Word has just reached us that Robert Kagan, currently Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, is moving his franchise over to Brookings.
[…..[Kagan — next to Francis Fukuyama, Elliott Abrams, Paul Wolfowitz, and David Frum — is one of the top tier serious intellectuals among neoconservatives, though it’s clear that Frum and Fukuyama have distanced themselves from the broader movement to establish their own reformist franchises.
Kagan’s move is important for Brookings as the institution has been working hard to get Haim Saban to give another large infusion of resources to his namesake unit, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, at Brookings. Securing Kagan is one way that Brookings may have sweetened the pot for Saban who is according to one Brookings source “painfully flamboyant” about using his money to try and influence the DC establishment through think tanks and other vehicles to secure Israel-first, Israel-defending policies out of Washington.
There are those who describe neoconservatism as a “zombie” ideology, but it’s far more alive than undead. Two of the three major newspapers have neoconservative editorial boards (WSJ is right-wing across the board, but I think it’s air to describe their foreign policy as neoconservative), many of the most influential politically-oriented magazines are owned and/or edited by neocons (The New Republic, Weekly Standard, and Atlantic for example), and now even the liberal Brookings Institute has a neocon heading up its Middle East foreign policy team.
The failure of the Iraq war is irrelevant. The think tank/media system still incentivizes neoconservative beliefs.
El Cid
Elliot Abrams is one of the most vile, demonic characters ever to have been raised to prominence by the gleefully pro-slaughter Reaganite / Bush Jr. regimes. Next to serving alongside him in any capacity, learning Constitutional law from John Yoo would be like studying with Thomas Jefferson.
Pancake
I forget. Is “neocon” just another word for “Jew?”
bkny
pat lang has a depressing post that he feels an attack on iran is imminent. esp now that obama has been brought to heel. three prominent members of the likud wing of congress were in israel last week setting the stage.
Svensker
@Pancake:
Why, yes, yes it is! Congratulations! You’ve just passed the first part of the test to join the Secret Order of the Global Intertubes Anti-Semite Jihadist Ass Kiss Club! If you’re a real good boy and study hard, we’ll let you have the decoder ring and you’ll be able to understand all the formerly very tricky parts that were Hidden From You Before!
matoko_chan
@bkny: meh, Obama hasn’t been brought to heel.
Petraeus and Mullen see America’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for what she is.
And I think the american electorate has had a belly full of war.
The neocons are working overtime to keep america from realizing just what a cf Iraq actually was.
Do you think Bush ever has a sleepless night over the 6000 american kids he has gotten killed so far because he was too stupid to realize that when muslims get to vote they vote for Islam?
Booger
Haim Saban? As in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers???
OMG…I see where our foreign policy comes from.
Also, @Svenser…is there a word for an inverse Godwin?
Brien Jackson
What Israel lobby?
Pancake
Svensker – In other words, those that use the term “neocon” are merely trying to disguise their latent anti-Semitism. Is that right?
Svensker
@Pancake:
Pancake, your name mocks an idealist young American girl who was murdered by the Israelis. I don’t understand why John doesn’t flat out ban you. You disgust me.
Stroszek
@Pancake: Yes, and anyone who criticizes Obama is a racist. Please join us next time for another edition of “Asinine Trolling from Butthurt Ideologues.”
Bill E Pilgrim
@Pancake: Sure, like the Jews living in Russia or Lebanon. Definitely neoconservatives.
Anyone using the word neoconservative is clearly not referring to a well-established right-wing political philosophy in the USA that was named neoconservative by those espousing it, but is clearly just calling someone a Jew, and thus calling Jews everywhere neoconservative. It’s only logical.
bkny
@matoko_chan: the american electorate has no say in this. perhaps you missed the letter signed by 337 members of congress advising the white house to get in line.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/337-house-members-sign-letter-criticizing-obamas-israel-policy-89362967.html
Stroszek
@Bill E Pilgrim: What else could explain the senseless disdain for prominent Jews like George W. Bush and Frances Fukuyama?
Svensker
@Booger:
Dogniw? Inverse is harder than reverse. But, you know what they say — if I didn’t have bad verse, I wouldn’t have no verse at all.
