overthrowing a system based on the market and the exploitation, alienation and unequal society it perpetuates.
