Analysis: Change is in the air – all over the world
March 20, 2010 by Andrew McLeod · 80 Comments
One thing won't change: US troops heading for Afghanistan
World events over the past few months suggest that a major rethink of everyone’s position is under way; the chess pieces are on the floor again and it is still not clear whether we will emerge from this tumult enlightened or confused, richer or poorer, alive or dead. The Great Game is on again, all over the world.
So we watch aghast as US politicians and media descend into childish name-calling and even racism in the name of conservatism and liberalism over every issue they address. It seems so petty to us (engrossed as we are in our own trivial political squabbles). Though there have been attempts by the Obama administration to improve America’s image abroad, the joyous presidential inauguration seems buried in a distant past and the neo-cons are rejoicing, but not for all the Tea Parties in the world is it likely that the US will bear any resemblance to its older and not necessarily wiser self when this is over.
This was the country that led Britain by the nose to war in Iraq, so perhaps we should not be surprised; still, for those of us who admire the United States of America for most of what it has stood for since its very inception, it is tragic to see the great nation on the verge of squandering an opportunity to restore its credibility before the world.
Not that Europe can stand proud and tall these days. It is in the incipient phase of the disintegration of the community’s monetary and fiscal policy, and members on the fringe of membership must be wondering what now? There are no easy answers.
Leaving Britain aside for now (the May election will decide which way we turn, if at all) how are other parts of the world shaping up?
Middle East
After years of being given a free hand by the Bush administration, Israel is reeling at the shock of being publicly reprimanded by a US government over its expansion of Jewish settlements – never bite the hand that feeds you is a lesson it may only be starting to learn. It appears to have dawned on the US political and military establishment that a more even-handed approach to Israel and the Palestinian question may be in its best interests – and that, after all, is what US foreign policy has always been about.
But while this may give Palestinians hope that their aspirations for an independent state are at long last being listened to with at least a degree of sympathy, they are clearly still regarded by Washington as the more dispensable of the two entities, thwarting everyone’s hopes for peace in the Middle East and by extension a large chunk of the world. I have been waiting since 1967 for a solution to this crisis (not longer than that because I had no political consciousness before then). Still, the shift in the US stance, though not seismic by any means, is there for all to see: Israel won’t be unduly alarmed, and the Palestinians would be best advised not to hold their breaths, but some kind of change is in the air.
Afghanistan and Iraq
Is Afghanistan an unwinnable battle? I would say it is, unless the United States and Britain are prepared to stay there forever, following up each “surge” with another. When we consider all the reasons for being there – looking for Osama bin Laden, rooting out al-Qaeda, slapping down the Taliban while propping up the corrupt Karzai government in an attempt to nurture what appear to be very weak green shoots of democracy in a country where a large sector of the male population has so little regard for the rights of women – it seems a futile task. But these aims have become part of a wider aim: with Pakistan, a nuclear power, tottering on the brink with the medium-term risk of becoming a mirror image of Afghanistan, the West dare not walk away. It is worth remembering that Pakistan was part of the problem at the start of the West’s engagement in the region, by dint of the Pakistan Inter-Intelligence Services’ covert support for the Taliban; there’s no use crying over spilt milk now, though we could try to mop it up.
And Iraq? The invasion of Iraq on false pretences was akin to dropping a huge bomb on the population, then planting a vast mine before calling elections and making a carefully staged exit. It may muddle through with another coalition government with a broad sectarian base following its second general election since 2005, but the odds are that Iran’s influence is growing and will grow further as US troops begin their pull-out in September. This might at first glance be the best of scenarios – Iran won’t want an unstable Iraq next door, nor will it want a troublesome one – but with Iran intent on seeking nuclear power status, spreading its influence in an oil-rich region doesn’t look an attractive prospect from a US point of view, and certainly not Israel’s.
