You have a great deal of chutzpah, Mister Twit, to say that Jews who still live in the real world and not in your fantasy land, should just trust their fate to the kindness and humanity of others.

I agree! You are so right! Israel should immediately stop taking any kind of aid from the US! How can we trust ourselves to the kindness and humanity of those Goyim in the Christian state of America? The same ones who persecute us, and let more and more Arabs come and live here in the USA, so they can eventually turn on the Jews!

In fact, Feet, Israel should give all the money they have taken from the US back! Those anti-semetic bastards can't buy us with their gold!

And anyway, Madoff will give Israel all the money it needs!

Israel is on record that a blockade, such as that imposed on Gaza, is just cause for war. Further, Gaza has engaged in acts of war against Israel. And Israel has responded by engaging in what it refers to as a war. In sum, the parties are at war with each other.

So, is it called "terrorism" when Gaza attacks simply because they lack the tanks, planes and so forth that Israel possesses? If Gaza was better armed and equipped, would we then call it war regardless of to which side we were referring?

--it is to see how analysis of factions warring over ancient Gaza's, gods and guns distill down

And I though it only went back 40 years, to the '67 war!

Please try to stop confusing the sandal operas you see on TV with the facts in the ME.

"But none of them, not even Mr. Hollywood Cabal, has said that God wants them to do this, establish Israel and wipe out other peoples. But if that wasn't true, why would they be doing it?"

I didn't suggest that they would do something quite so crude and obvious as to exterminate them. Although I'm sure many Likudists are chaffing at the bit to do that very thing.

No. Sometimes its not a bad idea to open the lens and see if there are other reasons the Israelis are doing what they are doing. I think there are several. First to present Obama with a fait accomplie and to let him know in no uncertain terms that they will deal with him in as uncompromising a manner as they are aggressive towards the Palis of Gaza. Second this war is a heavy breathing exercise to those on the West Bank to remain passive if they know what's good for them as they, the Israelis continue to knick their land.

Finally its a wail of utter rage aimed at the out going American administration who didn't manage to achieve certain objectives in Iraq. Bremmer made a year zero economic situation in Iraq. American corporations were supposed to move in and set up manufacturing shop. This they would have been able to do paying no taxes and being able to take all profits out of the country.

Had those firms moved in the could have retrieved the profitable manufacturing bit of the process that has been outsourced to China. The Yanks would have used equally as cheap Arab labour instead. It would have meant more profit and the ability to reduce Americas financial liabilities viz a viz China. They would then have induced Palis to come to work as temporary/permanent workers to Iraq like the Turks in Germany.

But the Corporations didn't come. Their lawyers saw difficulties. Occupying forces are restricted in what they might do in those countries that they occupy. So the Corps didn't come. The Israelis are also pissed that the US didn't manage to get a pipeline running down to Haifa where the Israelis expected to develop their refining capacities, get their slice of the oil pie and hence become a crucial player in that sphere. One could go on - the water line from the Euphrates and so on.

And why would the US do all this for Israel. Why to reduce the subsidies that they needed to pay it in order that it could exist. And to help Israel become more powerful by using regional resources to generate its own revenue.

(The US high command knew that subsidising Israel would become more onerous and difficult to sell to the American public when the credit crunch came. They knew that was coming because afterall - they fucking planned it.)

Does my take seem totally off the wall? Sure it does. But then I am deducing what the plans were of those far more off the wall than I am. These were the dreams of the necon KoolAid drinkers.

You CANNOT understand what has been happening in America/Iraq and its relationship with Israel WITHOUT looking it in terms of trying to understand a very ruthless criminal endeavour.

And, bye the way, I am a veteran of battle

-- Lotus Feet

Care to elaborate?

Lotus Feet had this gem in his latest anti-Glenn screed: 'Since you are hanging out here, maybe you could explain why, after years and years of protests and objections, Palestinian children are still taught in their schools to hate Jews, that Jews are really not their fellow human beings.'

Gee, why oh why would Palestinian children in the occupied territories be taught to hate Jews?!? Heavens to murgatroyd!! Not thinking well of their Israeli overlords. Why that's not proper, guvnor.

BTW, if someone was idiotic enough to ask why Israeli textbooks didn't paint all moslems as noble & benevolent, I would slam them too.

But, no one (so far) has been that demonstratably stupid. However, we do have an above entry to chuckle at, so I couln't let it pass.

...frustrating, because Hewitt kept asking the same question over and over: can you guarantee that your approach would solve every problem in the area, totally and permanently? Glenn kept saying it wasn't quite that simple, but that you have to go with the way more likely to produce the good outcome, and back would come Hewitt, "But what if there's one more rocket after that?"

Still and all, HH did give GG a chance to air his views. Hopefully the audience was able to contrast absolutism on one side from the pragmatism on the other.