Israel has already lost the Public Relation’s War.
Ceasefire aims should include long-term solution for Gaza
NOVEMBER 20, 2012 BOSTON GLOBE
It’s easy to see the twisted strategy behind the fusillade of rockets directed at Israel: Militants in Gaza are trying to burnish their credentials as leaders of the resistance. They provoked Israeli retaliation. Civilians are paying the price. It’s a devastating, all-too-familiar pattern.
But this time, the rockets are more powerful, killing three Israeli civilians last Thursday. And there are signs that Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, feels confident that its allies who have taken power in the Arab Spring will rally to its side. In this battle, Hamas is the aggressor. Israel is the victim. But in the cruel logic of Mideast politics, Israel will be safer and more secure by exercising wisdom and restraint. The Israeli response should be tough enough to send a message to those involved in the rocket attacks, but proportionate enough to ensure that Hamas can’t claim the moral high ground. The deaths of nine members of a Palestinian family in an Israeli rocket attack on Sunday, which is being investigated by the Israeli military, is a sign of how quickly, and seemingly accidentally, the moral ground can shift in a violent exchange such as this one.
Each side is threatening escalation. Hamas warned that it could resume suicide bombings. Israel has threatened a ground invasion. US officials should do all they can to press regional actors to broker a ceasefire before these escalations come to pass. Even if Israel does mount a ground operation to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, success would only be temporary, a repeat of Israel’s last major military incursion in 2009 — at the cost of many Palestinian civilian casualties and the loss of many Israeli soldiers, as well as risking a wider conflict.
Isolating Gaza isn’t a long-term solution. Last month, the leader of Qatar visited Gaza, breaking with the international effort to shun Hamas. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has planned a visit this week.
A permanent solution must be found that prevents dangerous missiles from being smuggled into Gaza again; proposals include placing a NATO or United Nations-backed force on Gaza’s border with Egypt. Such a solution should provide greater security to Israel, but also give hope to civilians in Gaza that the Israeli blockade on many types of material goods will soon be eased. So far, despite all its losses, Hamas has refused to agree to a ceasefire without an Israeli promise to lift the blockade immediately.
While only Israelis and Palestinians can truly make peace, the United States and its Arab allies must do all they can to keep the fading peace process alive.
If Hamas leaders hoped to rally Arab neighbors to its side, they may be disappointed. Few Arab leaders want this conflict to spread. Although Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party has blamed Israel for the violence, Morsi himself appears to be trying to broker a ceasefire. On Monday, Israeli president Shimon Peres praised Morsi for playing a “constructive role,” according to CNN.
So far, President Obama has given a boilerplate response to the conflict, reiterating Israel’s right to defend itself. That’s true enough. But Obama should do more to make it clear to people in the Mideast and beyond that the United States is a force for peace, and that America’s deepest concern is for innocent civilians on both sides. Obama should also show that he has not stopped pushing for wider acceptance of Israel in the Arab world and wider acceptance in Israel of a peaceful Palestinian state.
While only Israelis and Palestinians can truly make peace, the United States and its Arab allies must do all they can to keep the fading peace process alive. At the end of the day, it could prove to be the most important casualty of the rockets from Gaza.
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| FOLLOWING ORDERS |
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| COLLATERAL DAMAGE |
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| TAKEN OUT |
Call it what you like but an economic blockade is an act of war.
ReplyDeleteEgypt shares a border with Gaza.
Deletea 3 sided box is not a box...
The the Arab world and much of the Islamic world has declared war on Israel decades ago....
Deletehttp://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/27468/nancy-turck/the-middle-east-the-arab-boycott-of-israel
Not to mention the new attack on Israel called the BDS movement.
http://www.bdsmovement.net
So if you can define Israel as having an "economic blockage" of Israel, even if Egypt controls the western front then I guess the Arab and anti-semite's boycott and economic war on Israel is as much of an act of war.
Then Egypt must have been waging war on Gaza too.
ReplyDeleteBlockade of the Gaza Strip
From Wiki
The blockade of the Gaza Strip refers to a land, air, and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt. Israel eased the blockade for non-military goods in June 2010, and Egypt reopened the Rafah border crossing in 2011 for persons.[1][2]
In 2006 Hamas won the Palestinian legislative election, triggering the 2006-2007 economic sanctions against the Palestinian National Authority by Israel and the Quartet on the Middle East. In March 2007, Hamas and Fatah formed a Palestinan authority national unity government headed by Ismail Haniya. Shortly after, in June, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in the course of the Battle of Gaza,[3] seizing government institutions and replacing Fatah and other government officials with its own.[4] Following the takeover, Egypt and Israel largely sealed their border crossings with Gaza, on the grounds that Fatah had fled and was no longer providing security on the Palestinian side.[5]
Israel maintains that the blockade is necessary to limit Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on its cities and to prevent Hamas from obtaining other weapons. Prior to its 2011 opening of the Rafah crossing, Egypt maintained that it could not fully open its side of the border since completely opening the border would represent Egyptian recognition of the Hamas control of Gaza, undermine the legitimacy of the Palestinian National Authority and consecrate the split between Gaza and the West Bank.[6]
Facing mounting international calls to ease or lift their blockade in response to the Gaza flotilla raid, Egypt and Israel lessened the restrictions starting in June 2010. Israel announced that it will allow all strictly civilian goods into Gaza while preventing certain weapons and what it designates as "dual-use" items from entering Gaza.[7] Egypt partly opened the Rafah border crossing from Egypt to Gaza, primarily for people, but not for supplies, to go through.[8] The Israeli NGO Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement asserted in a July 2010 report that Israel continues to prevent normal functioning of the Gazan economy. Israel continues to severely restrict and/or prevent people from entering or exiting Gaza according to Gisha.[9][10][11] The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) conducted an assessment of the humanitarian impact of the easing of the blockage in January and February 2011 and concluded that they did not result in a significant improvement in people’s livelihoods.[12]
Egypt opened the Rafah border crossing permanently on 28 May 2011. Women of all ages and men aged below 18 and above 40 are able to enter Egypt without a visa,[13] although there are still severe restrictions on the movement of personnel and goods to and from Gaza.[14][15] In practice, however, a great deal of goods are smuggled in through tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, and the quantity of goods smuggled in has increased greatly since the Egyptian revolution in early 2011.[16]
Opinion on the legality of the blockade is mixed. In September 2011, a UN investigative committee concluded in the Palmer Report that the naval blockade is legal and had to be judged isolated from the restrictions on goods reaching Gaza via the land crossings. Concerning the restrictions on goods reaching Gaza via the land crossings the Palmer report stated that they were the main reason for an unsustainable and unacceptable humanitarian situation in Gaza.[17][18][19][20] UN envoy Desmond Tutu, United Nations Human Rights Council head Navi Pillay, the International Committee of the Red Cross and, according to Richard Falk, most experts on international law[21] consider the blockade illegal.[22][23][24][25][26]
DeleteDesmond Tutu is on your side.
I don’t have a side.
Delete.
DeleteEven if legal and/or necessary, a blockade is still an act of war.
However, in reality the whole area has been in a de facto state of war since '48.
Nothing changes.
.
Deuce, sure you have a side...
DeleteWhen you post photos from the SYRIAN situation (the last photo you posted) as photo's from Gaza?
You show a side...
That is an interesting quote from long ago. Tom Paine would have liked that.
ReplyDeleteThe pen is mightier than the sword
Meaning
Literal meaning.
Origin
'The pen is mightier than the sword' was coined by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy, 1839:
True, This! -
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! - itself a nothing! -
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Caesars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! - Take away the sword -
States can be saved without it!
Bulwer-Lytton may have coined the phrase but he was preceded by several others who expressed essentially the same idea:
George Whetstone, in Heptameron of Civil Discourses, 1582, wrote "The dashe of a Pen, is more greevous than the counterbuse of a Launce."
In Hamlet, 1602, Shakespeare gave Rosencrantz the line "... many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose-quills and dare scarce come thither."
Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621 includes "From this it is clear how much more cruel the pen may be than the sword."
Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to Thomas Paine in 1796, in which he wrote: "Go on doing with your pen what in other times was done with the sword."
Here is today's report from the pens of Palestinian Media Watch
ReplyDeletehttp://www.palwatch.org/
Nothing slanted about your coverage.
ReplyDeleteTrying to make the Israelis into the Nazis like you are. Thankfully they have had to develop the Iron Dome to try and deal with the rain of missiles and it is at least somewhat working.
