Dan Senor (1971- ) is one of Mitt Romney’s top foreign policy advisers. He was brought up through the ranks by neocon Bill Kristol. If Romney wins the 2012 election, Senor could become his national security adviser or deputy chief of staff. He is married to CNN reporter (and senator’s daughter) Campbell Brown.
Like many neocons (right-wing imperialists) he grew up Jewish and Democratic.
In 2009 he founded the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), a think tank, with Bill Kristol and Eric Edelman. FPI believes in using American military power to shape the Middle East. It has supported:
- sending more troops to Afghanistan
- keeping 20,000 troops in Iraq
- a military strike against Iran or overthrowing its government
- American forces entering the Syrian civil war
it is against:
- cuts to the military
- leaving Afghanistan by 2014.
Senor’s mother and grandmother hid from the Nazis in what is now Slovakia and later fled the Soviets. His grandfather was not so fortunate: he was sent to die at Auschwitz.
His sister is the head of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) in Israel. She has the telephone number and ear of the top people in the Israeli government. Senor himself used to work for AIPAC.
Lately he has been working for Paul Singer, vulture capitalist on Wall Street and backer of Bush and Romney. (In 2011 Singer paid reporters to bad mouth the Occupy movement.)
He knows Paul Ryan from back in the 1990s when they both worked for senators. In 2012 he helped Ryan prepare for the vice presidential debate and has advised him on the campaign trail.
Senor has a Harvard business degree and made his fortune on Wall Street. From 2001 to 2003 he worked for the Carlyle Group, one of the two largest private equity firms in the world. They have put billions into the defence industry, profiting from war. Both the Bush and Bin Laden families have had ties to it.
From 2003 to 2004 Senor was the spokesman for the American occupation of Iraq – even though he knew no Arabic or much about Iraq. He is why the occupation seemed to go well at first. But, as he once told reporters in Iraq:
Well, off the record, Paris is burning. But on the record, security and stability are returning to Iraq.
In 2005 he started working for Fox News, where, like Bill Kristol, he has appeared as a talking head.
In 2006 he started talking to Mitt Romney and has had his ear ever since. He has helped to smooth the way for Romney with the Israeli government, the neocons and Jewish American voters.
In 2009 he wrote “Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle” with Saul Singer (no relation of Paul Singer). The said miracle, they argued, is caused by Israeli culture and not, say, the billions America pours into Israel. Senor says that likewise the lack of Palestinian success is also caused by culture and not, say, the Israeli occupation. Romney, a fan of the book, agrees – and consequently was called a racist by Palestinians during his visit to Israel in July 2012.
– Abagond, 2012.
See also:
- Foreign Policy Institute
- Tablet: Romney’s Jewish Connector – excellent profile
- The ThinkProgress run-down on Senor
- Horses and bayonets: The third Obama-Romney 2012 presidential debate – the foreign policy debate
- The 2012 Biden-Ryan vice presidential debate – Senor helped Ryan prepare for this
- Paul Ryan
- Mitt Romney
- Romney 2012
- Israel
- Jews
- American Empire
- Fox News
I stopped reading at “neo-con”: a bunch of twerps with too much privilege and access to power who are way past due for a prison sentence (at the least). Of course, it doesn’t help when so-called voters keep placing them on pedestals…O_o
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it is always useful to understand how essentially colonialist and imperialist positions can be sold to people if you have a reasonable face to put out front.
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I’ve learned four things:
1. I’ve found one piece of the puzzle of why America supports Israel.
2. Part of the reason why we went to war in Iraq.
3. War is a multi-billion dollar business that America loves.
4. Neo-cons are Neo-con artists.
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Great article, very informative. It frames Romney’s “Jewish culture” comment very well. But I had to double-check to make sure I was on the right blog. lol
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now, and it seems like your political leanings are changing. If you don’t mind my asking: Are your most recent articles a reflection of your political beliefs?
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This really put a lot into perspective as to why the country has been on the path it has taken the last 12 years. As my first election that I will be able to partake in, I can now say I clearly know who I’m going to vote for.
