COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Too Little Too late


The Malaysia Airlines crash is the end of Russia’s fairy tale
By Anne Applebaum Columnist July 18 at 2:57 PM



Before there is any further discussion of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, it’s important that one point be made absolutely clear: This plane crash is a result of the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine, an operation deliberately designed to create legal, political and military chaos. Without this chaos, a surface-to-air missile would not have been fired at a passenger plane.
From the beginning, the Russian government did not send regular soldiers to Ukraine. Instead, it sent Russian mercenaries and security service operatives such as Igor Strelkov — the commander in chief in Donetsk and a Russian secret police colonel who fought in both Chechen wars — and Vladimir Antyufeyev, the Donetsk “deputy prime minister” who led the Latvian KGB’s attempt to overthrow the independent Latvian government in 1991
With the help of local thugs, these Russian security men besieged police stations, government offices and other symbols of political authority to delegitimize the Ukrainian state. In this task, they were assisted by the Russian government and by Russia’s state-controlled mass media, both of which still constantly denigrate Ukraine and its “Nazi” government. Just in the past week, Russian reporting on Ukraine reached a new pitch of hysteria, with fake stories about the supposed crucifixion of a child and an extraordinary documentary comparing the Ukrainian army’s defense of its own country with the Rwandan genocide.
Into this ambiguous and unstable situation, the Russians cynically funneled a stream of heavy weapons: machine guns and artillery and, eventually, tanks, armed personnel carriers and anti-aircraft missiles. In recent days, the separatist forces were openly using man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) and boasting of having taken down large Ukrainian transport planes, clearly with Russian specialist assistance. Indeed, Strelkov on Thursday afternoon reportedly boasted online of having taken down another military plane before realizing that the plane in question was MH17. The blog post was removed. In late June, several different Russian media sources published photographs of Buk anti-aircraft missiles that they said had been captured by the separatists — though they were probably outright gifts from Russia. These posts have also been removed.
This is the context within which a surface-to-air missile was aimed at a passenger plane: a lawless environment; irregular soldiers who might not be so good at reading radar; a nihilistic disregard for human life; scorn for international norms, rules or standards. Just for the record: There weren’t any Ukrainian government-controlled anti-aircraft missiles in eastern Ukraine because the separatists were not flying airplanes.

Until now, these unorthodox methods have worked well for the Russians. They unnerved and distracted the Ukrainian government while allowing foreign governments, and European governments in particular, to turn a blind eye. Because the war was not a “real” war, it could be described as “local,” as “containable,” it could remain a low priority for European foreign policy or indeed for anybody’s foreign policy.
If it has done nothing else, the crash of Flight 17 has just put an end to the “it’s not a real war” fairy tale, both for the Russians and for the West. Tragically, this unconventional non-war war just killed 298 people, mostly Europeans. We can’t pretend it isn’t happening any longer or that it doesn’t affect anyone outside of Donetsk. The Russians can’t pretend either.
Without the fairy-tale pretense, some things are about to become clear. For one, we are about to learn whether the West in 2014 is as united and as determined to stop terrorism as it was 26 years ago. When the Libyan government brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, the West closed ranks and isolated the Libyan regime. Can we do the same now — or will too many be tempted to describe this as a “tragic accident” and to dismiss what will inevitably be a controversial investigation as “inconclusive”? It is insufficient to state, as President Obama now has , that there must be a “cease-fire” in Ukraine. What is needed is a withdrawal of Russian mercenaries, weapons and support. The West — and the world — must push for Ukrainian state sovereignty to be re-established in eastern Ukraine, not for the perpetuation of another frozen conflict.
We will also learn something interesting about the Russian president. So far there is no sign of shock or shame in Russia. But in truth, this tragedy offers Vladimir Putin an opportunity to get out of the messy disaster he created in eastern Ukraine. He has the perfect excuse to denounce the separatist movement and to cut its supplies. If he refuses, then we know that he remains profoundly dedicated to the chaos and nihilism he created in Donetsk. We can assume he intends to perpetuate it elsewhere. And if we are not prepared to fight it, we should be braced for it to spread.

225 comments:

  1. Terrorists in Gaza attempted to attack IDF soldiers with an explosives-laden donkey on Friday, the military said.

    IDF forces operating in the Rafah area near the Gaza-Egypt border located the donkey suspiciously approaching their position and were forced to open fire at it, causing the explosives to detonate.

    No injuries were sustained to the soldiers.

    The military expressed its regret over the "shocking" incident, and condemned terrorists in Gaza for strapping bombastic devices to innocent animals as a means of attacking Israeli forces.

    "This cruel incident is the most recent attempt by Gaza terror organizations to make such an abominable use of animals as explosives couriers," the IDF said on its website.


    What's next? Kitten IED's? Puppy Bombs? Using retarded kids with suicide vest, oh my bad, they already do that one...

    ReplyDelete
  2. IIDF have killed 300, mostly civilians, mostly woman and children. The noble IDF is concerned about cruelty to animals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mostly women and children being used as human shields by the noble Hamas.

      Delete
    2. Hamas made a choice, to use civilians as political weapons.

      They have been telephone, leaflets dropped and door knocked...

      If the Hamas wants to allow it's people to die? It's their own issue, in fact Egyptians are blaming the deaths on the Hamas,

      Meanwhile, Hamas? KEEPS trying to murder civilians on purpose. Your team? targets kids on purpose, targets nuke plants, targets babies...

      Israel aint...

      If they were? you'd see death rates equal to that of..... SYRIA.

      As for your assertion? "mostly woman and children"

      is a lie.

      10.24pm BST
      The Gaza Ministry of Health has issued an update on the numbers of dead and injured since Operation Protective Edge began:

      296 dead (of which 71 children and 25 women)

      why must you lie and exaggerate?

      facts speak plainly without your need to embellish

      Delete
    3. so out of the 296 dead, 96 are women and kids.

      that leaves 2/3 to be MEN. None were fighters?

      I call bullshit.

      Delete
    4. Not to fear. I hear tell Syria is ramping up it's killing of Palestinans and Arabs, they are up to 163 a DAY

      Delete
    5. News from Iraq...

      Islamic extremists kill 270 in attack on a gas field in central Syria, report says Mostly all civilians

      Delete
    6. At least 2,400 Iraqis died in violence in June, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. Of those, the United Nations said more than 1,500 were civilians, including 270 civilian police officers, and almost 900 were members of Iraqi security forces.

      Delete
    7. The Syrian regime forces killed no less than 133586 people; including 109347 civilian
      (88% of the total) among them 15149 children and 13695 women. In addition, 4892
      person were killed under torture.

      Delete
    8. SNHR documented up to this moment of Thursday 17 July, 2014 the kill of (42) victims by Government Forces in different Syrian Governorates including 5 women.
      SNHR documented up to this moment of Wednesday 16 July, 2014 the kill of (36) victims by Government Forces in different Syrian Governorates including 9 women and children
      SNHR documented up to this moment of Tuesday 15 July, 2014 the kill of (24) victims by Government Forces in different Syrian Governorates including 10 children
      SNHR documented up to this moment of Monday 14 July, 2014 the kill of (6) victims by Government Forces in different Syrian Governorates and 4 tortured.
      SNHR documented up to this moment of Sunday 13 July, 2014 the kill of (46) victims by Government Forces in different Syrian Governorates including 4 children
      SNHR documented up to this moment of Saturday 12 July, 2014 the kill of (26) victims by Government Forces in different Syrian Governorates

      This suggests that the Syrian regime kills four civilians every hour and 100 civilians every day as a daily average
      A child is killed every two hours
      A woman is killed per three hours.

      Delete
    9. SNHR has documented the killing of 2692 people during June divided as follows:
      First: Government Forces
      A: Civilians
      SNHR has documented the killing of 1732 civilians by government forces, among them were 293 children (10 children a day), and 166 women at least. The number of victims who died under torture inside the government’s detention centers was 302; among them were two children under the age of 18. (As average, 10 people die under torture every day.)
      The percentage of women and children victims is 27%; a clear indicator that government forces is deliberately targeting civilians.
      B: Rebels
      We also documented the killing of 509 rebels by government forces either during clashes or under shelling.

      2
      www.sn4hr.org info@sn4hr.org
      Second: The armed factions affiliated to Al-Qaeda (ISIS)
      A: Civilians
      SNHR documented the killing of 52 civilians including 17 children, 11 women, and a media activist.
      B: Rebels
      We also documented the killing of 185 rebels on the hands of ISIS either during clashes between this group and other rebels or through field executions of prisoners.
      Third: Armed opposition
      SNHR documented the killing of 172 people by the armed opposition; divided as follows: A: Civilians: 165 civilians; including 43 children and 38 ladies.
      B: Rbels: seven rebels during internal conflicts within the armed opposition
      Fourth: Unknowns
      We also documented 42 incidents of killing which we were not able to name the side responsible for them.

      Delete
    10. The death toll from recent clashes between Yemeni government forces and Houthi fighters has reached 120.

      The clashes, which erupted in the province of Amran on Monday, left some 100 Houthi fighters and about 20 government soldiers dead, Ahmed al-Bekry, the deputy governor of the province noted on Tuesday.

      US embassy officers killed Yemeni civilians
      New York Times reports that the two Americans involved in the shooting were a CIA officer and a lieutenant colonel.

