Bush, Iran, Israel, Iraq and Turkey
So... As I understand it, the Middle East is teetering on the brink of implosion. It seems the meddling of the US government has made no small contribution to things being as they are.
If Iran plans to shower Israel with 11,000 missiles... Perhaps we should get out of the way. Israel has the bomb. By that, I don't mean they have a single explosive device. I mean they have.. or at least SEEM to have (since at least the Nixon administration) the capability to manufacture and deliver nuclear weapons. Perhaps the time has come to let Israel come out of the closet. Perhaps it's time to let the people of the Middle East, finally, determine their own destiny.
We've certainly, at one time or another, armed most of them.
The national borders of the Middle East are artificial, anyway. They were put in place by their former European (mostly British) colonizers. The shape of Iraq, as it is today, or Iran, or Syria... any of those countries... has nothing at all to do with the history or heritage of the people who live there.
If there's going to be trouble between Israel and Iran or Iraq and Turkey... let it happen. Screw it. Get out of the way, and let these people learn for themselves the futility of war. ...and if they can't do that, let them extinct themselves and each other. It reminds me of the scene from "Monty Python's The Life of Brian".... the one in the basement of Pilate's palace, where the members of the Peoples' Front of Judea and Campaign for Free Galilee cross paths, and discover that their plans are the same. Rather than cooperating, they fight. The result is that all the members (except our hero, Brian) are killed. As they are mangling each other, Brian shouts, "We mustn't fight amongst ourselves! Surely, we must be united against the common enemy!"
"THE JUDEAN PEOPLES' FRONT?!"
*sigh*
The people of Iraq don't seem to be interested in a "unified" nation. It seems to me that the only things standing in the way of partition of Iraq (beside US digital-dike-plugging) are criss-crossing ancestral claims to lands and the fact that oil is not evenly distributed under the surface.
People keep talking about Israel using the phrase "The Promised Land". It's no more Promised than Cleveland, Ohio. ...or Baghdad. It's all just real estate. Sorry.
If you preferentially preserve the Jews in Israel... but suppress the Palestinians... What about that is not discriminatory? What makes it OK to not defend Lebanon, when Israel is doing air strikes on Lebanese territory, when we go to bat for Israel at the drop of a hat?! And how can we not expect EVERYONE ELSE in the Middle East to not be perpetually bent out of shape at the US, when we were basically the biggest proponent of the "creation" of Israel and essentially the principle provider of Israel with arms and financing since its creation. Sure Israel was "created" under the auspices of the United Nations, but let us not forget that prior to 1947, Israel was a country called Palestine.
Bottom line. We've meddled long enough in a region we don't understand, populated by people we don't understand, who hold values and beliefs we don't understand. The time has come to let them be... or let them die. If they want to live, they'll figure out how. If not, they'll take care of that, too. All we really need to do is contain any conflict that may arise. Just play goalie.
If Iran plans to shower Israel with 11,000 missiles... Perhaps we should get out of the way. Israel has the bomb. By that, I don't mean they have a single explosive device. I mean they have.. or at least SEEM to have (since at least the Nixon administration) the capability to manufacture and deliver nuclear weapons. Perhaps the time has come to let Israel come out of the closet. Perhaps it's time to let the people of the Middle East, finally, determine their own destiny.
We've certainly, at one time or another, armed most of them.
The national borders of the Middle East are artificial, anyway. They were put in place by their former European (mostly British) colonizers. The shape of Iraq, as it is today, or Iran, or Syria... any of those countries... has nothing at all to do with the history or heritage of the people who live there.
If there's going to be trouble between Israel and Iran or Iraq and Turkey... let it happen. Screw it. Get out of the way, and let these people learn for themselves the futility of war. ...and if they can't do that, let them extinct themselves and each other. It reminds me of the scene from "Monty Python's The Life of Brian".... the one in the basement of Pilate's palace, where the members of the Peoples' Front of Judea and Campaign for Free Galilee cross paths, and discover that their plans are the same. Rather than cooperating, they fight. The result is that all the members (except our hero, Brian) are killed. As they are mangling each other, Brian shouts, "We mustn't fight amongst ourselves! Surely, we must be united against the common enemy!"
"THE JUDEAN PEOPLES' FRONT?!"
*sigh*
The people of Iraq don't seem to be interested in a "unified" nation. It seems to me that the only things standing in the way of partition of Iraq (beside US digital-dike-plugging) are criss-crossing ancestral claims to lands and the fact that oil is not evenly distributed under the surface.
People keep talking about Israel using the phrase "The Promised Land". It's no more Promised than Cleveland, Ohio. ...or Baghdad. It's all just real estate. Sorry.
If you preferentially preserve the Jews in Israel... but suppress the Palestinians... What about that is not discriminatory? What makes it OK to not defend Lebanon, when Israel is doing air strikes on Lebanese territory, when we go to bat for Israel at the drop of a hat?! And how can we not expect EVERYONE ELSE in the Middle East to not be perpetually bent out of shape at the US, when we were basically the biggest proponent of the "creation" of Israel and essentially the principle provider of Israel with arms and financing since its creation. Sure Israel was "created" under the auspices of the United Nations, but let us not forget that prior to 1947, Israel was a country called Palestine.
Bottom line. We've meddled long enough in a region we don't understand, populated by people we don't understand, who hold values and beliefs we don't understand. The time has come to let them be... or let them die. If they want to live, they'll figure out how. If not, they'll take care of that, too. All we really need to do is contain any conflict that may arise. Just play goalie.
posted by UrsusPacificus at 7:08 PM
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