3. Ah, but this is all hopeless for Israel. They always start out with a bang and end with a bust, as terrorists melt back into the civilian populace and defy conventional military tactics.
Perhaps. But inaction is not an option either. Israel has learned after 2006 to tone down its rhetoric, use alternative media to get out its message, pick dates and times to lower its profile, and use computer-enhanced methodology to target the culpable in uncanny ways. It has only bad choices, but must make the best of them nonetheless. It does not wish to reoccupy Gaza or even stay there for any extended period. Instead, it simply wishes to harm and humiliate Hamas on the principle that on any given day, at any given time the IDF can cost Hamas billions of dollars in losses, dismantle its hierarchy, and inflict years of rebuilding costs—all at very little cost to itself and to quiet relief in Arab capitals.
Both the suicide barrier and the damage done to Fatah have led to a virtual end in suicide bombing and aerial barrages against Israel coming from the West Bank. If Hamas comes to comprehend the equation that for every salvo of rockets, it will cost them untold misery, they will either quit or lose support from those around them who want them to quit. Hamas’s chief interest is surviving as Hamas, a sort of sinecure for thousands of young toughs who otherwise would have to get a day job; it will do what it takes to continue, even if that means stopping the rockets to prevent the annhilation of its material and human infrastructure. Very soon expect it, not Israel, to begin talking of truces.
4. Well then, why is the world supporting Hamas, and not Israel—if, as you say, Israel enjoys the moral high ground?
The better question would be, why would Israel gain world support? After all, the world is mostly authoritarian in Russia, China, and much of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America; when has it ever been a barometer of morality? If it had been, some would have rallied to stop the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, or stopped the Rwandan killing or the Cambodian genocide. Only the US and its NATO allies put an end to Milosevic, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Saddam—mostly to world criticism.
Examine the composition of the Human Rights committees and commissions at the UN. An Obama as Prime Minister is unthinkable in most of liberal Europe. Try having rich Russia or China match US AIDs relief in Africa. In fact, what most of the world wants—given its history, present governments, and ethos—is usually reason to do the opposite. I was amused by the Hamas spokesman who just warned that Israel followed “the law of the jungle”—this from an organization that legalized crucifixion, sends rockets into schools, and executes dissidents—and of course enjoys global support. Even sadder, if Israel muzzles Hamas, world support will gravitate back toward Israel; if Hamas “wins” (how to define that?) then the world will be even more anti-Israeli–given that most are amoral and have no firm ideologies but simply gravitate to the perceived stronger side.
The Decline Industry
Yet another European gloom and doomer (the British columnist Matthew Parris of the Times) is now salivating over supposed American decline. It’s odd, however, to see a piece in which almost everything written is factually wrong. E.g:
And when I visited America, first as a boy then as a postgraduate student (in the 1970s), what struck me was not the modernity of modern America, but its inefficiency and old-fashionedness. The bureaucracy was Stone Age, the postal service unreliable, medical and dental treatment twice the cost of private treatment in England, and government officials treated you like serfs. People lived richly and worked hard – that was undeniable – but in a parallel universe clumsily and wastefully managed, and beset with internal friction. You couldn’t even get a bank account that worked properly outside your state; and, for all the ostentatious vigour of retail competition, there was a curious lack of diversity in product choice. Though infinitely more successful and politically free, it was in some indefinable way more like the Soviet Union than either country would have wished to acknowledge.
Commentary
Does anyone believe going to the National Health Service in the UK is a streamlined experience in comparison to the US postal service (which I have found considerate and mostly reliable [its rural carriers are fine])? Mr. Parris should compare the dental status of average British subjects with that of Americans before commenting on our relative dentistry systems. Just a few years ago, we heard from Euros that we were tooth-obsessed—orthodontics, capping, whitening—as proof of our vanity, frivolousness, and crass wealth.
I fear excessive government as much as anyone, but to compare the bureaucratic classes in Europe with those in the US is still at this late hour absurd. Has anyone gone into a Greek bank, a Spanish government travel office, or a French ministry? Does anyone think our top-heavy government is less efficient than Europe’s bloated bureaucracy, which takes the trouble to measure, calibrate and modify the most intimate details of its citizens’ lives, from the size, nature, and definition of bananas to what sort of public vocabulary is permissible and what illegal.
On product choice in the 1970s or now: Mr. Parris has not gone into a K-Mart, Safeway, or turned on a US television. The problem is not an absence of diversity and choice, but exhaustion at the sheer number of brands, styles, and subsets that make informed selection almost impossible.
But Parris gives away the game with his ridiculous and puerile comparison to the USSR that once killed 30 million of its own and enslaved all of Eastern Europe. Had he written the above about the US in 1970 in America he would have fit in well with the trendy anti-American campus elite; had he taken on the USSR while in Russia with such a screed, mutatis mutandis, he would have ended up in a Gulag—if he were lucky.
