Israel Declares War For The First Time Since 1973.

There are a prophetic few sentences from America’s Monster - The New York Times. It's about the war in Afghanistan, but it speaks to what Israel is doing right now. Much of the article focuses on one of the senior Afghan commanders that we supported:

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They saw his rule as little more than a brutal campaign against civilians, underwritten by the United States.

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His acts not only discredited the American war effort — breeding profound resentment that pushed people to support the Taliban — but embodied it in many ways as well.
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It stirred such enmity in parts of the population that the Taliban turned his cruelty into a recruiting tool, broadcasting it to attract new fighters. Many Afghans came to revile the American-backed government and everything it represented.

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If we Americans were wondering how most of Afghanistan came to support the brutal Taliban, there it is. When caught in the crossfire between two evils, you choose the lesser evil. We were the other evil, the greater evil. It felt to American commanders that only the most brutal Afghan commanders were effective against the Taliban, and so we aligned ourselves with the greater evil inside the country.Israel is repeating this mistake in Gaza and the West Bank. Until they stop using Zionism and their own history as excuses to treat other peoples as having lesser or no rights or even as subhuman then there will always be conflict in the Middle East. Both Russia and the US lost in Afghanistan, and eventually even Rome fell. There's nothing sacred that says Israel must survive. They survived the 1967 war, they survived Intifada, they'll probably survive the current war in Gaza, but how many more wars will they survive as their very efforts to make Israel a safe haven for Jews only place them in greater peril.--Percy

I'm a pessimist. The Camp David Accords. The Oslo Accords. The Whatever-Comes-Next Accords. None of it matters. There's too much distrust, too much animosity, too much history.I've forgotten all the details now, but somewhere in the Balkans there are Turks on one side and either Serbians or Croatians or one of those on the other. They've been fighting on and off for centuries and still cite a grievance from 800 years ago.--Percy

What I've been posting is based on my recollections from the past half century. I haven't refreshed my memory with Internet searches or Wikipedia pages.My recollection is that the both Israel and the Palestinians have taken moderate or compromise-leaning positions on the one hand, and extreme positions on the other, sometimes by factions in a position of leadership or power, sometimes by factions out of leadership or power. Israel has been threatened with being pushed into the sea and experienced violence, and also been offered compromise. The Palestinians have experienced what Israeli rule means first hand, and heard voices of Israeli compromise.Given all that's been said and happened over the past half century it feels like one could find arguments for whatever position of blame one prefers. But the Palestinians don't have a state to lose and have a desperation born of hopelessness. They have nothing to lose.But Israel already has a state and therefore a lot more to lose, namely their country's very existence. They're not going to be able to hold hostile neighbors at bay through force forever. It's imperative that they find some way to get along with their neighbors. They will not survive perpetual war forever.--Percy

How much patience do you think people should be expected to have before they call you out on your continual turning of a deaf ear to what they say? People have shown great compassion over the years toward the issues you face, and you merely accept the compassion and never deal with your issues. Of course they eventually react.But you're ignoring this feedback, too. No matter how harsh the criticism of your behavior here, you turn a blind eye to it and keep doing what you do. The kind of reactions you're getting shows that many have just had enough.--Percy

We can't be Israel's partner in crime against the Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza. Israel's actions are why the ICC is considering issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu. They're why the ICJ issued an opinion saying that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, that Israel was an apartheid state, that Palestine should be recognized as a sovereign state, and that Israel's occupation of Gaza and its human rights violations should end.The ICC is concerned with international crimes by people, the ICJ (also known as the World Court) with those by countries.Yes, Israel is our friend, but friends don't let friends commit genocide.--Percy

