jeudi 30 avril 2009

Fissures dans l'islam ?

Un nouveau chrétien algérien.

L'islam est vu de l'extérieur comme un bloc monolithique qui résiste non seulement aux autres religions mais qui taille des croupières au christianisme, notamment en Europe dans la frange de la population au bas niveau d'éducation en contact intime des musulmans séjournant dans nos contrées.

Toutefois, quelques fissures apparaissent parmi les musulmans. Non seulement on commence à percevoir des abandons de l'islam parmi les musulmans résidant en Europe, mais aussi des conversions à forte valeur symbolique comme celle du fanatique turc Mehmet Alí Agca qui avait voulu assassiner le pape en 1981.

Il vient d'informer la presse italienne qu'il est à la recherche d'une jeune femme qui accepterait de l'épouser. Mais il précise que cette jeune femme doit être catholique car il s'est converti à cette religion le 13 mai 2007.

Mais c'est l'extraordinaire mouvement de conversion au christianisme dans certaines régions d'Algérie qui attire l'attention. Près de 50000 Algériens se seraient convertis grâce à l'activisme de missions protestantes qui contraste avec la passivité des autorités catholiques.

Les raisons qui poussent les Algériens, et en particulier les kabyles, à revenir au christianisme sont multiples. Contrairement à ce qu'affirment leurs détracteurs, ce n'est pas pour faciliter une émigration vers des pays occidentaux mais surtout par le refus d'une religion islamique associée aux horreurs de la guerre civile larvée que mènent les islamistes.

On peut lire ici, un article en espagnol à ce sujet.

Liberté linguistique




Le député de la gauche catalane défend la politique linguistique catalane en avril 2008.


Le cas présent de l'Espagne illustre la gravité des conflits linguistiques qui peuvent déchirer un État regroupant des communautés différentes ayant survécu à la machine à tuer les peuples qu'est la centralisation et dont la France dont offre un exemple presque parfait.

La monarchie espagnole est le résultat d'un processus d'unification qui s'est opéré au fil des siècles dans le cadre des principes régissant les sociétés européennes traditionnelles, l'agrégat à un ensemble plus vaste de communautés locales dont le nouvel ensemble respectait les droits.

Ainsi, le jeune roi Philippe II n'est entré pour la première fois en tant que monarque dans la ville de Barcelone qu'après avoir juré de respecter les libertés traditionnelles de la cité.

Rappelons qu'à cette époque, nul se souciait de savoir quelle langue parlait le peuple. Les élites adoptaient avec facilité celle du pouvoir. C'est ainsi que les élites britophones ont adopté l'usage du français dès la fin du Moyen Age, en Irlande celui de l'anglais et en Catalogne ou au Pays Basque, celui de l'espagnol.

La chose se complique quand la monarchie française invente un style de fonctionnement différent basé sur la centralisation et l'homogénéisation. Mouvement renforcé avec la Révolution française qui met au point le modèle de l'Etat-nation où les peuples se fondent dans une matrice commune, partageant contraints et forcés une même idéologie et une même langue.

De là vient cette confusion si répandue en France où les intellectuels affidés au pouvoir utilisent le terme « nation » pour se référer à la France alors qu'il s'agit d'un État résultat de l'agrégat, pas toujours volontaire, de nationalités différentes.

Il n'y a rien de commun entre un Breton, un Alsacien, un Flamand ou un Basque sinon leur appartenance au même ensemble politique qu'un Poitevin ou un Champenois. Certes, ils partagent un long héritage de vie commune, mais rien que ne pourrait défaire un changement d'allégeance politique. Dans l'Alsace de 1914, la France n'était plus qu'un souvenir, largement oblitéré par une germanisation aussi féroce que le sera la francisation après 1918 ou après 1945.

Si, par exemple, la Corse devenait italienne ou si la Catalogne revenait dans le giron naturel de Barcelone, ou si le Pays Basque était réunifié, il est fort à parier que le sentiment de « francitude » disparaîtrait.

Pour en revenir à l'Espagne, les forces « progressistes » ont au XIXe siècle, après la mort de Ferdinand VII, imposé le modèle révolutionnaire en forçant la centralisation politique et l'homogénéisation linguistique. C'est cette « Espagne une et indivisible » dont Franco sera le défenseur après 1936.

L'Espagne traditionnelle ne s'est pas laissé détruire sans combattre et de féroces guerres civiles ont déchiré la péninsule. Les vaincus, les forces « réactionnaires », ont joué un rôle clef dans le développement du renouveau des nationalismes identitaires, c'est le cas notamment au Pays Basque.

Après un lent grignotage, les mouvements indépendantistes ont gagné de vastes secteurs de l'opinion tant au pays Basque qu'en Catalogne. Au même moment, les nationalistes faisant des percées en Bretagne, en Flandre et en Alsace. L'avènement de la République en 1931 a marqué leur apogée dans l'Espagne de la première moitié du XXe sicèle.

La victoire de Franco an 1939 marque un point d'arrêt pour les nationalistes périphériques et un retour en force du modèle inspiré de la révolution française et défendu par les progressistes du siècle précédent. Redoutable paradoxe de l'histoire.

Un concours de circonstances va rendre la vie à ces mouvements périphériques. La mort de Franco débouche sur un vide politique typique des dictatures finissantes. Le modèle constitutionnel mis en place en 1978 tente la quadrature du cercle, la coexistence des deux modèles historiques, l'Espagne dans son acception moderniste (au sens du XIXe siècle) et un système pluriel hérité de l'Espagne traditionnelle.

Cela aurait parfaitement pu fonctionner, mais deux facteurs sous-estimés par les rédacteurs de cette Magna Carta ont rendu cette constitution inviable.

En premier lieu, les nationalistes qui ont pris le pouvoir ne sont pas intéressés par un modèle de fonctionnement de l'Etat hérité de l'Espagne traditionnelle où il n'y a aucune incompatibilité entre une région périphérique largement autonome et le sentiment d'appartenance à un ensemble commun. Ils ont cherché à imposer dans chacune de leurs autonomies un modèle étroitement nationaliste, reflet en plus petit du nationalisme espagnol inventé par les progressistes du XIXe siècle.

En second lieu, la logique de l'accaparement des pouvoir au sein de chaque autonomie (tout d'abord dans les régions historiques comme la Catalogne, puis dans les autres), a conduit les politiciens locaux a ériger leurs régions en véritables fiefs (surnommés les taifas en référence aux royaumes islamiques ayant occupé l'Espagne).

C'est ainsi que tout est mis en œuvre pour différencier chaque région et à raffermir le pouvoir des élites politiciennes locales. Dans ce but, la langue devient un outil crucial car il permet à peu de frais de bâtir une conscience d'appartenance locale là où elle était faible ou en déclin.

La conséquence est qu'en Catalogne il est devenu impossible de scolariser son enfant en espagnol et que les nouvelles générations issues de l'éducation publique catalane maîtrisent de moins en moins bien la langue commune.

Ce phénomène avait commencé au pays Basque et en Galice au profit des langues locales respectives, mais le récent changement de majorité dans ces régions commence à modifier la donne.

Les gouvernements régionaux ne sont guère à blâmer dans cette question. Les mesures qu'ils prennent pour favoriser les langues vernaculaires et à l'encontre de l'espagnol reçoivent le consentement des électeurs par simple fait de l'arithmétique électorale.

Cette force des périphéries se nourrit de la faiblesse du modèle espagnol. Sans paladin pour le défendre, dans une Espagne où la rapport des forces intellectuel entre la droite et la gauche est comparable à ce qu'il était en France voici trente ans, le modèle d'une Espagne foyer commun de tous les Espagnols où une langue commune sert d'outil de rapprochement n'a pas de défenseur crédible.

Tant que l'Espagne ne réinventera pas un modèle culturel attractif, il est vain de s'attendre à un affaiblissement des modèles périphériques.

En attendant, ce conflit linguistique impose des contraintes considérables sur les droits des citoyens ordinaires. Le Parti populaire défend au niveau de Madrid une proposition de loi qui renforce le droit des parents de scolariser les enfants dans la langue de leur choix. Cette loi, si elle était adoptée, se heurterait de front à d'autres dispositions soutenues par le même parti au niveau local, par exemple à Valence.

Cette proposition est combattue par la gauche nationaliste catalane qui ne cite pas d'arguments mais qui accuse ses adversaires de vouloir détruire le catalan et de catalanophobie (voir la vidéo au début de ce blog).

Son intervention est combattue par une brillante intervention de la députée Rosa Diez qui illustre un courant unitaire minoritaire de la gauche espagnole.

Le débat ne risque pas de s'éteindre de sitôt, mais il est plaisant de voir comment avec la meilleure bonne conscience du monde, les partis nationalistes conduisent une politique hégémonique qui est l'exact pendant de celle qu'ils reprochent au franquisme d'avoir menée.

mercredi 29 avril 2009

Obama, un nouveau Law ?

Un même modèle, dépenser pour relancer.



Les ultralibéraux du Ludwig von Mises Institute ont mis en ligne un intéressant parallèle entre Barack Hussein Obama (BHO) et le banquier Law qui a conduit la monarchie française à la faillite.

The Link Between Obama and John Law

Mises Daily by Doug French | Posted on 4/29/2009


Obama's 100th day is upon us and the new president is ramping up an expansion of government that will place him alongside some of the most notorious dictators in history. CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider may believe Obama's personal qualities make him "the superpresident," but first and foremost, Obama with his $3.5 trillion budget sees himself as the new FDR, armed with a new New Deal.

But the New Deal wasn't new when FDR did it. The charismatic Roosevelt was more than 200 years behind John Law's Mississippi Bubble, described as "the first New Deal of the capitalist order," by John T. Flynn in his amazing book Men of Wealth.

In a chapter devoted to the money magician, Flynn cleverly calls Law the "evangelist of abundance." And conditions in France could not have been riper for Law's fiscal chicanery in 1715. France was completely ruined by Louis XIV, a ruler whom history has been much too kind to, according to Flynn. He ravaged the country he ruled, while being a "shallow, egotistical, pretentious coxcomb."

Louis spent vast millions on his palaces and engaged poets and writers to write of his virtues, long before the days of CNN. As Flynn explains, industry had not come to France, thus the king stole his wealth from small farmers and city-dwelling artisans through oppressive taxation.

Those who managed to amass wealth in France did so by knowing "how to tap this stream of public money on its way to the government." There were no entrepreneurial fortunes being made, only parasitic ones.

While the typical French family lived as paupers, going barefoot and sleeping on straw, there were vast fortunes made by those granted government monopolies. Louis died in the fall of 1715 with his country hopelessly bankrupt. The treasury was empty and the army unpaid. It was proposed that the nation formally declare bankruptcy.

"France had come to the end of the road, as America did in 1933," Flynn writes, "save that she was impoverished in substance as well as in the collapse of her economic mechanisms."

John Law, le précurseur d'Obama ?

But the regent did not want the public humiliation of bankruptcy, so "instead, he sought to accomplish the same end by a less frank device," and John Law's monetary theories finally had a taker.

When news reached John Law, who had been gambling his way across Europe, he quickly packed his bags and headed for Paris. Law, like Obama and FDR, was charming and eloquent. "He was handsome, tall, well-made, and full of dexterity and grace," writes Adolphe Thiers in The Mississippi Bubble: A Memoir of John Law. In addition to his physical attributes, Law "was a facile talker and a superb salesman," according to Flynn.

And just like Obama's and FDR's "deals," Law's prescription for what ailed France required no sacrifice. Instead, Law's plan called "for a pleasant journey along the glory road to riches."

Like all modern Keynesians, Law saw the economic problem as being one of not enough money. While on the lam from the law for killing Beau Wilson in a duel over Elizabeth Villiers's affections, Law spent time in Amsterdam and studied the workings of the Bank of Amsterdam. The world-famous bank had attracted debauched coinage from all over Europe since its founding in 1609. In the beginning, the bank held 100 percent reserves with the bank weighing and assaying coinage from around Europe and giving the depositor credit for an honest value in guilders.

But what sparked the imagination of Law was the Bank of Amsterdam's violating its charter by surreptitiously making the East India Company a loan from its vast pool of deposits. As Flynn points out, the foundation of modern finance and fractionalized banking was born. "Law perceived with clarity that this bank, in its secret violation of its charter, had actually invented a method of creating money."

And create money Law did. Although he started small with his privately owned Banque Générale, within a year all royal revenues were to be paid in the Banque's notes and these notes were to be cashed on sight at government offices, making these offices essentially branches of Law's bank.

After devaluing the livre, the French government became, as described by Flynn, "drastic in the extreme." Any person making a profit from state contracts or out-of-state offices during the preceding 27 years was to make an honest accounting with rewards offered to informants. "Wealth became a crime," Flynn explains. "People of wealth were in a panic," hiding their money and attempting to flee.

Two years into Law's system, the livre was devalued again, by 40 percent. Despite the devaluations, Law's reputation continued to rise and by the end of 1718, the state took over Law's bank, which became the Banque Royale. A nomadic gambler just three years before, Law suddenly had immense power, controlling the monopoly on coining money, the collection of tax revenues, as well as tobacco and salt revenues. His Mississippi Company (Compagnie du Mississippi) would buy up the debt of the French government, a proposal Flynn compares to Roosevelt's plan to extinguish America's debt by having the Social Security Board purchase it.

Law inflated the money supply through the Banque Royale, he created jobs through public-works projects; he attempted to release the hoarded savings back into business with the promotion of Mississippi Company shares; he exploited France's colonial empire, relieved the debt-ridden government of its debts, and was making money for himself and his patrons. Law even renounced his Protestant faith and was accepted into the Catholic Church after he made generous gifts to the St. Roch parish.

Law's system unraveled a mere four years after it began. People fled Law's paper for the safety of gold and silver, despite Law's attempts to demonetize and confiscate specie. Ultimately, Law's system would only serve to forestall France's bankruptcy, not solve it. Law himself would die near poverty a decade later.


"As a New Dealer [Law] was not greatly different in one respect from the apostles of the mercantilist schools — the Colberts, the Roosevelts, the Daladiers, the Hitlers and Mussolinis, and, indeed, the Pericles — who sought to create income and work by state-fostered public works and who labored to check the flow of gold away from their borders," writes Flynn who goes on to point out that Law's use of a bank to create money out of nowhere to pay for government programs was imitated by Roosevelt, Hitler, and Mussolini.
"Law is the precursor of the inflationist redeemers," Flynn explains. "Like all the inflationist salvations, his career was short."

We can now throw Obama in with the other inflationist New Dealers, and with a compliant Treasury and Federal Reserve and their expanding monetary tools at the ready, he can do more damage than even John Law. We can only hope that his career will be short and that the Fed's days are numbered.

Les Cent jours (d'Obama)

Une obamaniaque repentie.

Les articles de presse ont célébré les premiers cent jours du gouvernement de Barack Hussein Obama (BHO) avec des accents toujours aussi peu critiques que lors de la campagne électorale. Tout est bon aux journalistes pour chanter les louanges de leur nouveau messie. Certains péans insistent sur le fait que selon les enquêtes les Noirs aux Etats-Unis se sentent moins discriminés (New York Times) ou que sa popularité demeure intacte (El Mundo).

Il faut chercher dans quelques titres rétifs à l'obamania pour trouver un changement de style. Par exemple, le Washington Times souligne que BHO a atteint le niveau le plus bas de soutien de tous les présidents (sauf Bill Clinton à cause de la tragédie de Wacco) au terme de leurs premiers cent jours. Mais c'est le New York Post qui remporte le premier prix en publiant un long article avec les cent erreurs d'Obama. A lire pour le plaisir.



100 DAYS, 100 MISTAKES

JOE SCARBOROUGH, GLENN BECK AND OTHERS ON OBAMA'S SHORT, ERROR-PRONE TIME IN OFFICE RELATED STORIES BAM'S GENOCIDE DODGE
OBAMA OFFERS A 'LIFT' TO THE CIA OBAMA'S ROUNDING ERROR


1. "Obama criticized pork barrel spending in the form of 'earmarks,' urging changes in the way that Congress adopts the spending proposals. Then he signed a spending bill that contains nearly 9,000 of them, some that members of his own staff shoved in last year when they were still members of Congress. 'Let there be no doubt, this piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business, and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability,' Obama said." -- McClatchy, 3/11

2. "There is no doubt that we've been living beyond our means and we're going to have to make some adjustments." -- Obama during the campaign.

MORE: Obama's First 100 Days in Photos

3. This year's budget deficit: $1.5 trillion.

4. Asks his Cabinet to cut costs in their departments by $100 million -- a whopping .0027%!

5. "The White House says the president is unaware of the tea parties." -- ABC News, 4/15

6. "Mr. Obama is an accomplished orator but is becoming known in America as the 'teleprompt president' over his reliance on the machine when he gives a speech." -- Sky News, 3/18

7. In early February, the 2010 census was moved out of the Department of Commerce and into the White House, politicizing how federal aid is distributed and electoral districts are drawn.

8. Obama taps Nancy Killefer for a new administration job, First Chief Performance Officer -- to police government spending. But it surfaces that Killefer had performance issues of her own -- a tax lien was slapped on her DC home in 2005 for failure to pay unemployment compensation tax on household help. She withdrew.

9. Turkey tried to block the appointment of Anders Fogh Rasmussen as new NATO secretary general because he didn't properly punish the Danish cartoonist who caricatured Mohammed. France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel were outraged; Obama said he supported Turkey's induction into the European Union.

10. . . . and he never mentioned the Armenian genocide.

11. The picture of Obama and Hugo Chavez shaking hands.

12. Hugo Chavez gave him the anti-American screed "The Open Veins of Latin America." Obama didn't remark upon it. At least it wasn't DVDs.

13. Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega went on a 50-minute anti-American rant, calling Obama "president of an empire." Obama didn't leave the room. "I thought it was 50 minutes long. That's what I thought," he said.

