By Danielle Pletka, Special to CNN
Danielle Pletka is the vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. The views expressed are her own.
This small war between Hamas and Israel will pass. The just announced ceasefire may be sustained. Or Israel may move from aerial bombardment to a ground incursion, which will deter Hamas from relighting the fuse for some time. But not forever, because Hamas exists only to fight with Israel. It has no other purpose. Those who counter that Hamas governs need only look at Gaza to understand that governance is far from Hamas’ aims or abilities. Will this late 2012 battle end differently for the Palestinians? Advance a two state solution? Heal the ills of the Palestinians? Allow Israel to live in peace and security? No.
Another question: Will the realignment of the Middle East to an order more congenial to Hamas matter? Clearly, Hamas believed that with its Muslim Brotherhood brethren at the helm in Egypt and the new spiritual leader of the region’s Sunni Islamists at the helm in Turkey, this adventure would end differently. Of course, Hamas’ hope was not to destroy the state of Israel. Rather, it was to gain the upper hand in its endless and fruitless battle against Fatah for the Palestinian political mantle, ideally with the wind of the Arab world’s Islamist revolutions at its back. That won’t happen either. Egypt’s Mohamed Morsy and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan are willing to lend rhetorical support and a few visits to Gaza, but they’re never going to do anything substantial for Palestinians because they neither care enough about actual Palestinian people nor wish to queer their pitch with Europe and the United States.
Finally, there’s a depressing familiarity about the new Middle East. It’s not the bombings or the terrorism or the death or the rote repetition of formulae; rather, it’s the reliving of history and the mindless expectation of a different outcome.
More from CNN: Iran looms large
Step back a few years to the rise of the modern Arab state. That takes us a couple of decades from the post-World War II, post-independence era array of Kings and Emirs of Araby. The 1960s saw the rise of young officers movements and leaders like Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt, Muammar Gadhafi in Libya, and Soviet inspired “socialist” leaders like Syria’s Hafez el Assad. Their mission was to restore the glory of Islam’s past, to right the calamity of the creation of Israel and to reject the Western orientation that corrupted their royal predecessors. Wars were fought with Israel; wars and territory were lost to Israel. And, slowly but surely, the young officers and their successors became the dictators they had pretended to revile. Finally, there were only a few threads that united most of those leaders – the desire for political and financial power, and a reflexive habit of blaming their nation’s ills on the Jews.
Over the last few years, those leaders have been tossed to the ash heap of history by populations that would no longer tolerate the oppression and fear that dominated their lives. In Tahrir Square, in Damascus, in Tunisia and in Yemen, demonstrators didn’t demand a Palestinian state, nor did they focus on the Jews. They spoke of economic and political freedom, accountability and democracy.
But look at the leaders that have come to the fore. What are they doing? Delivering economic reform? Not yet. Rooting out corruption? No. Delivering the fruits of political freedom to all? Far from it. Rather, they are imposing a new tyranny at home and hoping to distract their people from their failings by looking to Israel. Even Turkey, which is sliding away from the democratic freedoms and secularism that characterized its modern era, has begun to look more like the old Middle East and less like the trailblazer it could have been.
What a shame to see the nations of the region reenact the same play they have performed again, again and again, serving no one – least of all themselves.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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The West should get out of the region and let them destroy themselves. Trying to help those countries is an exercise in futility.
Word.
The perpetual theme of Muslim countries is the constant need of attention and money concurrent with not producing anything of any use to the civilized world. Time to cut 'em off.
Danielle Pletka, your article disappointed me greatly! It was noble of you to side with the people in the Middle East, who suffer enormous grievances. No doubt their leadership had been autocratic, Islamist and self-centred, yet your wording has been so emotional and so biased, which isn't worthy of a scholar's, who should be level-headed and sharp-minded.
Most of us need only look at our own families to see
why there is no peace among nations.
Well said!
You know what? I've had enough with the Middle East always at odds over land, religion, God whatever... I say we let the entire region kill itself off in one giant war and get it over with already!!! They've been fighting with each other for decades, centuries and who knows how long. It won't change through diplomacy or cease-fires. Let them blow themselves up and then let's take whatever land is left and put up a huge parking lot to go with the new malls we can build there
I agree- let them finish this war already, enough of the cease fire BS... one of the sides needs to CEASE to exist, thats what the war will be over.