Dino
We need to amend the Constitution to remove the prohibition against Bills of Attainder. Once that simple step is accomplished, pass legislation barring anyone with the surname “Kagan” from commenting on foreign policy.
I understand this is extreme, but their influence has been so pernicious on the Beltway. I consider it akin to taking away little Johnny’s gameboy so he can go read something nourishing.
El Cid
If anyone other than the self-named “neo-conservatives” use the term, it’s anti-Semitic, right?
So “paleo-conservative” is anti-whom?
Pancake
Svensker, you’re an ignorant fool. The moniker, “Pancake,” has nothing whatsoever to do with the girl that you inaccurately characterize as having been murdered by the Israelis. Rather , it is the code name given to a longtime Soviet agent (a practicing journalist) by his resident Russian controller.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Svensker: You can’t teach a niwdog old tricks?
Never mind.
Svensker
@Bill E Pilgrim:
I’m averse to it.
matoko_chan
@bkny: congress can wish in one hand and ummmm…..shit in the other. Obama and the Generals have the final say.
Has there ever been a time when congress declared war on their own?
Don’t think so.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Svensker:
Funny, I would have thought of you more as a chorus girl.
Er wait let me rephrase that.
Shalimar
@Pancake: Since many major neocons aren’t in fact Jews, I am going to say:
A) No, no it isn’t; and
B) Jesus you’re stupid.
matoko_chan
@bkny: and the Main Big Worry in the WH is that Our Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Israel is going to lob a nuke on Iran without us, if she feels unloved enough. To drag us into a thermonuclear war. That is what ‘Nejad does, try to bait israel into launching on Iran, so he can drag dar ul Islam in on his side.
So while our idiot congresspersons are all…..we got yer back, grrlfriend!
they don’t.
and Obama is making sure everyone knows it by being cool to Israel.
Obama is just playing all the agents involved…..like he always does.
KCinDC
While many think tanks are institutes, it’s the Brookings Institution. Same with the Smithsonian.
valdivia
Not a fan of Fukuyama but to call him a neocon now is actually pretty wrong. He might have been way back when, but since 2003/4 he has been pretty much a realist and it has earned him the scorn of the neocon establishment.
Mike in NC
Many hundreds of billions of dollars poured into the sandy wastes of the Middle East. Thousands of people killed, crippled, or traumatized for life. Our economy run into a ditch.
But to the Villagers the neocons are still Very Serious Thinkers and the musings of scum like Newt Gingrich and Bill Kristol are front page news.
El Cid
@KCinDC: Same with the Hoover Institution.
El Cid
@Mike in NC: But you forget — all that was fixed by THE SURGE.
Svensker
@El Cid:
And all this time I thought it was the SERGE! I’m sew depressed. Whaddya expect from a ditsy chorus girl?
Gator90
In fairness to Pancake, I have seen any number of bloggers and commenters use the slippery term “neocon” in a way that appears synonymous with “American Jewish supporters of Israel.” While no one says that all Jews are neocons, it is often asserted or implied that all or most neocons are Jews. (No less a luminary than Glenn Greenwald has, with wild inaccuracy, described the “neocon” American Enterprise Institute as a “Jewish organization.”)
“Neocon,” like “Zionist” and “terrorist” (to pick two totally random examples), is a word that seems to mean whatever people want it to mean at any given time.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Svensker: Please do be aware that I was going entirely for the pun in a mercenary way and no slur intended. I vaguely remembered that you were female, at least I seem to have gotten that part right.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Gator90: You’re using absurd logic, and Greenwald would disagree.
In fact, he does:
Except of course you and the other poster here. It’s a truly vile game you’re playing.
Nellcote
@Svensker:
I never made that connection. I thought it was a reference to this.
JG
@Gator90:
I know smearing Greenwald is old hat around here but at least cite a link supporting that assertion. Ah, in fact, I see another poster has cited a link that seems to support the absolute opposite of what you wrote. Awesome.
Svensker
@Bill E Pilgrim:
I got the pun and you got it all right. Nothing wrong with being a chorus girl. :)
Svensker
@Nellcote:
Can’t click your link without hitting “Reply” — so FYWP. What was it?
I’m assuming “Pancake” is the same poster who appeared here during the flotilla “Act Like a Pirate Day” reaction when there was a poster with the charming name of ‘Rachel “Pancake” Corrie’. That poster was a straight up Israel-firster neo-con not to mention hyper-reactive and stupid. At the same time ‘Rachel “Pancake” Corrie’ disappeared a new poster showed up, under the name of “Pancake,” who was also stupid, hyper-reactive and a straight up Israel-firster neo-con. For some strange reason I conflated the two posters. Only he/she and John know the truth.
Shalimar
@Nellcote: Not positive it was the same person, but before Pancake started commenting here there was another right-wing heckler named Pancake Rachel Corrie. Same writing style, and that version didn’t leave much room for doubt.
edit: also what Svensker said. Should have refreshed.
Nellcote
@Svensker: @Svensker:
The classic bunny with pancake on its head. Here’s a c&p link…
http://www.ooblick.com/weblog/files/2009/08/bunny_pancake1.jpg
matoko_chan
@Mike in NC: 1.25 trillion and counting, including Iran and Iraq so far…
the horrifying realization that Bush/Cheney expensed nearly 6000 american soljah deaths in blood and 1.25 trillion in treasure because GW was too stupid to realize that muslims vote for Islam when they get to vote…… is slowly beginning to diffuse through both the military and the electorate.
Hopefully there will be hell to pay when the families of dead soljahs and impoverished americans realize just how badly they were scammed.
Obama talks about not giving “conservatives” back the keys to the economy…he doesn’t talk about the wars…..we are not going to hear about the real reason 6000 soljahs have died (for GW’s stupidity) until we are clear of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Nothing like telling American families their kids died for nothing, even if its true. …or telling American soldiers the only reason they are fighting and dying is because Bush was a moron.
Gator90
@JG: I am one of Glenn’s longtime readers/commenters, and I quoted him accurately. (I’m not smart enough to provide a link – have no idea how to do it.) Glenn used to sometimes say “Jewish” in an inappropriate manner when referring to neocons. He and I had some vigorous discussions about it. This was well before the 2009 post that the well-endowed commenter linked to in comment #32 above. One of Glenn’s many admirable traits is his willingness to revisit and revise his thinking and terminology. I used his earlier remark about AEI as an example of a prominent blogger conflating “neocon” with “Jewish.” Plenty of commenters hither and yon have done so much more aggressively.
El Cid
@Svensker: Well, we can’t count out the calming power in a war zone of a really well made, well-fit suit.
El Cid
@Gator90:
?
DougJ
@Gator90:
I honestly don’t know which neocons are Jewish. The WSJ board is headed up by Paul Gigot, the Atlantic owned by David Bradley, they’re not Jewish (right?). Frances Fukuyama is obviously not Jewish. So I don’t know how it can be claimed that this post is conflating Jews with neocons.
Svensker
@Nellcote:
Oh. Ha ha. That’s a cute bunny with a nice pancake. Not the same thing at all.
Gator90
@DougJ: So I don’t know how it can be claimed that this post is conflating Jews with neocons.
I don’t think this post does that at all. But some people do conflate Jews with neocons, which was my point. It was not done in this post, but it is hardly unheard of.
Gator90
@El Cid: I was assuming that the screen name “Bill E. Pilgrim” is a reference to the literary character “Billy Pilgrim” from Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse Five, whom the author gifted with an enormous shlong.
Kyle
@valdivia:
It’s like the old joke – you fuck one goat, and you’re forever known as a goatfucker.
These assholes deserve to be shamed out of the public sphere forever for gullibly falling for this odious, greed-fueled, murderous ideology. They deserve as much mercy as they showed to others when they were screaming ‘traitor’ and ‘anti-Semite’ at anyone who questioned them.
Mike G
@matoko_chan:
The plutocrats have that covered. That’s what the corporately-financed and Fox News-promoted teabag movement is for — to direct the rage away from the people who caused the fuckup, so the fuckup cycle can repeat again soon to their profit.