DeleteWhy not put up the Hamas Charter?
The Hamas Charter (or Covenant), issued in 1988, outlined the organization's position on many issues at the time, identifies Hamas as the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine and declares its members to be Muslims who "fear God and raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors." The charter states "our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious" and calls for the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories,[35] and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel.[70][71] The Charter also asserts that through shrewd manipulation of imperial countries and secret societies, Zionists were behind a wide range of events and disasters going as far back in history as the French Revolution. (((((Among the charter's controversial statements is the following: "The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews [and kill them]; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: Oh Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!")))))[34] The document also quotes Islamic religious texts to provide justification for fighting against and killing the Jews of Israel,[72] presenting the Arab-Israeli conflict as an inherently irreconcilable struggle between Jews and Muslims, and Judaism and Islam,[34] adding that the only way to engage in this struggle between "truth and falsehood" is through Islam and by means of jihad, until victory or martyrdom.[34] The Charter adds that "renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion" of Islam.[73] The charter states that Hamas is humanistic, and tolerant of other religions as long as they do not block Hamas's efforts.[74]?
wiki
(((((Among the charter's controversial statements is the following: "The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews [and kill them]; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: Oh Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!")))))
Their Charter is grounded in genocide.
DeleteFeel free to correct any photo or comment that is incorrect.
Delete1. The troops are following orders. Are they not?
2. The dead woman and children were taken out and are collateral damage, or do I have it wrong?
The Boston Globe is an editorial and Tony Blair helped lead us into Iraq.
My slant, on balance i prefer my woman and children alive. Troops in their barracks. Those tanks and APC’ s are not exactly expecting the Battle of the Bulge are they?
If facts, presented as they are, connote something familiar and unpleasant, maybe they are.
DeleteBut why just Israeli troops? Why not a photo of some jihadis dressed to kill or firing rockets? Or a picture of an Iranian type rocket?
DeleteWhy not some dead Israelis?
Sure they are following orders. As do the jihadis.
I like the women and children alive as well. And they would be if not for the jihadis raining rockets into Israel month after month after year after year.
Your last photo is from Syria...
Deletehttp://www.algemeiner.com/2012/11/18/another-photo-of-syrian-massacre-falsely-recycled-as-gaza-tragedy/
Meanwhile some Arab muslims sit in the Israeli Knesset.
ReplyDeletehmmmm....
The Hamas Charter is a war document. It calls for jihad and genocide. I remember George W. Bush saying wryly after the 'election' of Hamas, which may have been a more or less fair election as far as I know, "Well, at least they had a good turnout."
ReplyDeleteIt obviously wasn't what he had hoped.
ReplyDeleteGaza jihadist savages hit two Israeli schools with rockets
This will be hard to spin so that the "Palestinians" have the moral high ground, so the mainstream media will probably just ignore it.
"Second Ashkelon school hit by missile fire from Gaza," from the Times of Israel, November 19 (thanks to Benedict):
A rocket fired from Gaza has hit a school in Ashkelon. This is the second time on Monday that a school in the city was hit by a Hamas missile. No injuries were reported, though the school building was damaged.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/11/gaza-jihadist-savages-hit-two-israeli-schools-with-rockets.html
Other offerings from JihadWatch -
ReplyDeleteSavagery in Antwerp: Protesters chant "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas"
Nov 20, 2012 01:13 am | Robert
Here is the monstrous and murderous Jew-hatred of the Leftist/Islamic supremacist alliance on full display. And the mainstream media will still act as if they have the moral high ground. "Antwerp: Protesters chant ‘Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas,'" from the JTA, November 19 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):...
read more
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The civilized man vs. the savage
Nov 19, 2012 07:44 pm | Robert
Contrast this: Egyptian jihad leader calls for destruction of Sphinx, Pyramids with this: Israel museums hide art to protect it from rockets ...and support the civilized man....
read more
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"Palestinian" Muslims sing: "Strike a blow at Tel Aviv"
Nov 19, 2012 05:38 pm | Robert
Israelis aren't singing about striking any blows at Gaza. Yet the mainstream media and Leftist establishment persists in doing everything they can to portray Israel as the aggressor....
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BBC claims that Gaza is being "slowly eaten up by more and more Israeli settlements"
Nov 19, 2012 05:07 pm | Robert
My friend Douglas Murray catches the BBC in a particularly egregious bit of antisemitic falsification of reality. "Bigotry on the Beeb," by Douglas Murray in the Spectator, November 19 (thanks to Anne Crockett): I have only just caught up on the latest episode of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Any Questions’. In...
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Jihadists form "Islamic state" in Syria
Nov 19, 2012 03:51 pm | Robert
Revealing yet again the hollowness and naivete of the assumption that the Syrian rebels are a group of democratic pluralists. "Jihadists form ‘Islamic state’ in Syria," from AP, November 19 (thanks to Block Ness): A group of extremist Islamist factions in Syria has rejected the country’s new opposition coalition. The...
Good place to get some news. Robert Spencer has been threatened so many times he has lost count.
Nice picture of some jihadis on Drudge right now, for balance.
ReplyDeleteEvery right wing website has been floating the picture of a Palestinian child, killed by an errant Palestinian missile. They are indignant that the press was imprecise as to who fired the rocket.
DeleteThe child is dead and why?
The problem is Gaza is not a country . It is a city state of misery with a highly maligned border, chewed off in chunks by a vastly superior power. Its borders are at the mercy of foreign bull dozers.
The same power has destroyed much of the infrastructure that makes a modern city function and closed down trade and travel. All of these things have resulted in a population with 50% unemployment. When US cities are riddled with riot and crime, unemployment and social dissatisfaction, isolation and lack of opportunity are pointed out as the reason.
Israel is punishing Gaza for the best of reasons but it isn’t working. This has been going on for 60 years. Recently, both Egypt and Turkey have turned on Israel. That cannot last.
Israel is not going to kill one million people as one of her avid fans who posts here wishes. A city of a million plus needs effective services, an economy and in the Middle East, a very effective domestic police force and national guard. Gaza needs to be normalized. Israel’s possible survival depends on it. An iron dome will not save Israel. I’m not sure anything will and it is not our problem.
The problem is that Gaza is ruled by Islamic nazis
DeleteThe borders of Gaza are set, They have not changed.
DeleteWhen Israel left in 2007 they and the Palestinians knew the border.
The border is still the border.
The problem with Gaza is the thugs that rule it.
Until the criminal enterprise (Hamas) is removed from power and a government that does not support genocide and murder as policy is replaced? you will have issues.
one standard for all....
gaza is run by islamic nazis. they do not care about trash pickup, civil rights or unemployment rates. They care about sharia law, building missiles and rockets to murder jews and destroying israel.
Not a platform to build a nation
ReplyDeleteRockets spread panic in Tel Aviv
By Vita Bekker in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv came under fire for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday, when Gaza militants shot more long-range rockets at Israel’s commercial and cultural capital, spreading panic among residents accustomed to living in the bustling city’s bubble of tranquillity.
Sunbathers on the coastal city’s beaches scrambled for cover, drivers abandoned their cars to run with pedestrians to stairwells in nearby apartment buildings and shop owners and their clients fled to bomb shelters.
Tel Avivians have long been derided for being insulated from the security threats experienced by Israelis living in other parts of the country. Those in the south have for years faced rocket fire from Gaza militants, while residents in the north have in the past been bombarded by rocket fire from Lebanon’s Islamist group Hizbollah.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/78742ba2-31a3-11e2-b68b-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fworld_mideast_politics%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct#axzz2CkuVXHWD
Iranian rockets.
ReplyDeleteIslamic Jihad official: "I want to note that all our weapons are from Iran"
Duly noted. Will this act of war be condemned by the United Nations? Don't hold your breath. "Islamic Jihad Official: All Our Weapons are From Iran," from Israel National News, November 19:
Islamic Jihad deputy chief Ziyad Nahala said on Sunday in an interview with Egyptian television that all of the organization's weapons came from Iran.
“I want to note that all our weapons are from Iran. The rockets fired into Israel until now have a range of 70 to 80 kilometers," he said, according to a report on Channel 10 News.
from JihadWatch
I could keep this up all night. Just want both sides to get an inspection.
.
DeleteDuly noted. Will this act of war be condemned by the United Nations? Don't hold your breath. "Islamic Jihad Official: All Our Weapons are From Iran," from Israel National News, November 19:
While I sympathize with your position, Bob, don't be naive.