I don't know why you're not Secretary of State.
We need to stop funding Israel.
No we need to exile people like you right out of our country and send you over to one of those really nice places like Teheran or somewhere in Sudan maybe .Ignorants like you have no earthly clue as to how much the United States benefits from our close relationship with israel, and even if someone told you , my guess is that you would sprobably not believe it, thus choosing to stay in your ignorant state. The intelligence we have received from the Mossad regarding terrorists planning attacks here in the U.S has saved many American lives. I hope Israel utterly destroys Hamas
Chimo your personal attack on sneezy proves nothing. Our alliance with Israel provides little benefit to us. Their insistence on war with Iran will not benefit either Israel or the U.S. No one asks what would Iran do as a counter attack. They can curtail the shipping of oil out of Saudi Arabia and they hate each other for religious reasons. How about $300.00 a barrel just for starters! No reason for them to attack the U.S. and get really hurt. To attack Israel who has God only knows how many nucs would be really dumb. But right across the Persian Gulf is all that oil. THINK!
I agree. As American paying taxes it disgusts that we send money to the filth of Israel. We have problems here at home that need to be addressed. we cannot keep giving them money to run their occupation. they want their nation they pay for it not us. Im tired of always having problems in the Middle east because we support these people. They honestly just take millions and then build illegally bomb illegally and occupy illegally, In the end its america with target on its back. Enough is enough. America is 50 states not 51, stop sending our hard earned dollars to people to dont deserve it. we have asked them plenty of times to stop building settlements and let resources flow. they never listen. we are the super power here not them. sack up america, use our money for Americans. No money should be send to buy bombs when we have children on the US still starving. boycott Israel!
We wouldn't care if Israel wasn't there. Israel was created by the UN and has no right to any more land. If Israel wasn't there, we'd let the internal squablling go on and consider it regional/internal conflicts. Israel doesn't care about anybody or anything besides themselves and can internally justify anything. It as much a theocracy as any other middle ease country.
II would care if Israel was defeated. The Israeli people share the values of the Western world. Who the Hamas hates by the way. If Israel should ever be defeated all of Islam will unite and turn to the destruction of the free Western World. Ohhh!! NEWS FLASH they're already working on that!!
Question: What year was Pakistan founded, and by what international body?
Actually quite a few of the Middle Eastern countries were "created" by breaking up the Ottoman Empire after, I think, WW I. They became independent states after WW II.
I think you got it wrong in the order,the trouble is not from within. It's the West who made the trouble right from the beginning right thru their imperial past or colonial past and continuing up to modern history trying to dominating and ripe off other countries.
@doc,
learn history man. it is simple cycle over and over again. westerns want something, they try to get it. surprisingly the people with the stuff the west wants, resist. Crusades, west wants Jerusalem, they try to kill all the Muslims and Jews. They want to imperialize the world, create a slave force. They want to the new world, kill all the indians. west needs need oil. back to the middle east and create turmoil. Wake up man. You honestly think average men and women or boys and girls want violence and want war? NO. it is brought upon them. The powder keg has been lit in the middle east the funny thing is that the west has the lighter. the will keep up the chaos as long as it helps them get what they want. So yes I agree, please leave them alone. and see how it stabilizes again.
cant help what you are manipulated into destroying.
pletka return to your cage.
Once a mooselimb. Always a mooselimb. Hahahahahahahahah
Why don't leaders learn? You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Author comes from a conservative think tank and has ties to the Bush Administration. What do you expect from right wing propaganda? Likewise, this same author backed Ahmed Chalabi to run Iraq. Guess how that turned out?
The Arab Spring has forever changed the Middle East. Deal with it! Democratization spread by the sword as the Republicans advocated didn't work. This is just the beginning. The tides will sweep Israel if it doesn't conform. How long do you think Israel can fight 300 million Arabs?
Ivanjara, I agree with you that there's a tad more to the Arab Spring than just "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." But what is it exactly you want Israel to conform to? The answer to your rhetorical question is, Israel doesn't have to fight 300 million Arabs, just some percentage of the ones living on the borders of Israel, and so far they've done a pretty good job of it, with no change in sight. Like it or not, they're not going anywhere and they're not going away unless the whole Middle East turns into a gigantic radioactive plain of fused glass...which quite honestly might be a good thing for the rest of the world. Barring that, at some point these folks are going to have to at least minimally tolerate each other or it'll be deja vu all over again, and again, and again.
Isreal does have to conform as they are freer then any other country in the Middle East. We will continue to resist the 300 Million Arabs now and in the future. Maybe it time for the Arabs to accept Isreal and stop fighting and that truly will be the Arab Spring that you would benefit from.
Arabs not fighting? Why not ask the sand to stop being brown? With all their religious fatwads (I know it is Fatwa but I don't care) it seems they are built to hate those who are not like them. Between them and the Catholics no wonder the world is fed up with religion.
Israel goes on taking the West Bank one house at a time! If they want peace, get back behind the green line.. You are right, that won't happen.
25 cents says in 10 years the names will be changed in the "Arab Spring" countries, but nothing else will be.
.25....my azz? I'll bet you 25M!!
Jim needs to add fundamentalist Christians to Muslims and Catholics.
Well I certainly hope those enlightened people in Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. really enjoy their Sharia paradise on earth, brought to them by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Very well said, and unfortunately a realistic if very pessimistic analysis.
Perhaps one day Israel will learn the obvious truth that it cannot defeat viloence with violence. Only when a young palestinian can look at the world and say "wow, I have opportunities... I can grow up and be something" instead of "what's the point, I can't have a good life under this repression" will Israel win the peace it wants.... or, it will all end in a big fireball.... your choice guys
Of course you have no answer to the fact that the jews will be wiped out if they give in to what you are saying. Have you ever considered that Hamas NEEDS to be at war with Israel to maintain existence? The jews have no other alternative but to fight. If they don't, they're dead.
The Hamas and Palestinians are the ones who choose to fight. The Israelites can destroy but choose not to destroy the Palestinians. If the Hamas or Hezbollah or al-Qaeda(any Islamic organization) had the power Israel would be gone already. So who is the problem here? The intolerant Muslims? or the tolerant Jews.
Best post of the night! Very well put, nothing else need to be said.
That truly sums up both positions and the morals of both sides. Bravo!
Well said Kevin!!!!
Kevin, that is pathetic. How about the Palestinian realizing that violence (shooting rockets into urban areas, blowing up buses, shooting at cars and school buses on the roads, breaking into homes and killing families in their sleep, kidnapping, and murder) is not the road to peace? How about the Palestinian realizing and taking responsibility for electing and supporting these inept governments that steal from the people ( Arafat stole hundreds of millions of dollars and his wife and family now live in France, not Palestine. ) and bring such destruction and squalor upon them ( Palestinians in Gaza are worse off now then when Hamas was elected)? When will the Palestinians stop letting themselves being used as the sheep for the other dictators/governments in the Middle East who really don't care about them and whose real goal is to keep the violence going, keep the body count up and therefore keep their own citizens focused on the "poor" Palestinians rather than their own domestic issues? When will the Palestinians who favor war over peace stop hiding behind women and children and when will the Palestinians who favor peace stand up for themselves and do something about their domestic terrorists that are responsible for thousands of Palestinian deaths ? When the Palestinians start living in reality rather than lala land, we might find peace. People like you Kevin keep the Palestinians in perpetual lala land. Nice job.
Kevin, that's not accurate, in Israel Palestinians can evolve, we have Arab-Israeli supreme judges, we have Arab cabinet members, engineers and so on. It is not true for Palestinians in other countries in the middle east of course.
And what do you mean we can't answer war with war? We just sit down and take missiles raining on us?
If Israel will drop its weapons tomorrow, Israel will cease to exist, if Arabs will drop their weapons tomorrow, there will be peace.
Pletaka has an inner eye into the history of this region. The Arab spring is just a name that gave a moment of hope for freedom. Religion is the thing people turn to when they don't have much else. A community of like minded people. Unfortunatly Islam is submission to the ideas of a warlord, I guess nothing better at the time. Pletska is right that this is just history repeating itself. The people of the middle east will never be free until they take off the blinders of Islam.
Well said. Until Islam is taken from the political field and relegated to a religion ONLY this tragic series will repeat. These people can free themselves but are killed if they choose otherwise. Oppression in action before our faces.