In any case, the geopolitical map of the region is likely to look very different after the US withdrawal from Iraq is completed by the end of next year. In the medium to long term, the Kurdish question, which has been on the back burner for too long now, will probably return to haunt Iraq as Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen squabble over the country’s oil wealth in the north, threatening to drag Turkey, Syria and Iran into a conflict. This may not happen if cool heads prevail, as they have done so far, but if not expect the standard response from western politicians to be “we gave Iraqis the opportunity and they blew it”, ignoring the fact that cutting and running, whether it be today, tomorrow, next year or seven years on, is still cutting and running.
US forces will remain, however in Afghanistan, and, increasingly, in Pakistan.
A problem may surface in Egypt, too, after President Hosni Mubarak departs the scene: with US aid he has kept a lid on the rise of Islamic extremism in Egypt for decades, but he is seriously ill and has no obvious successor. In light of its nationalistic past, and its wars with Israel, Egypt is too important, its religious and political issues too complex for the US to ignore. But Egyptians, too, await the kind of democracy we take for granted.
Russia and China
These two countries could be lumped together, as the neo-conservative Robert Kagan does, in defining the two giants as representative of the emergence of “autocratic” states the United States will have to deal with in the coming years. But why regard these countries as a threat? In democratic terms, China is a threat because of its insistence on a hybrid political model of totalitarian capitalism which, because of its success in economic terms, is beginning to look attractive to leaders of countries where democracy is a nice idea but not a very useful one (eg Venezuela’s Chávez). But China has come a long way in two decades; given time, the Chinese people will surely find their feet and seek more freedom of speech — and a fairer distribution of wealth. If not, well, expect another revolution. In the meantime, its threat to the West is purely economic.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin paid lip service to democracy while ensuring that his United Russia grabbed all the airwaves during presidential campaigns. But even in Russia there are signs of change: a think tank linked to Putin protégé President Dmitry Medvedev last month called for a deepening of economic and political reforms, warning that “the values of freedom and law, democracy and the market”, were incomplete. It even called for the scrapping of the FSB, successor to the KGB, of which Mr Putin was a member. Some analysts say the think tank’s report was a sop to the West, on the eve of arms limitation talks; others see a deepening rift between Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev. Either way, something is afoot, and it may not be a bad thing.
Japan
For so many years a stalwart silent friend of the United States, Japan has also shifted its stance, and has by its standards recently become an increasingly strident independent voice in the East. Ties between the US and Japan are not at their cosiest just now, with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama sweeping to power last year on a pledge not only to boost growth and drastically reduce a bloated bureaucracy, but also relocate the US Marines’ air base from Okinawa.
It was no mean feat for his fledgling Democratic Party of Japan to have ousted the Liberal Democrats, who had been in power so long that Japan had begun to look like a one-party state. Still, he has yet persuade the US military that it is in their interests not to stick to a 2006 agreement under which the base would be moved to a less populated area of northern Okinawa, rather than off the island altogether. With his government now immersed in its own inertia, and a top aide accused by US media of being a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, Japan might shift yet again.
Latin America
Latin America’s swing left, which began during the Bush years, appears to have stalled with the election of a conservative government in Chile after two decades of socialist rule that followed the Pinochet dictatorship. The success or failure of billionaire Sebastián Piñera’s presidency, however, will depend largely on how he copes with Chile’s reconstruction efforts following the recent devastating earthquake. He will be blamed if Chile doesn’t rise to its feet pronto.
With huge financial backing from the United States stretching back to the Clinton administration, the Right is firmly entrenched in Colombia, and a right of centre government in Peru is seeing good economic growth. Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, whose populist and nationalist approach to government in some ways smacks more of Juan Domingo Perón than his friend Fidel Castro, is in trouble as the lights go dim across the country and he makes things more difficult for himself by attacking the media. In Cuba, the ageing Communist leadership is due to make its exit by natural causes, and some kind of shift to a more democratic society is certainly on the cards there.