--Percy

I'm going to try a different approach in replying to you this time. Instead of responding to what you say I will explore or inquire into why you said it. Given that I have never applied this appellation to either you or Trump, why do you say this? No one has ever argued that Israel or any country hasn't the right to defend itself. Whey do you say this? Israel is defending itself against Gaza in a way not all that dissimilar from how Russia is defending itself against Ukraine. Why do you fail to note that they are still overreacting while committing genocide and striking indiscriminately at civilians? Ya think? How do you tell the difference between a Trump promise that he intends to keep and that is within his power versus braggadocio and fodder for campaign rally attendees. Why do you mention something for which you have no facts? One fact we do have is that he *did* say back in March that Gaza's waterfront property could be very valuable, making it sound like he's waiting for Israel to empty the Gaza waterfront of Palestinians. Since no one in the current administration called for defunding the police, why did you say this? Do you think that "defund the police" is a literal call to disband police departments? Why did you not look this up before calling it out? What do you see when look at a chart of GDP growth for the past 10 years? What do you see when you look up the unemployment rate? Can you name any American administration that did not sell arms or offer aid in the form of arms to allies? Why do you think support for the Palestinian cause must be linked to informed knowledge of the horrors or war? What evidence leads you to believe that evangelical Christians are politically discerning politically? Have you considered whether evangelical support for Israel has any anti-Palestinian elements to it? Upon what evidence do you base this statement? Why are you questioning whether Kamala Harris actually supports those around the world who find themselves in difficult circumstances? Isn't this merely how most normal people would feel? Has anyone here argued that military spending is the reason our economy is strong? With similar economic numbers during their respective administrations, why was the economy strong under Trump, but only appears strong under Biden? Do you know the percent of GDP of military spending in the U.S.? Does fomenting insurrection count as B.S.? Why would you vote for someone who just said the next time you vote will be the last time? What evidence leads you to the conclusion that the current administration are "bleeding-heart progressives"? If "bleeding-heart" means "soft-hearted" which in turn means kind and compassionate, aren't those good Christian qualities? Do you want an administration that cares more about things than people? What in your history makes you believe you have any skills as a forward-looking prognosticator? What in your history makes you believe you have any skills in financial matters? Why do you think we don't believe you? Do you think it might be because you keep going off-topic and raising issues no one here has mentioned? You're not really listening to much of what anyone says here, so either you're responding to voices in your head or to YouTube videos. Likely both.--Percy

Why do you think the motivation for funding foreign wars, Israel and Ukraine for example, is to bolster the economy? Who here has denied that the national debt has been growing for quite some time, and faster than GDP? If everyone were like you with a mother who left them a condo, how much homelessness do you think there would be? How many people in Denver can afford to buy a condo for the average price of about $400K (plus monthly condo fees) or rent an apartment for the average price of $1700/month?Side comment: I don't really understand homelessness. A relatively young woman has been holding a sign outside a local supermarket for the past few months that says she is homeless and has two young children to support. Meanwhile a restaurant across the street we went to a couple weeks ago said they've had to cut back hours because of lack of staff.The obvious conclusion is that this woman has discovered panhandling to be more lucrative than working, but even if that were true, she's just standing there for hours and hours at a time. That has to be very hard on the mind and body. I don't know what to think.There have always been people with mental disorders who will always be homeless no matter what unless they are institutionalized. Most of these institutions have been done away with, victims of cost-cutting, though I doubt they were ever run very decently on average. Anyway, mental disorders in people for whom no institutionalization is available is one source of homelessness.Lack of affordable housing is another source of homelessness. Housing prices vary widely across the country. The average home value in Denver is around $600,000, in Boston around a million, and in San Francisco around $1.4 million. The demand for workers is greatest in cities, but that's also where housing availability is the least.--Percy

Not so. I'm a social liberal and a financial conservative. You're not a conservative but a wing nut with a tenuous hold on reality who has enormous difficulty managing his personal life. You are a snake oil salesman's best friend. You are unable to use facts to draw rational conclusions. You are often unable to tell fact from fiction. We're still correcting the same mistakes that you've been making for years. Where's the intelligence? You almost never offer evidence in support of your arguments. In fact, "almost never" is being too generous. Take this message I'm replying to, Message 398. Name one piece of evidence it contains. Making you think you're cognitively challenged, possibly as a symptom of diabetes, and in a dangerous place health-wise, again due to diabetes, would only be gaslighting were it not true. You may be in denial now, but a few years ago you were still sufficiently self-aware to realize something was wrong and even carried out a self-exile from the board to give you time to get right mentally. Why do you keep repeating this nonsense after its nonsensicality has been explained to you. The guy who screwed up multiple times (six) is the guy more likely to screw up again, not less. You are rarely right on any point. How does that answer the question? No one has ever argued that Israel or any country hasn't the right to defend itself. Why did you say that? That's a horrifying comment. What kind of a monster are you? That doesn't answer the question. How do you tell the difference between a Trump promise that he intends to keep and that is within his power versus braggadocio and fodder for campaign rally attendees? That doesn't answer the question. Why do you think support for the Palestinian cause must be linked to informed knowledge of the horrors or war? You just contradicted yourself. Which is it? Can evangelical Christians "see through the political B.S." (your words), or is "Politically discerning politically? " (also your words) a more accurate characterization? Congratulations on finally offering some accurate information. You almost always get the answer to the WWJD question wrong, and it's the same answer that most moral people would give. The correct answer is that you help those less fortunate than yourself. We're a member of NATO. What you're actually saying is that Europe can defend itself from threats without American help, just like they did in WWI and WWII. Oh, wait, they did need American help. This has been explained to you so many times. We need Ukraine more than they need us. Ukraine is the primary buffer between Russia and Europe. If Ukraine falls then Russia's borders would again butt up against Eastern Europe. Hungary is already sympathetic toward Russia. Were Ukraine to fall (and Moldova would fall, too) then Russia would border Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland putting them under enormous political and military pressure. Authoritarian Russia would gain great power and influence. Your comments are again horrific. He fomented actual insurrection the last time he was in office, and you think he's just bullshitting when he says the next time you vote will be the last if he's elected? Care to explain your logic there? Really? Which party is taking away women's rights? Which party is taking away LBGTQ+ rights? Which party is banning books? Which party is making it more difficult to vote? Which party wants one religion to have preferential treatment by the state and for its religious book to be taught in public schools? Which party invaded the halls of Congress after the last election? Which party put together false slates of electors? Which party prefers an authoritarian figure at the head of government?The reason we don't respect your intelligence is evident throughout your post: it's because you rarely exhibit any. You just blurt out one thoughtless comment after another.Even if we don't respect your intelligence, we would very much like to treat you respectfully if you could just do the same and actually respond to what we say. Frankly, I think we've just all had enough of "see reply, ignore reply, respond with nonsense off top of head."--Percy

The looniness just doesn't end.The only one here talking about globalism is you. No one else here talks about globalism, and no one here is a globalist.I think you must have a mistaken idea of globalism. Globalism does not mean seeing the world in terms of interrelated and interdependent nations, which is how everyone here sees things. Globalism is the goal of transforming the world into a single political entity.Ukraine continuing as an independent nation is very much our business, because the security of Europe is dependent upon a free Ukraine, and because a free Europe is essential to the security of the United States. Also, we're a defender of democracy around the world. Putin is *very* interested in Europe. He wants to revive the Soviet empire and place Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, Moldova and Ukraine back under Soviet domination, as well the former Soviet republics of Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. He also wants what the Soviet Union never attained, domination of all of Europe, and eventually of the world. Putin is an old style dictator in the style of Lenin and Stalin. What a meaningless question. There is no Antichrist. Putin is a dictator, and Trump is a wannabe dictator.--Percy

This makes no sense as a response, but since you raise the point...The Arapahos just called. They want the land your condo is on back.--Percy

John Nash, Nobel Prize winner and subject of the book and movie A Beautiful Mind, was once asked why he accepted his delusions as real, and he replied that he believed them real because they came to him in same way as his great insights.Like Nash you are accepting delusions as real. They're harmless delusions, other than that they convince people you're a heartless and obnoxious ghoul. You really should get some help, or perhaps just managing your diabetes properly would be enough, but obviously you need help with that, too. Right now you seem to be in the middle of an irrational manic defensively confrontational paranoid state, as reflected by your constantly calling us out for holding beliefs no one here but you ever mentions. Was your medical procedure diabetes related?--Percy

This, by Tom Nichols in The Atlantic, reminded me of you:

Tom Nichols:

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In fairness, Vance is hardly the most offensive Republican out there. He is no Louie Gohmert, the Republican congressman from Texas, or Marsha Blackburn, the senior Republican senator from Tennessee, people who create an electrostatic field of stupidity around themselves when they speak.

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"Electrostatic field of stupidity." Has a kind of ring to it. I like it.--Percy

Fourth, Israel is committing war crimes against civilians using weapons that we've provided them.--Percy

We're only financing the war crimes of one country: Israel.--Percy