      8 Stories of Civilians Killed by U.S. Drone Strikes in Yemen

      A drone was hovering overhead all morning. There were one or two of them. One of the missiles hit the car. The car was totally burned. Four other cars were also struck. When we stopped, we heard the drone fire. Blood was everywhere, and the people killed and injured were scattered everywhere," said Abdullah Muhammad al-Taysi in an interview with Democracy Now.

      What al-Taysi describes here is not a gruesome scene from a war zone — it is a wedding that took place in the Yemeni city of Rad'a, a happy celebration that turned bloody, thanks to a strike carried out by a drone operated by the U.S. military. The attack resulted in 12 deaths, including al-Taysi's son, Ali Abdullah Muhammad al-Taysi.

      He wasn't the first loved one to be killed by a drone strike, and he won't be the last. We don't know the exact number of civilians killed by missiles fired by drones, but up to 132 civilians may have been killed between 2002 and 2014.

      "It is a lot like playing a video game. But playing the video game for four years on the same level," said one former operator of Predator drones.

      Former drone operator Heather Linebaugh described in the Guardian how hard it was to distinguish between civilians and an intended target on the videos provided by drones: "We always wonder if we killed the right people, if we endangered the wrong people, if we destroyed an innocent civilian's life all because of a bad image or angle."

      That lack of humanity is part of the problem: Drone operators tucked away somewhere in Nevada or New Mexico are shielded from the casualties of their work, the human beings killed, the damage and destruction caused when a hellfire missile explodes into a car packed full of people.

      That's perhaps why they're the weapon of choice for the Obama administration: Afghanistan, Iraq and, on a lesser scale, Libya, have left Americans wary of more foreign adventures. Instead of dealing with body bags returning home, drones offer a different way of attacking the enemy without ever having to put U.S. soldiers into harm's way.

      The argument is that the civilians are collateral damage, and it's horrible that they had to die, but that's war. But there is no war between the U.S. and Yemen. The war is with al-Qaida, a non-state entity — and waging a war against a group leaves more room for Yemeni civilians to get caught in the crossfire.

      Eight people killed by drone strikes are important to tell because they show that behind every sanitized report of drone casualty figures, there are real people with goals, loves and dreams whose lives have been extinguished.

      Delete
    11. The Toll Of 5 Years Of Drone Strikes: 2,400 Dead
      The Huffington Post | By Matt Sledge

      The U.S. drone program under President Barack Obama reached its fifth anniversary on Thursday having tallied up an estimated death toll of at least 2,400 people.

      As the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a U.K.-based non-profit, details on its website, five years ago the CIA conducted the first drone strikes of the Obama presidency. Although there were reports of suspected "militants" killed, at least 14 civilians also died that day.

      After those initial mistakes, TBIJ notes, Obama rapidly ramped up the drone program in Pakistan and increased its use in Yemen and Somalia, two countries where al Qaeda affiliates expanded their presence during Obama's presidency.

      Delete
  3. The fact is, those people in Eastern Ukraine would vote in a Soviet Occupation if they were allowed. That makes it None of our business, whatsoever. Obama's already got us way more involved in this mess than we have any reason to be.

    It Don't Matter a Hill of Beans, and it's None of Our Damned Business.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We instigated, for some damned silly reason, the overthrow of the duly elected government in Ukraine, and now we're upset that "actions have consequences?"

      I think we've done about all the damage we need to this go-round.

      Delete
    2. You simpleton.

      "We" didn't do any such thing.

      It was Lester Crown that done it.

      Delete
  4. Another Russia Today reporter has quit over the coverage of the airline story -

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/07/18/malaysia-airlines-russian-reporter-quits/12847251/

    There have been several news readers who have quit, one right on the air, over other stories.

    ReplyDelete
  5. While Russia is ultimately to blame for this airline disaster, it also seems certain that they didn't intend to do it. They misidentified the aircraft.

    They had zero reason to want to bring down an airliner from Malaysia.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Rocket diplomacy: Both Israel and Hamas are in this for the long haul

    Patrick Martin
    GAZA CITY — The Globe and Mail
    Published Friday, Jul. 18 2014, 7:32 PM EDT

    While it’s commonly thought the interests of Israel and Hamas are worlds apart, the parties at war in Gaza share a singular attitude. Each is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

    Israel’s argument in this Sisyphean conflict with Hamas is basically this: Hamas is a terrorist organization that has no right to attack civilian Israelis whether by suicide bombs, as they once did, or by firing rockets at them. The attacks must stop.

    Hamas’s argument goes like this: Israel is an occupying power that may have withdrawn its settlers and army from inside the Gaza Strip, but still maintains a stranglehold on the territory, preventing Gazans from having a normal life while carrying out targeted killings of people inside. The siege and the killings must stop.

    If a deal between these two warring sides is possible, it would look like this: Hamas would stop all attacks on Israelis, and Israel would end its siege and the killings. Israelis would be able to live quietly even in the area bordering Gaza, and Gazans would be able to come and go as they please, by border-crossings into Israel, as once existed, or by sea or air. No one in Gaza would need to fear the extra-legal hand of Israel reaching in for them.

    The current conflict in Gaza, like the one that took place in 2012 and the one before that in 2008-09, is a crude attempt by the two parties to negotiate such an agreement, with each side wanting, in true Middle Eastern fashion, to get the better of the bargain.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has modestly set Israel’s goal in this conflict as the establishment of long-lasting “quiet” for his people.

    To that end, Israel would like to use this war to destroy tunnels constructed by Hamas and other groups that allow militant resistance fighters to burrow under the Israeli border and wreak havoc, killing and kidnapping Israelis. Attacks on such tunnels now are being carried out. It also would like to reduce the number of rockets held by Hamas and other groups, which are the biggest threat to Israeli quiet.

    To some extent this is achieved by letting Hamas fire lots of rockets at Israel, shooting down the ones that might kill a large number of people. Hamas is obliging them in this regard, although it doesn’t seem as if it’s going to run out of rockets any time soon. Israel also shells the sites of rocket launchers, but that doesn’t do the whole job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The most effective way would be to go into the cities of Gaza, where many of the rocket launchers are hidden among the citizens, and spend months finding and eliminating the launchers and the arsenals. Even if you eliminated them, however, what’s to stop Hamas and others from building more and better ones?

      One way would be for Israel to eliminate Hamas, as the United States removed Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Mr. Netanyahu is under enormous pressure from his own right wing to do exactly that; he himself argued for it at the time of the 2008-09 war.

      But such an operation would cost the lives of many Israelis and Palestinians and, as in Iraq, would risk chaos and greater extremists taking Hamas’s place.

      The other way is through an agreement by which Hamas abides.

      Israel knows a political solution is the only viable one; that means Hamas must get some of what it wants in return. To a large degree, Israel’s ulterior motive in this war is to pressure Hamas to reduce its demands in the bargain at which both will eventually arrive.

      Hamas presented a long list of demands going into this war, including the opening of border crossings, airport and seaport, the payment of salaries and the release of Palestinian prisoners. But are they going about getting these things in the right way?

      Firing rockets at Israel only draws Israeli retaliation that leads to death and destruction in Gaza. Doesn’t that turn Gazans against them? Wouldn’t it be better to accept a ceasefire and negotiate?

      Hamas certainly doesn’t think so, and it may be right. Stop the rocket fire and what leverage does it have in negotiations? Hamas’s refusal to accept a truce put forward by Egypt on Tuesday led to a truce more attractive to Hamas being proffered on Thursday.

      Hamas’s refusal of those terms also contributed to the Israeli ground invasion now under way. So how do all the casualties that will result affect Gazans’ attitude to Hamas?

      In 2006, Israel sought to retaliate against the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah after the group attacked and abducted Israeli soldiers on the border. Besides targeting Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon, Israel also destroyed a number of bridges, roads and power stations, believing that the Lebanese would blame Hezbollah for the war and turn against them.

      Instead, the Lebanese united in opposition to Israel. The same thing is happening in Gaza.

      “When you create fear, you build hate. This is what Israel has done,” Rawia Shawa, an independent member of the Palestine Legislative Council, daughter of a former mayor and scion of an influential family, said in an interview this week.

      “I hate Hamas,” she said, referring to its religious agenda. “But we are nationalists, and when you have a common national cause, you’ll make an alliance with the devil.”

      “I don’t like Hamas either,” said her son-in-law Jason Shawa, owner of a printing company. “But they’re defending this place [Gaza] from the Israelis.”

      Aren’t they doing so by hiding rockets among the citizens, using them as human shields?

      “Where do you want them to put them?” he asked. “Out in the open where Israelis can destroy them? No, this is the way resistance fighters operate. We aren’t concerned by it.”

      The negotiations to end this conflict may be long and drawn out."

      http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/rocket-diplomacy-both-israel-and-hamas-are-in-this-for-the-long-haul/article19681715/

      Delete

  7. 'Hamas’s argument goes like this: Israel is an occupying power that may have withdrawn its settlers and army from inside the Gaza Strip, but still maintains a stranglehold on the territory, preventing Gazans from having a normal life while carrying out targeted killings of people inside. The siege and the killings must stop.'

    Wrongo, Ash.

    See: Hamas Charter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob, you are, simply, an ass. You think you possess some holy grail of an argument and you don't but at least it keeps you comfortable in your own skin.

      Delete
    2. Noble Ash, you moron, if you think there is going to be long term peace through some stand down agreements you are a simpleton.

      Think hudna.

      Delete
    3. Ash

      you are a dimwit.

