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Paul
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Joined: 21-Aug-2004
Location: Hyperborea
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Topic: Oh no not another Lebanon post Posted: 25-Jul-2006 at 19:47 |
This is a blatant rip off from my favourite web blog, however it's the most intelligent comment on the affair I've read so I thought I'd post it.
I am a regular reader of your Blog and I really do enjoy it a lot. It would, though, be wrong to give the impression that all Israelis back the government. There is a small, though vocal, peace movement. Like the anti-Iraq movement in the US it is drowned out by calls to patriotism and the rigour imposed by the siege mentality that has taken hold of the Israeli psyche. My partner is a member of this group of people. The stress that the past two weeks has caused, just watching what his own country is doing, is terrible. I am pretty sure that, like him, the rump of liberals left in Israel are going to vote with their feet and leave. For him, the death of Rabin marked the end of what could have been a new future.
Second, I am glad you have the bit about the King David Hotel. My grandfather was part of the last British garrison in Palestine which was not, it must be remembered, an Imperial possession but mandated by the League of Nations and, after 1945, by the UN. The various efforts, after the war, to come up with a peace plan failed and it is no surprise when Ernie Bevin (decried in Israel as an anti-semite) said bugger it and we left
My grandfathers time there encapsulated the British experience in Palestine: the Irgun [a jewish terrorist group] shot him and then, wounded, he watched as the Arabs stole his motorbike. On managing to limp back to his HQ he was promptly sentenced to 7 days in the glasshouse for losing government property. The British army has not changed much either
J
PS
Has anyone explained to the Christian Fundamentalists supporting Israel about the large Maronite Christian minority in Lebanon? Is it, perhaps, too awkward to try to understand why the side they are cheerleading for is bombing a country to oblivion that has a lot of Christians in it?
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Tobodai
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Joined: 03-Aug-2004
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Posted: 27-Jul-2006 at 00:54 |
It must be said that the Israel lobby in the US is primarily evangelical. They have no considerations for strategic reasoning and insist on supporting an "ally" that is outrageously expensive and effectively useless since the end of the Cold War.
I remember reading an essay about how important a common enemy is. Without the SOviet Union the US policy no longer has to make any sense or serve any strategic concerns, and thus with the demise of the primary foe of the US the seeds of the US' demise are sown.
Evangelicals suport Israel and ignore the Christians in Lebanon for one reason. They honeslty think that Israel vs the world is a good thing because it will bring about the end times or some such nonsense. This is why a strong religious background should bar people from positions of policy making.
Of course theres one solution to mideast peace, alternative energy sources. Then everyone else can pull out and leave the whole place to destroy itself first with guns and bombs, then as they grow poorer and poorer without oil revenues, with sticks and rocks. The less role that region plays in any countires foreign policy the better. The problem is everyones religion was invented there so western and eastern media alike fixates on it, despite the fact that there are many more destructive wars also happening.
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"the people are nothing but a great beast...
I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value."
-Alexander Hamilton
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Guests
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Posted: 27-Jul-2006 at 11:23 |
Alterbative energy sources is only part of the solution, the Mid East is the most straegically important piece of real estate in the globe, it'll always be a flashpoint.
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Zagros
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Posted: 27-Jul-2006 at 13:34 |
Ever seen Syriana?
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Jay.
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Posted: 27-Jul-2006 at 14:00 |
Zagros, I've seen Syriana, very good movie.
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Samo Sloga Srbina Spasava
Only Unity Can Save the Serb
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Zagros
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Posted: 27-Jul-2006 at 14:23 |
Yea, the reason I brought it up was because someone mentioned letting ME people obliterate themselves and that movie basically shows what goes on and how conflict is stirred. It used an ex republican governemnt strategist as an advisor in its making.
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Tobodai
Tsar
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Posted: 27-Jul-2006 at 20:04 |
Originally posted by Sparten
Alterbative energy sources is only part of the solution, the Mid East is the most straegically important piece of real estate in the globe, it'll always be a flashpoint.
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Only because people are stupid and still cling to their religions. The area is, in the end, a fools paradise of supersitition and ignorant reactionary elements. It serves no purpose to the rest of the world and everyone should get off of oil and get out of the middle east. If they arent smart enough to solve thier problems when people stop interfering and gaoding them, they dont deserve the peace most of them want.
All those proxy wars being fought by the US and others, would serve no purpose without oil. Oil is the only thing that keeps the area remotely significant. We should take away that significance and save everyone else a big headache.
The poorer and less significant Israel AND the Arab states are, the better everyone else will be.
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"the people are nothing but a great beast...
I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value."
-Alexander Hamilton
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jayeshks
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Joined: 04-May-2005
Location: Canada
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Posted: 01-Aug-2006 at 12:46 |
Off topic:
could you post the address of the blog?
I've been looking for some good newsblogs of late
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Once you relinquish your freedom for the sake of "understood necessity,"...you cede your claim to the truth. - Heda Margolius Kovaly
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