And as far as relative current freedoms, I suggest he review carefully European attitudes toward habeas corpus, preventive detention, summary deportation, and libel laws, and then in serious fashion compare them to their counterparts (or lack of) in the United States. The entire article (it gets worse) is one of the most poorly argued and written op-eds I have seen in years. I was waiting for the inevitable British “this happened to us, and so it will happen to you” Schadenfreude. And then, sure enough, there it appeared right on schedule:
“We British know something about the loss of empire. Successive 20th-century prime ministers struggled both to manage relative national decline and to make it explicable to the electorate. It is upon this road that 21st-century American presidents must now set foot.”
So let me get this straight: Not long ago were demonized by the European community for unilaterally runningthe globe (remember “hyper-power”?), wallowing in cash, decadent in our lavish lifestyle, and imperious to the world abroad;and suddenly in just a few years we are falling apart, weak, and about ended?
I’m sorry, but whether we are ascendant or in decline is more than, say, a five-year process—and in either case there will always be those envious and angry at the idea of America, up or down.
True, we owe too much to too many. But as a percentage of GDP American debt is more manageable than is true in much of Europe. Russia, Japan and Europe are shrinking; the US is growing. Radical Islam threatens the major cities in Europe, not here. China has a rendevouz with labor strife, environmentalism, suburban blues, and political instability—and, like India, trillions in infrastructure investment. Africa and Latin America are, well, Africa and Latin America. Americans have overspent, but they are the most innovative, hard-working, and free people in the world. That is why millions line up to get in, and why we have little strife given our mind-boggling racial and religious diversity, and why our armed forces are the most competent in the world.
With a $11 trillion economy, debt can be paid down rather quickly without a decline–if we muster the political will. Britain declined after centuries because it was in the end a small island nation, in comparative terms with a small population and few natural resources. It never ended its ossified, unfair and stifling class system, could not incorporate or integrate immigrants effectively, was bled white in two World Wars, took centuries to deal with the Irish problem, adopted socialist paradigms in the 1950s, and (quite unlike the US) as a Roman-style empire had real old-fashioned colonies the world over (we have not annexed anyone’s land since the late 19th century) that were expensive to maintain and proved to be sources of guilt for generations.
Yes, the British know something about the loss of empire; but not about those who never had an empire remotely similar to theirs to begin with. No wonder Parris must go back to faulty memories of the 1970s for guidance.
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63 Comments
1. Ron Kean:It may seem that the war between Israel and Hamas will be never ending. But many felt the exact same way about the US Military and the guerrilla fighters in Iraq. The US has won there so there’s hope for Israel too.
Israel won big victories in the past over opponents that seemed superior at the time. Hamas’ capability is being degraded everyday. We hope for the proverbial ‘tipping point’ soon.
Hitler said he hated Jews because they introduced conscience to the world. It’s that human quality that despots despise.
It’s a shame that VDH has to endure so much vitriol. The people who comment on these threads lately have been, for the most part very civil. That’s a good sign. Many of the name callers and contrarians of the past haven’t come back. They were tedious.
Jan 4, 2009 - 8:01 pm 2. Charles Gordon:The world always wants to take down the hegemon.
Jan 4, 2009 - 8:45 pm 3. TLM:Before our ascension as today’s hegemon, England’s role in Europe to effect a strategic re-balancing of power was to side with the enemy coalition against each successive European hegemon.
In the ME, Israel is the hegemon, in the sense of its success, not just in its purported “Zionism.”
And, uniquely, these two hegemons, America and Israel, are allies.
Expect more flag burnings.
Expect more pre-mature predictions of some new Japan taking over our supremacy.
“… if Israel muzzles Hamas, world support will gravitate back toward Israel; if Hamas “wins” (how to define that?) then the world will be even more anti-Israeli…”
Sounds so true, but what an odd calculation to make in an asymmetric warfare scenario. I suspect very few supporters of Hamas, in Europe or in this country, have every considered what would happen if those murderous thugs were to defeat Israel. If you believe any of Hamas’ rhetoric, there would be a very real Holocaust II, not the imaginary one the leaders in Teheran and Gaza City claim is happening currently.
Jan 4, 2009 - 9:43 pm 4. huxley:Dr. Hanson — Calm, succinct, potent. Thanks again, as ever.
Jan 5, 2009 - 4:16 am 5. RJ:Easy for you to say; afteral, you just might be a reasonable and rational man.
For the rest of us, well..we feel you might be overstating your point of view!
“For us, it is natural to have children, then raise them till a certain age wherein we send them off with a suicide belt to become part of a larger whole, a greater truth, a more divine reality.
Why don’t you people just get this?