Act of War?
We are the biggest arms dealer in the world. How many acts of war have we committed?
.
Another way of looking at this is that Iran and maybe others are using Gaza as a launching pad for their rockets, and using all the Gazans as human shields.
ReplyDeleteHugh Fitzgerald
ReplyDeleteMonday, 19 November 2012
How To Lie With Statistics
Apparently it is poor sportsmanship on the part of Israel not to let more of its citizens be killed by the thousands of rockets sent in the direction of Israel's towns and cities by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, tutti quanti, all those who take Islam most to heart. It would only be right if Israel refrained from coming up with such things as the Iron Dome, and when -- as happened yesterday -- a Muslim rocket is about to hit an Israeli school, the Israelis manage to blow that rocket up in time. Isn't that fair? Why should the Western world, "wrapped in the arms of science," as Churchill famously said, be allowed to come up with ways to protect itself from the murderous frenzy of hysterical Muslims?
So far only three Israelis have died, but not for want of trying on the part of the Muslim Arabs of Gaza.
And after six days of war -- a war in which, in a heavily-populated area, Israeli planes have tried to put as many of the rocket-launchers, and those who use them, and as many of the 12,000-20,000 missiles that have been stockpiled in Gaza for only one purpose -- to rain down, sooner or later, on Israeli towns and cities, that they possibly can, and especially to find, and destroy, the longer-range Fajr missiles that have been sent to Islamic Jihad and Hamas by the Islamic Republic of Iran -- a grand total of 96 Muslim Arabs have died.
96?
If the Americans or British or French had been doing the attacking, based on what we know from Afgnanistan and Iraq, 960 people would have been killed.
If the Syrians had been doing the attacking, based on what we know from Syria, 9600 people would have been killed.
If the Russians, or the Chinese, had been doing the attacking, 96,000 people would have been killed. .
If another Muslim power had been doing the attacking, and Gaza filled with non-Muslims, 960,000 would have been killed, and the rest would have fled, leaving Gaza empty.
That's how it would have gone.
And almost everyone in the Western world knows that perfectly well, but wishes to pretend otherwise.
November 20, 2012
DeleteRemoving a Tumor
By Jerrold L. Sobel
Not including this latest spate of violence between the terrorists of Gaza and Israel, over 800 rockets and Mortar attacks have been launched against the Jewish state since January 2012.
Over 30 people sustained injuries in March of this year alone. People living in the southern towns of Beersheva, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Yavne, and Netivot practically spend their entire lives in bomb shelters. Several months ago residents of Beersheva were lucky when a rocket scored a direct hit on an elementary school which fortunately was vacant at the time. To their credit, or as some including this writer might say, to their discredit, Israel has been responding with restraint no other nation with their military resources would.
Trumping the diplomatic blunder of Oslo II signed in September 1995 was the security fiasco of unilateral withdrawal from Gaza made by the Sharon government in August of 2005. As reciprocation for Sharon's misconceived effort to improve Israel's security and international status, the Jewish state has suffered seven years of kidnappings, death, and destruction. In fact, less than three years following the dismantlement of Jewish settlements and the exit from Gaza, Operation Cast Lead was launched at great cost in blood and treasure to stem the incessant shelling of her border towns.
During this recent crisis, the Israeli government has been trying numerous diplomatic efforts to halt the violent rocket attacks from Gaza. Appeals to the UN secretary general, as well as appeals to successive presidents of the Security Council, have all come to naught. Instead, Hamas and their affiliates respond by ratcheting up the violence.
Hamas is a cancerous tumor in Israel's side. At the behest of friend and foe alike, successive Israeli governments have foolishly placed the wishes of others before the security of their own citizens and adhere to ceasefires before unequivocally defeating this insidious foe. Unless this mindset is reversed, future generations of Israelis will be doomed to fight increasingly more vehement cycles of aggression.
Hamas, sworn by Charter to the total destruction of Israel, is an Iranian client possessing increasingly greater amounts of far more powerful and accurate weaponry. Hamas is supported by the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood now in charge of Egypt and bolstered by once moderate but turned radical, Turkey.
DeleteAs things heat up and the inevitable ground war is set to begin, the usual groundswell of hypocritical condemnation aimed at Israel from the jackal nations of the world is beginning to intensify.
This past Friday, thousands of people across the Middle East and Europe have demonstrated against Israel's attempt to eliminate the rocket launchers being used against her.
In New York, large crowds gathered in front of the Israeli Consulate to chant Palestinian slogans denouncing Israeli airstrikes. In Egypt, where Mubarak had kept the peace for over 30 years, several thousand protesters came out Friday to demonstrate against the Israeli attacks, chanting "we will go to Gaza in our millions," swearing to "sacrifice ourselves for you, Palestine."
In Lebanon, thousands turned up in Palestinian refugee camps in the north and south of the country to show their outrage against "Israeli violence," shouting "O Qassam, O beloved, bomb and destroy Tel Aviv," referring both to the rocket and the armed wing of Hamas of the same name.
In Iran, over 700 cities, including Tehran, saw anti-Israeli protests after Friday's prayers. Crowds there were chanting "death to Israel" and "death to America."
As for world leaders, up to this writing the usual calls for restraint from both sides emanate from the world capitals. Outlandishly calling for restraint and proportionality, they infer equanimity between Israel, a sovereign nation defending herself, and Hamas, a terrorist entity sworn to war and perpetual aggression.
Through a spokesman this past Friday, UN chief Ban Ki-Moon issued "...appeals to all concerned to do everything under their command to stop this dangerous escalation and restore calm. Rocket attacks are unacceptable and must stop at once. Israel must exercise maximum restraint." Restore calm? There hasn't been any calm. Calm is precisely what Israel has been forced to go to war for.
Maximum restraint? One has to wonder which nation within the world organization has ever shown more restraint than Israel has under similar circumstances. How many missiles into Texas would it take before the U.S. would obliterate a rogue group from Mexico? The correct answer is no more than one.
DeleteThe British sent an armada 8,000 miles and went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, a few specks of land inhabited by more sheep than people.
During the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Russia fought two wars against separatists from the Islamic region of Chechnya. Responding to condemnation for some tactics used during that conflict, then-president Yeltsin replied: "You have no right to criticize Russia for Chechnya. We are obliged to put an end to the spread of the cancer of terrorism." Israel, having abandoned Gaza in pursuit of peace, is somehow expected to do less.
If and when the ground attack does proceed, the terrorists are certain to employ their usual tactics. Despite every effort made to avoid collateral damage and despite warnings which no other country has ever given during a time of war, civilian casualties are sure to mount. Most assuredly, this will not occur by Israeli intention, but will be caused by the cowardly placement of rockets, munitions, and fighting personnel in schools, mosques, hospitals, and private residences by Hamas. As always, more concerned with propagandist benefit than the welfare of their own people, pictures of children with amputated limbs, and others traumatized and disfigured will fill the world media and blogosphere. Staged photo-ops and contrived incidents will garner sanctimonious, widespread sympathy and universal condemnation of the Jewish state. What else is new?
Long forgotten, except by the 1,000,000 Israeli citizens living in bomb shelters, will be who started this war and how it could have been avoided. Also forgotten will be where the onus for this death and destruction should lie, on Hamas and their patrons.
Unlike four years ago, the Muslim Brotherhood, backed by 1.1 billion dollars in American aid and hardware, now controls Egypt and supports Hamas to the hilt. Turkey, once an Israeli ally, is an emergent Islamic power and now an antagonist. Iran, the puppeteer of global terrorism, continually supplies her client Hamas with sophisticated weaponry which as we have seen in recent days can now reach every part of tiny Israel. With good reason, Hamas sees itself in ascendency.
What are Israel's options? Benign mediation having proven ineffective, total resection of this tumor known as Hamas must be made before Israel's enemies further coalesce against her. In any war there are inherent risks but palliation is no longer a viable option. The time is here, the time is ripe, the time is now for Israel to forgo the predictable world outcry for a premature cessation of hostilities and eliminate this tumor before it spreads further and destroys her entire body.
.
ReplyDeleteWhile only Israelis and Palestinians can truly make peace, the United States and its Arab allies must do all they can to keep the fading peace process alive.
:)
Arab allies?
You mean, like Saudi Arabia or Qatar? How's that working out in Syria?
And if they choose not to help Assad, do you really think they will choose to help Israel out in any way?
