The New Republic

Wikipedia defines "beserker" as follow: Berserkers (or berserks) were Norse warriors who are reported in the Old Norse literature to have fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk. Berserkers are attested in numerous Old Norse sources. Most historians believe that berserkers worked themselves into a rage before battle, but some think that they might have consumed drugged foods The Greeks had a myth about burying serpent's teeth who sprouted into armed warriors, perhaps something like the Viking beserkers. (Myth of Cadmus.) All over the world, civilized societies spend a lot of money and trouble locking up run of the mill beserkers (which we sometimes call "sociopaths." Sometimes you get whole countries of them (Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia; more recently Sri Lanka, Ivory Coast, Somalia/Sudan.) Instead of namby-pamby "peace-keeping forces," we collect as many of the beserkers of the world and periodically let them lose on the Syrias/Assads of the world. Hard on the innocent bystanders, but hard to imagine anything worse than what they are going through now. OK, not quite ready for prime time and a few details to work out, but think about it.

- skahn

March 19, 2012 at 12:42am

Sidebar: http://www.bicom.org.uk/news-article/5996/ "At least three people were killed, and five others wounded, in a shooting at a Jewish high school in the southern French city of Toulouse this morning. According to reports, a man riding a motorcycle opened fire on the Ozar Hatorah school at around 8:00 am local time when the children were entering the school. The shooter then abandoned the motorcycle, entered the school and began shooting at the students and faculty, resulting in the deaths of at least three students, one adult, and wounded five other students. According to the latest reports, the adult killed was the rabbi of the school."

- noga1

March 19, 2012 at 6:59am

"Meanwhile, some Sunni Arab states are probably considering arming the opposition themselves—this would likely not be enough to overturn Assad, but just enough to stoke the conflict further." Progress! Although O'Hanlon continues the TNR practice of not mentioning the forbidden word (sectarian). The lust for another intervention in the middle east suggests that our memories are short or non-existent, as if the Americans' recent experience with the sectarian carnage following the removal of an oppressive minority dictator never happened. Of course, O'Hanlon could have rewritten the quoted sentence to raise the real risk that intervention would cause Shia Arabs (ironically bringing together our Iraqi friends and Iranian enemies) to stoke the conflict further by coming to the aid of the Shia minority in Syria; lest we forget, the Alawites/Shia comprise only about 15% of Syrians. With Assad's sect comprising such a minority, his regime cannot hold onto power forever; this civil war, like all civil wars, is a war of attritution. It's also true that the Sunni Syrians who have cooperated with Assad and profited during the Assad reign are seeing their fortunes depleted as the result of the war and economic sanctions imposed by the west; ironically, it is the economic sanctions that have kept many of the Sunni Arab families loyal to Assad as more and more Sunnis have become dependent on military pay for support. It is those Sunnis who are the key to removing Assad from power. And it is those Sunnis along with the Alawite/Shia minority who are at the greatest risk of reprisals once Assad's reign comes to an end. O'Hanlon offers no guidance for dealing with that; and neither did Bush's advisors who promoted intervention in Iraq.

- rayward

March 19, 2012 at 7:51am

Option #4: Place a call to the various heads of state in Riyadh, Cairo, and Amman. Ask them to pull out a map and see just how much closer Syria is to their countries than the United States and Britain. Advise they contact their respective Ministers for Defense and have the ministers explain, using graphs and charts and such, how much time, effort, and money the U.S. has spent training their respective militaries on how to deal with THIS EXACT SITUATION (see: "Operation Bright Star", "USMTM Riyadh", etc). Let them know in passionate, declarative sentances that we are there for them 24/7 by phone should they ever need any further guidance. Last but not least, tell them if they need extra assistance, some of the best fighter and air-to-ground pilots are located just a few miles away at Ramat David, Ste Dov, Nevatim, etc. Offer to put in a good word with Netanyahu and suggest the possibility of establishing a safe zone near Golan under the protection of the Kheil HaAvir. Pull your head out of your ass, TNR. What's going on in Syria is heartbreaking, but it's not our fight.

- Tristan

March 19, 2012 at 9:03am

As yes, I did see the "...only consider them in the event of strong Arab League and NATO support and participation" snippet. Pardon my french, but fuck that. I've seen what "strong arab league and NATO support" is in practice. Lots and lots of US troops in harm's way supported by a strong contingent of equally brave and admirable British and Canadian troops, with a few Saudi, Kuwaiti, Egyptian et al officers in the rear taking notes. I'm tired of the US fighting wars simply because the leaders of the various Arab countries are too lazy, stupid, or heartless to fight for themselves. We had a joke when I was in the sandbox... know what the favorite song in Saudi Arabia is? "Onward Christian Soldiers".

- Tristan

March 19, 2012 at 9:09am

Tristan, be prepared for the phone call this morning appointing you as Under Secretary of State for ... what? Oh, I know, for Syrian affairs. Prepare to pack your bags in a hurry. Make sure your Passport is up to date.

- skahn

March 19, 2012 at 9:34am

HA! No chance. Now, if they need a new U.S. Charge D'Affair in Marseille, Marbella, or Florence, I'm your man.

- Tristan

March 19, 2012 at 9:52am

sidebar (from Canada's National Post) to noga's sidebar: David Frum: "Post-zionism is just another name for Israel hatred" "Over the past 100 years, the world has seen the creation of some 100 new states — perhaps more states in a shorter period than ever before in the history of the world. Most of those new states have not proved very successful. But there is one among the states that has succeeded magnificently: the state of Israel. So guess which is the one state that people worldwide seek to overthrow? Terrorist-sponsoring Pakistan? Oil-corrupted Nigeria? Oppressive Uzbekistan? Nope, nope, and nope again. Okay, okay, you say, tell us something we don’t know. Fine. Over the past few years, there’s been an interesting shift among opponents of the state of Israel. They’ve begun to call themselves “post-Zionist” — a bland, bloodless phrase. The idea embedded in the phrase is that Israel can somehow be transitioned away from its current status as a Jewish homeland via some technical process not involving massacres and exile — that Israel can be abolished without harm to the Israelis. It’s not a very realistic project, to put it mildly. But it’s an attractive slogan to those who dislike Israel and don’t want to face the implications of that dislike. Last weekend, militant groups inside Gaza launched a rocket barrage against southern Israel. Up to a million Israelis have had to take refuge in bomb shelters. 200,000 children missed school. This is what anti-Zionism looks like. Over that same week, as so often in the past, Canadian university campuses have been disgraced by renewed vilification of Israel under the slogan of “Israel Apartheid Week.” The good news for Canada is that these acts of vilification have been met with resounding criticism from political leaders. Federal Citizenship and Immigration miniser Jason Kenney said forcefully: “The organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week use the cover of academic freedom to demonize and delegitimize the state of Israel. In reality, this week is nothing more than an unbalanced attempt to paint Israel and her supporters as racist; this week runs contrary to Canadian values of tolerance, mutual respect and understanding.” Liberal leader Bob Rae agreed: “It is … difficult to understand why this year the focus continues to be on Israel, rather than on the appalling massacres and human-rights violations that have reached intolerable heights in countries such as Syria and Iran.” The short answer to Rae’s haunting question is that anti-Israelism has never been about human rights. Anti-Israelism has always been about the destruction of one nation and one people. For many Israelis and many Jews, the continuing intensity of that ancient hatred understandably feels a crushing, intolerable and ultimately baffling burden. It’s a tragic fact of human psychology that some people targeted by hatred will seek to find in themselves some reason that they are hated. By blaming themselves, they can impose some sense on a universe that otherwise seems terrifyingly senseless. By blaming themselves, they can perhaps hope to find some escape from hatred — short, that is, of the murder or suicide which is what the haters say they want for them. “If we abolish this part of ourselves — or that — will you then stop despising us? Will you then grant us permission to continue to exist in some subordinated form or other?” It’s a pattern of thought we see in abused children, in battered women, in bullied gays — and in post-Zionist Jews. Sometimes it even works a little and for a time, but always at a terrible price. The point of Zionism was to put an end to the centuries-old pattern that taught Jews to survive by abnegating themselves. And in that, Zionism succeeded. It succeeded for Jews inside Israel — and as Israel flourished, Zionism succeeded for Jews outside Israel, too. If Jews in Canada and Europe and the United States dare today to speak up for themselves in ways that would have shocked their great-grandparents, it is in great part the success of Israel that inspires them. And those Jews who imagine that they can advance or even retain that self-respect by denigrating Israel — or, worse, by appeasing those who seek to destroy Israel — are making a terrible error. There is no “post-Zionism.” There is only “anti-Zionism” — the modern form of an ancient malignity. That’s the issue for the Jews in the Israeli bomb shelters. It’s the same issue for the Jews taunted on Canadian university campuses by those who push pamphlets calling for the destruction of this one, and only one, of the nations of the world." http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/17/david-frum-israel-hatred-by-any-other-name/ As for Syria? a very minor sidebar in the annals of war crimes. Must be exhausting to be TNR - now another lemming in a choir of unbearableness.