Israel's only reason for existence was to steal the holy land from Palestine and set up a replacement mass immigrant state, not a parallel second state. Since that was only a little over 60 years back, and since ALL the locals objected, that was done by violence and the occupation has only continued and massively expanded since. Demanding absolute conquest without resistance by almost unlimited superior force (paid for by the US) is not the normal definition of just wanting to live in peace.
Ignorance must be bliss. The US established Israel after WWII (after telling England and Russia they will vote for a new state).
There was supposed to be a separate Palestinian State, which the arabs didn't want, so now they have nothing.
The only good option is to give the Palestinians their own nation. (And then, bomb them to hell if they invade another nations sovereign territory). Since the Palestinians do not have their own nation, they are basically slaves, so they rightfully fight for independence. Give it to them. It may work.
Tony if you ever read the Old Testament, you would know the the God of Abraham gave all the lands between the Euphriates in Iraq and the Nile in Egypt to his desendants ( The twelve tribes of Israel) All Arabs, desendants of Ismael are temporary inhabinents of these lands. They should be thankful that they are allowed to live there temporary. Some day this God will evict these peoples and drive them into the Sea.
@Macaroo
There's a kind God. What sort of loving father dotes upon one child and strangles the other when both were promised love and understanding when created?
Go home, hateful version of Christianity. You're drunk.
nope – nobody reads that crap- its all fake, its a book written by dudes like you and me
You need to get over the Old Testiment and deal with the reality of today. I'm sorry, but the era of the promised peoples ended around 125AD when the prophacy of the end of the world didn't happen. The Palestinians need to have a country as do everybody else. I don't agree how they are going about it, but Neither do I agree with the Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands.
macaroo – side note: the covenant was broken when the house of Israel went against God and proceeded to serve other gods and bow down to them.- Deuteronomy 29:25, 26... A new covenant was then formed.
As long as mankind continues to serve other imperfect humans, peace will never be anywhere in the world.
Your information is incorrect. About a hundred years before the state of Israel became the State of Israel, the Jewish pupolation was already outnumbering the 'Palestinian' population. No one, and I mean NO one objected then. the only difference? The territory was under british control. The minute that it became a sovereign Jewish state THEN all of the arab countries cried foul. But did they take refugees in so to speak? No they closed their borders to palestinians who did not want to stay in Israel. Israel never kicked them out either. They did say that they would have to follow the governmental laws being set up for the new Government, but they never mandated that they leave.
So just because Jewish settlers move in, the territory is all of a sudden theirs? It reminds me of the history of Texas in the US. Mexico allowed some US settlers to move into Mexican territory, soon it became a flood and they declared independence and brought in superior military force to enforce their new statehood. Now Texas is a great American state, just like Israel is a great world power. Guns, Germs, and Steel (and Religion).
@andrew. Mexico invited those settlers in to be a buffer against raiding natives, the ones they couldn't stop while trying to invade the native lands! In the it was the Americans that stopped the natives and claimed the land. Soo. Whose land should it be? History tells us the ones that conquer are always the keepers, this is on a global level.
...Because they are not out in the streets fighting the war or shedding their blood. They are not leaders.
The core of the problem.... it is not failing to learn from history, it is looking at the power and opulence of the previous group and how effective that was, then doing the same thing.
This happens over and over in the region because of how rewarding it is.
The problem is they don't have leaders. They're just bunch of bandits.l
Leaders are plain stubborn and refuse to change their minds. There is no room for compromise. It sounds simplistic in nature but thats how i see it.
I think it's more then being stubborn – it's just plain old stupid at this point.
Am I the only one who sees the two predominant religions in this region as the root cause of this circle of violence? If all Arabs stopped practicing Islam & all Israelis stopped practicing Judaism, would there be anything left dividing these people? I mean seriously, wouldn't they all basically be cousins then if they didn't have extreme religious ideology to argue about?
The moral to this story boys & girls is that organized religion IS FUNDAMENTALLY EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!
There is freedom, of religion in Israel and Western nations. But not in the Islamic countries. Jews and Christians are discriminated, subjugated, and humiliated against horribly as Dhimmies 'til they're all gone. Have you ever read the Quran, Hadith, and Sira? Try education. In Christian and Jewish nations Muslims are allowed their freedom of religion. The problem here is political Islam not religious Islam. I don't care how they pray but they are obligated to Jihad against ALL others until Islam is supreme. That affects everyone, even the ignorant.