14. Executives at AIG get $165 million in bonuses, despite receiving an $173 billion taxpayer bailout.

15. "For months, the Obama administration and members of Congress have known that insurance giant AIG was getting ready to pay huge bonuses while living off government bailouts. It wasn't until the money was flowing and news was trickling out to the public that official Washington rose up in anger and vowed to yank the money back." -- Associated Press, 3/18

16. "After pushing Congress for weeks to hurry up and pass the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, President Obama promptly took off for a three-day holiday getaway." -- New York Post, 2/15

17. MEGHAN CLYNE ON: "I WON" AND THE DEATH OF BIPARTISANSHIP

"Obama soared to victory on the hopeful promise of a new era of bipartisanship. During his inaugural address he even promised an 'end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.'

"Too bad it took all of three days for the promise to ring hollow.

"Start with Obama's big meeting with top congressional leaders on his signature legislation -- the stimulus -- on the Friday after his inauguration. Listening to Republican concerns about overspending was a nice gesture -- until he shut down any hopes of real dialogue by crassly telling Republican leaders: 'I won.' Even the White House's leaking of the comment was a slap at the Republican leadership, who'd expected Obama to adhere to the custom of keeping private meetings with congressional leadership, well, private.

"It's only gone downhill from there. The stimulus included zero Republican recommendations, and failed to get a single House Republican vote.

"It's not just the tactic of using Republicans for bipartisan photo-ops, and then cutting them loose before partisan decisions, that irks Obama's opponents. The new president wasted no time rushing forward with policies and legislation guaranteed to drive Republicans nuts. The first bill he signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- a partisan hot-button that drew all of eight Republican supporters in the entire Congress. Then there was the swift reversal of Bush policies on abortion and embryonic-stem-cell research -- issues dear to the Republican base.

"And when Obama and the Democrats in Congress took up SCHIP -- the children's health-insurance bill that Republicans say vastly expands government's role in health care -- they had an easy chance for real bipartisanship. After all, the bill had been hashed out in the previous Congress, and a bipartisan accord was reached before President Bush responded with a veto. Did the Obama team push for the compromise version in the 111th Congress? Nope. They went back to the drawing board, ramming through the Democrats' dream version.

"Of course, the lack of bipartisanship isn't limited to Capitol Hill. Obama has taken gratuitous swipes at the Republicans who recently decamped Washington, blaming President Bush for everything from the economy and the war to the lack of sufficient puppies and rainbows. And who could forget the Rush Limbaugh flap -- in which Obama's top advisers, including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, orchestrated a public relations campaign meant to undermine the Republican National Committee chairman, Michael Steele, by framing talk-radio personality Limbaugh as the real head of the Republican Party.

"For now, Obama's back-pedal on the bipartisanship promise just makes him look insincere. But the real consequences of the mistake will be felt soon enough. As Presidents Bush and Clinton could tell him, congressional majorities do change -- and at some point, Obama will need Republicans on his side. He'd be smart to spend his second 100 days making up for the serious snubs of his first."

-- Meghan Clyne is a DC-based writer.

18. "The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today." -- Department of Homeland Security intelligence report

19. Nixes a "buy American" provision in the stimulus bill.

20. "Yes, Canada is not Mexico, it doesn't have a drug war going on. Nonetheless, to the extent that terrorists have come into our country or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it's been across the Canadian border. There are real issues there." -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The 9/11 hijackers did not come across the Canada border

21. "The Obama administration is signaling to Congress that the president could support taxing some employee health benefits, as several influential lawmakers and many economists favor, to help pay for overhauling the health care system. The proposal is politically problematic for President Obama, however, since it is similar to one he denounced in the presidential campaign as 'the largest middle-class tax increase in history.' " -- New York Times, 3/14

22. JOE SCARBOROUGH ON: PROMOTING FEAR

"During his historic inaugural speech, Barack Obama promised to usher in a transformational age where hope would replace fear, unity would overtake partisanship, and change would sweep aside the status quo. But early in President Obama's first 100 days it is obvious that the only thing that is changing is the Candidate of Change, himself.

"The same politician who proclaimed during his inauguration that 'on this day we have chosen hope over fear' soon warned Americans that the US economy would be forever destroyed if the stimulus bill was voted down.

"Why was it that same man who promised to put Americans' interests ahead of his own political ambitions chose instead to use the suffering of citizens to advance his agenda?

"Maybe he was following the guidance of Rahm Emanuel, who famously said, 'You never want to waste a good crisis.'

"They didn't.

"The White House's warnings were so over-the-top that Bill Clinton felt compelled to warn the new president against making such grim pronouncements. Americans would quickly warn that the White House would not channel FDR's eternal optimism but rather embrace the gloomy worldview of Edgar Allen Poe.

"The Candidate of Hope also quickly adopted the Nixonian worldview that Americans voted their fears rather than their hopes. Over Mr. Obama's first 100 days, that cynical calculation paid off politically for a White House that seemed most interested in appeasing the most liberal members of his Democratic Party.

"I expected more from Barack Obama. For the sake of my country, I hope I get it from the new president over the next 100 days."

-- Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and author of "The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise" (Crown Forum), due out June 9.

23. Sanjay Gupta was in discussions to become Surgeon General, but the TV personality withdrew after he was criticized for his flimsy political record.

24. Rasmussen finds 58% of Americans believe the Obama administration's release of CIA memos endangers the national security of the United States.

25. Only 28% think the Obama administration should do any further investigating of how the Bush administration treated terrorism suspects.

26. "Obama thanked CIA employees for their work and said they're invaluable to national security. He explained his decision to release the memos, then told everyone not to feel bad because he was now acknowledging potential mistakes. Theirs, not his. 'That's how we learn,' Obama said, as though soothing a room full of fourth-graders." -- The Oklahoman, 4/23

27. By releasing the torture memos, Obama opened American citizens up to international tribunals. A UN lawyer said the US is obliged to prosecute lawyers who drafted the memos or else violate the Geneva Conventions.

28. In their first meeting, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave Obama a carved ornamental penholder from the timbers of the anti-slavery ship HMS Gannet. Obama gave him 25 DVDs that don't work in Europe.

29. TIM CARNEY ON: PICKING BILL RICHARDSON AS SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

"Richardson's value in Obama's Cabinet had everything to do with appearances. First, he was the Hispanic pick. Second, because Richardson had run against Obama for President, tapping him for the Cabinet helped the media write the Obama-Lincoln comparisons by burnishing the 'Team of Rivals' image.

"But Richardson withdrew before Obama was even inaugurated when news came out about a criminal investigation involving David Rubin, president of a firm named Chambers, Dunhill, Rubin & Co. (although there was no Chambers or Dunhill), who had donated at least $110,000 to Richardson's campaign committees and had also profited from $1.5 million in contracts from the state government.

"This was an early warning sign about Obama's vetting process (various tax problems and the Daschle problem would reveal this as a theme), but picking Richardson to run Commerce also highlighted that Obama and Richardson's promise of 'public-private partnerships' -- such as Detroit bailouts, Wall Street bailouts, and green energy--was an open door for corruption and was at odds with Obama's promise to diminish the influence of lobbyists.

"The Richardson mistake was one of Obama's first, and it was emblematic. Richardson embodied Obama's attention to self-image and the problems inherent in his vision of an intimate business-government connection."

-- Tim Carney is a Washington Examiner columnist

30. Timothy Geithner nomination as Secretary of Treasury was almost torpedoed when it was discovered he had failed to pay $34,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes. He also employed an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper. He was confirmed anyway.

31. . . . Not so lucky, Annette Nazareth, who was nominated for Deputy Treasury Secretary. She withdrew her name for undisclosed "personal reasons" after a monthlong probe into her taxes . . .

32. . . . or Caroline Atkinson, who withdrew as nominee for Undersecretary of International Affairs in Treasury Department, with a source blaming the long vetting process. Geithner still has a skeleton crew at Treasury, with no one qualified -- or willing -- to take jobs there.

33. "Barack Obama has been embroiled in a cronyism row after reports that he intends to make Louis Susman, one of his biggest fundraisers, the new US ambassador in London. The selection of Mr. Susman, a lawyer and banker from the president's hometown of Chicago, rather than an experienced diplomat, raises new questions about Mr Obama's commitment to the special relationship with Britain." -- Telegraph, 2/22

34. Obama's doom-and-gloom comments and budget bill push the Dow below 7,000, from which it's only recently recovered.

35. "You're sitting here. And you're -- you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, 'I mean, he's sitting there just making jokes about money--' How do you deal with -- I mean: Explain. Are you punch-drunk?" -- Steve Kroft, "60 Minutes," 3/22

36. "We have begun to modernize 75% of all federal building space, which has the potential to reduce long-term energy costs by billions of dollars on behalf of taxpayers. We are providing grants to states to help weatherize hundreds of thousands of homes, which will save the families that benefit about $350 each year. That's like a $350 tax cut." -- Obama, describing something that doesn't cut taxes.

37. "The Obama administration has directed defense officials to sign a pledge stating they will not share 2010 budget data with individuals outside the federal government." -- Defense News, 2/19

38. Backtracking on a campaign promise he made to black farmers, Obama significantly lowered the amount of money they could claim in a discrimination settlement against the Agricultural Department. "I can't figure out for the life of me why the president wouldn't want to implement a bill that he fought for as a US senator," said John Boyd, head of the National Black Farmers Association.