- K2K

March 19, 2012 at 10:04am

Not sure what "post-Zionism" or whatever it is has to do with the Syrian civil war, but I guess some comments are so important they can't wait until the next shriek from Marty Peretz/Leon Wieseltier. To the point of the column, no thanks to intervention in Syria unless someone makes a decent case that Syrians shooting Syrians is somehow a threat to U.S. national interests. From his history with the the last neo-con adventure, I know Mr O'Hanlon spends at least six hours a day trying to make every development in the Arab/Persian world into a direct threat to the lives of 310 million Americans. So far with Syria, no sale.

- DC Spence

March 19, 2012 at 10:38am

Tristan: As always, your comments are spot-on. This is not our fight. Can we stay out of their blood feuds? The Sunnis vs. the Alawites. Let the Arab nations do something with all the advanced U.S. hardware they have. Apparently 4,000 Amercians died in Iraq so the Iraqi Sunnis and Shia would have the freedom to blow up each other's mosques, markets, and homes.

- dubyadoubte

March 19, 2012 at 12:08pm

On the same day that children, Jewish children, were assassinated by a madan in Toulouse France, the head of Hamas is speaking at the UN human rights forum. the 300 rockets fired by Hamas/Islamic jihad/Gaza into civilians into Israellast week, was not condemned by UN. Instead the UN representative in Gaza sent a twitter with a picture of a Palestinian child killed in an auto accident in 2006, claiming it was killed by Israel. Also Erdogan the Turkish Islamist, condemned Israel, and met with Hamas leader. Egypt Islamists condemned Israel. And take your seats, Basher al Assad the Syrian criminal, condemned Israel. And Iran The real culprit of all criminality, told Islamic jihad not to agree to the truce arranged by the Egyptians. as for the 300 rockets from islamists in Gaza fired to civilian Israelis, there was no condemnation from internationalists UN, the quartet EU, USA, Russia, Britain. No wonder, the acceptance by USA, EU, UN, Qyartet, of Iran deployment of thousands of missiles in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria plus assistance in the Syrian massacre of Moslems continues unabated. The sooner Iranian Islamists are pulverized peace and justice will come to the Middle East. It will happen sooner than later. For TNR, wasting saliva about Syria, ignoring Iran altogether, and insisting on USA intervention in Syria is one of the worst mediocre, inept pieces in opinion journalism. I am sure the new management will clean up TNR. Otherwise TNR will disappear altogether. And it will be a real shame. But otherwise LW et al. show an ignorance, ineptness, unrealistic knowledge that is out of hand.

- JAIMECHUCH

March 19, 2012 at 12:23pm

It is not for the USA or Israel to pulverize the Iranian Islamists. it is for the Sunni countries to do it. Other wise let Iran continue with their madness. They will soon be attacking other Sunnis, as they are doing it in Syria, and Iraq. A nuclear Iran is more a threat to Moslems plus Turkey, than Israel . Anyhow in case the Iranian Islamists try to attack Israel ,as they have been doing thru Lebanon and Gaza and always loosing, they will be obliterated for ever. It is time for the USA and Israel to stop being the Patsies for Saudi Arabia and all the other Sunni Drones (as in bees) fat cats.

- JAIMECHUCH

March 19, 2012 at 12:53pm

To the bigot that posted "onward Christian soldiers". Let me remind him that Americans that have died in wars are also Jews, Moslems, Blacks, Agnostics, Atheists, Gays, Lesbians. Or to the imbecile that has nothing better to say than to demonize Martin Peretz. The only one providing true facts about the Middle East.

- JAIMECHUCH

March 19, 2012 at 4:24pm

You forgot the BHO premise we all are the United States of America. Include also Hispanics, some are Catholics, and they have died for their country, the USA.