      Gazans have no "right" to travel freely inside israel. they can, if they didn't murder egyptians, travel to and from egypt.

      and Bob is correct.

      hamas is committed to murdering every Jew in the middle east (and other places too) what part of this do you not understand?

      Delete
    4. Yeah, yeah, you are as mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Enjoy the death dance spiral.

      Delete
  8. Noble mosque leaders in Philadelphia try to cut man's hand off -

    Reuters) - Two men described as leaders of a Philadelphia mosque were accused of trying to cut off the hand of a suspected thief, whose wrist was sliced so deeply it required hospital treatment, police said on Friday.

    The 46-year-old victim said two officials in the mosque accused him of stealing jars of money from the house of worship after morning prayers on Monday.

    The officials, described in police reports as the mosque's imam and amir, dragged the victim to the rear of the mosque, and attempted to chop off his hand with a machete, according to a police statement.

    He sustained a severe laceration to his right wrist, and was transported to a nearby hospital by medics.

    Officers served a search warrant on Thursday on the mosque, located in a house in the city's Overbrook section, where they arrested Merv Mitchell, also known as Mabul Shoatz. They recovered a 2-foot-long machete from the scene.

    The mosque's imam, an unidentified 35-year-old male, has not yet been located, police said.

    Mitchell was charged with aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, simple assault, reckless endangerment, and related offenses.

    (Editing by Barbara Goldberg)

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/18/us-usa-mosque-philadelphia-idUSKBN0FN2PW20140718

    (picture of noble mosque leader included)

    ReplyDelete
  9. July 19, 2014
    Official hints Israel may occupy all of Gaza
    By Rick Moran

    Israeli officials - including Prime Minister Netanyahu - are hinting that the ground operation launched by the IDF may last "months" and that the ultimate goal may be to occupy all of the Gaza strip.

    Time:

    The main target of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza are secret tunnels linking it to Israel, like the one Israel says Hamas militants used this week in an attempt to infiltrate and attack it. Still, Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, said that Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge” could result in Israel taking control of the entire Gaza Strip.

    “The tunnels are the target of this operation, but alongside that, I don’t rule out the possibility of addition stages, of Stage B and Stage C, and the expansion of this operation,” Steinitz said in a speech following Netanyahu’s and broadcast on Israel Radio. “We will weigh all options in coordination with the needs of the operation, and even though we’re not interested in it, the possibility of taking control of the entire Gaza Strip to eliminate the possibility of launching missiles from there.”

    Some members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, such as Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, have been vocal about their assessments that the only solution in Israel’s eyes is a reoccupation of the Gaza Strip. Israel seized Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War, and didn’t remove its settlers and soldiers from the region until 2005, nearly 40 years later.

    But Azriel Bermant, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, says that re-taking control of the Gaza Strip is considered an extreme option among Israel’s security policy-making circles, and is probably some combination of bluster and wishful thinking on the part of rightists like Lieberman. Netanyahu, Bermant says, is more “risk-averse” and unlikely to want to make a move that would not only be condemned internationally and lead to casualties on both sides, but could also further complicate things in Gaza.

    Getting rid of the tunnels is one thing. This is an operation that many Israelis see as long overdue. But smashing Hamas and re-occupying Gaza may be emotionally satisfying, but would lead to chaos and the probability that Gaza would become virtually ungovernable. Also, the international outcry against reoccupation would complicate Israel's diplomacy.

    Breaking the ability of Hamas to threaten Israeli citizens - even if only temporarily - is probably the mid range goal of Netanyahu's evolving strategy. What the IDF can accomplish beyond that is unknown.

    .......

    I don't think it is going to happen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rufus would sacrifice his entire family to stop it.

      I read the other day an entire Brigade from Mississippi has been formed, called the Hamas Brigade, under a nom de guerre Comandante Rufus, that Hamas can call upon in dire straits.

      Delete
    2. If Israel does not, the entire operation will have been pointless.

      Delete
    3. Merely another episode of kicking the can down the road.

      Delete
    4. I agree.

      But it would be a hell of a lot of trouble.

      Delete
    5. And if the Israeli do, the International condemnation will be outstanding.
      The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction Movement will become fully energized.

      The Existential Threat to Israel magnified beyond recognition.

      Stay the Course !

      Delete
    6. Jack HawkinsSat Jul 19, 09:17:00 AM EDT
      If Israel does not, the entire operation will have been pointless.

      hardly, mr zero sum gain....

      dead hamas members are stacking up like chord wood...

      that's the purpose... as well as destroying a billion dollars in tunnels and missiles...

      Delete
    7. Sorry jack, but governments across the globe are lining up to do business with israel....

      Sorry if YOUR soda went flat...

      Delete
  10. There is zero hard evidence that either the Russians or the "Counter Revolutionaries' were responsiblle.
    There is zero hard evidence that a MANPAD took that aircraft down.

    The investigation into the causes of the crash of Flight 800 took 16 months to complete.
    Eye witness reports of MANPAD involvement in that crash were proven to be inaccurate.

    Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland, the investigation into the cause of the crash took three years.

    Iran Air Flight 655, which was shot down by the US Navy in 1988, the subsequent investigation to revel the cause and responsibility for the missile launch took five years, the report not issued by the US until 1993.

    Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 (LN 114) was shot down by the Israeli at 10:30 on 21 February 1973. Subsequently Israel's Defense Minister, Moshe Dayan, called it an "error of judgment".

    Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet Su-15, on 1SEP 1983, the investigation into the events that led to that missile firing took until 2DEC1983.

    In a "Rush to Judgement' based upon nothing of substance it has been decided by the MSM in less than 24 hours not only how and why the Malaysian Flight 17 went down, but who is responsible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No one is saying a MANPAD did take it down.

      Delete
    2. One of the truck mounted biggies did.

      Delete
    3. .

      Yet, IMO, the arguments are compelling, and there has been little cooperation from the side controlling the ground were the flight went down. Well, through yesterday anyway, I haven't had the news on this morning.

      .

      Delete
    4. The Ukrainian government has reported that it was downed by a , Robert Peterson, within hours of the crash.
      Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry, said on Facebook that Flight MH17 was hit by a BUK anti-aircraft missile.

      The BUK is a not a MANPAD, true enough, but there is no evidence that a BUK was used, either.


      Delete
    5. There is ZERO evidence that you are a human being Jack...

      Delete
    6. Makes not a shred of difference, "O:rdure, who or what Jack Hawkins is.

      Keep you eyes on the prize.
      Or focus upon Jack Hawkins, make little to no difference, to Jack.

      Delete
    7. Makes not a shred of difference, "O"rdure, who or what Jack Hawkins is.

      Delete
  11. Now comes a new White House report, prepared by the Council of Economic Advisers, that offers fascinating insights into what might be happening in the job market. The biggest headline in the report is the least surprising. It finds that about half of the decline in participation is the result of the baby-boomer generation beginning to retire. Economists have known -- and predicted -- this would happen for years. It should be no reason to worry. The report also finds that a sliver of the decline in participation is simply due to the elevated unemployment rate, which is still half-a-point or so above normal. In all recoveries, some people opt out of looking for work while the unemployment rate is higher than normal. This, thus, is "cyclical," and also offers little reason for concern.

    But the most interesting and alarming part of the report examines what White House economists call the "residual" -- the factors beyond aging and cyclicality that explain why people are disappearing from the labor force. This is what we should worry most about. It's these people who may never return to jobs. The report finds that about a third of the decline in participation is attributable to these disappearing workers. If their exit from the labor force proves permanent, the nation's economy could suffer for years, never achieving the growth and prosperity it once could.

    What's behind this residual is one of the big mysteries in economics today. As is why, according to the report, it only emerged in 2012. That's right: For the first two years of the recovery, the decline in labor force participation appears to have been normal, driven by aging and temporary effects from the recession. Only later on -- as the unemployment came down and the economic recovery continued -- did an unusually large number of workers start to abandon the labor . . . . .

    Hey, Where'd they go?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      The report also finds that a sliver of the decline in participation is simply due to the elevated unemployment rate, which is still half-a-point or so above normal.

      One assumes that is a half-a-point or so above the 'new normal'.

      .

      Delete
    2. .

      The biggest headline in the report is the least surprising. It finds that about half of the decline in participation is the result of the baby-boomer generation beginning to retire.

      Also, what the White House report doesn't mention is that millennials will be entering (or not) the workforce at a rate nearly equivalent to that of the boomers leaving it, something that wasn't anticipated.

      .

      Delete
    3. .

      As is why, according to the report, it only emerged in 2012. That's right: For the first two years of the recovery, the decline in labor force participation appears to have been normal, driven by aging and temporary effects from the recession. Only later on -- as the unemployment came down and the economic recovery continued -- did an unusually large number of workers start to abandon the labor . . . . .

      No doubt the White House would argue that it's just people voluntarily choosing to lead the good lives, spend times with the kids, work when they have too, a positive thing, a sure sign the economy is improving.

      A cynic might say it takes a couple years to thoroughly beat down the long-term unemployed and discourage any hope of getting a job.

      If the White House take were true, the next question that would arise is what government incentives are allowing and provides incentive's for healthy workers not to work. And are they net/net a good thing.

      .

      Delete
    4. Is that the case - millennial entry equals exiting boomers? I'd like it be true but I'm skeptical. Do you of any evaluations of such a demographic trend you can point me?