Give us Barabbas!
.
.
ReplyDeleteA wife and victim points out some broader issues associated with adultery in the military.
She says she is not trying to justify or rationalize adultery in any way. And perhaps that is true or at a minimum she believes it true. However, the article is a starting point for beginning a conversation on a number of troubling trends that we see in the military.
The 'long war' is one troubling one. It's been said that over the past decade or so, Petraeus was deployed for over six of those years. Hardly, a recipe for blissful domesticity. Think of the effects that are far more serious than adultery.
There is the drone war that takes the sanitation of war to new levels. The average American had little invested in the wars of the last decade, merely the barrowing of money in amounts so large that they no longer have meaning, money that will be paid back in fiat currency of declining value. Now, with the drones, we don't even have to suffer through the inconveniance of having the evening news interrupted with pictures of soldiers being taken out by IED's. Star Wars clone wars. Or, 1984.
Then there is the CIA. Central Intelligence Agency? Perhaps in the past. But now it is quickly becoming one more paramilitary force, video commanders of the drones.
Change is good?
.
.
ReplyDeleteWhoops!
Forgot the link.
General's Wife Speaks Out
.
ReplyDeleteMere weeks before the release of the long-anticipated film version of The Hobbit, the estate of author J.R.R. Tolkien has sued the film's producers claiming they are overstepping their rights when it comes to merchandising the property and The Lord of the Rings.
In an $80 million lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, the Tolkien estate and its book publisher HarperCollins claim Warner Bros., its New Line subsidiary and Rings/Hobbit rightsholder Saul Zaentz Co. have infringed the copyright in the famous books and breached a contract. The crux of the suit is the estate's contention that a decades-old rights agreement entitles the studio to create only "tangible" merchandise based on the books, not an "online slot machine" or other digital exploitations that the estate calls highly offensive.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/tolkien-estate-sues-warner-bros-393212
Good on Frodo and Bilbo Baggins. Slot machines! That just goes too far.
Are you sure those pics arent from Chicago or Philadelphia, or the US border with Mexico. Can you be sure?
ReplyDeleteThe death toll in Gaza by Israel's hand?
ReplyDeleteLess than 50. Almost 1/2 of the palestinians killed have been by palestinian rockets landing in palestinian areas.
Now contrast that to the press coverage of Syria, where over 40,000 have been killed....
No the real issue here is that deuce and others hold one standard for israel and no standards for any other conflict.
that is the side deuce is on, the bash israel side....
The fact is that Israel right to be a nation is questioned by deuce and others.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that gaza and the west bank have never became a nation is not the issue.
Gaza was occupation free in 2007. a 3 sided box aint a box. Rafah is and was a central town in the Gaza Strip and Egypt controls it.
PERIOD
If Israel had the so called economic blockade that some here holler about? Hamas would not have been able to IMPORT 10's of thousands of rockets, missiles and mortars.
once again, a 3 sided box, aint a box...
Deuce wrote:
ReplyDelete"The problem is Gaza is not a country . It is a city state of misery with a highly maligned border, chewed off in chunks by a vastly superior power. Its borders are at the mercy of foreign bull dozers.
The same power has destroyed much of the infrastructure that makes a modern city function and closed down trade and travel. All of these things have resulted in a population with 50% unemployment. When US cities are riddled with riot and crime, unemployment and social dissatisfaction, isolation and lack of opportunity are pointed out as the reason.
Israel is punishing Gaza for the best of reasons but it isn’t working. This has been going on for 60 years. Recently, both Egypt and Turkey have turned on Israel. That cannot last.
Israel is not going to kill one million people as one of her avid fans who posts here wishes. A city of a million plus needs effective services, an economy and in the Middle East, a very effective domestic police force and national guard. Gaza needs to be normalized."
Good stuff Deuce!
Israel has made her bed and now she must sleep in it.
Israel is punishing Gaza for the best of reasons but it isn’t working.
DeleteThen, what do you suggest Israel do? Exactly what should she do? Just lie back and take it? Allow Iranians missiles (is this an act of war on Iran's part?) to flow into Gaza and be shot into Israel? Because they have taken a lot of this over the years. Maybe talk Hamas into altering it's jihad genocidal Charter? Even if they did they wouldn't mean it. UN Peacekeeping force? What?
Ash, would you quit picking your nose, and don't rub it off your finger under the table like that. At least use your pants.
I make no pretense for having THE answer but as Deuce has noted this approach they've taken, taken so many times the Israelis are referring to it as "time to cut the grass again" or simply "cutting the grass" is obviously not working.
DeleteThe Israelis need to find a way to help the Palestinians form a coherent self government. By assassinating their leaders and ignoring the results of elections they don't like, they end up with a leaderless society with a visceral hatred of them and no one to negotiate with and no option left but to fight.
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DeleteThe Israelis need to find a way to help the Palestinians form a coherent self government.
More profundity from the Great White North.
You reference an election the Israelis didn't like. It's true Hamas won the election in Gaza (about 60% of the vote I believe). Then, after assuming power, they purged Gaza of all their political rivals.
Hamas has refused to help or join the PA in trying to establish a two-state solution. Like Iran, Hamas is looking for a one state solution that doesn't include the name Israel.
To think a negotiated settlement can be accomplished given the current reality on the ground amounts to criminal naivte.
The only thing that makes sense in the previous post is the statement that Israel has no other option than to fight.
Both the Palestineans and the Israelis have made demands of the other that just aren't going to happen. And without some compromise on basics there will be no negotiated agreement.
To assume Israel can solve this problem by instructing the Palestineans in civics, is silly.
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Quirk,
DeleteYou can be awfully dense sometimes. The idea is not to instruct the Palestineans in civics but rather to allow them the ability to gain some semblance of control over their society. If you keep decimating their leadership they will remain leaderless with no one to negotiate with, no one with the power to control the seething hordes.
CAIRO - Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said on Tuesday that "Israeli aggression" against Gaza would end later in the day, the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.
ReplyDelete"President Mohamed Morsi announced that the farce of Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip will end on Tuesday," MENA said, quoting public remarks made by the country's head of state after the funeral of his sister.
"The efforts to conclude a truce between the Palestinian and Israeli sides will produce positive results in the next few hours," he was quoted as saying. Egypt has been trying to mediate a truce to end the conflict.The MENA story did not provide a direct quote.
Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil told Reuters on Monday a ceasefire could be close.
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?ID=292708&R=R1
"
ReplyDelete...
Both hawks and humanitarians ascribe magical powers to the U.S., as if it could bestow peace and democracy on the Middle East if only it tried harder. They are wringing their hands over Syria, where Bashar al-Assad (who was recently celebrated as an unusually enlightened dictator) has massacred 40,000 of his own people. John McCain, the hawkish U.S. senator, said he is “ashamed” that Washington hasn’t intervened. Syrian democracy groups said they feel abandoned. The ghosts of Bosnia and Rwanda were invoked.
In the midst of all these lamentations, a cranky old European journalist named Josef Joffe delivered an icy blast of reality. “Let me ask some nasty questions,” he said. “Which of our many moral duties demands such sacrifice, and how do we decide? Will we have to commit more bloodshed than we want to prevent? What is the end to this intervention? What will happen after we leave? What are our capabilities? And what is the chance that we don’t get the results we want?” Syria, he reminded us, is locked in a civil war in which many of the good guys are also bad guys. If you arm them, they will proceed to slaughter the losers if you don’t watch out.
In fact, America’s ability to shape the world is far more limited than either its fans or critics think. History is littered with cautionary tales of unintended consequences. The U.S. wanted to spread democracy in Iraq and wound up strengthening Iran. Idealists around the world cheered on the Arab Spring and watched it blossom into the Great Islamist Awakening. As Mr. Joffe asked, what do we do until the Islamists turn into nice liberal democrats like us?
With the humbling lessons of the recent past, no wonder President Barack Obama would rather lead from behind. In any event, he has little choice. The U.S. is out of money. The activities formerly known as the global war on terror set the U.S. treasury back by an estimated $4-trillion, to say nothing of the cost in blood. No wonder he is so enthusiastic about drones. NATO allies are also slashing defence budgets. Peter MacKay, Canada’s Defence Minister, may talk nobly about the “higher calling” for countries such as ours. What he means is that we’ll put our values into action so long as it doesn’t cost real money.
Afer a decade of futile and expensive wars, most Americans are sick and tired of leading from the front. They’d just as soon let the world look after itself. If Afghanistan goes to pieces when the troops come home in 2014, so what?