39. "I've been practicing bowling. I bowled a 129. It was like the Special Olympics or something." -- Obama on "The Tonight Show"

40. Obama lifts travel and remittance restrictions on Cuba.

41. Obama considers dropping the embargo on Cuba.

42. After warming signs from Raul Castro, Fidel Castro says Obama "misinterpreted" his brother's words, and that Cuba would not be willing to negotiate about human rights.

43. Obama is considering dropping a key demand to Iran, allowing it to keep nuclear facilities open during negotiations.

44. In a letter to Dmitri Medvedev, Obama offered to drop plans for a missile shield in Europe in exchange for Russia's help in resolving the nuclear weapons issue in Iran.

45. Medvedev said he would not "haggle" on Iran and the missile shield.

46. Obama asked Congress for an extra $83.4 billion to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a special funding measure of the kind he opposed while in the senate. As a candidate, Obama promised to cut the cost of military operations.

47. After trying to woo Europe as the "anti-Bush," Obama made an impassioned plea for more troops in Afghanistan. "Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone," he said. "This is a joint problem it requires a joint effort." Only the UK offered substantial help, most others refused.

48. "While the online question portion of the White House town hall was open to any member of the public with an Internet connection, the five fully identified questioners called on randomly by the president in the East Room were anything but a diverse lot. They included: a member of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union, a member of the Democratic National Committee who campaigned for Obama among Hispanics during the primary; a former Democratic candidate for Virginia state delegate who endorsed Obama last fall in an op-ed in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star; and a Virginia businessman who was a donor to Obama's campaign in 2008." -- Washington Post, 3/27

49. Obama bows to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London.

50. "It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah." -- An Obama aide

51. DANA PERINO ON: REMAINING IN CAMPAIGN MODE

"Has it really only been 100 days? In many ways it feels like a lot longer.

"That's partly because the new administration remains in campaign mode most of the time. Now that's not in itself a bad thing if you can do that and accomplish your agenda. But what's happened is that a popular new president has laid out a very bold agenda in the midst of an economic crisis, and I don't think Congress is going to get a lot of work done on those big ticket items this year. They'll eke out a couple of small wins on issues like healthcare and maybe energy, but the Democrats will hail them as big victories. The Republicans have been working like a cohesive and loyal opposition party, and they need to continue to outline positive new ideas like the recent one to help grow American's savings.

"The early stumbles on the administration's high profile nominations -- Daschle and Richardson for just to examples -- acted like weights around their ankles. In addition, the partisan shots from the White House were unbecoming and I don't think we'll see more of that. Our allies and our enemies -- heck, even we ourselves -- are trying to understand the new foreign policy direction, which in some ways seems to be change just for the sake of change. The next moves by the leaders of other countries -- like Iran, North Korea and Venezuela -- probably will prove that really not much will change just because America has a new president.

"In many ways, it's the next 100 days that will tell us more about our new president and what he'll be able to accomplish than we can forecast based on the first 100 days."

-- Dana Perino was White House press secretary in the Bush Administration

52. "We can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary." -- Obama, describing the stimulus bill

53. Three candidates for ambassador to the Vatican -- including Caroline Kennedy -- were turned down by the Holy See because they supported abortion, according to reports.

54. After saying he wouldn't have lobbyists in his administration, Obama made 17 exceptions in the first two weeks in office.

55. . . . including Tom Daschle, who worked as a top lobbyist yet was going to be appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services -- until his failure to pay income taxes derailed his nomination.

56. For an April 14 speech at Georgetown, the administration asked the university to cover up all signs and symbols -- including the letters "IHS" in gold, a symbol for Jesus.

57. Samantha Power, who resigned from the Obama campaign after calling Hillary Rodham Clinton a "monster," was hired to a position on the National Security Council.

58. "Chicago has yet to recoup the $1.74 million cost of President Obama's victory celebration in Grant Park -- despite a burgeoning $50.5 million budget shortfall that threatens more layoffs and union concessions." -- Chicago Sun-Times, 2/20

59. Firing Rick Wagoner as president of GM.

60. Threatening to fire Vikram Pandit as CEO of Citigroup.

61. Threatening to fire anyone the administration doesn't like from any company.

62. Not adopting a dog from a shelter.

63. "The GAO study asserts that officials from most of the states surveyed 'expressed concerns regarding the lack of Recovery Act funding provided for accountability and oversight. Due to fiscal constraints, many states reported significant declines in the number of oversight staff -- limiting their ability to ensure proper implementation and management of Recovery Act funds.' " -- ABC News, 4/23

64. "The National Newspaper Publishers Association named Obama 'Newsmaker of the Year.' The president is to receive the award from the federation of black community newspapers in a White House ceremony this afternoon. The Obama White House has closed the press award ceremony to the press." -- Los Angeles Times, 3/20

65. "Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards." -- Attorney General Eric Holder

66. "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances." -- Obama, on consulting with only "living" presidents

67. Obama quietly announced that he would not press for new labor and environmental regulations in the North American Free Trade Agreement, going back on a campaign promise.

68. NICOLE GELINAS ON: MISSPENT STIMULUS

"One of Obama's most poignant missed opportunities was in not using the historic $787 million stimulus package to reorder state and local government's spending priorities. As states and cities continue to spend ceaselessly and without results on education and healthcare, they're crowding out investments in the physical infrastructure that the private sector needs to rebuild the economy.

"In the stimulus, of the more than $200 billion that went directly to states and cities, nearly 70% went to education and healthcare spending. Only 24% went to infrastructure spending.

"But the states and cities in the most trouble already spend way too much on education and healthcare, pushing taxes up and sending private industry away. They don't spend nearly enough on infrastructure, which attracts the private sector and builds the real economy.

"As David Walker, former comptroller general of the US, said at the Regional Plan Association's annual meeting a week ago, nationwide, we are the 'highest in the world' on education. We are 'the highest in the world' on healthcare. 'Nobody comes even close.' On infrastructure, by contrast, we are 'below average' in both critical new investments and in much-needed maintenance spending.

"And, as Democratic governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell said at the same conference, when President Dwight Eisenhower left office, infrastructure spending was about 12.5% of non-military domestic spending. Today, it's about 2.5%.

"This shortfall is obvious to anyone who's ridden on an "express train" to the outer boroughs or driven on the Cross Bronx Expressway recently. But in New York, as elsewhere, the stimulus money has just allowed the state to ramp up spending on its wasteful, inhumane Medicaid program and its nosebleed public-school spending.

"Meanwhile, the subways are about to crumble into oblivion -- taking the economy with them. The same is true of decaying infrastructure in California and in aging states across the nation.

"The stimulus was a once-in-a-generation chance to change this. Instead, it made the situation worse."

-- Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to City Journal

69. "The Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to overrule Michigan v. Jackson, the 1986 Supreme Court decision that held that if police may not interrogate a defendant after the right to counsel has attached, if the defendant has a lawyer or has requested a lawyer. This isn't the first time the Justice Department, under President Obama, has sought to limit defendants' rights." -- TalkLeft blog

70. "By any measure, my administration has inherited a fiscal disaster." -- Obama

71. "Ahh, see. I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled every time I come down here." -- Brushing off questions from the White House press corps

72. On Earth Day, Obama took two flights on Air Force One and four on Marine One to get to Iowa, burning more than 9,000 gallons of fuel.

73. "President Obama's plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs for the treatment of troops injured in service has infuriated veterans groups who say the government is morally obligated to pay for service-related medical care." -- Fox News, 3/17

74. "And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it." -- Obama during his first State Of The Union address. A German invented the automobile

75. RALPH PETERS ON: FUMBLING IN AFGHANISTAN, FAKING IT IN PAKISTAN

"We're squandering blood and treasure in Afghanistan. Instead of concentrating fiercely on the vital task of destroying al Qaeda and its friends, the Obama administration's determined to erect a modern nation where no nation exists. Afghanistan isn't a country. It's a dysfunctional reservation inhabited by tribes that hate each other. There's no 'Afghan' identity. And even if our blind-to-reality efforts succeeded perfectly, the result would be meaningless.

"Except as a target range where we can gun down terrorists, Afghanistan doesn't matter. Next door, Pakistan matters immensely. But we don't know what to do about it. With 170 million anti-American Muslims descending into chaos as Pashtuns, Baluchis, Punjabis, Sindhis and others claw each other over the country's shabby remains, Pakistan's corrupt president shrugs, its military cowers, its loathsome intelligence services collude with Islamist extremists, and the safety of its nuclear weapons grows doubtful.

"Pakistan may be this generation's chamber of horrors.

"The Obama administration's response? Drill more wells in the Afghan countryside. Dramatically reinforce our troops in Afghanistan, sticking them with an impossible mission of modernizing a pre-medieval landscape while exposing them at the end of an insecure 1,500-mile supply line through, of all places, Pakistan.

"As for Pakistan itself, the Obama administration wants to send billions of dollars to a thieving government that makes Nigeria's look like a Quaker meeting and to hand Pakistan's military more arms -- weapons that might soon be used against us.

"Pakistan was a bad idea when it was created in 1947. It's a worse one now. Afghanistan wasn't even an idea, just an accident of where other borders ended. We can't 'save' either one -- because neither wants to be saved on our terms.