      Delete
  12. There are those that have a proven track record of being unwilling to fight for their family, or country. They have a hard time understanding when a Man states

    If I were born a Palestinian, I would, almost certainly, lead my sons as a member of Hamas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just as those that submitted to ghettoization, themselves, become outraged when those that They would subjugate in the same way rise up, and fight back.

      Delete
    2. Sheeple do not understand and are outraged when faced by Patriots that fight back against political oppression backed by military force...

      Delete
    3. That is the way of the vast majority of the human race.

      But you weren't fighting for your family, or country, or faith or anything in Vietnam. You just got suckered by some folks in D.C. who had not read their history.

      You didn't have to go. You volunteered. You could have stood for the draft, like me. And let the gods decide.

      Now you say you had no business there, and want to criticize me for not volunteering, like you. This makes very little sense.

      I admire your courage, I certainly mean that.

      Delete
    4. Rufus IISat Jul 19, 09:24:00 AM EDT
      There are those that have a proven track record of being unwilling to fight for their family, or country. They have a hard time understanding when a Man states

      If I were born a Palestinian, I would, almost certainly, lead my sons as a member of Hamas.



      You are a moron.

      Delete

    5. I rather die on my feet than live upon my knees.
      - Emiliano Zapata

      Delete
    6. Rufus IISat Jul 19, 09:24:00 AM EDT
      There are those that have a proven track record of being unwilling to fight for their family, or country. They have a hard time understanding when a Man states

      If I were born a Palestinian, I would, almost certainly, lead my sons as a member of Hamas.


      So you advocate the genocide of Jews.

      Asshole

      Delete
    7. I would advocate the killing of any sonofabitch that was trying to kill me, and mine - either through bombs, or disease and famine.

      Delete
  13. Another opinion -

    'In other words, Israel doesn’t have to reconquer Gaza to destroy Hamas. We just have to humiliate Hamas and knock out capabilities like the tunnel networks that immediately threaten us. And then let the Gazans fight it out.

    Finally, a full-scale ground invasion is a risky proposition. There is no assurance of success. Israel deployed ground forces in south Lebanon in 2006. But due to incompetent national and military leadership, the forces achieved little from a strategic perspective while absorbing painful losses.

    Israel faces an acute operational challenge in Gaza. The nine year absence of IDF forces and Israeli civilians on the ground has wrecked Israel’s intelligence gathering capabilities and so limited the IDF’s operational effectiveness. If in 2004 Israel was able to defeat Hamas through targeted killing of its commanders, repeating that success today without good human intelligence assets on the ground is a much more difficult prospect.

    This is why we are already beginning to see diminishing results from the air campaign. Without human assets on the ground, the IDF either cannot locate or cannot get to the remaining high value targets. Unless Israel is able to change this situation fairly rapidly, it will not be able to sufficiently diminish Hamas’s capabilities to convince Hamas’s leadership that they are better off ending the current fight without achieving anything significant than maintaining it until they do.'

    Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/07/19/how_to_win_in_gaza_123377.html#ixzz37v8u9z7g
    Follow us: @RCP_Articles on Twitter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It did not work against Hezbollah in Lebanon, in 2006.

      In fact Israel actions to 'humiliate' Hezbollah has had the opposite effect.

      Delete
    2. tell that to Bunker living Nasrallah...

      With hezbollah "victories" like 2006? they sure can't afford another...

      Delete
    3. "O"rdure, typical of a sheeple who has never known sacrifice, demeans it.

      Men know that they must pay a price, for freedom and liberty from political and military oppression.
      Real Men pay that price without hesitation,
      Israeli calculate the cost then decide if it is worth paying.

      The results of that type of calculating, found at Auschwitz

      Delete
    4. In Holocaust Victims Accuse (1977), available on line, Rabbi Moshe Shonfeld says some Zionists sabotaged many attempts to organize resistance, ransom and relief. They undermined an effort by Vladimir Jabotinsky to arm Jews before the war. They stopped an attempt to send food to the ghettos. Dr. Makow says the Zionist Rabbi of Sweden, Dr. Ehrenpreis, scuttled a Swedish attempt to rescue 10,000 Jews. Pro-Labor Zionists torpedoed a similar attempt by the British parliament.

      Weizmann and the other Jewish establishment leaders organized Jewish traitor patrols on the coastline of Israel to assist the British in keeping out “illegal” Jewish men, women and children who sought refuge from the claws of the Nazis. In Barry Chamish’s “Save Israel!” (Modiin, Modiin House, Israel), he writes (p. 350): “… Chaim Weizmann knew the results of the Holocaust ahead of time and deliberately allowed the slaughter to take place. He turned Jewish leaders into mass murderers … He was sending official proclamations to Jewish leaders worldwide, not to try and save their co-religionists in Europe …”

      Finally, in Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism and the Holocaust, which was published also by Modiin, Barry Chamish writes (on pg. 232) that, about a year before he became Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon said that had Jabotinsky been head of the Jewish Agency instead of Ben-Gurion, millions of Jews would have been saved from the Holocaust. Perfidy, The Transfer Agreement, and The Scared And The Doomed are accurate books (which were created by Jewish people, not anti-Semite bigots) that detail how Labor Zionism prevented the rescue of European Jewry.


      <http://firstlightforum.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/zionists-collaborate-with-hitler-to-squeeze-the-lesser-jews-into-palestine/

      Delete
    5. Clear calculations by the Zionists led to the deaths of millions of European Ashkenazi, converts to Judaism.


      a year before he became Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon said that had Jabotinsky been head of the Jewish Agency instead of Ben-Gurion, millions of Jews would have been saved from the Holocaust.

      Delete
    6. Thanks for proving what a jew hating site this is...

      You make Hitler proud...

      Delete
  14. They had better leave Putin alone. He's the world's largest oil producer (2nd largest exporter,) and he has a temper. He could throw the world into another major recession in a heartbeat.

    I don't know what Obama, and his crazed banshees thought they were doing screwing around over there in Mad Vlad's back yard, but it was a stupid idea, and they need to figure that out pdq, and try and give that mess the slip. Times are difficult enough, without this nonsense.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It never fails to amaze me how the Left discards their ideals when they have a dictator to have a man crush on.

      Delete
    2. Like Willie Wonka, the new President of the Ukraine?

      Delete
    3. And, You, sweetie pie, can blow my horse, Trigger.

      Delete
    4. I thought you ate horses native boy...

      Delete
    5. Nor too much; that is mostly an English thing.

      Delete
  15. The absurdity of the numbers being used by the IDF against civilian targets with no army, no navy, no mechanized units, no air defense and no Air Force is truly absurd. There is something of a massive group think inferior complexity at play. You do wonder what would happen to the IDF if they had to face a real army. Probably as well as most bullies when they meet their match.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. War isn't fair, Deuce. You bring overwhelming force and start breaking stuff until the other guy cries uncle. William Tecumseh Sherman taught us that.

      Delete
    2. But that tactic only worked in the short term.
      It still has not defeated the "South".

      The battle flag still flies in South Carolina.

      Delete
    3. civilian targets?

      i call bullshit.

      As for facing the real armies? they defeated every single one of the arab armies, numerous times (thanks for calling the IDF cowards)....

      The Hamas uses terror since the arab world accepted it could NOT defeat Israel in war.

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    5. Deuce ☂Sat Jul 19, 09:46:00 AM EDT
      The absurdity of the numbers being used by the IDF against civilian targets with no army, no navy, no mechanized units, no air defense and no Air Force is truly absurd. There is something of a massive group think inferior complexity at play. You do wonder what would happen to the IDF if they had to face a real army. Probably as well as most bullies when they meet their match.


      Maybe Israel should just shoot rockets indiscriminately back at Gaza and try to kill as many civilians as possible. Would that make you happy?

      Delete
    6. The "Stars and Bars" has not been vanquished.
      The War of Northern Aggression did not vanquish the ideals of the Confederacy.

      Those ideals remain deeply embedded in the citizenry of Mississippi.
      Anti-Federalism grows ever stronger.
      Armed insurgents challenging the authority of the Federal government in Nevada, just months ago.

      Delete
    7. The right crowed, we can defeat Saddam is two weeks. Unanswered was the question, "And, Then What?"

      Obama, and his harridans cackled, we can get rid of that Ukrainian President inside of a month.

      Again, they forgot the second part - "And, Then What?"

      Delete
    8. The GOOD news? Hamas fighters are dying. Hamas munition dumps, whether hidden in homes, schools, hospital or mosques are being destroyed (hiding munitions in those places makes those place legitimate targets according to international law, and all collateral damage (civilian deaths) are the responsibility of the group using the civilian locations as a military site ((hamas)) ), tunnels are being located and destroyed, hamas members are being captured...

      what is not being is reported is the number of Gazans RUSHING to HELP the IDF with pointing out tunnels, hamas hold outs, munition dumps and booby traps..

      The PEOPLE of Gaza want freedom and peace FROM the Hamas and they are turning out to be Israel's BIGGEST asset...

      Reports are staggering on the INTEL that the IDF is getting...

      Phone calls, notes and even groups of Gazans leading the Israeli solders to sites...

      Viva The Palestinians. may the have freedom and justice, without Hamas

      Delete
    9. hiding munitions in those places makes those place legitimate targets according to international law

      There is one law for Jews and another one for everyone else. This blog makes that very clear.

      Delete
    10. It was not until "Victory" was announced, that Lincoln was killed.
      The "War" had not ended.

      The 'Raids" did not cease.
      They were diminished in scope and scale, but the James-Younger detachment or Quantrell' Raider continued apace.
      The post conflict political action arm of the Confederacy, established by CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest., the KKK, flourished for almost 100 years.

      Delete
    11. By your logic, World War II wasn't over until the last Japanese soldier hiding in the hills of Luzon and making periodic raids on the local farmers turned himself in thirty years later. I think it was over after day two of the Wilderness Campaign when Grant, instead of doing the usual strategic retreat north of the Potomac to lick his wounds, shifted to his right, thus putting Lee on the defensive, a situation that would remain with only periodic exceptions (Fort Stedman, etc) until April 1865.

      Delete
    12. Correction, Grant's left, Lee's right. South in any event.

      Delete
  16. It still has not defeated the "South".

    We didn't go to war against the "South" we went to war against the CSA.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The post conflict political action arm of the Confederacy, established by CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest., the KKK, flourished for almost 100 years.

      Delete
    2. The "War" was against an ideology of anti-Federalism, Ms T.
      The Army of Virginia was defeated, the ideology was not.

      It was diminished, but not defeated.

      Delete
    3. Jack believes that if EVEN on Hamas owned Atari system still works after the Israeli war on Hamas?

      Israel loses...

      Delete
    4. Th War was to establish the supremacy of the Constitution in all the land.

      Many feel that, today, the Constitution is no longer supreme, that by winning the battle of 1865, the 'War' was finally lost in 2008...

      Even the Speaker of the House makes that case, abandoning the Constitutional processes, for 'other' means to challenge the supposed shredding of the Constitution of the United States by the President. Challenging the ideology of Lincoln outside the processes prescribed by the Founders, a revolution by midgets.

      Delete
    5. The "War" was against an ideology of anti-Federalism, Ms T.

      The war was against a clandestine "government" which threatened the monopoly of physical force which any state must assert.

      Delete
    6. Lincoln made it very clear that he didn't give a shit about slavery, only the continued existence of the union. It wasn't until 1863 that the Emancipation Proclamation, a fine piece of legally impotent propaganda, transformed the definition of victory for the north into the elimination of slavery, but this was largely done to keep the UK out of the war. Worked like a charm.

      Delete
  17. If you’re looking for a reason for the supposed impoverishment of Gaza, look no further than the maze of tunnels – some of them miles long — Hamas has built under their territory and beyond their borders into Israel. It’s the jihadist version of Boston’s “Big Dig.” The construction is so extensive that nearly every able-bodied man must have been employed in the occupation of tunnel-building, not to mention the huge diversion of funds, much of it donated by the West, for material like concrete originally trucked into Gaza by the Israelis and others for “humanitarian purposes.”


    A huge complex is reported to have been built under Gaza City that houses the wealthy Hamas leadership, including Ismail Haniyeh, who is said to be a multi-millionaire. He is undoubtedly a “strong” critic of “income inequality,” along with the Hamas capo di tutti cappi Khaled Meshal, said to be a billionaire and currently residing in a luxury hotel in Qatar safely out of harm’s way.

    (For those, like most members of the MSM, who are unaware, Gaza before Hamas was considered one of the more opulent areas of the Arab world and was frequently used by Egyptians as a honeymoon spot.)

    Although the tunnels have been employed for smuggling of some consumer goods, their main purpose, of course, was and is transporting and storing arms and killing or kidnapping Israelis. (I was going to be blunt and say “killing Jews,” but Hamas appears not to be quite so discriminating, as they lob missiles over Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron, areas filled with Muslims. What would happen if one of their missiles hit the Dome of the Rock? I don’t even want to go there.)

    This obsession with tunnel-building, driven as it is by a rancid cocktail of hate and envy leavened with religious fanaticism and the psychotic lust of a death cult, is clearly not commercially productive. It is also only one aspect of a rapidly metastasizing global phenomenon, replete with beheadings and crucifixions, that is unlikely to end and may only be at its beginning unless someone puts a genuine stop to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obama, Kerry and the rest of the flaccid moral narcissists who govern our country or the creepy disingenuous bureaucrats who represent “the international community” obviously don’t have the gumption to do it — or even the inclination.

      Perhaps because it is already a life or death matter for them, the only people with the will or the ability literally to save the precarious civilization we all take for granted are the Israelis. Israel alone is defending the West.

      It’s the duty of all those who support her to be especially vigilant now because the Obama-Kerry-Ban-Ki-Moons will do everything possible to prevent Israel from going further and accomplishing her goals and ultimately try to unravel everything she has accomplished. They think — or they pretend to themselves in their moral narcissism — that they are doing this for the sake of the Palestinians or the “disadvantaged” in general. But the reverse is true. What they do is contemptuous, almost racist, toward the Palestinians and others of Fanon’s “Wretched of the Earth” who are not, for the most part, impoverished but are adherents of a belief system entirely different from ours — and quite willing to do anything to make theirs prevail.

      The hypocritical moralizing of the Obama-Kerry-Ban-Ki-Moons is about to go into overdrive as they will increasingly accuse the Israelis of over-reacting and harming too many civilians. Their media Greek chorus will scream out the death count at the top of their lungs , even though the numbers are puny compared to what is happening in Iraq and Syria or even, often enough, on a weekend in Chicago.

      They will also all ignore, already having done so in an absolutely disrespectful manner, that the Israeli army does more to avoid civilian casualties than all the armies in the history of the world squared. I find Obama and Kerry’s pontification about this matter particularly nauseating, considering the American record on civilian deaths via drone attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen is significantly worse than the Israeli.

      But most of all, now is the time to get behind the Israeli government and troops with our support. We need them to finish the job, to keep going until not a single Hamas tunnel is left. That will send a message that will resonate throughout the word. And remember — #DefundHamas.

      Delete
    2. http://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2014/07/18/israel-must-destroy-hamas-tunnels-no-matter-how-long-it-takes/?singlepage=true

      Delete
    3. "O"rdure looks at the effect of the Israeli blockade, and sees causation.
      Couldn't read more than the first line of the garbage being spewed.

      Delete
  18. Rufus IISat Jul 19, 09:24:00 AM EDT
    There are those that have a proven track record of being unwilling to fight for their family, or country. They have a hard time understanding when a Man states

    If I were born a Palestinian, I would, almost certainly, lead my sons as a member of Hamas.


    If you were born a Palestinian? You would, almost certainly, lead your sons to be a member of "Queers for Palestine"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At least it be sex with humans, and not dogs.
      Those High Priests of Judaism, if they couldn't marry women that had been fucked by dogs, they'd have had no women to marry.

      So it is written, so it must be.
      That Talmud, interesting reading, to be sure.

      The deviations from the works of Moses, extreme, to say the least.
      If Moses was the Law Giver, the authors of the Talmud, were Law Breakers.

      Looking for justification for their actions, but not finding them in Moses, they manufactured their justifications from thin air.

      Delete
    2. Thanks Jack, for proving once again the Jew hatred on this site.

      it aint about Israel.

      its about your anti-Semitism

      Thanks

      Delete
  19. The federal government is planning to take the South Unit of the Badlands National Park and turn it over to the Department of the Interior, administered by the National Park Service. The NPS was in the news last year when they barricaded our National Monuments and prevented elderly WWII veterans from seeing their memorial during the sequester. The NPS put up barriers along scenic look-outs so drivers couldn’t see Mt. Rushmore, and closed park entrances across the country. These brown-shirted federal agents now intend to take and control thousands of acres of Sioux land.


    This intended seizure by the Obama administration reads like something out of the history books, and not the part that makes you want to wave the American flag:

    “Thousands of tribe members will be affected by the land-grab. Some residents will be forced to relocate, and many more others will lose their income from grazing allotments on the land – a result which will ultimately force any remaining independent cattle ranchers out of business. In addition to all this, Tribal members will lose their share [of] income from entrance fees collected at the adjacent North Gate fees of the Badlands National Park – a punitive measure which will further compound the existing economic depression on a reservation where the average annual income is around $8,000 per year.”


    Black Man Speak With Forked Tongue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Ms T, the Federals are merely changing the administrator of that land, not its sovereignty. It was Federal, it remains Federal.

      The Federals are not "Grabbing" anything, they are merely changing the hand that holds it.
      Adjusting their grip on what they already claim sovereignty to.

      Delete
    3. Badlands National Park is certainly unique.

      Never seen anything like it.

      We saw some young bighorn sheep there, but it is beyond me how they survive, there seems to be so little feed.

      Worth seeing if you are out that way.

      Delete
    4. Turned around at Rushmore, next time we'll go farther.

      Delete
  20. Hamas killing "collaborators" at fevered pitch...

    A crisis of "who to trust" is breaking out in the Gaza Strip, with so many palestinians released by Israel in exchange for Gilad Shilat, Hamas doesn't KNOW who is secretly helping Israel with intel. As it turns out, of the over 1000 palestinians released, it's thought that as many as 35% are now spying for Israel...

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gets funnier by the day..

      It seems that Hamas ruled with an iron fist, stealing property, % of every transaction, basically screwing the average "mo" on a daily basis...

      Now those average "mo" have scores to settle, now that they see Israel getting serious about defanging Hamas.

      LOL Viva La Palestinia

      Freedom FROM Hamas NOW!

      Delete
  21. What is "Occupation"Sat Jul 19, 09:26:00 AM EDT
    News from Iraq...