Best editorial I've read on cnn yet. "meet the new boss, same as the old boss"
Israel may not be able to defeat violence with violence but will not exist if it doent respond in-kind to violence.
What should the Isaelis do, lay down and be plowed under by the radical Islamic world? Radical Islam doesnt understand peace for the non-believers.
Isreal existed way before Palestine. GOD GAVE Isreal that land so they did not steal no land. ISREAL is the one and only true holy land
no it's not- all land is the same, there is no such thing as god- this is the core of the problem.
Here's the argument in a nutshell...
My god can beat up your god- my god says this- oh yeah, well my god says that... oh yeahhhhhhhh???? yeahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! baboooom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ok, got it / understand?? Time to wake up all of you fcktards- there is no such thing. you know what else, there is no such thing as santa clause, the easter bunny, the tooth ferry the....bla bla bla
This is probably one of the best opinions pieces on the status of the Middle East I have ever read. Short, succinct and historically spot on!
The headlines of the past 8 days have been the headlines of the past 50 years, and will be the headlines of the next 50 years, and the next 50 years after that!
One of the best and most accurate opinion pieces I have ever read. Spot on historically!
The author doesn't seem to mention the well known corruption of past (and probably current) Israeli governments (Olmert, to name one), their constant violations of the UN and International law, the last of which they even refuse to apologize for the murder of Turkish citizens in International waters- a crime that you can bet Ms Pletka would sanely be decrying it it had been committed by any Arab nation rather than AIPAC's teflon Israel.
Israel is is fanatical religious state. Religious and political fanatics will never bring peace to anyone. This includes Hamas.
the world" two terrorists are bibi and peres. israel ia the number terrorist country on the face of the earth. i wish a rocket falls in bibi and peres lap.
Because they aren't leaders, they are politicians.
The media CNN and others have given us a constant feed of a war we neither care about or understand. PLEASE move on and let these people destroy each other until theres nothign but desert left. We in the USA want a media that gives us news we care about so STOP already. I'm sure I'm not the only one palin sick of hearing about it.
Around 90 years ago a young lieutenant almost lost his life in this area. During WWII this same person claimed he would hold the empire together at all cost. Several years later he tried his hand at being the leader again when this area and others were falling from their control and failed. The US joined in and eventually took the lead and guess what? Nobody has learned a thing.
The nagging question is; why don't the people who vote for those leaders learn?
what else is in he new Robin?
Typically they only get one vote ... Then they are stuck .... They new guys never give up power until revolution
send a rocket on bibi and peres roof top
Fellow Israeli and Palestinian humans
You keep resorting to the same techniques (Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth) to resolve your differences and expect a different result. It has not worked and is not going to work. You are wasting world resources.
How about something different like Gandhi’s non-violence techniques?
Wishing You Well!
honesty man, that is wise. and i think if you ask the majority of people in both camps they would agree. however you have a few that stand out, IDF or the IOF (Israeli occupation force) and hamas. along with everyone else trying to influence whats going on. in the end people forget. there are normal people living their who have friends and like movies and just want to CHILL. to bad money politics and fanatics exist...
I wonder what happens when Iran has nuclear weapons? Are they going to smuggle those to Gaza?
Yes, they are.
What's the definition of INSANITY??? Doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result.
THAT is what they have been doing in the Middle East forEVER!!!!
who cares- what else is in the news Robin?
Human being, the lowest of the lowest specie of the animals creates war starvation, lamentation, hunger, pain, greed, corruption, destruction; never learn from history, it seems like total destruction without any solution.
Not every human being, just most of those who got to be the leaders. The most aggressive party rules.
wrong again... just the religious humans. All the others just watch and laugh at you.