We march to a different drummer, why can’t you?”
Send your hate mail to our representatives in Minnesota. You know who they are.
Send Bill Richardson to Gaza after those nasty Jews leave; he’ll find creative ways to rebuild their community!
Common sense…what common sense?
Jan 5, 2009 - 4:30 am 6. Pamela:Ron Kean:
“Hitler said he hated Jews because they introduced conscience to the world.”
He did? Reference, please? (Sounds like good ammo, if I can confirm it.)
Jan 5, 2009 - 9:15 am 7. Heather:I suspect very few supporters of Hamas, in Europe or in this country, have ever considered what would happen if those murderous thugs were to defeat Israel.
Hrm. I suspect not only that they have considered it, but that they’re looking forward to it.
Jan 5, 2009 - 9:46 am 8. Matt:Very well said, but there is an important error in your first point. Rocket attacks on Israel preceded the actual Hamas coup d’etat by years. They did not begin with the Hamas take-over. My solution to this? There isn’t any – it will continue for another 100 years.
Jan 5, 2009 - 10:34 am 9. David M:The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 01/05/2009 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.
Jan 5, 2009 - 12:54 pm 10. Jeff Perren:“Well then, why is the world supporting Hamas, and not Israel—if, as you say, Israel enjoys the moral high ground?”
These are all silly questions, but this one takes the cake. The answer is obvious: most politicians and media around the world are anti-individual liberty, anti-justice, anti-capitalism, anti everything that supports innocent human life. In short, they’re opposed to what Israel stands for and so will naturally take the side of its enemies.
Jan 5, 2009 - 12:59 pm 11. Robert Kennedy:Leon Panetta??!! This is the s.o.b.astard who set up Bush 41!!!!
Jan 5, 2009 - 1:02 pm 12. Robert Winkler Burke:Still gnawing at the same,
Bones of contention,
Wondering if it will ever,
Merit attention.
Have you noticed the death of,
The knowledge of right and wrong,
Killed by our preachers, teachers,
And collage of opinions strong?
Right is now what is popular,
And must be supported,
The rich preachers must have their jets,
The President, aborters.
Wars against terrorism are permitted,
By popular whim,
God help any righteous movement,
If thought of dim.
These are times calling for,
Jan 5, 2009 - 1:40 pm 13. ET:Historic, great men,
But when will what’s manly be,
Permitted again?
That line – “Though infinitely more successful and politically free,…” really says it all. Did he engage in any actual thought while writing this, or was it just a puerile attempt to shoehorn us into the vision he’s trying to construct? Never mind; the question answers itself.
In recent times, this guy apparently missed the eight years of Bush-bashing that American newspapers have made their daily page-one item! Could such a thing have happened in the same Soviet Union that he twisted himself into knots trying to compare us to?
There’s so much projection in these “American Decline” pieces that it just boggles the mind.
Thanks for providing this rich (yet nauseating) bit of entertainment!
Jan 5, 2009 - 2:16 pm 14. Mike Rankin:Dr. Hanson has been nominated for best conservative blog at the following:
http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-conservative-blog/
While he may not necessarily consider himself conservative, he is still one of the best.
Jan 5, 2009 - 4:28 pm 15. Ron Kean:6. Pamela
“The ten commandments have lost their validity…Conscience is a Jewish invention. It is a blemish like circumcision…”
Rauschning, Hitler Speaks, pg. 220
Jan 5, 2009 - 5:29 pm 16. Gaisan:VDH: Thanks for your insights and your prose. You are a beacon for those of us who applaud your stand. I come home each evening and click on YOU… and am eased by your sanity and clarity. Don’t give up… you, and we, must fight the good fight and you do it so-o-o-o-o well!
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:18 pm 17. Alexis:The mass media does appear obsessed about Gaza. Why isn’t there more attention on Congo, Columbia, Sri Lanka, or Darfur?
The media publicity Palestinians are receiving is not necessarily good for them in the long run. The subtext for much the publicity is analogous to “Man Bites Dog” stories, for the principal reason why there is so much coverage is because Jews are involved in the story. When Palestinian children suffer because Palestinians get hurt by other Palestinians, it doesn’t get into the press because bad behavior is expected of Palestinians but not expected of Jews. This is a horrible double standard, one that implicitly expects Palestinians to act like dogs rather than men.
It is a terrible indictment of the freak show mentality of the modern press that people get rewarded when they act out grotesque fantasies. When “The Gaza Show” becomes a cross among Mad Max, “reality television”, and the Jerry Springer Show, something is wrong with the situation.
Jan 6, 2009 - 12:49 am 18. Ann:It has been reported today that PEObama has said that he is concerned about what is going on in Gaza. I take that to mean that he’s going to fix it.
The clarity of Islamic murder and their plans of conquest for the rest of the world in the context of Obama/Emanuel/Biden and now PANETTA at the CIA is just sickening.
One thing I have noticed about the libs, the lefties and their reps in the dim ranks, their actual performance will always exceed my worst fears, their screwups will always be far more dangerous than anything I would have accused them of.
Jan 6, 2009 - 10:06 am 19. Cybergeezer:“All’s fair in love and war.” And do not be mislead that all that is posted and printed by any Arabic sympathetic media is any where close to truth.
Jan 6, 2009 - 10:25 am 20. idov:With the past displays of Islamic terrorism posted on the internet, we are aware that these pagans are using the internet as part of their battlefront. I’m not surprised that they hide behind women and children. And it would not be the first time they murdered their own and paraded the “news” that some one else was to blame.
This is a large part of what their warfare is all about.
You can get a ceasefire and a truce in this situation by applying pressure on the right spots.
The boss of Hamas is Mashaal, who runs the operation in the safety of Damascus, Syria.
Mashaal’s orders are let ‘er rip and don’t count the cost. Mashaal is under the protection of Syria and his policy fits their strategic goals, to cause trouble for Israel. But Syria takes its lead from Iran, who set the goals.
Pressure point number one. Syria. Tell them to reign in Mashaal or kick him out. Sarkosky was there, sipped tea with their idiot leader, and as far as we know did not tell him to lean on Mashaal.
Egypt borders on Gaza. To ease the humanitarian plight created by Mashaal, all they have to do is open the borders to receive the seriously injured and ill to take the pressure off Gaza hospitals. They can be flown anywhere in the Arab world for treatment. The Egyptians can easily send in all the supplies needed to keep the civilian population from falling to Darfur levels. They could even go farther and accept a few hundred thousand civilians to dwell temporarily on their side. But Egypt doesn’t want to help at all and no one is apply pressure, appealing to their alleged humanitarian conscience.
Hamas is the Gaza branch of a much larger and powerful Islamic movement called the Muslim Brotherhood. This is led by clergymen. If these clergymen wish to help their suffering brethen, all they have to do is issue religious orders to Hamas to stop the shelling of Israel. But no one even among in the moderate Muslim religious community is putting pressure on these birds to do that and they will not act, because it is their political interest to keep the fires going in Gaza in the hopes of stirring up bigger fires in Egypt itself.
Any of this coming across on the reporting from CNN, BBC, or Aljeezera? Not that I know of. It’s all Israel must cease fire immediately. That would put things back to square one with 500,000 Israelis subject to sudden death at any time day or night.
Jan 6, 2009 - 10:37 am 21. Cybergeezer:See also: “How Hamas sacrifices it’s people for publicity”
Jan 6, 2009 - 10:38 am 22. rvastar:http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2008/12/hamas-leveraging-gazan-lives-for.html
It’s not difficult to understand, Alexis.
The mass media is controlled by Leftists. Leftist ideology is a Western phenomenon, historically based in the Western intellectual/elite classes disdain for traditional Western culture, institutions, and values. Simply put: whatever the traditional Western culture supports, the Left must oppose, for at it’s core, one word can be used to describe the Left…”anti”.
So, as the traditional West has historically supported Israel (and actually created the state), the Left will automatically oppose it. As to why a bigger stink isn’t made about the other places you mention, it’s simply that the traditional West doesn’t really care much about them…so by extension, neither does the Left.
Jan 6, 2009 - 10:51 am 23. Eric R.:Hamas could never enjoy the fruits of defeating Israel.
Israel would turn the entire Arab world into an atomic parking lot.
Those who survived would find a world so hellish, they would wish they had died in the initial nuclear strikes.
Jan 6, 2009 - 10:59 am 24. Cybergeezer:More evidence that these pagans use women, children, schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, and any other civilian cover:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elyXQ6g-TJs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBYtij4Q7sE
As Hamas has said many times; “This is war”. And this is how they conduct it.
Jan 6, 2009 - 11:18 am 25. Jeff Medcalf:Cybergeezer, they are Muslims, not Pagans. They are far more closely related, in a religious sense, to the Christians and Jews than to the native religions of the American Indians, Koreans, Japanese and so on.
Jan 6, 2009 - 11:50 am 26. The Historian:FAR LEFT & HAMAS: ALLIED BY HATE
The political left will use any means to gain their doctrinaire ends.
http://www.greensrealworld.blogspot.com
Jan 6, 2009 - 12:36 pm 27. Anton:25. Jeff Medcalf: You are quite right, calling these murderous beasts Pagans is an insult to Pagans, quite a few of whom are peaceful.
They are not however very closely related to Christian or Jewish ideals. Neither of the the other two Abrahamic religions demand as a core belief conversion at the tip of a spear (although at times certain of their followers have practiced that). Bloody conquest is a central tenet of Islam, the Koran was written in the blood of innocents by cruel thieves and idolators.