    Islamic extremists kill 270 in attack on a gas field in central Syria, report says Mostly all civilians


    WiO,

    You believe these Klansmen actually care about the loss of Arab lives. They do not. If a million Arabs were killed elsewhere, they would be unmoved. All they care about is hating Jews. The dust-up in Gaza gives them a chance to vent under the pertext of humanitarianism. They have no more concern for the deaths of Gazan women and children than Arabs killed in Syria or Iraq. Gaza gives them a forum to hate publically. They are anti-Semites. Period.

    You must also remember that Israel is winning. That means they get to throw beer bottles from the stands. Think scumbags.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. dead on Allen...

      the hatred for JEWS, Jewish self determination is thick.

      The funny thing? the average palestinian "mo" hates Abbas and Hamas. they have no chance to have a decent life with these thugs in charge.. israel is actually their only hope..

      Delete
    2. Islamic extremists kill 270, mostly civilians, in attack on a gas field in central Syria, page A19. Israel shells 4 boys, page A1.

      Delete
    3. The US gifted the Israeli over $100 billion dollars.
      There is no doubt or dispute that the US has provided that substantial subsidy.
      The US bears responsibility for the results of that aid.
      How that money spent is cause for concern.

      The US has not provided the al-Qeada splinter group with any direct aid,
      The US bears little if any direct responsibility for their military operations and the results, there of.

      Delete
    4. The MSM in the US, being owned and.or operated by those interested in Israel, put those stories front and center.
      Those same people do not put the same priority of the hinterlands of Syria.

      Should the names of those responsible for the content of the MSM be listed, again?
      The owners and managers of Comcast-NBC, CBS, Disney-ABC,Time-Warner and FOX?

      Delete
  22. Hamas is bragging this am, that they took the fight to the zionists. They popped up inside israel, were discovered, one hamas was killed, and the other escaped back into gaza.

    they call this a success.

    opps,,,, the tunnel was destroyed...

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
  23. Teresita RedingerSat Jul 19, 10:12:00 AM EDT
    hiding munitions in those places makes those place legitimate targets according to international law

    There is one law for Jews and another one for everyone else. This blog makes that very clear.


    They will accept any law if they believe it hurts Jews. What was the name of that political party in Germany that used the same logic?

    Over the past few days, these boys have begun the transition from brown shirts to black...next stop SS insignia.

    Mistakes will be made by the IDF during this dust-up. That is one of the costs of war. As any sane person can see, if the IDF wanted to go Warsaw on Gaza, Gaza would by now be a smoldering garbage dump.

    ReplyDelete
  24. on MSNBC they are reporting that there is a power struggle going on inside of Hamas and there are Hamas leaders WORKING with the IDF to take out their rivals...

    ReplyDelete
  25. Jack HawkinsSat Jul 19, 10:27:00 AM EDT
    At least it be sex with humans, and not dogs.
    Those High Priests of Judaism, if they couldn't marry women that had been fucked by dogs, they'd have had no women to marry.
    So it is written, so it must be.
    That Talmud, interesting reading, to be sure.
    The deviations from the works of Moses, extreme, to say the least.
    If Moses was the Law Giver, the authors of the Talmud, were Law Breakers.
    Looking for justification for their actions, but not finding them in Moses, they manufactured their justifications from thin air.



    Just reposting this before Jack deletes it and claims he never said it

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Huh?

      Did you miss the entire exchange that I, "O"rdure and allen had on the subject, last week?

      Are you that new to the blog, and the briefing file that thin?
      Or do you just not remember last week?

      Is your mind that shallow?

      Delete
    2. I got it covered, WiO.

      It is safely in my keeper file, for later use.

      Delete
    3. the Talmud teaches that "unnatural intercourse does not cause a woman to be forbidden to marry a High Priest," since then "you will find no woman eligible ... ." (Folios 59a-59b)

      Rulings of the "sages" follow: "A woman who had intercourse with a beast is eligible to marry a priest -- even a High Priest." ... If she had intercourse with a dog while sweeping the floor, she is likewise reckoned to be pure, and suitable. For, "The result of such intercourse being regarded as a mere wound, and the opinion that does not regard an accidentally injured hymen as a disqualification does not regard such as intercourse either."


      http://henrymakow.com/2014/03/Does-Talmud-Teach-Bestiality-Pedophilia-Incest.html#sthash.KLxJFnGv.dpuf

      Delete

    4. Keep it as long as you want. Keep the one above, too.

      If the High Priest can't marry a Jewish woman that fucks a dog, there'd be no Jewish women to marry.

      So it is written, so it must be.

      Delete
    5. Thanks again for proving what a Jew hating blog this is.

      You are a shining example of what is to be despised.

      Delete
    6. Yebamoth 59b

      It's right there, go read it, yourself.

      If that is Jew hating, then the Talmud was written by 'Self-Loathing' Jews.
      Has been embraced by 'Self-Loathing' Jews.

      And wants to be hidden by those that would not want the rest of us to know what 'religious' texts the Jews are using to justify their actions.

      It is written that for a 'Gentile' to study the Talmud, the penalty is death.

      heh, heh, heh..
      Not the way we do it, in the USA.

      “The revolution in global communications thus forces all nations to reconsider traditional ways of thinking ....”
      ― George Shultz

      Delete
    7. It is easier and more believable to think that the Babylonian hijacked Judaism and changed its face, its very essence..
      Than to think that the progeny of Moses would turn their back to him and his God.

      Delete
  26. http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-military-block-activist-aid-convoy-gaza-141515792.html
    Egyptian military block activist aid convoy to Gaza


    ReplyDelete
  27. Wow here is another keeper -

    Jack HawkinsSat Jul 19, 10:27:00 AM EDT

    At least it be sex with humans, and not dogs.
    Those High Priests of Judaism, if they couldn't marry women that had been fucked by dogs, they'd have had no women to marry.

    So it is written, so it must be.
    That Talmud, interesting reading, to be sure.

    The deviations from the works of Moses, extreme, to say the least.
    If Moses was the Law Giver, the authors of the Talmud, were Law Breakers.

    Looking for justification for their actions, but not finding them in Moses, they manufactured their justifications from thin air.

    ...............

    Why Deuce allows this kind of hatred pornography to stand I do not know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why he allows rat to continue posting is an even better question.

      Delete
    2. Rat is a figment of your imaginationSat Jul 19, 11:12:00 AM EDT

      .

      Delete
    3. Robert Peterson, you are the one who said that Jewish literature was so uplifting.

      Merely quoting it, and you tell us it is pornography.
      Wish you would make up your mind. Or do you consider pornography to be uplifting, cultured and 'fine'?

      Delete
    4. That Talmud, wow, those Babylonian Jews ....

      It has be said that the "Jews" that left Babylon were not really "Jews", at all.
      The work of the Talmud, it would indicate that is a valid theory.

      It just obliterates the writings of Moses, in the Old Testament.

      Some could say that it would be attributable to translation errors and cultural context.
      They'd be lying.

      Delete
    5. Jack HawkinsSat Jul 19, 11:20:00 AM EDT
      That Talmud, wow, those Babylonian Jews ...
      It has be said that the "Jews" that left Babylon were not really "Jews", at all.
      The work of the Talmud, it would indicate that is a valid theory.
      It just obliterates the writings of Moses, in the Old Testament.
      Some could say that it would be attributable to translation errors and cultural context.
      They'd be lying.



      once again, thanks Jack, for proving my point, it's not about "israel" it's about Jew hatred.

      I reposted your words so that when you go back and do a wholesale delete, they will still be here.

      Delete
    6. t is easier and more believable to think that the Babylonian hijacked Judaism and changed its face, its very essence..
      Than to think that the progeny of Moses would turn their back to him and his God.

      Delete
    7. While I have tried to remain focused upon politics and states and secular institutions, the NASI and Robert Peterson continued to inject religion into the conversation. They continued to conflate Judaism, Zionism and Israel. Despite the many protestations and objections to that tline of debate.

      Now, it has been decided to join'em in that line of debate, to no longer cede that ground.

      The response from "O"rdure when that happened, why, not surprisingly, shouts of

      Bad Form !

      Fuck off NASI.

      Delete
    8. Jack HawkinsSat Jul 19, 12:09:00 PM EDT
      While I have tried to remain focused upon politics and states and secular institutions, the NASI and Robert Peterson continued to inject religion into the conversation. They continued to conflate Judaism, Zionism and Israel. Despite the many protestations and objections to that tline of debate.
      Now, it has been decided to join'em in that line of debate, to no longer cede that ground.
      The response from "O"rdure when that happened, why, not surprisingly, shouts of
      Bad Form !
      Fuck off NASI.



      Doth protest to much...
      Your words? Show the inner hatred of Jews, Judaism, Israel and Zionism

      Thanks for showing the world your point of view. It proves my point. AGAIN

      Delete
    9. the Talmud teaches that "unnatural intercourse does not cause a woman to be forbidden to marry a High Priest," since then "you will find no woman eligible ... ." (Folios 59a-59b)

      Rulings of the "sages" follow: "A woman who had intercourse with a beast is eligible to marry a priest -- even a High Priest." ... If she had intercourse with a dog while sweeping the floor, she is likewise reckoned to be pure, and suitable. For, "The result of such intercourse being regarded as a mere wound, and the opinion that does not regard an accidentally injured hymen as a disqualification does not regard such as intercourse either."



      http://www.come-and-hear.com/yebamoth/yebamoth_59.html#E158

      Delete
    10. Should I get the Chapter and Verse from Leviticus, the work of Moses, direct from God to prove that the Talmud is a corruption of the Word?