We may be entering an era in which the U.S. is the leader not by design but by default. Americans want to be dispensable. But the world won’t let them."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/america-the-indispensable/article5447005/
Thank you, Ash. That post at least has some sense to it.
DeleteUnlike the vast majority of yours. Your brain is hobbled by your simplistic American Thinker style of thought.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYeah Quirk you are increasingly sounding like a boobie making nothing but cynical biting posts with little merit. Fortunately, sometimes, you actually make a reasonable argument unlike your pal. Though maybe things have changed as I simply scroll past boobies droppings.
Delete.
DeleteYou are right to a degree, Ash, and I have removed the offending post.
It was my gut reaction to your dig at Bob. And that's not because I don't agree that Bob is a bit too credulous in accepting the skewed views of American Thinker but only in the sense that you doing it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black in that your credulity merely skews equally but in the opposite direction.
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Ole Maureen Dowd can make some good points and she isn't shy about ripping Obama a new one. Who that other person you referred to I don't know and can't investigate as you've deleted it.
DeleteBob and I have been digging at each other for years - sorry if it offends you but he deserves it. Like I said, maybe he has changed but I haven't noticed as I simply can't bring myself to take the time to read his copious posts and my experience of reading him has been one of endless propagandizing with a does of conspiracy and a rabid love of all the twisted logic of American Thinker like folk. That and his hard-on for Palin and, well, it isn't worth the time to sift through the insanity. It's too bad as I have a lot of respect for great literature.
Please. please put the offending post back up, I missed it, having napped out.
DeletePalin would not have left those people to die in Benghazi, and she would not have made up some phoney bullshit to cover her ass.
DeleteDoes anyone here really deep down disagree with this statement?
Yeah, I disagree. She's a flake. Now tell us how you think Obama is Kenyan using a faked birth certificalt and a Muslim out to destroy the US. Oh, wait, you've done that umpteen times.
DeleteA Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law.
ReplyDeleteCNET has learned that Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week.
Revised bill highlights
✭ Grants warrantless access to Americans' electronic correspondence to over 22 federal agencies. Only a subpoena is required, not a search warrant signed by a judge based on probable cause.
✭ Permits state and local law enforcement to warrantlessly access Americans' correspondence stored on systems not offered "to the public," including university networks.
✭ Authorizes any law enforcement agency to access accounts without a warrant -- or subsequent court review -- if they claim "emergency" situations exist.
✭ Says providers "shall notify" law enforcement in advance of any plans to tell their customers that they've been the target of a warrant, order, or subpoena.
✭ Delays notification of customers whose accounts have been accessed from 3 days to "10 business days." This notification can be postponed by up to 360 days.
Leahy's rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies -- including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission -- to access Americans' e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge.
Democrats hard at work building the coming American Police State.
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DeleteHaven't heard of that slimeball in years. It appears he hasn't been idle. This makes things so easy for the GOP.
Anytime someone complains about Mourcock or even McCain or Lindsay, all the GOP has to say is "Leahy".
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We took those people's land, and gave it to the Jews. And, those people will fight until the end of time to get it back. You want Peace? Move the Jews to Alabama. Short of that, it's going to be eternal war. Period.
ReplyDelete"We" didn't take anything. It is more complicated than that. Read the history.
DeleteAs an alternative to moving the Jews to Alabama, I suggest moving the Palestinians to Mississippi.
You'd probably immediately get a different view of things.
Gaza has become much worse since Islamist militants have challenged Hamas. Israel has made the mistake of undermining the authority of Hamas. The weak horse, strong horse paradigm is in play. The nonsense has been worsened by the idiotic naive foolishness of democracy. More people have been killed in Iraq since we, the collective genius and all knowing cultural illiterates, decided Saddam had to go. That in my opinion was a mistake, repeated in Egypt, Libya and Syria.
ReplyDeleteIsrael needs to quietly tell the US to cut the democracy crap in the ME.
One example about our expertise in telling everyone else on the planet how it is done; 52% of the people in Philadelphia are functionally illiterate. There are more murders in Philadelphia per year than there are in Gaza and Israel combined. The US federals have a greater interest in Philadelphia than they do in Israel or Gaza.
Israel is fighting $600 missiles with $100,000 missiles. Next time it will be against $600 stealthy drones. There are enough strongmen in Gaza that can step forward and organize a stable and strong central government if they are given something to work with. Israel and the US need only insist that it be a secular government. They have to be allowed to establish a strong police force and a strong national guard.
The US can convince the Arab oil barons to pony up the money to rebuild the infrastructure and create jobs and there re enough Israeli entrepreneurs that can establish industrial enterprises in Gaza. Will this be easy? Certainly not.
My point regardng the pictures.
Delete.
DeleteIsrael is fighting $600 missiles with $100,000 missiles. Next time it will be against $600 stealthy drones. There are enough strongmen in Gaza that can step forward and organize a stable and strong central government if they are given something to work with. Israel and the US need only insist that it be a secular government. They have to be allowed to establish a strong police force and a strong national guard.
This statement points out the existential problem facing Israel.
We can argue about the 'fairness' of taking land from one people and giving it to another; but hell, that is the story of the 20th century when wars resulted in the maps of a good part of the world being changed, in the ME, Asia, Africa, and Europe often times at the whims of colonial powers. Likewise, the concept of Zionism doesn't sit well with some in this country since it doesn't agree with our ideas of democracy. However, Israel has been a nation for 65 years. If it wants to stay a nation, its alternatives are limited.
Issues like Jeruselem may be important to all parties involved but they are not existential issues. Zionism and the related issue of 'right of return' are, IMO, existential issues.
Long-term, the Israeli position is not a good one. Currently, they have as many enemies in the world as they have friends. Everytime they respond to incursions they are accused of overreacting, this primarily because they are so powerful. When that occurs support drops. Likewise, demographics are against them, they are outnumbered and with existing birth rates the problem will only get worse. And as Deuce pointed out, their military advantage will decrease over time as weapons get ever cheaper and more available. Long-term, IMO,
their situation only gets worse.
That being said, they have few options. Some of those in opposition to Israel such as Iran reject even the idea of Israel. They push for a one state solution ruled by the Palestineans. Some of those who we would have bargain with Israel are looking for a two-state solution and have tentatively indicated they would accept the idea of the State of Israel. However, what they have also stated is that what they will not accept is a Zionist State of Israel.
Where Israel to give in on this issue they would be signing a suicide pact. The demographics of a one-state solution would finish them off quickly. Over-time, even with a two-state agreement the Jews would be overwhelmed and forced out. Giving in on the 'right of return' issue would simply speed up their departure.
This is not support in any way for Zionism. It's definately not any type of support for their claim to a 'historical homeland' or that Jeruselem has always been their capital. It is, IMO, merely a practical assessment of the current situation.
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November 20, 2012
DeleteWhat Israel Must Do
Victor Sharpe
Israel must choke off the endless supply of weapons and missiles into Gaza by repossessing the Philadelphi Corridor -- the narrow strip of land separating Egypt from the Gaza Strip. It should do this as a most basic but vital military act for its own security and survival. It can still do so while only Hamas rules in the Gaza Strip and should have done so long ago.
There is now no more need for smuggling tunnels beneath the Egypt/Gaza border. Instead, endless fleets of trucks openly bring into the Strip from Egypt -- the big Muslim Brotherhood -- the most sophisticated weapons and missiles from Libya and Iran needed by Hamas -- the little Muslim Brotherhood. Only by possessing the Philadelphi Corridor again can Israel hope to stem this lethal tide.
The question is, will Israeli leaders continue the same fearful and timid policies that too many have shown when dealing with the Quartet, the U.N., the Obama Administration, and the EU.
I fear Israel will find that the Gaza Strip becomes an appendage of a new Islamic Republic of Egypt. Gaza has always been a perilous finger pointing into the very heart of the Jewish state. Now it will become even more so, backed by an Egypt armed with enormous and highly lethal amounts of weaponry previously supplied by the U.S. over many years and still -- despite Egypt's hatred towards America and the West -- showered with millions of dollars by President Obama.
Repossessing the Philadelphi Corridor will no doubt evoke screams of rage from the morally compromised world, but they will always condemn Israel however peacefully the Jewish state acts. So it is surely better to be hung in the media and the international corridors of power as a lion than a sheep.
