Defense Stocks and ESG Investing

For the most part ESG investors eschew defense stocks. They view defense contractors as producing weapons that kill people and are destructive to the environment. That is true, but ESG investors ignore the very impotant fact that defense contractors produce the tools that are so necessary to defend freedom and democracy. Were it not for anti-tank Javelins, anti-aircraft missiles, drones and basic military hardware, where would be the defense of Ukraine be today?

In my mind ESG investors ignore the fact that their freedom to invest where they see fit rests on the power and might of the U.S. military. Thus ESG investors should get out of their smug cocooons and recognize the world as it is and thereby open up their minds to defense stocks.

My Amazon Review of Bari Weiss' "How to Fight Anti-Semitism"

It is Our Fight

New York Times columnist Bari Weiss has written an important book about the resurgence of anti-Semitism in America and Europe. After finishing her book yesterday I attended a meeting at my synagogue to discuss security preparations for the upcoming High Holy Day services. Yes, this is the messed up world we live in.

Weiss distinguishes between the anti-Semitism of the Right from the anti-Semitism of the Left. To me the alt-Right doesn’t want me to live in America and the progressive Left doesn’t want me to live in Israel. So where am I to live? I also would make the distinction between low frequency-high severity incidents like the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh where Weiss became a Bat Mitzvah and the high frequency-low severity attacks on Orthodox Jews in New York City and Europe. The former are performed by right win extremists while the latter are performed largely by African Americans in America and Islamists in Europe. Because they are not done by stereotypical right wingers, these high frequency attacks make the Jews who worship at the altar of secular liberalism very uncomfortable. Weiss notes that half the reported hate crimes in America are against Jews or Jewish facilities.

Before I get criticized for using the term “Islamist” I would note the experience of the former Somali refugee and Dutch Parliamentarian, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I had the privilege of meeting her several years ago. She grew up in Somalia and Kenya and from the get go she was taught to hate Israel and the Jews. It took a number of years in the West to learn the error of thinking. Thus it is no surprise that recent immigrants to Europe are involved in anti-Semitic attacks.  

Perhaps most insidious is the rise of institutional anti-Semitism in academia and in the precincts of the progressive Left. Unlike the extreme Right that has been given new life under Trump, the anti-Semitic left is closer to power in the Democratic Party and it has taken over the Labour Party in the U.K..  In their world Jews are part of the white power structure and the view demonizes Israel as oppressors of the Palestinians. So great is their hatred of democratic Israel is that they view worldwide Jewry as their enemy. To be sure one can have and does have political differences with Israel, but that is a far cry from calling for the destruction of the Jewish State as BDS does.

Weiss’ solution in a nutshell is not so much to argue with the anti-Semites of the world, but rather to live our lives as proud Jews and stand strong in support of the State of Israel. Note I used the word state, not government; on that point we can disagree. Remember we are no longer the cowering Jews of 1930s Europe and 1880s Russia.

My criticism of Weiss’ book is that it seemed very rushed and in many respects had the aspects of a long magazine article. Further footnotes and a bibliography would have helped. I am a geek for sources. Nevertheless Weiss’ book should be read by Jew and non-Jew alike because as she notes anti-Semitism is a symptom of a very real disease in our democracy.

The full Amazon URL appears at: https://www.amazon.com/review/R3TQ65B69CJTE6/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

My Amazon Review of Richard J. Evans' "The Pursuit of Power: Europe, 1815-1914"

The European Century

The distinguished Oxford Historian Richard Evans has given us a kaleidoscopic view of European civilization during the century it came to dominate the globe. A reader will learn a lot by going through this very long book (848 pages in the print edition without footnotes or endnotes.) In my opinion too long for the average lay reader. Evans offers us a bottom-up socio-political history where the focus is more on the average citizen and culture than the political elite.

In essence Evans discusses how Europe came to terms with the political earthquakes brought about by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars and the industrial revolution. In 1815 the so called Concert of Europe is brought into being by Metternich as a conservative reaction to the French Revolution. That framework largely keeps the peace until 1848.  Nevertheless the ideas of the French Revolution bubble up and gradually work to democratize European society as the franchise is extended to more and more people. He highlights the conflict between the liberal reformers in the bourgeoisie and their more democratic counterparts whose visions extend to feminism and socialism.

Along the way nationalism becomes the most powerful force in Europe as Italy and Germany unify and the minorities within the decaying Austrian and Ottoman Empires revolt. It is those revolts that light the match that starts World War I.

Nationalism also becomes the motivating force in the establishment of European colonial empires in Asia and Africa. Territory abroad yielded political prestige home. The power of nationalism proves itself in 1914 when the previously anti-war socialist parties all vote for war credits in their respective nations.

All told The Pursuit of Power is well worth the read, but it will take a patient lay reader to get through it all.

The full Amazon URL appears at: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1QBMCP030IDI0/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv