The story seems tragically the same.
An armed surrogate of a superpower is given weapons and defenses to hold its own and occupy another's territory.
The proxy lives in continuing hostilities with its neighbors until a de facto state of war is recognized.
Then comes the fateful day. Responding to what it takes to be aggression from its enemy, they fire their weapons at what they perceive to be an attack.
There results a massive loss of civilian life. It's self defense, the proxy claims. It's homicide, charge the victims.
Are we talking about simmering (and seemingly eternal) Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Or are we talking about the Ukrainian-Russian border war?In both cases, the result has been the same: a staggering loss of life as a result of high-tech weapons launched against a predominantly civilian population.
In the case of the Russia-Ukrainian dispute, separatists armed by Russia brought down a plane with 298 civilians on board after they say they mistook for a transport plane of the armed forces of the Ukraine. International observers and spokesmen for the Ukraine government say that pro-Russian separatists fired a surface to air missile that brought the Malaysia Air jet liner down killing all those on board.
In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the massive retaliation and invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel to what it considers a mortal danger of Hamas-fired rockets that have so far killed one Israeli civilian. The retaliation has resulted in more than 797 Palestinians killed and more than 5,100 wounded since the start of an Israeli operation on Gaza.
United Nations observers say that more than 70 percent of Arabs dead were civilians, and some 140 were children trapped in the crossfire.
The casualty numbers are so disproportionate that even Israeli spokesmen decry them, but blame Hamas for
them.
An Israeli military representative said Thursday that the violence has killed 32 soldiers and three civilians.
Governments will point fingers and blame each other. Each will claim they have the high moral ground in the conflict. But the dead can't speak for themselves. And each time someone dies, a seed of revenge and retaliation is planted in the hearts and minds of the survivors.
And it's the same old story all over again.
10 comments:
The devil made me do it !
In most of the international hotspots today (Ukraine/Russia,
Israel/Hamas, S.Korea/N.Korea) and to some degree even the present immigration problem in the US, present us a series of "games" of "chicken". It is not just "finger pointing" we have an exchange of threats between the sides...and political maneuvering back and forth. In some cases "threats" are issued...and to date most of the US threats to the players have been hollow (we really don't mean to do anything). The other side now sees that the US threats are "hollow" and so they ramp up their actions a notch in the face of these "hollow" threats by the Obama administration. Since the US appears to be all talk and no action...the ramping up by the other side(s) continues and the situations become more tense. Its time for Obama to take some action and not spend his time raising money for his party and taking vacations.
We are seeing international politics by "media". The different sides (nations) are leaving the debate to the press and TV media and the formality of diplomacy is secondary...if not meaningless. Hamas wants to destroy Israel and apparently is willing to hide behind its women and children to gain sympathy around the world....not for their political position, but for the pain and death of its citizens. This is their plan....and the people of Gaza are the victims.
Your obvious insinuation that Israel is fighting a Proxy War for the United States is typical anti-Semitic propaganda.
What would you have Israel do, just let Hamas pepper rockets into Israel indiscriminately. Israel has the ability to pinpoint within 6 meters where rockets are being fired, and they retaliate appropriately. Stop being sympathetic to Hamas, if they had the opportunity they would be sending rockets into your front yard.
Is this your idea of pinpoint accuracy within 6 meters?
Report: Israel Snipers Killing Civilians Who Try To Leave Village Of Khuza'a
Why don't you stop being sympathetic to the indiscriminate killing that is raining down on the innocent people of Palestine.
Your mantra of calling the truth anti-Semitic propaganda just because you don't agree with it is getting old.
Try something new for a change!
Even Netanyahu's nephew (Jonathan Ben-Artzi) believes that Israel is practicing apartheid... Real peace cannot be achieved until Israelis see Palestinians as equals. America can lead the way by engaging with both sides
AIPAC Is the Only Explanation for America's Morally Bankrupt Israel Policy
Just curious but when you say the casualty numbers are disproportionate, you're counting all the Israeli people who have died at the hands of Palestine for decades, right? This didn't just start a few weeks ago. Hamas has been bombing Israel on and off for a very long time. Only an idiot, or a partisan hack, would fail to see the blatant evidence we have of Hamas using civilians as shields. I praise Israel for having the backbone to defend themselves under those rules of engagement. If we did the same, perhaps we wouldn't be getting our asses handed to us in Iraq.
to US taxpayer Dollars to Hamas:
=====================================
You can thank President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams and the "Bush Doctrine" for HAMAS being inpower.
"Bush pushed for Palestinian elections when Israel, amongst others, cautioned against this as many correctly predicted a Hamas victory. In June 2002, when Bush in a White House speech pressed for the Palestinians to “to elect new leaders” and “build a practicing democracy,” helped encourage an election in a tumultuous time when poor and desperate people often clinged to their guns and religion, as candidate Obama once said.
We all know how well that comment went over, even if it couldn't have been more true. In an article in 2006, Salon correctly pegged Bush's folly. "By either creating or failing to deal with hated foreign occupations, he has sown the seeds for militant Islamist movements that gain popularity because of their nationalist credentials."
Fox News' Charles Krauthammer praised then President Bush's foreign policy "accolades" as if the Bush Doctrine was democratizing the Arab World."
Palestinians Die Because The Bush Doctrine Still Benefits Hamas
Clueless in Gaza; New evidence that Bush undermined a two-state solution
Hamas rule in Gaza? President Bush built that
The US Government should "STOP All Foreign Aid".
USA taxpayer dollars should STAY in the USA, period; end of discussion!
The only Finger-Pointer is the middle finger. A simple solution is recognize La Palestina as a sovereign entity. Their own govt, currency, constitution, ambassadorships, and all those components that are part of a sovereign country. If aggression is initiated by them the consequences is their responsibility.
Another solution: allow the Palestinians enter the U.S. Since they are desert folks, they can settle in the Mojave and / or in Death Valley. Fait Accomplí. There, they can establish their Casinos and merge with Wilbur Trump.
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