God has a sense of humor- he has a good sense of humor- as the macho morons in this country waste their time playing Fantasy Football -even God himself- has his weak moments- he too has his game- a variation of fantasy Football
It takes place in the Middle East and allows-encourages and instigates war. If God wanted peace- there would be peace
Watching human nature is exciting -all the crooks-murderers-lawyers and politicians that fiflthify the planet makes this Gods reality show
The problem with the Middle East is that the Muslims want whatever they want and will do anything to get it. They have no respect for anything, even killing their own people, putting thier own people in harms way, dragging dead bodies through the streets and even firing rockets at Jerusalem, which they hold to be Holy. If Israel falls, and Hamas has said that it will, then democracy will have no toe-hold in the Middle East as even the Christians are being driven out by persecution. The Muslims of the Middle East are dedicated to growing and attacking other countries as we have seen due to the infidels influence. 911 was just a battle in their war on the Western ways of life. And Israel is a speck surrounded on almost all sides. Imagine Mexico and Canada allowing and funding militant groups to fire rockets into America.
exactly- eliminate these subhuman monsters- keep the war going, eff the cease fire. The war ends when one side is eliminated -PERIOD
The real problem with the Middle East is that the Muslims want whatever they want and will do anything to get it. They have no respect for anything, even killing their own people, putting thier own people in harms way, dragging dead bodies through the streets and even firing rockets at Jerusalem, which they hold to be Holy. If Israel falls, and Hamas has said that it will, then democracy will have no toe-hold in the Middle East as even the Christians are being driven out by persecution. The Muslims of the Middle East are dedicated to growing and attacking other countries as we have seen due to the infidels influence. 911 was just a battle in their war on the Western ways of life. And Israel is a speck surrounded on almost all sides. Imagine Mexico and Canada allowing and funding militant groups to fire rockets into America.
This is how an electoin works in an Islamic state.
* * * * *
Knock, knock. *Open door*
You weren't at the mosque today... Here is the ist of todays prayer. "You will vote for X candidate. You will tell your family, they will vote for X candidate". The imam has already declared voctory for the Salafists (Ancients – the ones who want the world to reutnr to the 7th century, so all of their children, ironically named Mohammed, can live like Mohammed did back then).
You don't want us to come back. BTW here is your VERY BRIGHT RED voting card that has OUR candidate on it. Any others, and we will be watching you, that you use, we will kill you, your family and, if she's lucky, maybe we will only sell your daughters. They might need to be lapidated, if they cannot be sold, because they are no longer virgins.
* * * * * *
Now seeing as how they want to return to the 7th century, is it any wonder why they seem to be so comfortable living in tents in refugee camps, while the Salafists – who want it like that, live in manasions, drive expensive cars and ave running water.
Perhaps people from the Middle East are less agreeable, more aggressive and acts faster than thinks as opposed to people from other part of the Planet.
Both sides have a lot to be mad about. The Israelis have the right to self defense and if they are continually getting rocketed, they have the right to respond. However, they created their own problems by allowing fundamentalists to build subdivisions on promised Palestinian lands. That is egg on their face. The lands of the Levant are too crowded for this garbage. Time is coming that some sort of settlement has to be made, no matter whose ego gets bruised.
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IF YOU THINK ABOUT MIDDLE EAST. THESE PHOTOS MAY BLOW YOUR MIND.....
http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=382703mindblowing3.jpg
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IF YOU THINK ABOUT MIDDLE EAST. THESE PHOTOS MAY BLOW YOUR MIND....
http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=382703mindblowing3.jpg
Obama makes me laugh - when was his face-to-face meeting with Pres. Morsy? Show me the photo of Obambi-poo with Morsy, netanyahu and hamas. Just bring the money silly girl. Obamacare will be placed on the table for budget cuts. We republicans hve the knife. Obama wants to take credit for mideast peace even though we know different. Just send the money to egypt and israel cute boy, then bend over for deval Patrick. He hungers for you, poo poo. Don't forget the obamacare manual to budget talks. States will not accept it. Small business cannot afford it. You never did crap for mideast but give iron dome. Clinton is a fat white pig –she can suck me.
TO OBAMA SPIES - obamacare is going to get cut. Get over it.
A well written article of explaining the facts as they are in that part of the world that most here in the good old USA does not understand or wants to understand.
The religious traditions of the region attracts the masses and the recollection of old glories ignites the imagination of the electorate on all of these so called democracies in name and not actions.
The attention of all of these people should be directed towards good and just governance and increased productivity and economic improvement instead of animosity towards Israel and the West. Israel is such a small country in comparison to the rest of the Muslim world of the Middle East, but the effort to eradicate this state is indicative of a deep rooted prejudice towards any religion other than Islam.
EVERYTHING YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD ABOUT THE CONFLICT IS GAZA IS PURE PROPAGANDA
"You can't handle the truth"!