- JAIMECHUCH

March 19, 2012 at 4:28pm

http://amirmizroch.com/2012/03/19/our-brothers-keepers/       2 Votes UPDATE: There are reports surfacing now that the Toulouse attack was perhaps connected to an attack against three Muslim French Paratroopers last week in the same area, and that French police think that three discharged French neo-Nazi soldiers may be connected to the incident. If this is the direction the case is headed in, and is not a classic terror attack against Jewish targets by the usual suspects, I still believe that my opinion piece below is nonetheless relevant. Let me know if you disagree. Amir Our Brothers’ Keepers Just in the past three weeks, our people have been attacked in Ashdod, Beersheba, Ashkelon, Bangkok, New Delhi, Tbilisi, and now Toulouse. It is unclear yet what the motives for the Toulouse attack were, as French police had not classified it as a terror attack or hate crime. But does it make a difference? Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday that Hezbollah had recently tried to attack Israel and Jewish targets around the world, and that these attempted attacks had been thwarted. Barak was speaking at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. We always knew Iran would retaliate all over the world against Jews if Israel attacked their nuclear facilities. They did it in Argentina in 1992 after Israel assassinated the Hezbollah leader. But who knew the Iranians would jump the gun this time? In Jerusalem, the Counter Terrorism Bureau warns Israelis against traveling to Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and other Asian countries, as well as Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Mali, Togo, and many other African countries. The Bureau has a detailed guide for Israeli businesspeople and travelers about how to avoid getting kidnapped, how to avoid drawing attention to themselves, what to look out for. The list of countries and regions where Israelis are advised not to travel to, or to be especially vigilant in, is very, very long. There is probably no other country in the world with such a long list. But there you have it. This is our lot, for now at least. All these attacks, attempted attacks and intelligence warnings point to one certainty: the global jihad terrorist movement, whether wholly or partly directed by Iran and Hezbollah, has taken a decision to target not just Israeli military, civilian and political targets around the world, but also Jews and their institutions. The terrorists see us all as one target, and seem to have taken a decision to create deterrence against Israel by striking at its soft underbelly: targeting Jews around the world. It is very hard to defend against this type of threat, but defend we must. Israeli embassies and other diplomatic institutions around the world are on the highest possible alert against terror attacks. So too are many Jewish institutions, Jewish schools, and cultural centers. The Israeli government’s security apparatus is in constant touch with the leadership of organized Jewish communities around the world and updates them on security threats, and even trains their leadership about how to secure their communities. Attacks on Jews spike whenever there is an increase in conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors. For example, during Operation Cast Lead in 2009, firebombs were thrown at several Chicago synagogues. Now, as the shadow war between Israel and Iran is at its peak, it seems that Iran seeks to widen the conflict by creating a balance of terror against all Jews, everywhere. What other nation or religious group has to watch its back so much? Which other nation or religious group is so threatened all over the world? Which other nationality or religious group has to have its schools across the world hooked up to advanced security systems? In many countries in the world, the Interior Ministries have special budgets for the protection of Jewish institutions. Now France has raised the security at all of its Jewish schools. In Istanbul, the entire road housing the main synagogue is guarded at both sides and you can’t even walk on the road without running into one. In Johannesburg, the Jewish schools and synagogues are part of a Jewish community security organization, which works in tandem with the local police. Our enemies are capable of murdering our children in their sleep, like they did to the Fogel family in Itamar. They are capable of firing Grad rockets at our children’s schools in Beersheba and Ashkelon. They are capable of walking into the Merkaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem and shooting young boys in cold blood. And now they are capable of shooting Jewish children in a school in Toulouse. Specifically targeting children is a cowardly act of the highest order and anyone who tells you he’s doing it in the name of God is even more of a coward. Jews and Israelis need to be extra cautious wherever they are in the world. This is the price we pay for being who we are, and for Israel having to fight its fight. A strong, secure Diaspora is in Israel’s interest, and a strong, secure Israel is in the Diaspora’s interest. We must look after each other. All Jews are responsible for each other. We are our brothers’ keepers. Share this: Print Facebook36 Twitter12 Email StumbleUpon Digg LinkedIn1 Reddit Like this: Like Be the first to like this post.