Retaking the Philadelphi Corridor is definitely Israel's only hope of security and the most effective way to choke off the importation into the terrorist infested Gaza Strip of yet more lethal and sophisticated weaponry.
DeleteWhen the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel was signed in 1979, the 14 km long security and buffer zone known as the Philadelphi Corridor was under Israel's control. Its purpose was to prevent weapons entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt to be used against Israel.
The Oslo Accords, signed in 1995, allowed Israel to retain the security corridor along the border but it soon became apparent that Sinai Bedouin and the Palestinian Arabs were digging ever more sophisticated smuggling tunnels under the border.
Condoleezza Rice, when Secretary of State, urged Israel to vacate the vital security strip separating Egyptian Sinai from the Gaza Strip as a peaceful gesture to the Palestinian Arabs: Another land for peace disaster in which the Arabs always receive land but in which the Israelis never receive peace.
Following the infamous and tragic disengagement from Gaza in 2005, forced upon the Jewish villagers in Gush Katif by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel also gave up control of the Philadelphi Corridor to the Palestinian Authority in September of that year.
Meanwhile, massive smuggling continued. It was only a matter of time before Hamas, the little Muslim Brotherhood, evicted their Fatah rivals in a bloody coup in 2007. Hamas, with its charter calling for Israel's extermination, has ruled the Gaza Strip since then, including occupying the Philadelphi Corridor.
In a meeting several years ago in West Jerusalem, Ahmed Qurei, the former Palestinian Authority prime minister and member of Fatah, the Palestinian rival to Hamas but nevertheless hardly moderate, asked Tzipi Livni, a left-winger and former Israeli foreign minister, if Israel would re-occupy the Philadelphi corridor to seal the border and cut off supplies to its arch rival, Hamas. Apparently Livni did nothing and Hamas, as we know, has been greatly strengthened militarily ever since.
So take it, Israel, and take it soon, for the Muslim Brotherhood neither sleeps nor rests, and time in this instance is most assuredly not on Israel's side.
Should there be yet another attempt to create a fraudulent ceasefire arranged with Hamas, it is imperative for the Jewish state not to be lulled yet again into a sense of false security. The terror will continue so long as Israel and the IDF merely retaliates sporadically against future Muslim Arab crimes against the Jewish state's civilian population.
As one person, commenting on a blog, stated: "Israel's taking out rocket launchers is like giving aspirin for cancer. It's only a band aid -- not a cure."
Victor Sharpe is a freelance writer and author of the trilogy, Politicide: The attempted murder of the Jewish state. Available from www.LuluPress.com and www.amazon.com
See here, just because I post something from AT doesn't mean I agree with it. I doubt this scheme would work. But, no one so far has suggested anything workable either.
DeleteForget Alabama, invite them to Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. It would balance out all the liberal Jews and put Pennsylvania back in the red column.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't work. Too many muslims around. Who would all head to Philly and just go back to attacking the Jews. Palestinians to Mississippi, there is the ticket. They'd probably crack down on the alcohol and Ruf could get rich running shine.
DeleteNo shit, you don’t say!
ReplyDeleteASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- As Asian countries garner the majority of the world’s attention, global growth opportunities in Latin American countries have been treated with “benign neglect,” according to foreign policy and financial experts who spoke at a panel Monday.
The economic community has been “too transfixed with Asia and China” -- and the result is a wealth of investment opportunities left on the table, said Antoine W. Van Agtmael, a senior adviser at Garten Rothkopf and author of “The Emerging Markets Century”.
The panelists at the event, hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, agreed that the economic progress of Latin American countries has largely been overlooked by developed nations, despite continued growth and progress towards stabilizing the region’s economic outlook.
A word to all the dummies out there. Stay home on Thanksgiving and enjoy your best and universal national holiday. Eat the bird and flip the bird to Sears, Walmart and the other master marketing manipulators
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteWilliam Hague, the Foreign Secretary, told Parliament that the decision had been reached after he met leaders from the Syrian National Coalition last week and was convinced of their commitment to human rights and responsible leadership.
He said he had asked the group to appoint a political representative to Britain. His announcement was supported by Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary.
The coalition, whose full name is the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, was formed earlier this month in Doha to unite Syria’s splintered opposition groups, in an attempt to boost their chances of securing foreign aid and arms in their bid to topple the Syrian president.
The regime has so far survived a rebellion that has lasted 21 months and claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. Last week France became the first Western nation to officially recognise the Syrian National Coalition.
With 100 people still dying every day, Mr Hague said the Government would not exclude the possibility of providing military support for the rebels at a later date. "We will not rule out any option in accordance with international law that might save innocent lives," Mr Hague said.
From the IEA:
ReplyDeleteThe agency predicts in its World Energy Outlook released on November 12 that the United States will become the world's biggest oil producer by 2017, overtaking current number one Russia and number two Saudi Arabia.
The IEA, an intergovernmental organization that works to ensure energy supplies for its 28 mostly Western member states, also projects that by 2030 the United States will become a net oil exporter and by 2035 will be almost self-sufficient in energy.
The 2005 IEA "Predictions" missed 2012 Oil Production by about 10 Million bbl/day.
DeleteEverything about that IEA Report was total, bullshit propaganda - as it always is.
Nat Gas $3.83
ReplyDelete99.48% of the way to a Double.
:)
Rufus IITue Nov 20, 10:53:00 AM EST
ReplyDeleteWe took those people's land, and gave it to the Jews. And, those people will fight until the end of time to get it back. You want Peace? Move the Jews to Alabama. Short of that, it's going to be eternal war. Period.
Rufus. Nobody "took" arab lands. The land was populated by both arabs and jews. Self determination was given approval by the League of Nations, then by the UN after the Ottoman Empire was defeated.
2 states were approved.
The Jews accepted. The Arabs refused and went to war and lost.
Refugees were created. Jews in larger and more wealthy situations were uprooted and tossed out to Israel. Arabs of Israel controlled lands were asked to say, many did and many fled.
Today more Arabs are citizens of Israel, with full rights as citizens than existed in all lands in 1948.
Refugees of both sides need to be resettled.
Your stupid, ignorant, uneducated, racist point of view leads me to believe your people are as inbred and alcohol induced as stereotypes say they are...
Might I suggest you stick to fuel? As your knowledge of the middle east couldnt fill a timbal.
Fucking Retard
BobTue Nov 20, 03:50:00 PM EST
ReplyDelete"We" didn't take anything. It is more complicated than that. Read the history.
As an alternative to moving the Jews to Alabama, I suggest moving the Palestinians to Mississippi.
You'd probably immediately get a different view of things.
For Hamas, civilian casualties are an asset. Palestinians love and grieve as do other people, but Hamas leadership knows that the world has gotten impatient with Israel. Increasingly, many people now see Israel as the aggressor, as Gaza’s occupying power (never mind the 2005 pullout), and they overlook such trifles as the Hamas charter, which is repellently anti-Semitic and cites the discredited forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” In the Hamas cosmology, Jews are so evil that somehow “they also stood behind World War II, where they collected immense benefits from trading with war materials.” This, you would have to concede, is a wholly original take on the Holocaust.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-cohen-the-callousness-of-hamas/2012/11/19/20a3546c-327e-11e2-bfd5-e202b6d7b501_story.html
Yup, Mississippi is the place for the Palestinians.
I think you're too late; most of them are here, Already.
ReplyDelete:)
Oops, There it is!
ReplyDelete$3.84
The "Double."
Next Stop,
ReplyDelete$5.76?
Aah, why not?
:)
Turns out that the DNI (James Clapper - Director of National Intelligence) took the references to Al Queda, and Terrorism out of the talking points
ReplyDeleteBefore they were distributed to the White House, and Susan Rice.
Goombye, McBatshitCrazy
It's not the talking points. It is the abandoning of the people at Benghazi about which many are concerned.
DeleteThose that Could be saved were saved, Bob; can't you figure that out?
DeleteIt's over, Proby. Even McCrazy's blowjob is moving toward daylight.
Those that Could be saved were saved, Bob
DeleteSaved by two brave souls who gave their lives for it while backup was denied them.
Without those two, the figure of dead would probably be in the 30's.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"Girl, 13, dies after being shot on Miami-area school bus"
She should have been packing heat and then all would be ok!
This is the kind of really stupid comment for which you are so famous, Ash. A meaningless statement with your usual snicker attached.
DeleteIf only the bad guys have guns...
DeleteAn armed society is a polite society...