Col. Jessup
How can the author claim to divine the broad sweep of the next decades of Middle East politics only a couple of years after the Arab Spring began?
What evidence is there that Mohamed Morsy is dashing the desires of his people with the shovel of Jew baiting? He and the other new Arab leaders have been instrumental in helping to stop this conflict, and this article – while rightly pointing out how much Hamas sucks – is clearly playing into the hands of right wing Zionists who would have us believe that change is impossible.
"Hamas’ hope was not to destroy the state of Israel. Rather, it was to gain the upper hand in its endless and fruitless battle against Fatah for the Palestinian political mantle..."
Really?
The ludicrous assertions of the first paragraph make whatever else is said here irrelevant. Just realize this: Hamas is part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement which is now the government of Egypt and which is a major presence in the life and times of many other Muslim nations. Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood got their start by focusing on the needs of the people for hospitals, schools, and other essential services. It is the largest sort of a lie to assert that "Hamas exists only to fight with Israel." Hamas may be an implacable foe of Israel, but that is a secondary attribute rather than the "only" reason for its existence. And in point of fact, if the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt will take a lead role, the conflict in Gaza can be put on hold essentially forever. Egypt can successfully police the Gaza Strip in ways which no other nation could simply due to the close relationship between Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. For so long as Egypt remains a trusted ally of Israel, it is the one nation which can pacify this situation, while insisting that the people of Gaza must be granted their human rights; human rights which Israel has denied the residents of Gaza since 1967. We can only hope that the President of Egypt is up to the task. Early signs are hopeful, but there is a lot left for him to do.
They've learned that they can stage these little shows every few years and the world will send billions of dollars to both sides.
Leaders wont change anything till they are called as Leaders.
The US needs to stop funding the UNRWA (aka hamas and the PLO). The Jewhaters realize that if this is done, Zionism wins out, as it always does with working class people.
Nothing has changed. Nothing will change. In a few weeks or months, another skirmish will happen and a few more people will die and a few more buildings will be blown up. The Palestinians and the Israels both believe that God gave them that patch of dirt and therefor they only answer God about it. History is one long dreary story of war and death. It was that in the past, it is that in the present and will continue into the future until mankind goes extinct.
President George Washington advised to "avoid entangling alliances." The US cannot reform the whole world, we cannot right every wrong or overthrow every dictator. Republican Ron Paul wants the US to bring home our troops. The US has over 700 foreign military bases in over 100 countries. Close them all. Let someone else be the world cop.
I have been hearing about the "peace process" in this region since the late sixties..... Fifty years later, not much has changed, other than the names of the leaders.... my guess is that there will be another regional major war in this area sometime in the next decade or two and that Israel will win again, with the help of the USA. American troops will not be involved, but American weapons and financial help will definitely continue to be a major factor.
Put a fence around every muslim majority country; no muslims allowed out, no humans allowed to enter.
ISRAEL MUST BE PUNISH FOR ALL ITS BAD DEEDS, EVEIL ISRAEL IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE THE NUBER ONE TERRORIST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD AND BIBI AND PERES ARE THE TWO MUST EVIL MEN IN THE WORLD
Good little boy. There there now... You will get your next propaganda message tomorrow at 1 pm.
Hamas are aliens from the planet Ila, They have a terrible habit of eating each other like canibals. They call this practice
martyrmeal. It is so yummy for them that they can not stop cooking it up. But for some reason the meal is never satisfying so they keep on cookin it up, over and over.
The recipe for this meal are innocents: children, infants, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers who once cooked can not complain about being roasted and their remains are then used as hor d'oeuvre's for the next meal.
The sad part is they never really learned to cook anything else. So they remain miserable and unhappy for ever and
ever, always with a bitter taste in their alien mouths.
ISRAEL MUST BE PUNISHED, STOP SENDING TAXPAYERS DOLLARS TO ISRAEL OBAMA, STOP NOW AND LET THIS EVIL COUNTRY DESTROY PIECE BY PIECE
Musliums are dumb creatures, worms have more brains than those things.