Jan 6, 2009 - 1:03 pm 28. Nolan Nelson:In current confrontations, Israel and their supporters must understand selective moral outrage leads worldwide condemnation. Acceptable political analysis offers the gullible a tortured rhetoric linking tightly focused visions of shattered hometown settings to fabricated motives equivalent to Sudanese militia.
Under these logics Israel is castigated for killing civilians. However, the clear and obvious reading of Articles 28 and 29 of the Fourth Geneva Convention says terrorist organizations such as Hammas are responsible for those deaths .
These civilians qualify as Protected Persons within Hammas’ physical control, and cannot be used to render certain points and areas immune from military operations. Terrorist organizations choose first to use the Arab people as biodegradable sandbags, and in death display them as props for advancing political agendas.
Jan 6, 2009 - 1:46 pm 29. JL:I’m from Denmark. My experience with bureaucracy in the US is limited to Los Angeles. I lived there for a year in 1998. I found the bureaucracy in Los Angeles quite shocking. I am temped to say that it was probably worse in LA back then, than it ever was in the USSR. Which off cause cannot ne true, but it’s up there compeeting, seriously it’s bad. I must admit that I have no idea what it’s like in other areas in the US. I hope it’s better. In 2008 my brother who’s living in LA lost $300.000 for no reason what so ever, because it took the local government 7 months to approve his plans for renovating a rental property. They started out in fine condition, now they are on the verge of bankrupcy. I’m affraid our English buddy in the story has a valid point – at least regarding some places in the US.
Jan 6, 2009 - 3:18 pm 30. JED:This conflict has been going on since before Moses. Anyone wishing to solve this part of the Mid-East conflict would have to magic wand a quantum cultural shift away from revenge, rage, and retribution. Short of nuclear anniliation, peace in the Holy Lands is not going to happen.
Jan 6, 2009 - 3:27 pm 31. Cybergeezer:Another impossible mission to collapse this no-win situation is for Israel to move. Without Israel the Persian and Arab states would have no common enemy from which to distract and distress their citizens.
The workable solution is long term more of the same. It appears that that is what they feed upon:anguish, suffering, plight, shame, pride, and self-destruction. Some people can not be taught.
I did not use the word “pagans” without knowledge of it’s meaning.
pagan |ˈpāgən|
noun
a person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions.
• dated derogatory a non-Christian.
• an adherent of neopaganism.
adjective
of or relating to such people or beliefs : a pagan god.
I intended this term as a derogatory, and am not concerned that it may offend these pagans.
Jan 6, 2009 - 4:01 pm 32. DavidN:The word “atrocities” comes to mind when thinking of these pagans, even as the main stream media and flaming liberals think they can influence the recording of history.
This is good discourse; nice to see some are paying attention. Thanks.
The whole article is interesting, but I have to say my jaw dropped when I read the excerpt from Mr. Parris, commenting on America in the ’70s, and its similarity to the Soviet Union of the era. That’s because, as a high school student, I visited the Soviet Union in the early ’70s. *Everything* about the country was different, from the pervasive government presence and the abundance of laws you weren’t supposed to violate. I remember being told, for instance, that *technically* it was illegal to photograph any Soviet citizen without his consent. This of course made it difficult to take pictures of things like Red Square, which would be full of people. We were also prohibited from taking any panoramic photos, or pictures of anything that might resemble a military facility.
Even more strange was the culture. I was on a package tour, so our food was provided to us. Even a soup kitchen on Skid Row in the U.S. would have attempted to provide different foods for you at various times during the day. In the U.S.S.R., we received three meals a day. For the first five or six days we were there, every meal was based on some sort of cabbage soup. Then it changed, and for several days everything was based on rice. Later, just before we left, the meals reverted to cabbage soup again.
We saw workers at a construction site deliberately breaking large panes of glass one after another. Everyone in my tour group was approached at least once (many of us multiple times) by citizens who wanted to literally buy the clothing off your back, because Western clothes were so much more stylish than their Soviet equivalents. The guides did their best to shepherd us away from seeing anything negative about the country, and were supposed to accompany us at all times. We were required to remove hats, and take our hands out of our pockets, when visiting Lenin’s tomb. It was explained to us that having your hands in your pockets was a sign of disrespect to a Russian, which I and most of the rest of the group were unaware of. We actually saw two women pass one another on the street wearing the identical dress (all the men I knew at the time commented that this would have started a fight in the U.S., though of course my female friends poo-poo’ed the idea). The ice cream was delicious, and cheap, but we were all astonished to discover that it was only available in vanilla flavor. We were told that the factory manufactured it in many flavors, but that it wasn’t practical to distribute a variety to street vendors.
The idea that anyone could visit both the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. in the ’70s, and conclude that the two countries were in any significant way similar is amazing to me. Brits, especially liberal ones, tend to look down their noses at the U.S.A., but this is just plain ridiculous.
Jan 6, 2009 - 4:05 pm 33. Clark:I am SO tired of this Hamas-was-democratically-elected canard.
So let’s grant that the Hamas victory was in a free-and-fair election. So what? Does the victory of a murderous fascist regime in an election make it immune to the consequences of its actions? If Stalin or Hitler had been freely elected, would that have meant we could not oppose them politically, economically and militarily?
Jan 6, 2009 - 4:38 pm 34. Cybergeezer:After further research, I found that I should have used the word “Muhammedan”.
Jan 6, 2009 - 4:41 pm 35. Valerie:Even better than pagan.
Better than pagans –hirabists– that is, “evildoers” or another english equivalent “blasphemers”.
The Hamas Covenant contains a statement that they agree to kill every Jew on the face of the earth, and to conquer every square inch of land ever held by an Islamic government, all in the name of Allah (the word is simply a translation of “God.”). That’s blasphemy. They also agree to have an advertising program to convince Muslims that they have a religious duty to kill their neighbors. That’s scandal.
Here is a link to the Hamas Covenant. This document needs to be re-published and re-examined by Muslims worldwide, because it has led to endless misery for Muslims. It must be repudiated as unIslamic.
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP109206
Jan 6, 2009 - 5:28 pm 36. Patvann:Cybergeezer…You were right the first time. Mohammed took by force, the pagan Moon God which was in the form of a rock. (Probably a meteorite). Today that same stone is in Mecca.
His religion is a mix of that, and what he (barely) understood about Judism and Christianity. In India, the Moslems “re-explained” Hinduism as well.
Jan 6, 2009 - 6:28 pm 37. Eric:If we are in decline, and it appears we may be, it is due exclusively to the policies advocated and advanced by Liberals/Socialists in our government. They advocate policies that bleed our once vigorous corporations and force them to decamp to foreign shores, they seem to believe that the unproductive and lazy deserve the earnings of the productive and thrifty, they support policies of weakness and appeasement, they are the cause of decline. Liberalism is a sickness, a weakness, a system of beliefs incapable of determining the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. It’s a belief system that equates the barbarity of Islam with the greatness of western civilization. Liberalism is death and the root cause of so much of the world’s suffering. It is the root cause of our decline. Try this thought experiment: what would the country be like if every Liberal policy were implemented completely?
Jan 6, 2009 - 7:20 pm 38. Another View:To All;
Israel sympathizers. That in it self is a oxy moron. You obviously are using the arguement Britain won the war against the Ottamans as your bases for there was no Palestine. That is where you start your ignorance. You must first understand Western borders and maps are only so relavant. These people were there and they had established commuities. You believe the lies that the land was barren. These people used and had access to the resources they needed.
The truth is is Israel is just a zionist apartheid state.People of the Yewish faith were the minority prior to Ben-Gurion. It has nothing to do with religion. Its all about Sephardi,Ashkenazi and Khazar stuff.If It was about Judaism the face of Israel would be much more diverse and tolerant. Ever since you had that paper British Agreement(Balfour agreement) you have been slaughtering natives and semites. It is human nature to resist oppression. They are indeed freedom fighters.
Jan 6, 2009 - 7:21 pm 39. blogengeezer:Interesting that the same world media that is so pro Hamas, was extremely instrumental in electing the current president of the USA? I find that almost phrophetic. when I look back at the rise of Robert Mugabe with the very same world media’s blessing, I see a pattern. Not only do I see a pattern of Media, but of people and their response to the influence of the world Media. ‘Interesting’, as is the response taught in Psyc 101. Stay in these battles Victor. The alternatives are obviously not acceptable.
Jan 6, 2009 - 7:27 pm 40. Steve:To quote ‘Denny Crane’ in the YT vid, as the black guy pulls a gun on them in the underground parking structure and demands their money, DennyCrane says, “That doesn’t work for me”, before he pulls his own gun and shoots the attacker (to be PC unreal, in the legs and feet).
The leftist elite in the West in my view is more dangerous then the Islamofacists, who I believe we will defeat. But the left is a far more dangerous because they’re not going away and do everything they can to undermine Western values and encourage our enemies that we are as bad as they say and cheer them when they kill our troops. We need to revolt against them because unlike the terrorists they so love they have no spine and will back down if all the peoples of the West stood up to them.
Jan 6, 2009 - 8:42 pm 41. Mike:Keep fighting the good fight Victor. I’m sure you don’t allow the hateful comments to get to you, but if you ever experience a dark moment please remember that there are many of us who are grateful for the moral clarity you provide in these difficult times – we just tend to be less vociferous that the leftists.