Deletey'all have a right to bear arms, no?
Deletethis is a great post of Rufus's friends the Hamas...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2235635/Gaza-conflict-Egyptian-president-says-peace-Gaza-imminent-predicts-lasting-ceasefire-begin-tomorrow.html
Playing Achilles the thug.
DeleteAchilles' name can be analyzed as a combination of ἄχος (akhos) "grief" and λαός (Laos) "a people, tribe, nation, etc." In other words, Achilles is an embodiment of the grief of the people, grief being a theme raised numerous times in the Iliad (frequently by Achilles). Achilles' role as the hero of grief forms an ironic juxtaposition with the conventional view of Achilles as the hero of kleos (glory, usually glory in war).
The first two lines of the Iliad read:
μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκεν,
Sing, Goddess, of the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
the accursed rage that brought great suffering to the Achaeans.
When the hero is functioning rightly, his men bring grief to the enemy, but when wrongly, his men get the grief of war. The poem is in part about the misdirection of anger on the part of leadership.
After Hector realized the trick, he knew the battle was inevitable. Wanting to go down fighting, he charged at Achilles with his only weapon, his sword, but missed. Accepting his fate, Hector begged Achilles, not to spare his life, but to treat his body with respect after killing him. Achilles told Hector it was hopeless to expect that of him, declaring that "my rage, my fury would drive me now to hack your flesh away and eat you raw – such agonies you have caused me".[10] Achilles then got his vengeance.
The Jewish/Christian writer Simone Weil said the spirit of Christ hovers over the Iliad.
In her commentary on the Iliad, Weil argues that the true hero of the Iliad is the concept of force rather than the person of Achilles. Achilles' wrath is not a tribute to his manliness, but a eulogy to his ignorance, specifically his ignorance of the workings of retribution or Nemesis. Nemesis operates according to a mathematical strictness. "We are only geometricians of matter; the Greeks were first of all, geometricians in their apprenticeship to virtue."(7)
The doctrine of Nemesis is revealed in what Weil calls the two-edged nature of force.
Force is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the second it crushes, the first it intoxicates. The truth is, nobody really possesses it. (8)
Throughout the Iliad, each hero suffers a time of humiliation as well as a period of victory. As Homer puts it: "Ares is just and kills those who kill."(9) The hero is a temporary victor, while the only real victor in war is Nemesis. The symbiotic nature of the master-slave relationship implies a destiny stronger than the will of the master. Homer's description of the gods' role in the Trojan War points to a transcendent source of the master-slave relationship. The gods represent natural forces beyond human control -- death, love, war, sunshine, etc. (10) Thus, superstition is not a matter of believing in the gods, but of believing that humankind can control these superhuman forces. Seen in this light, modern men and women are as susceptible to superstition as the ancient Greeks. Superstition is the attempt to hide the fickleness of force from our eyes. Weil writes that:
The strong are, as a matter of fact, never absolutely strong, nor are the weak absolutely weak, but neither is aware of this. They have in common a refusal to believe that they both belong to the same species: the weak see no relation between themselves and the strong, and vice-versa.(11)
The gods are not a superstitious projection of the need for security but an antidote to the generally held superstition that security lies in strength.
http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/904233grote.html
Boeing Co. engineers moved a step closer to strike action Tuesday after union leaders gave a cool reception to the company's latest proposal for a new contract.
ReplyDelete...
The two sides will return to the negotiating table Wednesday in pursuit of a new deal.
But fear still ruled. Along the largely empty streets, Abidullah Ahmed Rassam was driving with his family in a battered car.
ReplyDeleteThey had arrived from al-Qubbah near the border to seek refuge. "Peace?
Maybe for a few days, a few weeks. After that, the attacks would start again.
Unemployment rates declined in almost all states in October from a year earlier, according to Labor Department data released on Tuesday, and the rates in more than half the states dropped from September.
ReplyDeleteAltogether, 42 states and the District of Columbia registered decreases from a year earlier, while eight said their rates rose. From the previous month, rates dropped in 37 states and rose in seven.
Military units are being made to sign a loyalty oath and pledge not to confiscate food from local farms. Kim has also told troops that anyone who is not loyal to the leader is "unnecessary", even if they are a good soldier.
ReplyDeleteRumors about discontent within the North Korean military have been flying around since July, when military chief Ri Yong-ho was suddenly removed "because of an illness". Later leaks suggested that Ri may have been marching troops on Pyongyang, and may have been injured in a gun battle with troops loyal to Kim.
According to the Chosun Ilbo, Ri is currently being held under house arrest "near a hot spring in North Hamgyong Province". Due to the large amount respect Ri commands, Kim has not been able to dispose of him, despite reports of a large purge of military officers earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteCommentary Magazine
Contentions
Is this How the Israel-Iran War Begins?
Michael Rubin | @mrubin1971 11.19.2012 - 3:20 PM
Experts and defense analysts agree that Iran would respond to any Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities by proxy, specifically by Hamas and Hezbollah rocketry launched at Israeli towns and cities. Indeed, this is one of the reasons beyond sheer ideological spite that the Iranian leadership has gone to such great lengths to arm both Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Iranian leadership may be coming very close to forcing Israel’s hand. If Hezbollah seeks to open a second front against Israel, then Israel could find itself in a two-front war with terrorist entities. Make no mistake, Israel would achieve its objective of destroying the majority of the longest-range and most lethal missiles supplied to Hamas and Hezbollah by Iran, Syria, and perhaps even North Korea.
This might reduce the costs to Israel of undertaking a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. After all, if Hamas and Hezbollah are temporarily neutered and if the Israeli government concludes that the elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who would have command and control over any Iranian nuclear arsenal would pose an existential threat, then the Israelis may decide that their window of opportunity would never be so favorable as the present. After all, Iran’s air defense is only going to get more sophisticated with time, and its missile program is advancing steadily, and so time is otherwise not on Israel’s side.
The Iranians often quip that they play chess while their opponents play checkers. Let us hope before it is too late that the Iranian regime comes to realize, despite its overconfidence, that it is not the grandmaster it believes itself to be.
• It's not Watergate. It's a political witch hunt, designed to embarrass and discredit the newly re-elected Obama. It's a lot of Republican claptrap, another one of those conspiracy theories created out of thin air.
ReplyDeleteWhoops. That's exactly what Republicans were saying when the FBI and newspaper investigators were closing in on President Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon for covering up the Watergate break-in by his operatives. Republican defenders of Nixon described it as merely a third-rate burglary and said investigating it would be a waste of time because nothing illegal or untoward happened. When Democrats begin sounding like Republicans, we know that the Earth's magnetic poles have shifted.
But I digress. Any one of these points is reason enough to shut down any investigation of ((((why the consulate was poorly defended, why Stevens' pleas for a stronger defense were ignored, whether someone issued orders for the quick-response military unit to stand down, whether the command and control structure so essential to national security broke down, if terrorists were prisoners being held in the CIA annex and what was the CIA's role there, and whether the Obama administration was trying to avoid responsibility.))))
Getting to the bottom of Benghazi
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-1120-byrne-20121120,0,6071743.column
This article lists perfectly 7 examples of "Rufus Reasoning" on the Government's betrayal of the American trust in the Benghazi affair.
((((why the consulate was poorly defended, why Stevens' pleas for a stronger defense were ignored, whether someone issued orders for the quick-response military unit to stand down, whether the command and control structure so essential to national security broke down, if terrorists were prisoners being held in the CIA annex and what was the CIA's role there, and whether the Obama administration was trying to avoid responsibility.))))
DeleteThese are the things we wish to know, Rufus, whether you do or not.
Well, good luck wit dat.
DeleteBest Buy Co. swung to a third-quarter loss and projected sharply lower cash flow for the year, results that proved to be worse than the struggling consumer-electronics giant warned about last month.
ReplyDelete...
So far this year the stock is down by almost 50%, as the company struggles with declining sales at its big-box stores that some consumers are using as a showroom before they buy products elsewhere online.
Lilian Peretz, a long-time Beersheba resident whose three sons have been called up to the reserves, said that if the armistice does take hold, and Israel is able to stop further rocket attacks without invading Gaza, it will be a huge political success for the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces re-election in January.
ReplyDelete...
"I don't like Netanyahu. I didn't vote for him and I urged other people not to vote for him.
He doesn't care about the poor and the weak in Israeli society. But he's done this right."
On this day in 1985, Microsoft debuted its first installment of the Windows operating system, Windows 1.0. This year, Microsoft released Windows 8.
