Politics & Stuff

[dave30 728]

Dave, surely the only relevant frame of reference concerns the slaughter of women and children by a superpower.

I find nothing to admire in how strong and powerful israel are in some kind of Nietszchien fan worship

Yer I fully agree. There's no point continuing to exist as a nation if you've lost your soul and dehumanised your people. However, some people will measure the debate as such I'm afraid whether you like it or not.

[Alee. 182]

As a Pakistani I've protested and condemned every single one of those things. Do I have your blessing to continue supporting my opinion?

Two wrong's do not make a right. Just because someone else somewhere else did something just as, or more, terrible does not negate or downplay the massacre Israel is carrying out. Atleast, even the defenders of the Israeli apartheid system are equating Israel's actions to those of the rest of the people mentioned in that quote.

Oh and thousands in Pakistan, not hundreds.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

You see, all those crimes, as terrible as they are, are being committed by terrorists groups that are being fought, or countries that are being punished for causing such atrocities (can't really compare the situation in Turkey to this, not that the international response to that was not shameful as well).

But Israel is the only army in the world that is (at least publicly), not only supported, but also funded and armed to kill hundreds of civilians; and by the 'enforcers of democracy, equality and human values', I might add.

And for the last time, just because people are dying elsewhere, it doesn't make it right for you to kill civilians like they were bugs in your house.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

I've read a few times about Zionism within the British government and media, but I really don't see it. Judaism in Britain isn't big at all from what I see. I understand the level of reporting in Gaza isn't huge, but the majority of news outlets to me appear to be against what Israel are doing. Am I missing something?

We'll leave the US at the moment but their zionist influence is even greater than the UK.

The UK political parties all have their separate ''Friends of Israel'' groups -.these are in Partliament and the House of Lords The first was the ''Liberal Democrats Friends of Israel'' whose aim is '' to maximise support for Israel'', Labour have the same, both Prime Ministers, that murdering cunt Blair and Brown were both members, along with many backbenchers. There are most however in the tories. The payback is from Israeli billionaires with ''donations'' to the parties. Or bribes to you and me.

Then there are the cross party support groups for Israel, they get nice freebie holidays at Red sea resorts.as well.

On top of all that, to keep the media in check is the thing called BICOM -The British Isareli Communications Centre. If anything untoward is shown about Israel, then they come down like a ton of shit. Add The anti -defamation league which actively seeks out anything perceived as anti-Israeli and freedom of the press is a joke. On top of all that if you take Rupert Murdoch and Conrad Black as two of the biggest media owners in the World and discover they have huge business interests in Israel, it does lead reporting to look a tad biased....

[Alee. 182]

Keeping the middle east on the side for a second, has anyone been following the war going in Pakistan right now? The military has launched an offensive against the Taliban, the biggest in scale since 9/11,

I wrote a random blogpost about it earlier if anyone wants to read it: http://my.telegraph.co.uk/alirafi/alirafi/10/pakistan-on-the-brink/

I don't think there has been much international coverage of this, although I can understand given the middle east crisis.

[Stingray 9,441]

So, your from Be'er Sheva. I understand your retorics a bit better now.

http://972mag.com/beer-sheva-a-city-with-no-refuge-from-rockets/93537/

Which one of them are you? You do realise your IDF facebook/twitter world and posts are getting more and more marginalised. The world looks upon Israels actions more and more as pure immorality.

As I said, i will question you as an individual - you vehemently support them - when the current actions are qualified as war crimes.

In my town, noone escaped after we were freed from germans and after the shoah came through. All who participated preaching violence where simply shot. Think about it....

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

Keeping the middle east on the side for a second, has anyone been following the war going in Pakistan right now? The military has launched an offensive against the Taliban, the biggest in scale since 9/11,

I wrote a random blogpost about it earlier if anyone wants to read it: http://my.telegraph.co.uk/alirafi/alirafi/10/pakistan-on-the-brink/

I don't think there has been much international coverage of this, although I can understand given the middle east crisis.

Nice blog. Frankly all that I have heard were the drone attacks by the U.S and lately wave of attack by Taliban on different facilities, including an airport (if I can recall correctly). I think I understand that Pakistan as a country (economy, education....etc), like Egypt and others, form an encouraging niche for radicals if left unattended. I might be wrong, but that is what I get from my Pakistani friends here. I would appreciated if you provide your info on the matter.

I don't really understand what Taliban is hoping to gain out of this. Usually, such groups seek to some way or another rule. Pakistan is no small country and it has a very strong army. Taliban have been really bombarded in Afghanistan, and though still a threat, but much weaker. I can't understand what are they possibly hoping to achieve. I understand what they are trying to achieve in Egypt in the area of Sinai. The peace agreement with Israel, doesn't allow Egyptian military to be present there, so they are taking advantage of that hoping to establish some sort of state there. What about Pakistan?

[Alee. 182]

Nice blog. Frankly all that I have heard were the drone attacks by the U.S and lately wave of attack by Taliban on different facilities, including an airport (if I can recall correctly). I think I understand that Pakistan as a country (economy, education....etc), like Egypt and others, form an encouraging niche for radicals if left unattended. I might be wrong, but that is what I get from my Pakistani friends here. I would appreciated if you provide your info on the matter.

I don't really understand what Taliban is hoping to gain out of this. Usually, such groups seek to some way or another rule. Pakistan is no small country and it has a very strong army. Taliban have been really bombarded in Afghanistan, and though still a threat, but much weaker. I can't understand what are they possibly hoping to achieve. I understand what they are trying to achieve in Egypt in the area of Sinai. The peace agreement with Israel, doesn't allow Egyptian military to be present there, so they are taking advantage of that hoping to establish some sort of state there. What about Pakistan?

The Afghan Taliban and Pakistani Taliban are different factions, the northern regions of Pakistan have little writ of the state, and the bigger picture is an emirate carved out from that region and areas of Afghanistan. Pakistan, being a nuclear-power and one of the biggest military force in the world, has had a complex relationship with them. The Military used these people in proxy wars over the years, and they've sort of turned rogue and have an agenda of their own (or foreign backed if you agree with a segment). They've been responsible for thousands of deaths all over the country. In the recent dialogue we tried they wanted us to impose their version of Shariah in the country, the contention has now led to a full scale war. The problem is, the Taliban too have weapons and funding from various sources. Pakistan has it's share of enemies.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Keeping the middle east on the side for a second, has anyone been following the war going in Pakistan right now? The military has launched an offensive against the Taliban, the biggest in scale since 9/11,

I wrote a random blogpost about it earlier if anyone wants to read it: http://my.telegraph.co.uk/alirafi/alirafi/10/pakistan-on-the-brink/

I don't think there has been much international coverage of this, although I can understand given the middle east crisis.

Very insightful. I haven't heard much about this except for the odd bit on the news. The situation sounds complicated. May I ask, how does the US feel about the operation. Obviously, they won't want Taliban to gain much power, but similarly I don't imagine they'd want them completely crushed because they could come in handy as was the case in Syria.

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

The Afghan Taliban and Pakistani Taliban are different factions, the northern regions of Pakistan have little writ of the state, and the bigger picture is an emirate carved out from that region and areas of Afghanistan. Pakistan, being a nuclear-power and one of the biggest military force in the world, has had a complex relationship with them. The Military used these people in proxy wars over the years, and they've sort of turned rogue and have an agenda of their own (or foreign backed if you agree with a segment). They've been responsible for thousands of deaths all over the country. In the recent dialogue we tried they wanted us to impose their version of Shariah in the country, the contention has now led to a full scale war. The problem is, the Taliban too have weapons and funding from various sources. Pakistan has it's share of enemies.

Sounds familiar . They all, (Islamic militant groups), follow the same agenda I guess. They also tend to follow a similar pattern to enforce their power. They tend to create pockets of instability, from which they can operate and carry out further operations. I am glad your country is not taking this lightly. They only way to get rid of them is by eliminating them. Ideological reform doesn't seem to be working much (at least in Egypt it has failed during the era of President Sadat 1970-1980). However, it will definitely be hard if they are residing in an area with civilian population. This means your military would have to carry out continuous precise operation which will definitely make this a long term war. Intelligence will be a huge factor these operations.

[Alee. 182]

Very insightful. I haven't heard much about this except for the odd bit on the news. The situation sounds complicated. May I ask, how does the US feel about the operation. Obviously, they won't want Taliban to gain much power, but similarly I don't imagine they'd want them completely crushed because they could come in handy as was the case in Syria.

The US pressure is one of the major reason an operation was carried out in the first place. The war was escalated because of Pakistan allying with the USA and its these very groups the US has tried to eliminate through drone strikes. So I doubt the US has many reservations about the situation. Ofcourse, no one knows what goes on behind the doors in the corridors of power! Hidden agendas are everywhere, but I'd rather not dwell on conspiracy theories yet.

Sounds familiar . They all, (Islamic militant groups), follow the same agenda I guess. They also tend to follow a similar pattern to enforce their power. They tend to create pockets of instability, from which they can operate and carry out further operations. I am glad your country is not taking this lightly. They only way to get rid of them is by eliminating them. Ideological reform doesn't seem to be working much (at least in Egypt it has failed during the era of President Sadat 1970-1980). However, it will definitely be hard if they are residing in an area with civilian population. This means your military would have to carry out continuous precise operation which will definitely make this a long term war. Intelligence will be a huge factor these operations.

Exactly. We've been trying ideological reform with a decade of 'moderate enlightenment'. But the lack of government control and illiteracy in remote areas of the country makes that a very difficult task and all we've done is widened the urban-rural social and ideological divide.

[Fernando 6,585]

@Mohammed Seif, I have a question since you always give me good feedback when ever it comes to middle east stuff.

Giving the protest and such against Israel attacking Gaza and hitting places like school and such, I have to ask one thing.

Is there a reason they actually hit those targets on purpose?

Cause Israel is a country, a sovereign nation, and as such in this common era it's rare to commit such atrocities without any cause.

So it leads me to ask, does this happen because Hamas a terrorist organization uses schools, hospital and such considered safe heaven to launch rockets and defend themselves?

If this is the case, then what course it leaves a nation to defend itself?

I'm sure if USA was on the receiving end being hit frequently by rockets from a terrorist organization that uses kids and defenseless people as shield then it leaves no option.

[Fernando 6,585]

I know this question hasn't been directed to me, nor am I very knowledgable here. But you're mistaken in thinking that Israel's rockets are Only hitting those places you mentioned. Schools and hospitals are among the many, many places that were hit.

Case in point, it was only a while back that 4 children who were near the beach were killed, minutes after playing football. And there have been many cases that members here should know of that relates to my point. In my humble opinion, they try to target the places where people have hope of safety. That way they not only get efficiency but also deal a major psychological blow to the civilians who think they have any hope of surviving.

After slowly torturing them for years, they want to completely break their spirits about having any kind of hope of staying so that they see the futility of fighting in any way. Whether it be by military or determination of surviving through poverty and other major psychological battles they face everyday.

What you see now is decades of slowly wiping out an entire nation. The goal of the destruction of people's livelihood is to bring about a phase when there is no real Palestenian in Palestine. That's why the actions they carry out are so massive when you consider the emotional (and moral) consequences of it.

...atleast, that's what I think. God knows best.

The rocket by the beach is just a byproduct of the conflict.

If you knew about the deaths that happened in the Iraq conflict when usa was there you wouldn't bring such things.

Is not like the country meant it.

When you go to war you will get these types of casualties.

Moreover the Palestinian state doesn't exist. It doesn't exist because when you side yourself with a terrorist organization your no longer in control of your sovereign.

[Fernando 6,585]

So are the 1000+ people that have already died, yes. You call them byproducts, I call them unjust massacres.

I don't know about all that, so I won't speak about it.

A war is fought between two relatively similar parties that have power. When you kill a cockroach it's not a war, for example. When you reply to a spit on your foot with a bullet shot to the spitter's head, and his family's, it's not war. It's an unjust killing.

Perhaps you're right. But the Palestenian's sure do exist. And they're dying on their own land, whatever you may want to call it.

I'm not going to defend Hamas here. But the people have been forced to make that choice anyway, I think. You wouldn't have an organisation like Hamas in existence if you didn't have Israel's immoral existence in a land that they displaced more than 700,000 people from. They started the fire, so why would they complain about the smoke?

Yes people dying is a byproduct of any war.

Study past war men.

It has happened in many wars that usa has been, in major conflicts of European nations and what not.

Israel is at war with Hamas.

Palestinian is lost its past when they sided with a terrorist organization.

Israel would never have enter Gaza if it wasn't for this terrorist organization constantly firing rockets their way.

Israel protects itself and has gone to war with Hamas.

Which should have happened a long time ago.

The problem will be if they don't completely get rid of Hamas because all these casualties would have been for nothing.

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

@Mohammed Seif, I have a question since you always give me good feedback when ever it comes to middle east stuff.

Giving the protest and such against Israel attacking Gaza and hitting places like school and such, I have to ask one thing.

Is there a reason they actually hit those targets on purpose?

Cause Israel is a country, a sovereign nation, and as such in this common era it's rare to commit such atrocities without any cause.

So it leads me to ask, does this happen because Hamas a terrorist organization uses schools, hospital and such considered safe heaven to launch rockets and defend themselves?

If this is the case, then what course it leaves a nation to defend itself?

I'm sure if USA was on the receiving end being hit frequently by rockets from a terrorist organization that uses kids and defenseless people as shield then it leaves no option.

Ok let us start with the first question, is there a reason to hit those targets on purpose. The answer according to Israel is Yes! The given excuse is the usual that has been said for decades PRIOR TO THE EXISTENCE OF HAMAS. You have to ask yourself a question, can there be such an excuse for such a long period of time? My I remind you the same excuses were used against Arafat, when Palestinians had only ROCKS. Same has been used against Lebanon, when Israel was clearly the aggressor.

Regarding that atrocities are not common, all you have to do is check the UN. Israel, has been condemned many times and has been constantly ignoring all UN resolutions and decisions. So the morality of Israel is being questioned here.

Everyone here agrees that Hamas is a terrorist group. (Atleast that is what I got from different people who contribute constructively to this topic). Having said that, there are no clear or solid evidence that Hamas have been using schools and hospitals. Again that same excuse was used in 2008 where over 700 civilians, who did not contribute to violence according to different human rights organizations (including b't salem, an Israeli organization), were massacred. Only 3 Israeli civilians were killed and 10 Israeli soldiers were killed, 4 died due to friendly fire. I am stating these numbers to draw a comparison with the Numbers that will be announced after all this is over. Currently there are over a 1000 dead Palestinians dead. According to UN estimations 70%-80% are civilians. Ofcourse when this is over and bodies are going to be recovered from underneath the ruins, the numbers will increase assuming this ends as we speak (which is not the case). Now let us look at the rockets fired. In 2008 they were estimated as a couple of 100 rockets. This current conflict estimates a 1500 fired. Israeli casualties are currently estimated to be 3 civilians and 42 soldiers. i.e, the actions of Israel in 2008 we a COMPLETE FAILURE AND ONLY RESULTED IN MAKING HAMAS STRONGER AND MORE CIVILIAN DEATHS.

With very LIMITED COVERAGE, we witnessed incidents that indicate that Israel is just committing genocide. Choulo has posted a few already in the previous pages and other members. The killing of the four kids playing football in a non hostile area on the beach and late shelling of the UNRWA shelter that had nothing in it. It is the fourth UN shelter to be bombed. There is no solid evidence of the "human shield argument" what so ever. It is just an excuse. Lately, in the non hostile West Bank, Palestinians were killed in a demonstrations. The human rights (again Israeli), have said that there were no evidence that Palestinians used fire arms. Yet they were shot and sniped.

There is no excuse what so ever for the disproportionate attack on Gaza. Israel, has the one of the most advance intelligence and offensive/defensive arsenal, to take out specif targets without causing civilian casualties. This is not a myth or an assumption as Israel has done that before when it WANTED TO DO SO.

Let us look at the situation in Gaza. You have millions who are exiled, and 100s of thousands who are refugees in the country where they and their families where born. Are they getting houses build? No. Do they get their basic survival needs such as food and water? No. Ofcourse, if they are not getting those, then the question of security, health and education is irrelevant as the answer is already known or can be logically deduced. Yet Israel still targets homes, schools, hospitals and the already deteriorating infrastructure. There has been many solutions given to this situation. It was called the two state solution based on the borders of 1967 which the entire wold and the Palestinians have agreed to. But ofcourse as Israel chooses to ignore that, and continue with their settlements on the occupied territory (according to the UN), the solution cannot be implemented. And that again is PRIOR TO HAMAS.

Now regarding the U.S, that is a bad case for argument. The U.S has committed a lot of war crimes also in the name of defending itself. You can refer to the millions dead in Iraq. Was there an excuse? Ofcourse not. All there was, were fabrications carried out by the Bush administration and the media in order to portray this as a "war on terror". Shortly, they U.S was exposed when NO EVIDENCE what so ever of WMDs where found. The U.S then, used the excuse of "inserting democracy". We all know how that turned out. That was a crime against humanity. Whether the international community condemns it or not, that is another issue. Even many Americans know that including the ones who served in the military. Not to mention the use of forbidden weapons that has caused mutations in unborn kids.

My country has a history of 3 wars with Israel (1956, 1967 and 1973), so we understand how the Israeli military works. Lebanon has had its shares of massacres condemned by the international community so you can get the insight of Choulo on this matter. But if you think that we are biased because we are Arabs, there are many respectful members here who come from a neutral prospective and are known to be level headed so you can also take their point of view. Fulham, Stingray, Peace, and others (whom I apologize if I didn't mention). Even better, you can check out the UN and human rights reports.

Hope than answers your question.