Two by Dyer: A Just War In Gaza? And China: Is A Slow Future of Fizzle Underway?
Gwynne Dyer —
#1- Just War and the Gaza Strip
December 5, 2023
“If you (Americans) were OK with us killing 5,000 children, you are OK with killing 10,000 children,” said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli diplomat who helped negotiate the Oslo peace accords in the 1990s. That’s what Israeli diplomats really think of US policy, he says.
This implies that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) both dismiss US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s strenuous warnings about the need to avoid high Palestinian casualties in the renewed bombing as just so much hot air.
Continue reading Two by Dyer: A Just War In Gaza? And China: Is A Slow Future of Fizzle Underway?
Two-Plus Stories On Kissinger: One includes a touching, suppressed love story
America
#1 – The antiwar activists who were accused of plotting to kidnap Kissinger
James T. Keane — December 04, 2023
[NOTE: This blogger was a cub reporter when Phil and Dan Berrigan were both in jail after burning military draft files in Catonsville, Maryland in 1968. During the time Phil was in prison, rumors began to spread about him and Elizabeth McAlister. All their antiwar activism aside, these rumors were shocking to activist Catholics, as both had taken religious vows of celibacy, presumably sincerely at the time.
But sometimes love plays irresistible havoc with the firmest vows. When Phil was released from prison (after his Catonsville term) in December of 1972, I was at the press conference and was first to ask the question all were wondering about but no one else had asked aloud: “Phil, what about you and Elizabeth McAlister?”
He deftly dodged the question, but within six months, the couple was outed as “Legally married,” as described below. However irregular their courtship might have been (but who, to quote a church authority, am I to judge?) they were a model of connubial constancy, til death did them part, though there were repeated partings to serve jail terms for the persistent antinuclear protests which became their renewed calling.]
Many barrels of ink have been employed for the obituaries and assessments of Henry Kissinger’s life and legacy since his death last Wednesday at the age of 100. However, one story involving the former Secretary of State that might not attract as much coverage is nevertheless one of the most fascinating and revealing tales of its time: the accusation against the “Harrisburg Seven,” a group of antiwar activists, that they had formed a conspiracy to kidnap then-Secretary Kissinger in 1970.
In a 1972 trial, the federal government charged the defendants, most of whom were current or former Catholic priests or women religious, with a conspiracy that included the kidnap plot as well as plans to raid draft offices and bomb steam tunnels beneath Washington, D.C.
Continue reading Two-Plus Stories On Kissinger: One includes a touching, suppressed love story
“Fleecing The Faithful”: Court and Trial Updates
Fleecing The Faithful– Updates
(To read the full text of the report, click here.)
[Note: Some links in these reports from 1998-99 have expired.]
-
- January 1998: A Friendly Letter Returns, With an Exclusive In-Depth Investigative Report:
- A Tale of Two Scams:
- Scam #1: The Productions Plus Scandal
- Stranger than Fiction: The Weird Cast of Productions Plus
- The Wall of Silence: Quaker, Church Officials Hide Negligence, Incompetence
- Crazy Ideas: Double or Nothing
- Deters: A Real-life Nightmare, and a Possible Vision
- Down the Garden Path, Opening Pandora’s Box
- Scam #2: Insuring a Quaker Disaster: — Philip Harmon Steals $30 Million, because: “Quakers Make Good Victims”
- Phil Harmon’s Victims Speak
- Quaker Insurance $$$ Scandal Update: Will An Ex-Superintendent be Indicted?
- John Wesley’s Folly
Court Updates, Part 1: Priscilla Deters on Trial in Wichita & After
- February 24, 1998: Deters Trial Opens in Wichita
- February 25, 1998: Cherokee Quaker Church Money Used for “Ponzi” Fraud Scheme–Kansas Investigator
- February 26, 1998: Ex-Quaker Superintendent In Kansas Fraud Trial
- February 27, 1998: Wegner, Other Nazarene Churchmen Detail Frauds
- March 2, 1998: First Defense Witnesses Roughed Up by Prosecutors in Productions Plus Trial
- March 3, 1998: Witness Says Deters Money a “Covenant,” not an “Investment”
- March 4, 1998: Disputes Flare as Defense Completes Case
- March 5, 1998: Deters Trial–“Just a scam” or “Good faith”
- March 6, 1998: Deters Convicted
- March 13, 1998: Tough Deters Bail Conditions Set; Possible Future Indictments Seen
- May 22, 1998: Sentencing Update. Deters denied bail, ordered to begin her prison sentence immediately, pending appeal.
- July 23, 1999: Deters appeal of her conviction is denied by U. S. Tenth Circuit three-judge panel, without dissent
- January 11, 2008—Deters released by U. S. Bureau of Prisons.
- August 14, 2009: Priscilla Deters visits a California Senior Center
- https://afriendlyletter.com/files/aflrogues1.html
Court Updates, Part 2: Phil Harmon, Insurance Fraud & “Operation Island Scam”:
-
- October 1997: Phil Harmon pleads guilty to fraud charges
- May 4, 1998: Phil Harmon Sentenced to Serve Eight Years, Pay $16 Million; Prosecutors Promise More Indictments
- July 1998: Phil Harmon reports to federal prison to begin eight year sentence.
- September 3, 1998: Another Plea in Harmon Case, Terry Beebe pleads guilty; More Charges may follow, Prosecutors Say.
- October 1, 1999 — Steve Harmon, son of Philip, Indicted on 8 counts of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion; part of “Operation Island Scam” case.
- May 8, 2000 — Terry Beebe is released by the U. S. Bureau of Prisons.
- May 10, 2000–Steve Harmon pleads, will serve up to 18 months:
-
- October 19, 2001 – Steve Harmon released by the U. S. Bureau of Prisons.
- February 4, 2005 — Phil Harmon released by the U. S. Bureau of Prisons.
More: Rogues and Heroes — Photos from the Quaker Fraud Scandals
Online back issues of the print edition (1981-93) of A Friendly Letter
CNN: “It’s Complicated”— Why Israel’s peace activists are reevaluating their position on the war
CNN: Why Israel’s peace activists are reevaluating their position on the war
By Tara John and Lottie Beilin
Sun Dec 3 2023
Tel Aviv (CNN) — When human rights activist Ziv Stahl was awakened to the booms of rocket fire on October 7, while staying at her sister’s home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, she did not for a moment anticipate the scale of the terrorist attack unfolding around her. Nor did she imagine the horror she would feel when she later called the police, who “basically told me no one is coming.”
That day saw Hamas militants murder her sister-in-law and several prominent peace activists living in the kibbutz, one of the communities that bore the brunt of the attack on Israel. Continue reading CNN: “It’s Complicated”— Why Israel’s peace activists are reevaluating their position on the war