Mearsheimer Is At It Again

John Mearsheimer is at it again, recommending a new book by Avraham Berg.

According to Mearsheimer, Burg

cannot be easily dismissed as a self-hating Jew or a crank, as he comes from a prominent Israeli family and has been deeply involved in mainstream Israeli politics for much of his adult life. Moreover, he clearly loves Israel.

That would be the same Avraham Burg who

• Said that "to define the State of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end."
  
• Calls on Israelis to obtain a foreign passport. 
  
• Three years after leaving Israeli politics has become a citizen of France
  
• Compares Israel and Germany
  

Gee, can't get much clearer than that.

Mearsheimer approvingly quotes Burg that

the principal cause of Israel's problems is the legacy of the Holocaust, which has become omnipresent in Israeli life. "Not a day passes," he writes, "without a mention of the Shoah in the only newspaper I read, Ha'aretz."

Apparently it does not occur to either Burg or Mearsheimer that Burg should get out more.

Instead, Mearsheimer relies on Burg to come to his own conclusion in his article that

the best way to rescue Israel from its plight is not simply to get beyond the Holocaust, but to end the Occupation. Then, the need to talk incessantly about the Holocaust will be greatly reduced and Israel will be a much healthier and secure country. Sadly, there is no end in sight to the Occupation, and thus we are likely to hear more, not less, about the Holocaust in years ahead.

Putting aside the questionable basis by which Mearsheimer presumes to use the word 'occupation,' Mearsheimer uses a single source to prove an Israeli obssession with the Holocaust--interesting in light of the fact these days it seems that Ahmadinejad talks more about it than any Israeli leader that I've heard.

This is the same Mearsheimer who wrote in 1990:

We may, however, wake up one day lamenting the loss of the order that the Cold War gave to the anarchy of international relations.

...The Soviet Union and a unified Germany would likely be the most powerful states in a nuclear-free Europe. A band of small independent states in Eastern Europe would lie between them. These minor Eastern European powers would be likely to fear the Soviets as much as the Germans, and thus would probably not be disposed to cooperate with the Soviets to deter possible German aggression.

Imagine: 18 years ago Mearsheimer predicted that a unified Germany and the Soviet Union would fight for control over post-Cold War eastern Europe.

More recently, he spoke about the unwillingness of the US to have a dialog with Iran. At the beginning of the interview below, Mearsheimer claims that Iran is not at war with the US.  When the interviewer points out that Iranians provide insurgents with the weapons used to kill Americans...well, just listen to his response.

Considering what he has had to say about Europe and Iran, it is now wonder that Mearsheimer keeps coming back to talking and writing about Israel.

[Hat tip: Eric Trager]

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