Curse those Brits for creating this problem. Those idiots created so much problem in today's world when their empire folded! Curse them again! The world would be so much better if no Isreal was created after WWII. So now we have these displaced people who want their land back. Are they going to try for 2000 more years to accomplish what the Jewish people have done? What a mess. Will this mess ever be resolved unless one side is destroyed completely?
Acutally there is quite a bit of evidence, including stories in that bastion of pro-Israeli bias, al Jazeera. Google it.
I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but Putin was never in charge of the Soviet Union, which hasn't existed for nearly 20 years.
You expect people to run out into the streets in the middle of what's effectively a war zone? These are densely populated urban areas. They have no place to escape to. Congrats to Israel for their considerations, but they know very well the consequences of their actions. I know we can justifiably assign blame for the violence on both sides. But Israel has overwhelmingly more power and influence over the direction this conflict takes. What they're doing right now, beyond killing hundreds of innocent people and injuring thousands, will only further radicalize the opposition and lead to more killing on both sides. In these critical times, I can't believe Americans are actually encouraging or defending it.
Well I agree that the expansion of Israel is a problem. Some think that this has ended the possibility of the two state solution. The Israelis have grabbed most of the good land and water so that while the majority of Palestinians support the two state solution with pre 1967 borders the strong majority can't accept the two state solution with what Israel is willing to leave them. Israel still hopes to make the Palestinian's existence miserable enough that they will have to accept what is left over. Perhaps the Israeli Jews will succeed, but it will be difficult considering the two groups are roughly the same size and the demographics favor the Palestinians. Traditionally the colonizers would just wipe out the native population sufficiently to be demographically dominant, but Israel is not allowed to do that in the modern world. As Jimmy Carter said: "peace of apartheid". Some predict that eventually as Apartheid grows stronger, the only way to keep controlling the Palestinians, a boycott will force Israel into a one state solution in which, having missed their chance for a two state solution by its excess colonial greed, they will be forced into a one state solution with gradually full rights for non Jewish Palestinians. A secular state with full rights for all religious and ethnic groups such as we have in the United States would not be a bad solution
Do you know how long the United States has been supporting Israel? Do you know how long ago Israel began bombing Palestinians? Have you ever wondered how a newly-formed country had weapons and money which gave them immediate superiority over Palestinians? The Palestinians take their fair share of blame, but don't make bitter comments about a state with a ****ty literacy rate, miserable for decades cheering because they think there may be someone in this world who can bring them out of their nightmare. It's like making fun of someone who developed some form of mental r****dation.
This notion of purported benevolence (via these warnings) which you keep propagating is so absurd it borders on offensive. I can't believe you are seriously insinuating that for civilians it is a mere matter of "moving to the next building" in one of the most heavily condensed slums in the world, to escape bombardment. What is most amusing in this entire episode is the claims of objectivity from the defenders of Israel's actions while simultaneously eschewing all pragmatic considerations and repercussions to this escalation. The stated objective is to end rocketfire, the means is apparently regime change, yet ironically... (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7810506.stm) So let's stop pussyfooting around and call it what it is. You think the Palestinians are deserving of collective punishment, because no rational actor could be so stupid to think that this invasion would have any other outcome but sowing the seeds of hatred in yet another generation of Palestinians.
now that the NFL game is over, i can give a reply. When DD created the thread of "Tanks rolling into Georgia", Many made it seem like comrade putin was the new commissar of the soviet union and condemned him exclusively for the actions taken on georgia. With the last bit of sanity that i had left, I said that the triumphant communist party did not like comrade vladimir and that they even compared him to the czar. In all, I was aware that Comrade putin was never in charge, but I am not aware that the soviet union has not existed in 20 years. You're obviously lying! Good to know that you are not one of those hypocrites that would bash russia, yet support israel. =/
Good to know you allow your apparent age of 13 to dictate the direction of your moral compass. Yes, let's rejoice at the collective punishment of people who cheered at our misfortune, yet who have been in their current state of destitution for generations before our misfortune due to our policies. Great logic.
If you think that peace could have been achieved decades ago if the US were more neutral in a case where two sides are fighting a holy war, and one side has stated that they would push Israel to the sea....then you have zero perspective.
Articulate, please. Spell out exactly what the hypocrisy is that you speak of, thanks. The closest analogy I can think of in the Georgia/Ossetia conflict would be if Egypt decided to invade Israel to protect Hamas. I would be against third party Egyptian escalation, as I was against Russian proxy war and escalation in Ossetia. In the case of Israel, I think they in fact have a better case for rolling the tanks. Georgia and Ossetia were both shelling each other back and forth in the months leading up to the war - both parties were actively belligerent - whereas in Israel, all the artillery that precipitated the war was coming from one direction (Hamas).
This paints with a pretty broad brush. I think people need to remember that the creation of Israel was brought about in part by what could only be seen, IMO, as a liberal political act by the United States. And it should also be remembered that one can disagree strongly with the current govenment of Israel, heck, the Israeli government of the last several years, and still be a strong supporter of Israel, the nation.
So war=artillery only? Starving a group of people is not an act of war? Building that wall is not an act of war? I see what you're saying here. You're that guy. You're the guy who waves his hands in front of everyone's face, saying "I'm not touching you" trying to provoke someone. Then when you get smacked in the face, you get to take out your baseball bat to retaliate. If you want to go back to the history of this conflict, you have to go back to who initiated the first act of war.
So China has been at war with Mongolia for like 2500 years? The USA is currently at war with Mexico? Building a wall has never been war. It isn't particularly useful or effective, but it isn't war. As far as opening the borders, all Hamas had to do was abide by the terms of the earlier ceasefire unambiguously which didn’t happen. If they wanted to keep limited rocket fire for partial opening, they could have agreed to extend the ceasefire as Egypt and everybody else wanted them to do. They specifically rejected that. Hamas rejected ceasefire. Period. That, in a microcosm is the story of Israeli-Arab conflict for 50 years. Arabs get belligerent and decide to fight Israel. Israel fights back and kicks Arab @sses. Arabs cry about how wronged they are even though they started the fight and are reaping what they sew. Yet people feel sorry for them. It's like the bully who runs to his mommy with a skinned knee when little scrawny asthmatic kid they were bullying (who’s parents have been sending him to karate lessons) fights back. But the bully's mommy only sees the skinned knee and calls the other kid's parents. The scrawny kid's only problem is that he paid too much attention in karate class. And the most absurd part is they keep doing it over and over, and after each attempt they end up a little worse off. But a few years later they try again. It's like Charley Brown and the football. No matter how much you want to kick it Charlie, it just isn't going to happen. Lucy will pull that ball away at the last second. But for some reason ol' Charlie keeps running at that ball. You are entirely right. You just don't understand how right you are.