In Argentina, after years of strong economic growth under the Kirchner presidential couple, Néstor and Cristina, there are signs that the horrific hyperinflation that plagued the country in the 1970s and 1980s is making a comeback. This could pave the way for the return of the free marketeers who, ironically, destroyed Argentina’s industrial base in the 1990s.
In Brazil, the immensely popular left-leaning President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva will step down this year; his not very popular successor as Workers Party leader, Dilma Rousseff, is trailing conservative candidate José Serra, so there may be a change of direction after the 3 October elections.
Despite the shifting patterns of the political landscape, a decision earlier this year by heads of Latin American and Caribbean heads of states of all hues to work towards the formation of a bloc that would exclude the United States and Canada, is a sign that Latin America is rising to the challenge of a new world order that bears no resemblance whatever to that glowingly predicted by George Bush Snr after the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union (and which the American neo-cons later so disastrously tried to impose). The Obama administration’s reluctance to openly back Britain in its dispute with Argentina over Falkland Islands oil is a reflection of its awareness of the new Latin American order.
Related posts:
- Obama’s garden path to more of the same Many who believed the US president would bring about real...
- Neo-con support for Uribe reveals double standard Last month the Colombian constitutional court rejected a bid by...
- Carter fights back over foreign policy legacy ormer US President Jimmy Carter has made an impassioned defence...
- Iran’s nuclear programme gives energy to US neocons President Barack Obama seems to be responding at last to...
- First WMDs, then regime change, now 9/11: Blair’s story shifts again For Tony Blair, reality is whatever he believes it to...
Thanks Andrew for the potted report about the new world order.(note that its not NWO)
And a little optimism.
Been comparing the sixties with now and the near cerainty then of armageddon with todays series of contrived doomsday issues; terrorism, climate change, globalisation etc.
In 1762 we were Enlightened and apparently invented the modern world.
In 1962 we really were almost DOOMED.
Today Scotland still leads the capitalist world; its Calvinist doom and gloom is so pervasive that we exaggerate the problems we face.
We are , of course, all doomed as the undertaker likes to remind us.
Lets make the best of it. I see my glass is half full.
Report This Comment
Why worry about matters we are unable to change? Indeed why worry at all? Do something or forget it.
Report This Comment
We Willy Pain!
Your comment makes no sense.
Report This Comment
Think about it.
Report This Comment
do something about it ? did you see Peter Obournes (channel 4 )expose of the almost complete control of the politics of the british state by the organised lobby of the zionist state …..for a few bob , they make any “doing something about it” a waste of effort ,
these venal politicians (that’s the majority of them) make parliamentary means of “doing something about it” a joke …lobbyists of every stripe give them money
i , we , only give them a ,restricted choice vote , occasionally . no contest !
try even try ….to organise any sort of extra parliamentary “doing something about it” and you will soon discover the REAL purpose of so called ” anti-terrorism legislation ”
they have made dissent criminal …just as they did in the U S S R . they set up bogeymen for us to fear , gullible and under educated we oblige
Report This Comment
‘….a more even-handed approach to Israel and the Palestinian question may be in the US’s best interest – and that, after all, is what the US foreign policy has always been about.’
Where did you get this notion? From its inception in 1947, Israel has been armed by, and subsidised by the US exclusively in the Middle East, with no criticism levelled regarding its ethnic cleansing of areas in which it wished to settle its Jewish population; no criticism of its flouting of the Oslo Agreement; no criticism of the slaughter of 1300 unarmed men women and children in Gaza; no censure of the collective punishment of the survivors of that atrocity in the bulldozing of their homes; no calling a halt by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the bombing of the civilians of Lebanon with American supplied aircraft ; no criticism of the deliberate killing of two Irish UN observers in Beirut. It is the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons and what do we hear from Washington? Only silence.
In no way can America be considered an honest broker in any peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis in that part of the world. Get another referee, arbiter, negotiator from some unprejudiced country.