"Obama said the right things -- that Afghanistan isn't Iraq and that our goal should be the destruction of al Qaeda. But his policies just regurgitate our Iraq strategy (one he opposed) in a profoundly different context, while ambitious generals echo Vietnam-era calls for more forces.

"Our troops will do whatever we ask, to the best of their magnificent abilities. But we should ask them to do things that make sense. We need creative strategic thought, but we're succumbing to sheer inertia. And the president's supporters who howled that we should abandon Iraq to concentrate on their candidate's 'good war' don't seem to be volunteering to do any fighting. Menwhle, our presient's trpped himself inside his own campaign promiseing, Vietnam!"

-- Ralph Peters is the author of "Looking for Trouble: Adventures in a BeW" 77. "President Obama failed to consult Congress, as promised, before carving out exceptions to the omnibus spending bill he signed into law -- breaking his own signing-statement rules two days after issuing them -- and raised questions among lawmakers and committees who say the president's objections are unclear at best and a power grab at worst." -- Washington Times, 3/24

78. Adolfo Carrion was confirmed as Director of White House Office of Urban Affairs, but is serving under a cloud after allegations that he accepted thousands of dollars in cash from developers whose projects he approved.

79. KYLE SMITH ON: GOING AFTER RUSH LIMBAUGH

"Every so often an unfocused athlete forgets about the field of play and climbs into the stands. Ty Cobb did it. Ron Artest did it. Maybe no one did it with more sick flir than the greasy, furious Hanson Brothers who, in 'Slap Shot,' climbed into the stands to give a beatdown to a fan.

"In March, Barack Obama sent his own personal Hanson Brothers, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and spokesman Robert Gibbs, out to attack a non-politician -- Rush Limbaugh -- who was sitting innocently in the stands jeering the action. Limbaugh didn't even throw a cup of beer.

"Senior White House staffers, who have already fallen into the classic trap of paying more attention to polls than fixing the country's problems, had become obsessed with surveys showing that Limbaugh was an unpopular figure with swing voters. Pretty soon Emanuel and Gibbs developed Limbaugh Tourette's. To paraphrase Joe Biden's witty putdown of Rudy Giuliani, for a few days every sentence they uttered contained three things: a subject, a verb and Rush Limbaugh.

"El Rushbo, chuckling over his cigar as his ratings skyrocketed, could not have been more pleased if a picture had emerged of Obama wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt and burning the American flag on Harvard Square. Even that portion of the public that doesn't like Rush squirmed at the embarrassing spectacle of the president's men going all Mean Girls on an entertainer. George W. Bush's spokesmen maintained a dignified silence about Michael Moore. Picture them fanning out over the Sunday talk shows to denounce, and drive up the box-office receipts of, 'Fahrenheit 9/11.' Wouldn't you have loved that, Michael?"

-- Kyle Smith is a Post columnist

80. Forced banks that didn't want TARP money to take it, then added on stipulations about pay and government control after the fact. Secretly forced Bank of America to buy Merrill Lynch, then allowed the bank to be criticized for overpaying.

81. "More than 90% of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States," Obama said in Mexico, yet factcheck.org says, "The figure represents only the percentage of crime guns that have been submitted by Mexican officials and traced by U.S. officials. We can find no hard data on the total number of guns actually 'recovered in Mexico,' but US and Mexican officials both say that Mexico recovers more guns that it submits for tracing. Therefore, the percentage of guns 'recovered' and traced to US sources necessarily is less than 90%."

82. Obama: "[Jim Owens, the CEO of Caterpillar, Inc.], said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off." Jim Owens: "I think realistically no. The truth is we're going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again."

83. "In America, there is a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive." -- Obama in Strasbourg, France

84. Joe Biden: "If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, if we stand up there and we really make the tough decisions, there's still a 30% chance we're going to get it wrong."

85. Joe Biden: "You all worked for change. You wanted to see change. Well, that wasn't a hard thing to try to communicate to the American people. Obviously, obviously, we needed a change almost no matter who was running."

86. Joe Biden: "You know, I'm embarrassed. Do you know the Web site number? I should have it in front of me and I don't. I'm actually embarrassed."

87. "There are more than 6.5 million trucks in the United States. The program Congress terminated allowed 97 Mexican trucks to roam among them. Ninety-seven! Shutting them out not only undermines NAFTA. It caused Mexico to retaliate with tariffs on 90 goods affecting $2.4 billion in U.S. trade coming out of 40 states." -- Charles Krauthammer, 3/20

88. DAVID M. DRUCKER ON: BOWING TO CONGRESS

"Although the president possesses enormous political capital -- both because of high approval ratings and because his administration is still in its infancy -- he has generally declined to exercise it with Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, including when it comes to crafting legislation key to moving his agenda forward.

"Rather he has allowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) to craft legislation as they see fit -- even though the very bills in question were proposed by the president and involve key planks in his agenda. Among them were Obama's signature $787 billion economic stimulus bill, his first major piece of legislation that was signed into law in February; and now health care reform, currently being negotiated on Capitol Hill with minimal input from the White House.

"This soft-pedal style of leadership runs the risk of forcing Obama to embrace legislation constructed for narrow partisan interests rather than in a manner capable of garnering broad bipartisan support. Over time, the public might come to see Obama's deference to Pelosi and Reid as a weakness of leadership not befitting a president in tough times."

-- David M. Drucker is a staff writer for Roll Call

89. "It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census, there are irresolvable conflicts for me." -- Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who became the second failed Commerce Secretary nominee

90. In the third sentence of his first speech as president, Obama said, "44 Americans have now taken the presidential oath." The correct number is 43, as Grover Cleveland served twice.

91. The $49 million inauguration -- triple what taxpayers spent at Bush's first inauguration.

92. Giving the Queen of England an iPod full of his own speeches.

93. Three prime-time briefings in his first 100 days, eating into television revenues and this Wednesday pre-empting "American Idol."

94. "The United States government has no interest in running GM. Your [GM] warranty will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it's ever been, because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warranty." -- Obama

95. GM is given $15.4 billion in loans from the government.

96. The Obama Administration is trying to scuttle a lawsuit filed in federal court against Iran by former US embassy hostages. The lawsuit alleges that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of the hostage-takers who interrogated the captives.

97. GLENN BECK ON: BAD ECONOMIC PREDICTIONS

"Ten days before his inauguration, the President's chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Rohmer, released a report describing what to expect economically during the first 100 days and beyond. It presented two starkly different scenarios: one good (if the stimulus were to be passed), and one terrifyingly bad (if we did nothing). Amazingly, the report estimated that if the stimulus package were to pass, the unemployment rate would not go above 8% at any time until at least 2014.

"It's already at 8.5%.

"In fact, while there is an acknowledged level of uncertainty, the projections estimated that the unemployment rate would be lower today if we had done nothing at all. This suggests one of two things: either the administration misjudged the seriousness of our economic problems, or the stimulus plan is actually making things worse. I suspect it's a little of both.

"Remember, when the President's budget was released, he was roundly criticized for his never ending deficits, even under his own optimistic scenarios for growth. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected deficits that were even uglier. But, if the President and his economic planners were this far off, this soon, how much worse does the future look now?

"The election was supposed to bring 'change,' but I was hoping for more than the letter after the President's name, the positivity of the media coverage, and the hypoallergenic qualities of the White House puppy. President Obama didn't get us into this situation, but so far he's doubling down on the same spending philosophy that did. Common sense tells us that new debt is not the cure for old debt. No matter what the slogans say, that won't change in 100 days or 100 years."

-- Glenn Beck is the host of the "Glenn Beck" show, weekdays at 5 p.m. on Fox News.

98. "Education Secretary Arne Duncan has decided not to admit any new students to the D.C. voucher program, which allows low-income children to attend private schools ... For all the talk about putting children first, it's clear that the special interests that have long opposed vouchers are getting their way." -- Washington Post, 4/11

99. Obama enrolled his daughters in a DC private school.

100. "Don't think we're not keeping score, brother." -- Obama to Rep. Peter DeFazio, after the Democratic congressman voted against the stimulus bill.

Due to an editing error, a portion of this piece originally was improperly credited to Sarah Palin, when it should have been attributed to Meghan Clyne.

Quand les Juifs tournent rond

Le Israël en guerre.


Le judaïsme souriant et familial dans la quiétude des Etats-Unis.


La communauté juive de France n'est pas très représentative de ce qu'elle peut être dans d'autres pays. Je me souviens d'un incident très révélateur voici près de quarante ans, quand je suis arrivé en France. Rencontrant un condisciple juif dans une université parisienne, je lui ai dit : « Je vois que vous êtes juif. De quelle communauté êtes-vous ?» J'étais curieux de savoir s'il appartenait à une famille originaire de Pologne, d'Allemagne, des Pays Baltes ou encore des Balkans. En réalité, j'étais à la recherche de Juifs sépharades parlant encore le ladino, cette variante archaïque de l'espagnol qui m'enchante.

