The Politics Thread

[Hoboh]

Mustafa Sawaf, former editor of a Hamas-affiliated newspaper, said: "The people are ready to stand more and support the resistance. If the people have paid with 1,500 martyrs already why not another 1,500 for our freedom?"

Hardly a caring viewpoint is it?

hmmm... a former editor of a "Hamas affiliated" newspaper voicing the idea of an occupied and oppressed minority accepting that many more of their own will die in the fight for freedom??

hardly even in the same ball-park as the speaker of the house in the ruling party of israel calling for the wholesale and complete removal of all Palestinians from Gaza...

Just shows the same contempt for human life I'd say, there are two sides to every story and I for one do not see in the next two decades at least any movement on this one, from either side!
Why I get so wound up is the little Hamas being beaten up by the bigger Israeli projected by many. It ain't that simple, ever since its inception there has been a seige mentality in Israel, one that will be hard to break, rockets from Hamas do nothing to help.
Would you throw a punch at a peak form Mike Tyson? Thats whats happening now.

[thebish]

nope - not "little hamas" being beaten up by mike tyson - but, rather, mike tyson oppressing little hoboh so much that eventually he lashes out - and then mike tyson acting as if destroying the entire town and killing half the residents where hoboh might possibly have been seen last week is perfectly acceptable behaviour. it isn't. not even for a moment.

[Hoboh]

nope - not "little hamas" being beaten up by mike tyson - but, rather, mike tyson oppressing little hoboh so much that eventually he lashes out - and then mike tyson acting as if destroying the entire town and killing half the residents where hoboh might possibly have been seen last week is perfectly acceptable behaviour. it isn't. not even for a moment.

Hoboh would just shoot the fecker

[thebish]

nope - not "little hamas" being beaten up by mike tyson - but, rather, mike tyson oppressing little hoboh so much that eventually he lashes out - and then mike tyson acting as if destroying the entire town and killing half the residents where hoboh might possibly have been seen last week is perfectly acceptable behaviour. it isn't. not even for a moment.

Hoboh would just shoot the fecker

then Hoboh's a terrorist who deserves to get bombed into next week...

[Hoboh]

nope - not "little hamas" being beaten up by mike tyson - but, rather, mike tyson oppressing little hoboh so much that eventually he lashes out - and then mike tyson acting as if destroying the entire town and killing half the residents where hoboh might possibly have been seen last week is perfectly acceptable behaviour. it isn't. not even for a moment.

Hoboh would just shoot the fecker

then Hoboh's a terrorist who deserves to get bombed into next week...

Only if I then went after his family, friends etc determined to send them all to oblivion!

[William the White]

Another UN school attacked. Ten more dead. Many more wounded.

UN calls this a crime. Even USA says it is appalled. Well if you are appalled stop rearming the cruel, implacable, murdering bastards!

[Hoboh]

Another UN school attacked. Ten more dead. Many more wounded.

UN calls this a crime. Even USA says it is appalled. Well if you are appalled stop rearming the cruel, implacable, murdering bastards!

I can see that passion runs high on this subject so I will quietly back out, I guess there are going to be losers all round.

[BWFC_Insane]

Another UN school attacked. Ten more dead. Many more wounded.

UN calls this a crime. Even USA says it is appalled. Well if you are appalled stop rearming the cruel, implacable, murdering bastards!

Exactly what I was thinking watching the news last nightl. It is a crime. It is terrible. A horrific loss of life. But what are the UN GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

[thebish]

Another UN school attacked. Ten more dead. Many more wounded.

UN calls this a crime. Even USA says it is appalled. Well if you are appalled stop rearming the cruel, implacable, murdering bastards!

Exactly what I was thinking watching the news last nightl. It is a crime. It is terrible. A horrific loss of life. But what are the UN GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Israel doesn't have a great record on honouring UN resolutions...

[Lord Kangana]

The UN doesn't have a great record on honouring UN resolutions!

Anyway, UN resolutions in the Middle East broadly means American foreign policy browbeaten into everyone who's within missile range. Israel will have a free hand to continue what its doing, albeit with the odd meaningless media soundbite thrown in from the American team bench, because it suits America to have a "strong" (bullying, belligerent) puppet on the doorstep of all that oil.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

This is a bit Hoboesque, but if Israel's logic is lob missiles at us we'll lob more back at you. Should the UN, which is having missiles lobbed at it, not let Israel know that it might lob a few of it's own back at Israel? I'm not one for violence, but someone needs to sort Israel (and Hamas) out.

[thebish]

The UN doesn't have a great record on honouring UN resolutions!

Anyway, UN resolutions in the Middle East broadly means American foreign policy browbeaten into everyone who's within missile range. Israel will have a free hand to continue what its doing, albeit with the odd meaningless media soundbite thrown in from the American team bench, because it suits America to have a "strong" (bullying, belligerent) puppet on the doorstep of all that oil.

and - funnily enough - I believe there are huge gas reserves in gaza that I am sure Israel aren't in the least bit interested in getting their hands on...

[Lord Kangana]

Never knew that! Of course, energy needs have nothing to do with over a century of foreign policy f*ck ups in the Middle East.

[thebish]

Never knew that! Of course, energy needs have nothing to do with over a century of foreign policy f*ck ups in the Middle East.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/war-and-na ... elds/11680

but - hey - it's all about tunnels and rockets...

of course - Hamas are massively guilty here too - those gas field COULD be the the free ticket out of poverty for Palestine...

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

It is a lot to do with tunnels, isn't it?

Hamas, left to their own devices, will use any let up to re-arm and build as many tunnels as possible and they would do so with the support of the Palestinian population.

Now, you might say 'who could blame them?' but that's a different question.

The death roll is horrendous but I would love to spend some time in Israel to understand why it is popular for them to do themselves such damage on the world stage.

[thebish]

The death roll is horrendous but I would love to spend some time in Israel to understand why it is popular for them to do themselves such damage on the world stage.

i suspect they have concluded that they are pretty much immune from any actual serious consequences/sanctions stemming from any International condemnation generated... history has shown them that they are probably safe to assume this.

[Lord Kangana]

This map opened my eyes a little more:



Two of my Great Grandfathers (my dad's side, a long history of soldiering) were deployed early in WW1 to the ME theatre. Researching (difficult with little, unknown or little understood theaters!) their service records, and trying to understand what the hell they were doing there leads you into some pretty dark places.

Its always fascinating to see how the current commemorations of the war will largely bypass our interest and large scale deployments in the region, and the reasons behind them. Not much has changed in the last century. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

The death roll is horrendous but I would love to spend some time in Israel to understand why it is popular for them to do themselves such damage on the world stage.

i suspect they have concluded that they are pretty much immune from any actual serious consequences/sanctions stemming from any International condemnation generated... history has shown them that they are probably safe to assume this.

Maybe... and a related point is that I think they think they have so comprehensively lost the PR battle that they see little point in trying anymore.

[thebish]

The death roll is horrendous but I would love to spend some time in Israel to understand why it is popular for them to do themselves such damage on the world stage.

i suspect they have concluded that they are pretty much immune from any actual serious consequences/sanctions stemming from any International condemnation generated... history has shown them that they are probably safe to assume this.

Maybe... and a related point is that I think they think they have so comprehensively lost the PR battle that they see little point in trying anymore.

I'm not at all sure that Israel thinks it has lost the PR battle...

[Lord Kangana]

Why would losing a PR battle matter anyway?