- JAIMECHUCH

March 19, 2012 at 8:29pm

http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=262541 The Foreign Ministry called in two senior UN officials Monday to protest an incendiary photo tweeted by a UN agency employee, even as the agency showed no indication it would fire the worker. Western diplomatic sources said the UN was coming under counter-pressure from Palestinian and Arab circles not to “succumb to Israeli pressure” and fire Kuhlood Badawi, a field officer for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Badawi posted a link last week during the violence in the South of a young girl covered in blood being carried by her father, along with the tweet: “Palestine is bleeding. Another child killed by #Israel… Another father carrying his child to a Grave in #Gaza.” The picture, it emerged, was published in 2006 by Reuters and was of a Palestinian girl who died in a accident unrelated to Israel. On Sunday, she posted a response to the incident on Twitter that read, “Correction: I tweeted the photo believing it was from the last round of violence & it turned out to be from 2006 This is my personal account.” Badawi was born in Nazareth, and studied at Haifa University where she was active in the Arab Student’s Committee. An entry on the American Friends Service Committee website described her as a “Palestinian citizen of Israel who advocates for Palestinian civil rights and organizes activities that bring together the Palestinian and Jewish communities in order to bring about a better future and real peace in Israel/Palestine.” According to Israeli sources, the two UN officials who met with Foreign Ministry officials – Ramesh Rajasingham, the head of the OCHA office in Jerusalem, and Max Gaylard, the humanitarian coordinator – said that the tweet did not reflect UN policy. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor posted the following on his Facebook page: “Not only does a UN official in the Territories post a picture with a false description that demonizes Israel through a furious fabrication of facts, but her superior, Max Gaylard (Humanitarian Coordinator, mind you..) gives her full backing, and their New York HQ dismisses the outrage as a private opinion, unrelated to the UN...The UN? Whatever.” Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor expressed outrage at Badawi’s conduct and called for her dismissal on Wednesday in a letter to Valerie Amos, the under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs. Amos’s reply to Prosor said nothing of dismissing Badawi, but did call Badawi’s tweet “regrettable.” She stressed that the tweet was made on Badawi’s personal account, and said it “in no way reflects the views of OCHA, nor has it been sanctioned by OCHA.” “OCHA works to ensure its neutrality and impartiality in all its work and it is important that private actions of our staff do not undermine these principles in the countries in which we work,” Amos wrote. This is not the first time Badawi, as a UN employee, engaged in blatant political activities. In 2008, she took part in a protest on behalf of Gaza and was seen in a video leading protesters in the chant: “Defense Minister Barak, how many kids have you killed up to today?”

- JAIMECHUCH

March 19, 2012 at 9:16pm

"To the bigot that posted 'onward Christian soldiers'." Where's the bigotry? Tristan was repeating a soldier's joke about the non-involvement (apart from a few officers in the rear) of forces from nominally participating Arab countries in Middle East combat deployments, in order to comment on the Syrian situation. Unless you want to footnote every joke, I think you can rest assured that people know that there are Americans of all faiths and none in the armed services.

- ironyroad

March 20, 2012 at 5:16pm

What are our military options in Syria? Few, and poor. If you liked Iraq 2004-2006, you'll love Syria any time in the foreseeable future.

- Robert Powell

March 22, 2012 at 6:11am

The half witted one defends bigotry "onward Christian fighters" plus expresses Americans of all persuasions none in the armed services. Why are there Jewish chaplains, Muslim chaplains, Catholic chaplains, Protestant chaplains in the armed forces? Why are there Stars of David together with all those crosses in American military cemeteries? The half witted one .....is soooo. Half witted. But he is not ashamed to post idiotic comments, why?, because he is half witted.

- JAIMECHUCH

March 22, 2012 at 8:17am

And now the Islamist terrorist that killed Jewish children in Toulouse France has been finally killed by French police. The story is printed in the Washington Post. Trained in Afghanistan he moved freely in spite of being under the eye of the French police. He managed to commit his heinous crimes with impunity. Islamists are to be suspect at all times and peaceful Muslims should denounce them ASAP. Read the article and learn. I don't expect the half witted to understand of course. The bigot hides Islamic massacres. And the king of the stinky baloney is an apologizer of Islamic Iran. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/mohammed-merah-shooting-suspect-wants-to-die-fighting-official-says/2012/03/22/gIQAJkYCTS_story_1.html BTW on these hate crimes we never heard even a bip from BHO or Hilary, the UN, the EU, the Quartet. The Moslem press was to say the least confused. Shame on them all specially BHO and Hilary.

- JAIMECHUCH

March 22, 2012 at 8:36am

Let us see if it works here http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/mohammed-merah-shooting-suspect-wants-to-die-fighting-official-says/2012/03/22/gIQAJkYCTS_story_1.html

- JAIMECHUCH

March 22, 2012 at 8:41am