A ma stupéfaction, l'intéressé au lieu de me répondre et profiter de ce prétexte pour faire connaissance, a froncé les sourcils et m'a tourné le dos. Quelques jours plus tard, rencontrant un compatriote juif, je lui ai raconté le face à face manqué et il m'a expliqué : « Les Juifs d'ici sont bizarres. Si un goy fait allusion à leur judaïté, ils le soupçonnent immédiatement d'antisémitisme. »

Depuis lors, la situation a évolué. Le judaïsme français est devenu plus visible et ne cherche plus à se cacher derrière son petit doigt. L'arrivée sur la scène publique de nouvelles générations issues du judaïsme d'Afrique du Nord a secoué les vieilles habitudes.

Un blog vous aide à découvrir l'univers du disque vinyl juif aux Etats-Unis.

Hélas, à cette visibilité enfin assumée correspond des défis nouveaux, notamment la montée d'un antisémitisme musulman décomplexé contre lequel les Juifs de France sont désarmés.

Malheureusement, une des causes de cette vulnérabilité de la communauté juive face aux nouvelles formes d'antisémitisme réside en son sein. Il est encore des personnalités intellectuelles et politiques juives très en vue qui refusent de prendre en compte les changement de la société française. Au lieu d'accepter que leurs idées depuis trente ans sont en partie responsables de la situation actuelle, ils persistent à lutter contre un danger d'extrême droite imaginaire.

Pour ne pas sombrer dans le pessimisme le plus sombre, prenons le temps de sourire avec l'exposition organisée par le musée juif contemporain de San Francisco sur l'histoire de la communauté juive des Etats-Unis à travers les couvertures de ses diques.


Au départ de cette exposition, le goût des conservateurs pour les couvertures kitsch des disques de musique juive. Ce qui a commencé avec Neil Diamond et sa poitrine velue sur son album Hot August Night ou Barbra Streisand sur Streisand Superman s'est transformé en une véritable quête identitaire..

What started out as a mutual affinity for kitschy Jewish album covers-think Neil Diamond baring his chest hair on the cover of Hot August Night or Barbra Streisand in hot pants on the cover of Streisand Superman-soon became a quest for identity, history, and culture between the grooves of LPs.

Together, guest curators Roger Bennett and Josh Kun embarked on a thrilling journey, scouring the world to collect thousands of vinyl LPs from attics, garage sales, and dusty archives. Pieced together, these scratched, once-loved and now-forgotten audio gems tell a vibrant tale: the story of Jews in America.

Les conservateurs Roger Bennett et Josh Kun ont parouru le monde pour collecter des milliers de disques vinyl. Grâce à ce puzzle, ils ont été en mesure de reconstituer une ipmage originale de la vie juive en Amérique.

Jews on Vinyl is a unique exhibition based on their new book: And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl: The Jewish Past as Told by the Records We Have Loved and Lost, which spans the history of Jewish recorded music from the 1940s to the 1980s, weaving an account that begins with sacred songs and ends with the holy trinity of Neil, Barbra, and Barry.

The exhibition features a soundtrack of highlights from these LPs to provide opportunities for Museum visitors to experience forgotten moments in Jewish American pop history. Much of the music is no longer available in any format and through this exhibition, audiences will have the unprecedented opportunity to explore new perspectives on Jewish identity and history through this exciting aspect of Jewish culture.

Des milliers de disques aux couvertures parfois improbables.

Guest curated by Roger Bennett and Josh Kun. They are the creators of trailofourvinyl.com and co-founders of Reboot Stereophonic, a nonprofit record label dedicated to rereleasing lost classics from the Jewish past.

Pour savoir qui est cette dame, il faut se reporter au livre des deux conservateurs : And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl: The Jewish Past as Told by the Records We Have Loved and Lost, qui étudie la musique juive des années 1940 à la fin du XXe siècle.


Roger Bennett is a board member of the Academy of the Recent Past (academyof thererecentpast.com) and the co-creator of Bar Mitzvah Disco and Camp Camp: Where Fantasy Island Meets Lord of the Flies.

Josh Kun is associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America and a contributor to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Les deux auteurs ont fondé Reboot Stereophonic une maison de disques pour remettre en circulation les meilleures productions sur vinyl.

mardi 28 avril 2009

Carlos en vrai et en faux

A gauche, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, alias Carlos. A droite, son compatriote Edgar Ramirez qui va incarner son personnage à l'écran.


Le combattant communiste Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, alias Carlos, va faire prochainement faire l'objet d'une fiction financée en partie par Canal+.

Exercice bien difficile que celui de simplifier pour les besoins du petit écran l'itinéraire complexe d'un homme qui s'est engagé dans sa jeunesse pour un « grand soir » mondial et qui se bat désormais pour défendre les opprimés contre un nouvel ordre mondial « libéral et sioniste ».

Carlos. Méchant.

Ce film n'a que peu de chances de réussir car il est difficile dans notre société de porter un regard empathique à un homme qui conteste les valeurs fondamentales sur lesquelles fonctionne notre société occidentale.

Il est plus facile à un cinéaste de peindre un portrait humanisé d'un assassin sanguinaire comme Charles Manson de sinistre mémoire que faire de même à l'égard d'un homme aussi dérangeant que Carlos.

Charles Manson. Gentil.


Notre société ne craint pas les comiques comme Olivier Besancenot qui non seulement ne la mettent pas en danger mais qui confortent son système de valeurs.

Le Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste conforte le système des valeurs de la société qu'il prétend combattre.

Notre société craint par dessus tout l'expression des idées dissidentes qui contestent directement ou indirectement le consensus sur lequel se sont bâties les sociétés vaincues de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

Voici un article de TV Magazine consacré à cette affaire avec un intéressant entretien avec Carlos.

Exclusif - Carlos : l'interview choc



Le tournage d'une fiction en trois parties inspirée de la vie d'Ilich Ramírez Sanchez, alias Carlos, vient de débuter pour Canal+. TV Magazine a recueilli la réaction du terroriste incarcéré à la centrale de Poissy après avoir été condamné à la réclusion criminelle à perpétuité. Un entretien exclusif

Canal+ et la société Film en Stock produisent une fiction à partir de votre trajectoire. Avez-vous été contacté par les producteurs ?
Carlos : J'ai été informé par la voie des médias. La moindre des choses aurait été de me contacter, c'est d'abord une question de politesse. Deuxièmement, si l'on a un minimum de respect pour la vérité historique, cela s'imposait.

Peut-être se méfient-ils justement de votre propre interprétation ?
Il faut séparer deux choses. Il existe des faits incontournables, par exemple combien de grenades, de pistolets ou de fusils M. X portait ce jour-là. J'ai vu l'an dernier la version castillane d'un documentaire d'Al-Jazira, qui n'était évidemment pas en ma faveur, mais qui suivait plus ou moins la vérité, tout en commettant des erreurs qu'il aurait été facile de corriger, car il existe des faits sur lesquels tout le monde est d'accord.

Le comédien choisi est vénézuelien et porte le même nom que vous. Connaissiez-vous Édgar Ramírez ?
Non, j'ai appris son existence à cette occasion. Mais, étant originaire d'une région proche de la famille de mon père et de ma mère, il doit être un parent lointain. En tout cas, à Caracas, il a parlé avec mon petit frère et lui a laissé l'impression d'un type sympathique. Ils se sont vus au sujet de ce film via son amie, qui connaissait l'une de nos camarades... Notre famille était de bonne volonté pour apporter des informations sur mon enfance, mais j'imagine que ce comédien a été interdit de contacts. Je pense que ce film sera une œuvre de propagande et que les intentions du producteur Daniel Leconte sont mauvaises. Je ne m'attends à rien de bon. Pourtant, le réalisateur Olivier Assayas, que je ne connais pas, a la réputation d'un grand professionnel qui semble attaché à la vérité.

La vérité factuelle...
Oui, justement. Un de mes avocats [Me Coutant-Peyre] a contacté de bonne foi Canal+ et il aurait été logique qu'ils acceptent des informations de notre part.

Que diriez-vous au comédien qui incarne votre personnage ?
Qu'il vienne me voir, via l'ambassade du Venezuela, pourquoi pas ? Nous pourrions parler de la famille, issue de Lobatera, notre région depuis quatre siècles. Mais les acteurs sont des acteurs, pas des décideurs.

Physiquement, trouvez-vous qu'il vous ressemble ?
Il y a quelques similitudes, peut-être dues à nos origines, les Andes vénézueliennes, mais je ne dirais pas qu'il me ressemble.

Si vous aviez été associé à l'écriture du scénario, auriez-vous réclamé de l'argent ?
J'imagine que les scénaristes, même s'ils n'ont rien demandé, sont payés d'office et plutôt bien payés, n'est-ce pas ? Mais ce n'est pas seulement une question d'argent, même s'il s'agit d'une production importante dotée de certains moyens.
Auriez-vous été attentif à la manière dont le film sera perçu par les familles des victimes ? [Carlos a été condamné à la réclusion criminelle à perpétuité pour un triple meurtre.]
Évidemment et pour au moins deux raisons. D'abord, les familles des victimes ne sont pour rien dans une histoire qui les dépasse. L'épouse qui perd son mari, la mère qui perd son fils, les enfants qui perdent leur père... Il faut respecter ces gens-là. Mais le plus important, si l'on voulait vraiment les respecter, serait d'enlever le voile de mensonges qui entoure l'affaire de la rue Toullier [le triple meurtre pour lequel Carlos a été condamné]. Cette affaire est une catastrophe et je suis obligé de réaffirmer que mon implication personnelle n'a pas été prouvée.