Steve @39 – absolutely right. Communism, fascism, Islamism, eco-fascism may come and go, but the left is always there, ready to embrace any ideology, however evil, that it believes will help it bring down the freedom-loving democracies of the West.
Jan 7, 2009 - 6:28 am 42. Dodgeblogium » Liveblogging Israel defending itself…:[...] VDH answers a few questions posed by pro-Hamas [...]
Jan 7, 2009 - 8:00 am 43. Digital Publius:I should like very much to be as smart as you someday.
Jan 7, 2009 - 8:53 am 44. Cybergeezer:Here’s an article on daily life in Israel; And just for fun, go through the article and replace Israel and it’s towns with your own, and Netanyahu’s name with your governor or mayor.
Does that make a difference?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123128827234659279.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
Jan 7, 2009 - 8:59 am 45. Polarik:Israel should not agree to any ceasefires until Hamas relinquishes its control over Gaza. Let Egypt and Israel jointly manage it. But, the world is so stupid that it cannot, or will not see, that Hamas is using the Hezbollah playbook here: attack Israel until she is forced to respond, then when it looks like you’re suffering too much damage, stage a “child massacre” just like Qana in 2006 and 1996, and then sit back and wait for the world to impose another unfair ceasefire on Israel — one that Hamas will never follow, and will use to rearm.
We’ve seen how Hezbollah totally ignored the ceasefire agreements in 2006, and began rearming itself from Day One, whereas Israel did obey the ceasefire and withdrew from Lebanon before they could force Hezbollah to surrender.
Jan 7, 2009 - 9:18 am 46. Marie Claude:England’s role in Europe to effect a strategic re-balancing of power was to side with the enemy coalition against each successive European hegemon.
I have read that lately Tony and Gordon were the new Sarko’s supporters, while Madame ‘NO” from Prussia was villipending his remnent “move on” policy , naturally above the EU administration
well, Hamas is the iranian tool to force the new american administration to go at their negociations table, until they are acknoledged as the ME arbiters, then, may-be, we’ll forget about the Pals, HBZ…, OK they may be lost in the population memory “oubliettes”, cuz even the Arabs don’t reckonize them as of their own’s, so the Pals, wake up before it’s too late for you, adopt a “rational” attitude, none cares about your fate !!!!
Jan 7, 2009 - 9:45 am 47. Leon:Death to Hamas, long live Israel.
According to MEMRI, the IDF just killed Assud, the giant jew-eating rabbit from Hamas, so victory must be near.
Jan 7, 2009 - 11:33 am 48. Melissa Mech:The reason that there are few Israeli civilian deaths and casualties is largely due to the millions of dollars the State of Israel has spent building shelters (as well as fortifying existing structures such as schools, etc) in the towns and villages adjacent to Gaza. In addition, Israel has employed a sophisticated early warning system that gives residents, depending upon their distance from Gaza, between 15 – 30 seconds to find shelter.
Jan 7, 2009 - 12:16 pm 49. Agoraphobic Plumber:6. Pamela
“I am embarked on a struggle to the death with the Jews for the hearts and minds of men. The Jews have inflicted two wounds on mankind. Circumcision for the body, and conscience for the soul. I am come to free mankind from their bondage.”
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
Jan 7, 2009 - 12:27 pm 50. Dr. Lumplevin:Leftist support for Hmas and against Israel is wholly justified. Israel’s right to self-defense in no way should impinge on our rights to feel discomfitted by war and by all the terrible moral, economic, and philosophical issues raised by war.
Can’t we all just get along?
Jan 7, 2009 - 3:00 pm 51. Acting with ImPutiny « Don’t Drink the King’s Wine:[...] elsewhere) and while Israel gets blasted by the “world community” (see number 4, here) for defending its little island of democracy, Putin continues to act with impunity.
Jan 7, 2009 - 3:21 pm 52. fred:I think its funny when people say “Israel’s response is not proportionate”.
Jan 7, 2009 - 4:24 pm 53. Anonymous:They are right Israel should fire 6,000 rockets back at the hamas.
“The bureaucracy was Stone Age, the postal service unreliable, medical and dental treatment twice the cost of private treatment in England, and government officials treated you like serfs.”
He looked down his nose at the American colonists and that’s why he PERCEIVED that he (the snob) was being treated like a serf. He was being treated as an EQUAL: something he wasn’t used to!