ReplyDeleteThe Obama administration issued new rules Tuesday that require insurance companies to cover people with preexisting medical conditions — one of the most popular provisions of President Obama’s healthcare law.
ReplyDelete...
Regulations released Tuesday will prohibit insurers from charging women a higher premium than men, and will require plans in every state to cover certain services.
According to its engineers, this will be the tallest skyscraper in the world by the end of March of 2013. Its name is Sky City, and its 2,749 feet (838 meters) distributed in 220 floors will grow in just 90 days in Changsha city, by the Xiangjiang river.
ReplyDelete...
They will be able to achieve this impossibly fast construction rate by using a prefabricated modular technology developed by Broad Sustainable Building, a company that has built 20 tall structures in China so far, including the that 30-story hotel.
...
Unlike the Burj Khalifa, the tower will be mostly habitable. Its final height will be 2,749 feet high (838 meters).
ReplyDeleteThen Senator Obama
Q: Senator, if one of your daughters asked you—and maybe they already have—“Daddy, did god really create the world in 6 days?,” what would you say?
A: What I’ve said to them is that I believe that God created the universe and that the six days in the Bible may not be six days as we understand it … it may not be 24-hour days, and that’s what I believe. I know there’s always a debate between those who read the Bible literally and those who don’t, and I think it’s a legitimate debate within the Christian community of which I’m a part. My belief is that the story that the Bible tells about God creating this magnificent Earth on which we live—that is essentially true, that is fundamentally true. Now, whether it happened exactly as we might understand it reading the text of the Bible: That, I don’t presume to know.
Rubio
“I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States,” Rubio told GQ. “I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that.”
“At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all,” he added. “I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.”
ReplyDeleteDetroit rejects condition for cash infusion
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/detroit-rejects-condition-cash-infusion-224903304.html
For some reason or other, probably having to do with corruption, Detroit shoots itself in the head again.
.
DeleteAnything south of 8 Mile Road is lalaland. Detroit is on the edge of bankruptcy and the reasons are obvious. Those in charge are nutz.
The Detriot Zoo, The Detroit Art Museum, and various other cultural gems are now being managed by outside organizations because the city drove them into near bancruptcy. The state has offered the same deal on the Water Department and has offered to lease Belle Isle, a beautiful park on an island in the Detroit River that's been allowed to go to seed, and to put in repairs and improvements and get it back to the way it used to be. Detroit is fighting since they see it as 'whitey' trying to take over their jewels.
The City Council has been fighting the terms set up by the state for that cash infusion you mentioned. It's a power thing. Council doesn't want to agree to any deals that have the suberbs or the state dictating terms to them.
They can't even afford the street lights in some areas of the city. Add the unemployment and the crime and the city is a basket case.
And lest you think they can depend on their elected officials, quess again. The former mayor, his wife, his father, his best friend and half the city officials that served under him are currently on trial here for everything from bribery, extortion, money laundering, corruption, illegal use of campaign funds, fraud, etc. Detroit is in Wayne County and the FEDS are also looking at the Wayne County Executive and his crew for pretty much the same charges as the Detroit mayor. Of course, at the county level you can add in the sweetheart golden parachutes and pension packages.
Heck, I saw in today's paper, that the FED's just raided the Detroit Public Library as well as the home of the guy who runs it, mismanagement and corruption. Also, a state Supreme Court Justice had civil charges brought against her for fraud and money laundering associated with properties she owned in a ritzy area east of Detroit. Criminal charges are expected to follow soon. This follows a number of other judges brought up on either ethical or criminal charges.
Everyday someone new is arrested or charges brought.
Sin City? You don't know the half of it.
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Finally! All will be well. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Jerusalem, dodging incoming like she did in Afghanistan, to broker a peace. Bless her.
ReplyDeleteGovernment figures released Wednesday showed Japan posted its worst trade deficit for October in more than 30 years as exports to China continued to slump amid territorial tensions between Tokyo and Beijing, stoking concerns that Japan is headed for a recession.
ReplyDeleteThe 549 billion yen ($6.7 billion) deficit in the trade of goods, the fourth straight month of shortfall, was much bigger than the ¥360 billion shortfall expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and the Nikkei. Exports to China were down 11.6% on year, compared with a 14.1% drop in September.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=scientists-probe-human-nature-and-discover-we-are-good-after-allm
ReplyDeleteIntuitively good, rationally, not so much.
Maybe the complexities of our mass societies, nation states, economies, tribalisms and such has overwhelmed our better basic leanings.
It is interesting though as it computes with Schopenhauer who said in our unguarded moment the unconscious immediate urge and intuition to help some other in distress reveals a valid metaphysical insight, that we are all one 'behind the scenes'.
No. Israel claims to hold the same values as the supposedly moral West. It says that it is fighting “terrorism” in our name as well as its own.
ReplyDeleteIt says it is fighting like us. It is playing by our Western rules.
We are all Israelis now; that is what we are meant to say. Hamas is our enemy, as well as Israel’s.
15. David
ReplyDeleteI read a comment on another blog that very astutely attributes the Hamas rocket offensive to the insistence of the Iranians, who are watching the Iron Dome performance to determine it’s weaknesses. It’s a probing attack...
But alcohol can Tase out our better selves -
ReplyDeleteAthens man arrested after pretending Taser is penis
By Joe Johnsonupdated Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - 10:34pm
A 44-year-old Athens man is facing criminal charges after he created a scene with a Taser on Monday at a bar downtown.
Meredith Grayson Watson, of Hiawassee Avenue, got into an argument with his wife at the Roadhouse on North Lumpkin Street, then went outside and held a Taser as if it were his penis and discharged it at passersby, Athens-Clarke police said.
A bartender called police about 2:30 p.m. to report the man’s behavior.
She told officers that Watson’s wife was a good customer at the Roadhouse, but Monday was the first time she ever saw Watson, police said. They were arguing about him being intoxicated as they entered the bar.
The bartender overheard the couple arguing about Watson supposedly being high and that he was going to end up in jail, according to police.
The man’s wife left the bar and Watson went after her, but he quickly returned and resumed drinking, setting a Taser on the bar, police said.
Watson then began to use the device.
“(The bartender) stated he went outside and put the Taser down to his pants and was acting like it was his penis,” according to the arrest report.
“When people would walk by he would shock it at them and would come as close as arm’s reach from them and set the Taser off,” according to the report. “He scared a few girls so much they crossed the street to get away.”
The report did not mention anyone actually getting shocked by the Taser.
Watson was jailed on charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct at 6:04 p.m. and released about four hours later after posting a bond of $1,000.
ReplyDeleteThe dangerous success of Iron Dome
You can bet that even as Hamas and its sponsors are recovering from the shock of clanging into Israel’s new missile shield, they are contemplating fresh ways to kill us. Those drafting the Pillar of Defense ceasefire terms mustn’t make it easy for them.
from The Times of Israel
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-dangerous-success-of-iron-dome/
Other stories from The Times of Israel =
ReplyDeleteCurrent top stories
A soldier stands on a tank at a staging area near the Gaza border early Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012. (photo credit: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)
With ceasefire still in the distance, Israel continues offensive
By Sam Ser
In Rishon and Ashkelon, ‘safe rooms’ save lives in two direct rocket strikes
Rockets kill soldier, Bedouin civilian in Eshkol region
In press conference with Clinton, PM says Israel will do whatever it takes to defend its citizens
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in Jerusalem, November 20, 2012 (photo credit: Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash90)
Ceasefire would inhibit Hamas arms-smuggling, but improve Gaza economy, German FM says
By Raphael Ahren
Bomb squad members inspect remains of the rocket which hit an apartment building in Rishon Letzion, near Tel Aviv, on Tuesday. (Photo by Gili Yaari/ Flash90)
Rockets in Tel Aviv? ‘That’s something I couldn’t have imagined’
By Michal Shmulovich
The Palestinian side of the Rafah border terminal between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. (photo credit: Sarah El Deeb/AP)
Gaza-Egypt border crossing is a critical point of conflict
By Sarah El Deeb
An IDF tank in a firing position on the Golan Heights overlooking the Syrian village of Bariqa, Monday, Nov. 12, 2012. The Israeli military said a Syrian mobile artillery unit was hit after the IDF responded to a stray mortar bomb that landed in Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Fire from Syria strikes IDF vehicle in the Golan Heights
By Michal Shmulovich