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I like Dan Senor and wish him well.
The emphasis on focusing on Jews is a way of attempting to strip them of their rights to express themselves fully in society, politically, economically, and in all other ways citizens are inherently allowed and have every right to express themselves. Having a Jewish State means that Jews are no longer without a land base when other people on a whim decide to abuse them and strip them of their civil liberties.
And whether you like it or not or whether you believe it or not Jews have accomplished amazing things in Israel in every field of human endeavor.
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“Having a Jewish State means that Jews are no longer without a land base when other people on a whim decide to abuse them and strip them of their civil liberties.”
This totally justifies abusing Palestinians, stealing their land and taking away their civil liberties.
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The great thing about Senor is that he has no profession – he is not a professor or lawyer or banker who stays in one place. He is like a ball in the Republican pinball machine, hitting all the main pieces: Wall Street, Israel, the defense industry, war profits, racism, Fox News, etc. Romney is just the latest face to that machine.
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@ Edwin Rowe
I agree with eco: none of that stuff excuses them from moral responsibility, from having to act like decent human beings.
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@ Claudia
Not sure what you mean. Romney’s “Jewish culture” comment is right up this blog’s alley. The parallels between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East on the one hand and whites and people of colour in North America on the other are not lost on me.
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Aba
AmeriKlan does whatever Israel wants. She serves her master like a dutiful servant. Right now, Israel is jonesing to bomb Iran. IF that happens..if that actually comes to fruition, be sure that AmeriKlan will join in.
This country is run and governed by an “invisible empire” for centuries. Obama is not our president, nor was Bush, Clinton or any other president that sat in the white house.
We are poor mindless sheep being lead by a beautiful illusion. Some of us are awakened though…some prefer to stay asleep. This election will be no different from the last 100 elections. I will not be voting.
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If anyone knew the history they’d know that arguments against the Jews in Israel are weak or at best lacking knowledge of complex events. But one thing is certain; many Arabs sold land to Jews. The Jewish National Fund collected pennies and dollars from Jewish communities worldwide and bought huge amounts of land pre-1948. Today selling land to a Jew is punished by death, yet the Palestinians still do it by roundabout means.
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So we’re blaming Romney on the Jews? Or just blaming the Jews because, well why not everybody else does too?
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ps conspiracy theories are the last refuge of the incompetent
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Edwin Rowe, you have admirable PR skills. You deflect like a pro.
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Thanks abagond. Great work! There is a Zionist or Jewish Agenda. There have to be. This guy and his SISTER have an agenda. They both want something from the U.S. Military. Jewish people are the Heads of ALL the major news organization. Hence the anti-semitic rhetoric used against anyone that SPEAK the truth about Jews. Jews also are the CEO and heads of all of hollywood films. And of course we all know they OWN and RUN all the Banks and Powerful companies on Wallstreet. This is a MAJOR OVER ACHIEVEMENT by any group of people that is not even 1% of the Global population. So What is their AGENDA? HMMMMMM? Today, I see Wars, Crisis, Unemployment, poverty, separation, hate, distractions and Death everywhere. That type of agenda is PURE EVIL. Now? where is the LOVE?
Where are the Jews that speak LOVE?
Putting 2 and 2 together tells me that these peoples HEARTS are dead and so are the people that work for them.
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Scary guy. Yeah, israeli economic miracle… I’ve been there and its standing on the american billions. Without that money and support, Israel would be in really deep trouble.
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Great post…I was not aware of this guy, but if we learned anything from the Bush era, these neocons will do anything to get their agenda through, and I do mean anything.
Many of these guys, incl. Senor, Wolfowitz, Chertoff, Libby, Novak, etc. have DUAL citizenship with Israel, where their true loyalty lies.
“The said miracle, they argued, is caused by Israeli culture and not, say, the billions America pours into Israel.”
Good point…and that doesn’t include all the money Isreal got from a certain banking dynasty, Germany, EU, etc.
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