For the reading file

A few days ago I read 'The Israel Lobby', the essay from about a month ago by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt that's been the subject of much talk in academia and over in Europe and Israel and what not (not so much in the mainstream US media, with the notable exception of the Boston Globe).

These guys are two very mainstream/establishment political scientists. Realists. And though there are lots of problems, it is, at least to some extent, a big deal that they're now saying this. It's a good read that I highly recommend if you have a rainy afternoon or whatever. And the responses by Hitchens and Chomsky are cruc. ("CROOSH")

The article as published in the London Review of Books.

The full, slightly longer version of the piece.

Critique by Hitchens.

Critique by Chomsky.

There are also lots of letters in response linked at the bottom of the LRB article, too, and apparently there's tons in the Israeli press..