      Easy to do.

      The Talmud came from Babylon, not Moses.
      It came from those that hijacked Judaism , while in the employ of Nebuchadnezzar.

      It is obvious, by what was written, so it must be.

      Delete
  28. This operation by the IDF is more like a live pigeon shoot to show off armor and force. War games with live targets, that are incapable of firing back.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Replies
    1. Then the "numbers" suck.

      After all 1500 sorties and hundreds of tanks can kill only 200-300 people?

      get real

      Delete
    2. Deuce, tell your token Jewish friends that you like them, but you can't stand israel and zionists...

      bet ya dont...

      cause in the real world?

      they'd slap ya silly...

      Delete
    3. Even Bill Mahr is siding with Israel now...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1zzlXleHU4

      Delete
    4. He is just following the party line. See my link below on Hamas's talking points. Actually, he has gone a good deal further. Maybe there is some reward in the wings.

      Yesterday, IS murdered 270 people after taking over an oil complex in Syria. However, they don't count as much since Jews weren't involved.

      The mask has fallen.

      Delete
    5. Deuce's mask has fallen, he likes Jews that do not stand with Israel, he does not believe Israel has a right, in any borders, to exist. He believes that Jews stole arab lands. He does not believe in Jewish self determination and he does not cotton to the idea that Jews have a right to defend themselves against violence.

      Pretty clear...

      I just hope, in real life, he is as honest with the Jews he comes in contact with about his true nature.

      I think he's be quite shocked their reaction.

      Delete
    6. I don’t believe in Moses, Abraham, Muhammed or Jesus. I don’t believe in God or any of the bullshit Middle Eastern religions. They can fight it out for which one is the worse. Of course they stole Arab lands. I would believe in Jewish self determination if the Jews believed in Jewish self-determination, but they don’t. They believe in US sponsored, financed, and Uncle Sam’s skirts when the going gets tough. That is not self-determination tough guy.

      I am a big believer in the rights of free people to defend themselves. All people. Had the Jews practiced self-determination and protecting themselves, there would be a lot more of them and the World would be better off for it. The only Jewish reaction that shocks me is your persistent, transparent stupidity.

      Delete
  30. This operation by the IDF is more like a live pigeon shoot to show off armor and force. War games with live targets, that are incapable of firing back.

    Oh, they're firing all right, but the missiles are hitting an iron dome. This has the effect of preventing the death of Jews, which is why so many people are upset with Israel right now. It'd be like if all those cattle cars in the 1940s were somehow diverted to Switzerland.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      T has her batshit crazy on today.

      .

      Delete
    2. .

      Bob Orwellian? Well what can you say?

      .

      Delete
    3. Good on you, T.

      Quirk is struggling with his inner Jesuit. They wore black too.

      Delete
    4. I thought that was funny as hell.......Quirk struggling with inner Jesuit.....:):):):)

      Delete
    5. Glad to see Teresita has gone over to Wio’s side. Now I don’t have to clean up after Wio calling her a c*nt.

      Delete
    6. What exactly is his “inner Jesuit”?

      Delete
  31. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/18/Hamas-Caught-Funnelling-Rockets-Into-Mosques-Deceptive-Tactics-Exposed
    HAMAS CAUGHT FUNNELLING ROCKETS INTO MOSQUES, DECEPTIVE TACTICS EXPOSED


    The talking points of Hamas sound familiar.


    "...The Hamas Interior Ministry released guidelines of how activists should describe Palestinian war casualties. Some excerpts from the guidelines...

    Anyone killed or martyred is to be called a civilian from Gaza or Palestine, before we talk about his status in jihad or his military rank. Don't forget to always add "innocent civilian" or "innocent citizen" in your description of those killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza.
    Begin [your reports of] news of resistance actions with the phrase 'In response to the cruel Israeli attack,' and conclude with the phrase 'This many people have been martyred since Israel launched its aggression against Gaza.' Be sure to always perpetuate the principle of 'the role of the occupation is attack, and we in Palestine are fulfilling [the role of] the reaction.'"

    ReplyDelete
  32. Germany bitch slaps Putin...


    http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-on-ukraine-and-middle-east-with-foreign-minister-steinmeier-a-981761.html
    German Foreign Minister: 'Further Escalation Not Out of the Question' in Ukraine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sticks and stone may break bones, but words
      They never hurt thee

      Or anyone else.

      Delete
    2. Summertime and the Livin' is Easy

      Dresden, Germany
      Saturday 6:00 PM
      89° F
      Scattered Clouds

      But ...
      December 1, 2013
      43° F

      Don't need natural gas in the summertime ...
      The Germans and the French have never have timed their operations against Russia very well.
      Never anticipated the ravages of winter.

      Delete
    3. The Russians, on the other hand, revel in the long story arc.

      "War and Peace" by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy at 587,287 words stands in illustration of that reality.

      Delete
    4. :) Yeah, In Mother Roosha they consider James Michener a "writer of little silly short stories."

      Delete
  33. WASHINGTON - A staff member for a Pennsylvania congressman was arrested Friday after carrying a handgun and magazine into the Cannon House Office building, U.S. Capitol Police said.

    Ryan Shucard, press secretary for Republican Rep. Tom Marino, was arrested Friday morning. Marino is in his second term representing northeastern Pennsylvania.

    A spokesman for Capitol Police said Shucard entered the Cannon building Friday morning with a Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun and magazine that was discovered by a metal detector. Shucard is charged with a carrying a pistol without a license, a felony.


    Up to five year prison term, for that violation of the Law.

    ReplyDelete
  34. As for the MSM ...

    Rupert Murdoch's $80bn bid for Time Warner is the latest in a wave of industry consolidation as the industry attempts to shift the balance of power Rupert Murdoch's $80bn bid for Time Warner is the latest in a wave of industry consolidation as the industry attempts to shift the balance of power
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/10978092/Medias-old-guard-fights-back-against-Amazon-and-Google.html

    70% of Time Warner's Shareholders Also Own Fox Stock - BusinessSpotlight2paragraphs.com

    Highly Cited:CBS CEO says he will look at CNN if it goes up for sale - Reuters

    ReplyDelete
  35. Just heard on Fox News the Iron Dome has 90% success rate? Can that be right? I think that it what I heard...

    if so, that is astounding.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. allen posted that Iron Dome was a complete failure.
      Utterly worthless.

      Choose your sources, choose your perspective.

      Delete
    2. Rufus posted that the Iron Dome was flawed, but fixable.

      But then, we all know what you think of Rufus.

      Delete
    3. Yup, Rufus is a saint compared to you.

      Delete
    4. It is not about me, Robert Peterson.

      You and "O"rdure have elevated the importance of Jack Hawkins in the world.
      To be comparable to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Barack Obama.
      Elevating Jack Hawkins to levels undreamt of by mere mortals.

      Delete
  36. Common sense tells you that if you can "hit a bullet with a bullet" half the time, you can probably, eventually, get it up to "virtually all of the time."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hamas grudgingly admitted today, that *every* 'home' Israel struck in Gaza thus far, belonged to a Hamas member.

      Delete
    2. allen's post was that the system was a complete failure, because the bullet was not hit, head on, causing the 20kg warhead to explode in the air.

      The is the allen Standard of Success.
      Not merely hitting the incoming round, before it reaches the impact area, but obliterating it in mid-air.


      Delete
    3. That is the allen Standard of Success

      Delete
    4. Eventually, even that standard will probably be met.

      Delete
  37. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2698169/Dog-breeder-father-two-Surrey-eighth-Briton-named-victim-shooting-MH17.html
    British lawyer killed on MH17 along with his wife and three sons: Final UK victims named as John Allen and Andrew Hoare

    ReplyDelete
  38. Death Toll Hits 330 As Israel Uncovers 13 Tunnels, Faces "Suicide Donkeys"

    Turkey's Erdogan accuses Israel of 'barbarism that surpasses Hitler'

    Hamas tries to maximize civilian casualties on both sides; Israel tries to minimize them. So of course the Left sides with Hamas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hamas tries to maximize civilian casualties on both sides; Israel tries to minimize them. So of course the Left sides with Hamas.

      ...and the results are both sides are incompetent?

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. Teresita RedingerSat Jul 19, 02:08:00 PM EDT
      Death Toll Hits 330 As Israel Uncovers 13 Tunnels, Faces "Suicide Donkeys"

      Turkey's Erdogan accuses Israel of 'barbarism that surpasses Hitler'

      Hamas tries to maximize civilian casualties on both sides; Israel tries to minimize them. So of course the Left sides with Hamas.


      Mr. Erdogan is one of the reasons the Germans will never agree to bringing Turkey into the EU. He is as mad as a hatter.

      The IDF is quite competent. That's what makes it so maddening to its rabid enemies. See Bekaa Valley Turkey Shoot: Syria loses 87 aircraft, while Israel loses 0. These were air-to-air kills.

      Delete
  39. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/19/boko-haram-kill-100-people-take-control-nigerian-town
    Boko Haram insurgents kill 100 people as they take control of Nigerian town
    Survivors say group fired RPGs, threw bombs into homes and gunned down people trying to escape the ensuing fires

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Still running behind the Israeli body count as it tries to take over Gaza.
      Where survivors say the Israeli are using the "Follow On" attack tactics to kill the "First Responders".