Qu'allez-vous décider ?
Je ne sais pas. Je vais voir avec mes conseillers. Nous ferons peut-être quelque chose de similaire dans un pays ami qui a les moyens. Eux auront accès à des informations que les manipulateurs n'auront pas.

Quelles sont les œuvres que vous estimez de référence vous concernant ?
Il y a eu une bonne dizaine de films sur le sujet, mais le plus sérieux que j'ai pu voir est celui d'Al-Jazira. Deux livres ont été publiés, notamment celui de John Follain [Jackal], dans lequel la moitié des choses écrites sont vraies.


Pour connaître la pensée de Carlos, il est bon de lire :

L'islam révolutionnaire

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, dit Carlos

(avec Jean-Michel Vernochet)

Monaco, Editions du Rocher, 2003 (274 p.)

jeudi 23 avril 2009

Ras le bol d'Adolf

Le fermier britannique Derek Gow avec ses aurochs.

Hier la presse britannique a consacré des pages et des pages aux « super vaches aryennes » voulues par Hitler pour dominer le monde des desserts lactés et qui se retrouver à paître paisiblement dans des prairies anglaises. Aujourd'hui, ce sont des lettres d'un prisonnier anglais, retrouvées par hasard, qui se font un chemin vers la une de la presse populaire.

Il est fascinant de constater que plus d'un demi-siècle après la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le régime hitlérien continue de fasciner ceux qui l'ont vaincu en dépit de sa diabolisation absolue.

Qu'en serait-il si dans nombre de pays, comme la France, des lois nombreuses ne venaient pas freiner cette fascination morbide au prix d'une sérieuse atteinte aux principes de la liberté d'expression et des droits individuels ?

Faute de considérer l'Allemagne hitlérienne comme un sujet d'étude comme peut l'être le régime stalinien, ces quelques années de l'histoire européenne vont rester l'objet d'une fascination démesurée et absurde.

Il est normal de critiquer et dénoncer ces marginaux qui se réclament des symboles du régime déchu pour symboliser leur refus du monde actuel. Mais il faut bien prendre conscience qu'ils sont le reflet en négatif de ceux qui se servent du même régime pour diaboliser tous ceux qui ne pensent pas comme eux, c'est la fameuse « reductio ad hitlerum ».

J'ai été fasciné, voici quelques années, par une jeune étudiante qui dans un mémoire d'histoire sur la Seconde Guerre mondiale avait écrit dans sa bibliographie la note suivante accompagnant Mein Kampf, le best-seller de Hitler :

« Cet ouvrage, qui fut à partir de 1933 le livre par excellence du national-socialisme, a été utilisé avec précaution et dans le seul but de démontrer le racisme de Hitler ».

Ces quelques mots résument une attitude qui n'a rien d'historique mais qui s'aventure dans le religieux.

La journaliste britannique Tanya Gold publie un article d'humeur ce matin dans les colonnes du Guardian dans lequel elle s'insurge contre cette victoire posthume d'Adolf Hitler et de sa troupe de bras cassés.


Nazi cows, Nazi cats, actors playing depressed Nazis. It's all just Hitler porn and it disgusts me

There was story in the newspapers yesterday about Nazi cows. Yes. Nazi cows. As opposed to Maoist cows. There is a breed of cattle, formerly extinct, that Hitler apparently wanted to revive because it has significance in Teutonic myth. It was his favourite cow - an über-cow, as opposed to an ünter-cow - and it needed to be given a Liebenshed. And now one has been found living in Devon. According to one newspaper, this cow is "a symbol of the Nazi vision for world domination". There was also a story in the papers yesterday about Coco Chanel's collaboration with the Nazis, after they invaded her shop in 1940, possibly looking for non-Aryan dresses.
At the weekend I went to the cinema. I sat and sucked Minstrels, and watched Good, a film about a depressed Nazi, played by Viggo Mortensen. He ponced around in a Swastika tiepin, looking wracked and smiling at Goebbels. This came a few months after The Reader, when I sat and sucked Minstrels, and watched another film about a depressed Nazi, played by Kate Winslet. This comes a few months after Valkyrie, which was also a film about a depressed Nazi, played by Tom Cruise. He tried to kill Hitler with leather goods, and failed. The briefcase exploded, but the tyrant lived on.

I could go on. I could fill your eyes and ears with Nazi tat, culture and non-stories, until you turn black and white and red and go and invade Poland. I could go all the way to Moscow without passing Go and without collecting 200 stolen Rembrandts. I could tell you about the Cats Who Look Like Hitler web page - "click here to add your Kitler". I could tell you about Norman Mailer's The Castle in the Forest, which featured Hitler's disgusting adolescence.

Hitler has guest-starred in South Park, The Twilight Zone, Red Dwarf, Monty Python and The Simpsons. He has appeared in a sitcom called Heil Honey I'm Home! (Not my exclamation mark.) He appears in a videogame called Snoopy Versus the Red Baron and a comic called the New Adventures of Hitler. In novels he has lived in a cage under the Kremlin and tried to clone himself. Salvador Dalí painted Hitler Masturbating. In the film Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, he escapes from hell. Am I living inside Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn?

This disgusts me. It makes me wretch. I thought the whole point of the second world war was to eradicate Nazism from the face of the earth. No more swastikas, no more shiny boots, no more dwarf narcissists giving vegetarian dinner parties and shooting liberals. It was supposed to be over in 1945. But we seem to have a new kind of Nazi domination - a cultural domination - and it's silly. There is no point to it: it exists just for itself. And it turns our eyes from the evils that we should be noticing today. It is a big dressing-up box, full of distraction.

So I have Nazi ennui. Hitler fatigue. I have seen them all - Derek Jacobi as Hitler, David Bamber as Hitler, Zippy from Rainbow as Hitler. Sometimes I lie in bed and imagine actors' agents having conversations: "Could Tom Hollander do Goebbels? He looks like Goebbels. Is Eric Bana too handsome for Albert Speer?" I feel as if I am living in a Nazi-themed Saturday-night jaunt - a sort of militarised version of Dynasty, with Hitler as Alexis and Himmler as Sammy Jo. Why can't Adolf stay where he belongs, under a car park in Berlin, his bones staring sightlessly upwards into a Skoda?

There is a point to all this Hitler porn, you may say. Snoopy Versus the Red Baron has a valuable lesson to teach us about tyranny. Cats Who Look Like Hitler have something to meow about the dangers of genocide. Bollocks, I say. There are genocides happening today, and they are being shot off the front pages by Nazi cows - Nazi cows! - and interviews with Mortensen talking about playing a depressed Nazi: "I spent a lot of time in Germany just looking at people." Really? Five million have died in the Congo in the last 10 years, in a war for the minerals that we use. And Heil Honey I'm Home! has nothing to say about that.

I appreciate the superb culture about Nazism - the history books, the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, the films The Pawnbroker and Judgement at Nuremberg, even Schlindler's List - although I hate the redemptive ending. But particularly since Life is Beautiful, the cinematic love story set against the backdrop of the Holocaust, Nazi-inspired culture has got bigger, and more stupid. Bill Nighy as a Nazi general in Valkyrie? Who will be next? I close my eyes and I know that we now face the terrifying prospect of Kylie Minogue as Eva Braun.

I don't need Tom Cruise in an eye-patch to teach me about humanity and I certainly don't need to see Winslet naked, or Mortensen being intimately caressed in his SS uniform to learn about the perils of tyranny. I own a copy of Sins, a 1986 Joan Collins mini-series about a businesswoman hounded by a Nazi, played by Steven Berkoff. (He didn't play Hitler but the performance was in homage to him - he marched like a broken Action Man doll.) I was a teenager when I first saw it, but I still knew that Sins was not designed to give me a warning from history. It is designed to thrill me by showing me pictures of Collins in a gold dress being chased round Venice by a Nazi in a gondola.

• This week Tanya watched Hug a Hoodie: "A 2007 pornographic movie inspired by David Cameron." Tanya also watched In the Night Garden: "I noticed the astonishing resemblance between Iggle Piggle and David Cameron. I dreamed about David Cameron. I will vote for Gordon Brown."

dimanche 19 avril 2009

Protéger les archives


















Attention : tirer sur les émeutiers, pas sur les archivistes !


La police semble davantage en mesure de protéger le futur bâtiment des archives de son turbulent voisinage que je ne l'avais escompté.

Le blog spécialisé Le Mamouth rend compte des efforts des forces de l'ordre pour faire face à une éventuelle intifada à la française.

Les mensonges du Daily Mail

Brit'Mag, un magazine que les Français peuvent lire aussi !

Les Anglais, comme toute grande nation, sont très fiers de l’histoire et, dans les temps difficiles, ils aiment s’y raccrocher. La presse populaire illustre bien cette tendance en accordant dans ses colonnes beaucoup d’importance aux grandes heures du pays, avec un plaisir tout particulier quand il s’agit de villipender les Allemands ou ridiculiser les Français, ces Cheese-eating surrender monkeys. Très récemment, le magazine Brit'Mag, très lu par les Anglais qui vivent en France, a publié un article sur les ravages de la presse populaire anglaise quand il s'agit de traiter l'histoire. En voici une traduction rapide.

