Not knowing much about the Middle East's history I don't have a position on the Israel/Lebanon crisis. But I did think this, from the Adam Smith blog, was rather droll;
General Norman Schwartzkopf was asked if he thought there was room for Israeli forgiveness toward Hizbollah.
"I believe that forgiving Hizbollah is God's function," he replied. "The Israelis' job is to arrange the meeting."
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4 comments:
So much has gone on in that geographical area, only the fanatical or heavily invested still feel there is a side that holds a moral high ground.
I spent some time communicating with an Israeli man in his 20's - a soldier, of course. He owned a house in a disputed territory, with all the trappings: a bomb shelter and a brick wall covering his front door so his family wouldn't be subject to sniper fire. He was convinced to the core of the righteousness of the Israeli cause. I sent him a NZ gift, he sent me a (touristy) book about Israel.
It is clear to me, that Israel and its neighbours are like tectonic plates, with lots of potential energy stored in the stresses of just being who and where they are.
And the respective "friends" of those tectonic plates generally just add stress to the whole situation.
There is no "solution".
One day, the tectonic plates will release their energy.
And there will be a lot of death.
And then?
No solution.
Just a build up of more technictic potential energy.
"Not knowing much about the Middle East's history I don't have a position on the Israel/Lebanon crisis"
Terrorists are deliberately targeting civilians as part of a long-term plan to wipe out an entire country.
How plain does it have to be before a person can take a position?
Lindsay, at least you had the good grace to preface the quote with the statement that you have little knowledge. That makes quoting someone who suggests killing others so much more palatable. If the same was said about a group you supported you'd be outraged.
I have don't doubt that Hezbollah are terrorists, I suspect that they want a war as much as the more militant Israelis. I'm also sure that the voyeuristic thrill enjoyed by some watching this conflict is simply perverse.
Belt, I hope your wrong but I suspect that your most likely not.
I studied with an Jewish Israeli in NZ in the early 90s, he was quite a bit older than me, and once told me of his time in the military. It put aspects of my everyday life into perspective. He was a moderate who had high hopes for the Middle East while Rabin was alive. It's hard to imagine how this latest flare up will be resolved. I don't see any leaders such as Rabin.
The situation is really quite simple -- A sovereign state set up by the UN in 1948 has, since that time, been surrounded by Islamic entities whose religion apparently demands that it should not exist.
Such entities have waged several wars, in concert, against this sovereign state and have been beaten back for their trouble, and some lands rightly confiscated in retribution.
In 2006 this sovereign state was attacked once again by religious fanatics on two sides who vow to eliminate it and push its citizens into the sea. These zealots mean what they say, have armaments [supplied by two much larger Islamic states nearby] which are generally located within civilian areas to maximize innocent casualties and thus gain the sympathy of Western left-wing nutters, and in which event such deaths [adults & children] are considered glorious in the service of their pagan God. The leaders of these extremist entities consider that their citizens are put on this earth to die such a glorious death for this pagan God and will continue to fight to that end.
This aforementioned democratic state has obviously no option but to take these Islamists at their word and not rest until there is, finally, no more threats from this quarter.
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