      Delete
  40. No, Ms T, those that make up the "Political Left" still sides with Israel.

    Those that make up the "Religious Right" still side with Israel.

    As allen is quick to point out, the majority of US, across the political divide, still side with Israel.
    Do not project your own prejudices upon the people of the "Political Left".

    It is unwarranted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As we speak, Obama has a request in to Congress for another Three hundred and something million dollars for Israel's Iron Dome system.

      Delete
    2. We all suspected that Mr Obama represents the "Political Right" in the US, Rufus.

      Ms T must now agree with that assessment, based upon his staunch support of Israel.

      To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do, rather than what they say.

      George Santayana

      Delete
    3. No, Ms T, those that make up the "Political Left" still sides with Israel.

      Sure, all those hipster bommer prog-rock bassists support Israel so much I can hardly stand it.

      Delete
    4. $300 million more in aid, that about as supportive as it can get, considering the US will have to borrow the money to send it to Israel.

      Delete
  41. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/20/malaysia-airlines-mh17-crash-russia-victims-ukraine
    MH17 crash: pro-Russia rebels deny access to disaster site
    Gunmen restrict investigation team's access as David Cameron urges EU to rethink approach to Russia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Israel has barred UN investigators in the occupied Palestinian Territories

      Israel barred Today UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, Pierre Kraehenbuehl and the UN’s Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian Territories James Rowley from entering the Gaza Strip.
      The director of UNRWA operations in Gaza Robert Turner said in a press conference held at one of the refugee schools that they have opened to accommodate the thousands of displaced people from the north of Gaza:
      “The occupation authorities prevented today UNRWA Commissioner Pierre Kraehenbuehl and Humanitarian Coordinator James Rowley from entering Gaza for “security” reasons."


      Israel Denies Access to UNRWA Commissioner

      Delete
    2. The director of UNRWA operations in Gaza Robert Turner said in a press conference held at one of the refugee schools that they have opened to accommodate the thousands of displaced people from the north of Gaza:

      I wonder why the UN had to "open" this school. Oh yeah, it was closed because it was storing rockets.

      Delete
    3. "Where do you go to school little Abdul?"

      "Bunker Hill Elementary"

      Delete
    4. Revolution (1968)

      "You tell me its evolution
      ... it's gonna be alright
      ...
      We're all doin' what we can"

      Delete

  42. Selena Gomez calls for prayer, the NASI threaten to take retaliatory action!

    "Please pray for those families and babies today. Please always remember what's important in life. It's not any of this. We are here to help, inspire and love. Be that change. #wearethenextgeneration," Gomez captioned the photo.

    When her followers saw the post, they flooded her comments with their opinions about it, with some threatening to unfollow her, and others praising her for the message about the controversial Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which the death toll has already climbed past 330, including at least 80 children.


    The NASI want to control thoughts, limit speech and stifle prayers.
    How low can they go?

    ReplyDelete
  43. "The Soviet government is the most realistic regime in the world - no ideals."
    ___Golda Meir


    ReplyDelete
  44. Understanding What Hamas Wants
    Five observations about the Gaza conflict, including praise for an ex-president's insight into the particular nature of Hamas' evil
    Jeffrey Goldberg Jul 18 2014, 12:13 PM ET

    More
    A scene from a Hamas rally in March (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

    1. We can thank former President Bill Clinton for perfect clarity in his comments about the chaos and horror of Gaza. In an interview on Indian television, Clinton—who told us in his memoir that Palestinian self-destructiveness (in the form of Yasir Arafat’s various delusions and prevarications) undid his effort to bring about a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict—blames the Muslim Brotherhood’s Gaza affiliate, Hamas, for adopting a policy of deliberate self-murder in order to present Israel with a set of impossible dilemmas. “Hamas was perfectly well aware of what would happen if they started raining rockets in Israel,” Clinton said. “They fired a thousand of them. And they have a strategy designed to force Israel to kill their own civilians so that the rest of the world will condemn them.”

    2. We can thank Hamas for bringing its own form of clarity to this situation. This is the manner in which Hamas works: It builds reinforced bunkers for its leaders (under hospitals and other must-avoid targets) but purposefully neglects to build bomb shelters for the civilians in its putative care. From their bunkers, the leaders order rocket teams to target Israeli civilians. Hamas, which was responsible for the deaths of several hundred Israeli civilians during the second Palestinian uprising alone, has lately been less effective at killing Israelis, but nevertheless, the rockets keep launching. When you repeatedly fire rockets at civilian targets in a neighboring country, that country usually responds militarily. Civilians get killed during the Israeli response in part because Hamas rocket teams operate from sites that are among Gaza's most densely populated, and in part because Hamas stores its weapons in schools and mosques.

    The goal of Hamas—the actual, overarching goal—is to terrorize the Jews of Israel, through mass murder, into abandoning their country. If generations of Palestinians have to be sacrificed to that goal, well, Hamas believes such sacrifices are theologically justified.
    Related Story

    What, Exactly, Is Hamas Trying to Prove?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. 3. Bill Clinton is far from the only Western leader to understand Hamas' strategy. President Obama himself has spoken strongly about Israel's right to self-defense. Here is what he said Wednesday: "As I’ve said repeatedly, Israel has a right to defend itself from rocket attacks that terrorize the Israeli people. There is no country on Earth that can be expected to live under a daily barrage of rockets."

      Not everyone understands this principle. I am not talking about anti-Jewish propagandists such as Turkey's Tayyip Recep Erdogan, a serial human rights violator who cynically accuses Israel of committing "genocide." I think he understands the principle discussed by Obama and rejects it because Obama is applying it to a Jewish country. I'm talking now about the myopia of otherwise well-meaning people. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the institution that cares for Palestinians but whose actual raison d'être is the perpetuation of the stateless status of the descendants of refugees from 1948, recently tweeted this thought to its followers: “Palestinian children in #Gaza are experiencing severe trauma for the 3rd time in 5 years. The effects are lasting.” Entirely, miserably, true. An alternative to this current horrible reality presented itself in 2005, when the Israeli government—after years of foolish and destructive colonization—expelled thousands of Jewish settlers from Gaza and then withdrew its army. The Palestinian leadership could have taken the opportunity created by the Israeli withdrawal to build the nucleus of a state. Instead, Gaza was converted into a rocket-manufacturing and -launching facility. But here’s a bit of good news: The people of Gaza, who suffer from Hamas rule, appear to be tired of it. In a recent Pew poll, 63 percent of Gazans surveyed disapproved of Hamas. Perhaps this is because the people have come to realize that Hamas has brought them nothing but grief, sloganeering, and military defeat.





      4. Hamas is not only isolated inside Gaza. This latest round of the Hamas-Israel fight is notable for two reasons: The first is the seeming success of the Israeli-developed, American-funded Iron Dome anti-rocket system, which has helped thwart Hamas' plan to terrorize and murder civilians in Israel. The second reason is that Hamas has been shown to be almost entirely friendless in the region. The Egyptian government blames Hamas for this conflict, as do commentators across the Gulf. Relations between Hamas and its traditional backers, the Iranians and the Syrians, have deteriorated markedly. Hamas is in a weaker position than it has been in years, which gives Israel an opportunity, if it chooses to take it.
      Setting back the cause of extremists is half the battle; buttressing moderates is the other half.

      5. A ground operation by Israel to destroy the tunnels that are used to convey terrorists under Gaza’s border and into Israel seems like a prudent move (more prudent than aerial bombardment, which, because of its imprecision, helps Hamas achieve its goal of creating Palestinian martyrs). Operating against extremists committed to killing Jewish civilians seems like a necessary part of any Israeli national security strategy. But what happens after the inevitable ceasefire matters as well, and we lack signs that the Netanyahu government is thinking strategically. Setting back the cause of extremists is half the battle; buttressing moderates is the other half. Netanyahu and his ministers are notably inexpert at helping the more moderate Palestinian factions strengthen their hold on the West Bank, and they specialize in putting their collective thumb in the eye of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority. A clever post-conflict Israeli strategy would be to help the Palestinian Authority extend its mandate more deeply into Gaza (I’ll have more about the troubled P.A.-Hamas unity government later), because there is no permanent military solution to Israel’s rocket problem, only a political one.

      Delete
    2. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/07/understanding-what-hamas-wants/374656/

      Delete
  45. Justifiable defense implies an innocent non-belligerent state. Humiliation, state sponsored terrorism, killing of children, forced segregation and economic aggression, when answered by any means possible is understandable. A bully with an occasional bloody nose is not a victim. His injury is an occupational hazard.

    ReplyDelete
  46. If Jews have a universal human right to strike back at their enemies and they do, then they are asserting that universal right when they strike . Palestinians are no less entitled and if their tormenters are Jews, Jews don’t get an exemption. How is that so difficult to understand?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not hard to understand.

      See 1,2,3 above.

      We have a disagreement on who the main tormentor might be....

      Delete
  47. Deuce: Glad to see Teresita has gone over to Wio’s side. Now I don’t have to clean up after Wio calling her a c*nt.

    Because when your side calls me that you won't clean it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Who would that be, to use such language about you?

      "O"rdure, Robert Peterson and ... ?

      Delete
    2. Rufus? - Nah

      Rat? - Nope

      Deuce? - Come on

      Quirk? - Not a chance

      Did I miss anyone?

      Delete
  48. Anyone on my side that would call you that, would not be on my side.

    ReplyDelete