Just as in the Middle East so it is in the US. The freedoms are being lost, the censorship and control of the American media is in full swing. We were able in the past to comment easily . Now most of the comments are tightly controlled. A new system was installed that allows comments only through DISQUS-most censored, and others like facebook. The feedback that the media and people get with this kind of comment manipulation differs little from totalitarian countries. It gives the public a warped picture of reality. Pro war, pro Israel propaganda is being fed to the American people just like in Hoover's time.Herbert Hoover in "Freedom Betrayed" quotes Saturday Evening Post which on 2/1/1941 stated : "America strategist who controlled the war propaganda knew better than to name their objectives in the beginning". Brainwashing then and braiwashing now while the wars continue.Forget Middle East-the U.S. is under Press Terrorism occupation.
quarantine the muzzies
John 4:14
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Lonely voice of reason as opposed to prevailing lunatic illusions of majority of political commentators.
Thanks a ton for this seemingly truthful article.
But, I am amazed to see this article under FAREED ZAKARIA-GPS, knowing fully well that Mr. Zakaria (my former countryman from India) is a radical Islamist in western clothing, batting for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in these columns.......
Mr.Fareed Zakaria is doing to the US what his polygamous Islamic scholar father Late Mr.Rafiq Zakaria did to India. I am sorry to be commenting on Late Mr.Zakaria's polygamism, but I had to b'coz had I as a Hindu or the author as a Christian would dare to take more than one wife in India, we would be treated as routine CRIMINALS and would spend have spent our lives not with our wives but in a jail cell!!!
Sorry about the grammer. Pressed post before I revised my thoughts.
Anyways, I was just trying to say that FAREED ZAKARIA-GPS has been portraying the Arab Spring as the greatest thing that ever happened NOT just to the ME, but to all of mankind!!!.
He has been the focal point for winning support for all the radicals out there, by sugarcoating everything they say, for the consumption of gullible Americans.
I have written extensively in these columns to expose Mr.Zakaria, who is surely no friend of two of the GREATEST NATIONS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH – USA ( Mr.Zakaria's current home) or INDIA (his former homeland)!
Mr. Zakaria owes his allegiance to just one thing.........the MUSLIM UMMAH, and to that end he will support every Muslim cause anywhere in the world.......irrespective of merits!
And, please don't be fooled by his Taqiyya....his Jewish connection (his troubled marriage to a Jewish women), or his proclaimed non-religious outlook......none of that matter.
Like Mr. Zakaria, on the other side of the world in radical Pakistan is Mr. Imran Khan, a Muslim who has been a playboy, a drinker, Convent educated, and ofcourse married to a British Jewish baronnes.......who is now batting for the Taliban and Islamic radicals (even though they detest him for being impure!) and campaigning against US drones.
So when it comes to their religion nothing matters to these Islamic wolves in Sheep's clothing......they are in fact far more dangerous than their Koranic educated brethren fighting in the ravines of Af-Pak!!!!!
This something Americans and Indians need to understand really, really well......if they need to stay safe !!!!!!!!!!
In the face of Islam........nothing can really change. It is a religious dictatorship, and it will not change.
We have Albania and Turkey in Nato both muslim countries. The US installed the Shah in 1953 in Iran, a muslim ruler. The US pumped millions of dollars in weapons into Iraq under Reagan from 1980-1988 so Saddam Hussein could fight his war with Iran. Never forget Rumsfeld was personal friends with Saddam and visited him in the 80 as Under Secretary of Defense for Reagan. We are alliedwith Kuwait a muslim country and have military bases there. We have American troops in Egypt protecting the Egyptian-Isreli border. Morocco is one of the first countries to recognize the USA in 1782. Every US president since Roosevelt has meet with the Saudi kings. Bush II invited the Saudi King to Crawford ranch after Sept 11th. never forget 15 of the 19 Sept 11th hijackers were Saudis and in this country with Saudi passports. Muslims now outnumber Jews in the USA. We live in a multipolar world. Get use to it. China has bigger Pacific fleet than the USA. Palkistan has nuclear weapons as does India. The world is very small isn't it.
Create a Palestinian State like Bush promised by 2005. Interfaith dialogue, multiculturalism, and intermarriage between Jews and Palestinians. No to wars of choice. No to the Neocons. War is death, destruction, disease, and horror. Imagine a war and nobody decides to go. Want a war volunteer yourself and your children. Don't be a draft dodger like Romney and Cheney.
http://www.care2.com/causes/the-neverending-israelipalestinian-conflict-explained.html