Jan 7, 2009 - 7:56 pm 54. shmuel:38 needs an real educationj
Jan 7, 2009 - 9:54 pm 55. Maverick:The world is not those organizations and nations who show up every time Hamas wants to get Israel condemned for retaliating against them. Hamas uses those same sympathizers the same way they use Hamas. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. The object is to get the United Nations and the world to condemn Israel for the deaths of civilians. Like always, Hamas is the victim and Israel is the aggressor because they decided to fight back. Sending missiles into Israel might be a way of life to Hamas sympathizers, not to the Israeli’s. Think what would happen if there were no more Israel. Who in the world would think Hamas would be happy. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Death and destruction is their way of life. There is no way Hamas would ever put their way of life aside because there was no more Israel. They would just find some other nation to attack and they would still be supported by those same sympathizers as victims. We would have the same protesters and professors in this country condemning those who decided to fight Hamas back for attacking them.
Jan 7, 2009 - 10:42 pm 56. Alexis:AV:
You are correct when you call us ignorant, for we have learned none of your evil ways.
Jan 7, 2009 - 10:44 pm 57. Norman Glaser:Disproportionate? Hardly. After all, it’s Hamas that sets the ratio here. Aren’t they the ones demanding the release of fifteen-hundred of their cohorts for the release of one Israeli-Gilad Shallit? Ergo, one Israeli equals fifteen-hundred of their buddies. Also, I don’t remember anyone screaming “disproportionate” in the past when Israel’s foes held one or a few innocent captives and even body parts hostage until Israel released many hundreds of guilty terrorists.
Jan 8, 2009 - 4:29 am 58. Hal C:Proportional. Ha!
It’s amazing how people have no clue as to how to wage war.
Bush the Elder waged a “proportional war” against Saddam in the 90’s. And we had to go back and finish the mess a decade later.
The goal of war, for the defender, is to overwhelm your opponent, destroy his war machine and make him wish he never thought to attack you in the first place.
It is an ugly complication that Hamas is proxy for Iranian and other uncivil governments, and that they choose to use civilians as shields and propoganda fodder. But war is never clean.
Jan 8, 2009 - 10:41 am 59. Fen:“Bush the Elder waged a proportional war against Saddam in the 90’s. And we had to go back and finish the mess a decade later.”
But don’t forget, the UN tied our hands – no mandate to enter and remove Saddam, only to kick Iraq out of Kuwait. I swear, if I was POTUS and this nation was threatened, my first act would be to destroy the UN, in self-defense before they could hamstring me. So I’m getting a kick out of Israel telling the UN to go pound sand.
And AV, I quite aware of the tribes inhabiting the region before Israel existed. Did you know that everytime they show footage of another Pali “innocent” being blown up, I do a little dance in the streets, just like they did after 9-11.
Jan 9, 2009 - 7:10 am 60. bcf:Hamas was elected. Ergo the people of Gaza are responsible for the actions of their elected government, and certainly bear some guilt for their actions.
Jan 9, 2009 - 12:14 pm 61. BERLET98:RAPE AND SHARIA LAW IN AFGHANISTAN AND EURABIA
“I had thought it was simple.” Thus said the 20 year old brother of a 14 year old Afghani rape victim after being arrested for using a razor blade to abort his sister’s baby: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=41777.
The young girl had been raped by a construction worker and had the misfortune of residing in an orthodox Islamic community where an illegitimate birth meant that she and her family would be treated like pariahs. So her brother, Ali, took her to a cowshed and, as her mother helped restrain her, used the razor blade to slice open her womb. He removed the baby, buried it, then stitched up the wound with coarse string used to tie potato sacks.
Ten days later, she was taken on a 30 mile donkey ride to a provincial hospital suffering from infection and later, to protect her from family and community members, was evacuated to Bagram Air Base where she remained in critical condition.
Although such lurid and grotesque tales are not unheard of in Western, generally Christian, societies, they rarely if ever result from religious motivations. More likely it is a jealous rival or a psychotic, wannabe mother who would perpetrate such acts. Sharia Law, however, if strictly interpreted, condones measures to atone for the shame visited upon a family by the sin of being a rape victim.
The other side of the Koranic coin, the rapist’s side, …
(Read the rest of this article at http://genelalor.com/.)
Jan 10, 2009 - 2:15 pm 62. “Don’t defend yourself, because you might hurt your enemy” « Mark Epstein:[...] There are bright spots, however. Bernard Levy reminds us about Israel’s pre-conflict restraint in, of all places, The New Republic, while Pajamas Media underscores the world’s support of genocidal terrorists. [...]
Jan 11, 2009 - 7:06 am 63. nadadhimmi:The world, and Europe in particular has historicly been anti-semitic in the classic meaning of the world. Simply put, the majority of the human race hates jews. Visit the UN any day, there is the most representative gathering of human beings and it is the most anti-semitic place on Earth, outside of the Muslim capitals. Some say never again vis a vie the Holocaust: I say, any old time now. This time tho, the Jews have a say about it.
Jan 11, 2009 - 2:59 pm