A
u mois de décembre dernier, j’ai été frappé une fois de plus par les articles que le Daily Mail, probablement un des quotidiens britanniques les plus francophobes. D’habitude, je suis frappé par leur insistance à rappeler le moindre événement lié à la Seconde Guerre mondiale, our finest Hour à tout propos.


Les journalistes britanniques réduisent l’histoire militaire de la France à Trafalgar, Waterloo et à la défaite de 1940, quand la France a été contrainte de demander l’armistice. C’est de bonne guerre de rappeler aux Français des moments de leur histoire qu’ils n’aiment guère. Ils pourraient tout autant rappeler la bataille de Blenheim ou le duc de Marlborough joua un grand rôle en 1704 dans une des plus grandes défaites françaises de l’histoire.

Ce qui frappe le plus à la lecture de la presse populaire britannique quand elle s’intéresse à l’histoire est son chauvinisme et son ignorance. Toujours prête à rappler aux français, ces ces Cheese-eating surrender monkeys que les Allemands les ont battus à plate couture en 1940, sans préciser à leurs lecteurs que les Français ont eu 100 000 tués en 45 jours (70000 pour les Anglais) et que, sans le canal de Manche, les allemands auraient défilé à Londres comme ils l’ont fait à Paris.

Au mois de décembre un article du Daily Mail consacré au RMS Lusitania illustre bien les défauts de ce journalisme bon marché dont sont si friands les Britanniques.

Au départ : une information intéressante. Des plongeurs envoyés par le millardaire Gregg Bemis explorer l’épave du Lusitania au large des côtes irlandaises ont rapporté avoir découvert des caisses de munitions et ont profité de l’opportunité pour tenter de réécrire une page de l’histoire.

Sans aucun esprit critique, ils reprennent les déclarations du milliardaire américain qui est convaincu que la présence des munitions à bord du paquebot prouve je ne sais quel complot anglais pour forcer l’Amérique à entrer en guerre. En voici quelques exemples :

Those four million rounds of .303s were not just some private hunter's stash.
Now that we've found it, the British can't deny any more that there
was ammunition on board. That raises the question of what else was
on board.

There were literally tons and tons of stuff stored in unrefrigerated
cargo holds that were dubiously marked cheese, butter and oysters.
'I've always felt there were some significant high explosives in the
holds - shells, powder, gun cotton - that were set off by the torpedo
and the inflow of water. That's what sank the ship.


L'histoire du Lusitania méritait mieux que le gribouillage du Daily Mail. Voici un court rappel des faits.

Lancés par la compagnie Cunard en 1906 pour concurrencer les nouveaux paquebots allemands en service sur l’Atlantique nord, le Lusitania et son jumeau le Mauretania ont bénéficié d’un financement avantageux du gouvernement britannique et de généreuses subventions annuelles. En échange, l’armateur s’engage en cas de conflit à mettre les deux navires à la disposition de la Royal Navy pour leur transformation en croiseurs auxiliaires.

Mis en service en septembre 1907, dès le mois suivant le Lusitania s’empare, à 25 nœuds de moyenne, du ruban bleu qu’il conservera deux ans avant de le céder au Mauretania. Après la déclaration de guerre, l’Amirauté renonce à mobiliser le Lusitania, trop grand et trop coûteux à entretenir. A pleine vitesse, ses chaudières consomment mille tonnes de charbon par jour !
En dépit des hostilités, le bâtiment poursuit ses traversées sous les couleurs de la Cunard alors que le Mauretania devient un transport de troupes. Toutefois, pour réduire les coûts, l’armateur désactive six chaudières et réduit la vitesse maximale à 21 nœuds.

En février 1915, quand l’Allemagne déclare les eaux britanniques zone de guerre, des citoyens américains d’origine germanique obtiennent de l’ambassade du Reich à Washington qu’elle publie des avis prévenant les Américains désireux de se rendre en Europe de ne pas emprunter de paquebots de puissances ennemies de l’Allemagne.

En dehors de quelques passagers qui changent d’avis et renoncent à partir, le Lusitania prend la mer le 1er mai 1915 comme prévu et la traversée de l’Atlantique se déroule sans incident.
En approchant de l’Irlande, le commandant Turner, le nouveau pacha (il remplace le célèbre William Turner qui, le mois précédent, a fait savoir à la Cunard qu’il ne voulait plus prendre la responsabilité de passagers en zone de guerre), reçoit des messages répétés de l’Amirauté le prévenant de la présence de sous-marins ennemis et l’enjoignant de s’éloigner des côtes et de naviguer à pleine vapeur. Le 7 mai, contrevenant aux instructions impératives de la Marine, le commandant se rapproche pourtant des côtes pour relever sa position et réduit sa vitesse pour entrer à Liverpool avec la marée. La conjonction de ces deux négligences va se révéler fatale.
Le même jour, alors que lU-20 achève sa patrouille en mer d’Irlande et fait route vers sa base, la vigie aperçoit une fumée à l’horizon. Le commandant ordonne de plonger afin de se mettre en position de lancement. A 14 h 10 un torpille frappe le Lusitania à tribord, en arrière de la passerelle. La première explosion est suivie par une seconde qui précipite la fin du paquebot. Cette mystérieuse déflagration a suscité depuis lors une vaste littérature conspirationniste peu convaincante.

Pour des raisons mal éclaircies, l’eau envahit très rapidement les compartiments tribord et le Lusitania prend une gîte prononcée, interdisant la mise à l’eau de 42 des 48 chaloupes de sauvetage. Dix-huit minutes seulement après l’impact, le navire disparaît de la surface des flots à 8 milles au large du cap d’Old Head, près de Kinsale, entraînant dans les fonds 1 198 personnes dont 128 Américains.

Le président Wilson réagit vigoureusement à la nouvelle de la mort de ses compatriotes sans pour autant engager son pays dans une confrontation autre que diplomatique avec l’Allemagne. Mais après ce torpillage, l’opinion publique américaine commence résolument à pencher du côté des pays de l’Entente. Ce mouvement est encouragé par une presse majoritairement acquise aux intérêts financiers, massivement engagés aux côtés du Royaume-Uni et de la France. Autre victime collatérale du torpillage, le secrétaire d’État William Jennings Bryan démissionne le 9 juin 1915 car il désapprouve l’évolution belliciste du président.

Les Allemands étaient-ils en droit de couler ce navire ?

L’armateur a embarqué en toute légalité une cargaison de 1 500 t, en majorité à finalité militaire (dont des feuilles et du fil de cuivre ainsi qu’un chargement de cartouches de fusil et d’obus à balles), qui est détaillée sur le manifeste déposé auprès des autorités américains et publié intégralement par la presse dès le lendemain du torpillage. En revanche, on ne trouve nulle trace d’explosifs dans la cargaison. Des auteurs avancent pourtant l’hypothèse de la présence de 600 t de pyroxyline (coton-poudre) qui auraient été inscrites dans le manifeste au titre de « fourrures » ou de « fromage » pour expliquer la seconde explosion ayant secoué le navire. Mais non seulement les soutes d’un paquebot ne sont pas adaptées pour contenir de type de marchandises mais l’exploration visuelle de l’épave par des plongeurs n’a pas permis de déceler de traces de cette explosion.

Selon le droit international en vigueur à l’époque, le fait de transporter des munitions ne modifie en rien le statut de navire marchand du Lusitania. Le commandant du sous-marin ennemi est tenu de donner l’opportunité à l’équipage et aux passagers d’évacuer le navire avant de le couler.

En revanche, aux yeux de la réglementation britannique en vigueur en 1915, les marchandises embarquées à bord du Lusitania rentrent dans la catégorie de la « contrebande de guerre » et font du navire un forceur de blocus contre lequel une action militaire sans avertissement est licite.

En outre, les Allemands ont connaissance des ordres de l’Amirauté britannique enjoignant les cargos à résister et à éperonner le sous-marin qui, respectant le droit international, ferait surface auprès du cargo pour vérifier sa nationalité et le couler le cas échéant, après avoir donné le temps à l’équipage et aux passagers d’évacuer.

Pour les Allemands, le paquebot non seulement se trouve dans une zone de guerre où tout navire ennemi peut être attaqué, mais les nouvelles règles anglaises dispensent désormais les sous-marins de tout avertissement préalable.

Les Anglais ont-ils délibérément mis en danger le Lusitania ?

Certains auteurs ont accusé le premier lord de l’Amirauté Winston Churchill d’avoir guidé délibérément le navire vers des sous-marins allemands en embuscade au large de l’Irlande, parfaitement identifiés et repérés par le service d’écoutes britannique. Le but de la manœuvre étant de provoquer la mort de citoyens américains et de conduire les Etats-Unis à déclarer la guerre à l’Allemagne. Rien ne vient appuyer cette théorie fumeuse fabriquée en manipulant les faits ou en inventant des témoignages. Bien au contraire, la lecture de la correspondance diplomatique britannique révèle qu’au printemps 1915 les Anglais souhaitent le maintien de la neutralité américaine.