And it saves the teatards from having to think and having to face their own culpability at cheering on eight years of aggressive war, shredding of rights and reckless spending.
Svensker
@Kyle:
They deserve as much mercy as the Iraqis who were incinerated by their bombs received.
Bill E Pilgrim
@El Cid: Went right over my head too until he explained.
Yes, that was one line in a book full of other lines almost entirely devoted to describing one character. The line concluded with “you never know who will get one” as I remember, the point being that it was so out of character for the shy, helpless Pilgrim. He didn’t dwell on it, needless to say ;)
Ed Marshall
@DougJ:
if Gigot counts you are conflating one-note belligerence with neoconservativism. Violent conservatives have their own intellectual tradition (such as it is) that doesn’t have much to do with neo-conservatives.
What *made* neoconservatives was a distaste for the New Left in the 60’s and 70’s. The core of the movement was Jewish and got pissed because the New Left didn’t back Israel in ’67 and it exposed a fault line (there was more to it than that, but that seemed to be the catalyst that got them doing what they did). If you focus the term narrowly as just those people, the neoconservatives are almost all Jews. If you focus broadly, their decendents are really the DLC.
henqiguai
@DougJ (#43):
Sorry dude, but Jewishness is an adherence to a faith, not a particular ethnicity (cf. Sammy Davis, Jr. or Yaphet Koto). Of course, Dr. Fukuyama’s religious affiliation may be a known value; I have never read his biography.
This is something that always bothers me. Right up there with the now conventional wisdom that anti-semitism (see treatment of other speakers of other Semitic languages) and holocaust (consider Turkey’s little Armenian issue, Stalin’s actions, Pol Pot, the US and its indigenous peoples…) are strictly Jewish issues.
Sunday afternoon and I’m working up a pissed-off mood ’cause I have to go back to work tomorrow. On the up side, I at least have a paying job to which I am returning tomorrow; small favors.
Ed Marshall
@Ed Marshall:
I should amend that, if you read the relevant work from the time in Commentary and Dissent and all that, what you will see is them dithering back and forth about how militantly anti-communist they wanted to be but the ’67 war seemed to be the catalyst that moved them into what they became. I think most of them claim that they jumped ship over civil rights (which seems bizarre to me, I’m pretty sure racism and hyperzionism are intimately related ideas but it’s *more* acceptable to have jumped ship over bussing than being pissed at people over Israel?)
Gator90
@henqiguai:
Actually it is both, dude. When German Jews were being rounded up, no inquiry was made regarding their adherence (or lack thereof) to any tenet of faith. I have no religious faith of any kind (save my worshipful devotion to Tim Tebow), but I insist that I am Jewish even so, because my parents were and their parents were and so on.
Wile E. Quixote
@Pancake:
No, it’s a code word for anti-American, Trotskyite fucktard.
bobbo
The failure of the Iraq war is irrelevant. The think tank/media system still incentivizes
neoconservative beliefs.war war war.fixed
DougJ
@Ed Marshall:
Gigot’s foreign policy prescriptions are similar to those of neocons. George Will’s (for example) are not. I see your general point, and I agree that Gigot’s belief in war comes from a different place than Robert Kagan’s, but in practice they want the same things in terms of foreign policy.
slag
It didn’t take very long for this thread to turn into one extended Woody Allen joke.
matoko_chan
@Mike G: the military is starting to get it.
Why is COIN failing?
Because it was only ever a patch for the Bush Doctrine.
The core premise is still “the controversial policy of preventive war, which held that the United States should depose foreign regimes that represented a potential or perceived threat to the security of the United States, even if that threat was not immediate; a policy of spreading democracy around the world, especially in the Middle East, as a strategy for combating terrorism;”
COIN just attempts to do local “democracy promotion” with trusted networks (SNT). So COIN is pre-programmed to fail as well.
More democracy in MENA means more Islam….and as long as terrorism and Islam are convolved in the GWOT/GWOI….and more COIN fail.
liberal
Brookings hasn’t been liberal since sometime in the 1980s. It’s better described as centrist.
On military stuff, it’s at best center/right, since O’Hanlon is there.