Obama has a lot to do to repair the reputation of the US in the Middle East. A more even-handed approach to this particular festering sore and a departure from ‘what US policy has really been about up to now.’
Report This Comment
@Nautilus
“A more even-handed approach”
The even-handed approach of the HAMAS inspired propagandist Nautilus maybe.
Report This Comment
oh, i see it’s started already ….anyone who questions the morality of zionism does so in the exclusive interests of “arab terror gangs”..and not merely, because they are repelled as decent human beings at the crime of violent land theft , violent racial discrimination , and many more criminal acts of violence ?
that on an empathetic personal level ,they cannot simply be disgusted at the sight of the powerless being tormented with impunity by the powerful ?
that very arrogant impunity you show to the world ,safe as you imagine , under americas tutelage , decent people see the brazen nature of your demials , as a symptom of the mass psychosis that inevitably affects all populations suffering “collective guilt”
Report This Comment
Your being repelled at “violent land theft, violent racial discrimination, and many more criminal acts of violence” seems to extend only to when they are allegedly carried out by Jews, and you never condemn real examples carried out by Arabs.
Report This Comment
No, not “allegedly carried out by Jews” Kobi, blatantly carried out by Israelis, backed by the American Jewish Lobby.
There’s a difference.
Great post by Nautilus.
Report This Comment
Joflo,
So there are no arab, muslim, palistinian or friends of the ummah lobby, even in Scotland these groups have influence on government and the media.
Do you know what dhimmitude is?
Are you aware of what is happening to non-muslim communities throughout the ummah one example being the Copts in Egypt has your disdain for Israel left you blind to the theo-political territorial motivations of those who desire the destruction of Israel, without borders there would be no future for the Jews in the muslim middle east other than to live in dhimmitude.
Would you welcome 6 million Israelis to Scotland?
Would you submit or live in dhimmitude?
Report This Comment
as per form…… they are moderating anti zionist posting but freely allowing the zionists , i will retire …without free speech , my arguments will , by default
……be rendered null .
Report This Comment
Sorry for the repeat message. I submitted a reply to Kobi’s comment and it took me to a page that was indicating a broken link. I did a back button and my pasted my comment into Speak your mind box. Viola!
This is just nerdy feed back and not for posting
Report This Comment
Answer to Kobi. Since when did the Arab Palestinians ever have the military or political power to take land from the Jews? Present day Israel was Palestine Pre-1947. The Jewish population was numbered only in thousands prior to this, and all ethnic groups lived together in harmony, until the United Nations, ignoring objections from the Arab League, sanctioned the state of Israel. Now the Jews occupy more than half of the land area there and are continuing the expansion of settlements even now in East Jerusalem. I have seen no evidence of Palestinians taking land from Jews, only trying to prevent jewish expansionism.
The blockade of Gaza, after its destrucion by Israeli tanks and bulldozers is to my mind another attempt at ethnic cleansing. The policy: Make life in Gaza so intolerable that the population will want to move to Jordan, Egypt or the Lebanon leaving the land free for Israeli occupation. Watch this space. Only muted criticism on this from America. There would have been none under George W.
Report This Comment
The Arabs invaded Israel and stole the land from the Jews. They have been in illegal occupation for hundreds of years, and all across the Middle East they impose their brutal racist policies of apartheid.
“all ethnic groups lived together in harmony” – You clearly have never heard of the Arab pogrom ethnically cleansing Jews from the ancient Jewish community of Hebron in 1929, or the Arab race riots in 1936, or the thousands of other Arab terror attacks on Jews (and Arabs who worked with Jews) long before the UN got involved.
The only ethnic cleansing that has taken place in recent years was by the Arabs, and in particular in Judaea, Samaria and East Jerusalem after its illegal occupataton by Jordan in 1948, when all Jews were ethnically cleansed, and every attempt was made to erase traces of Jewish life and culture (including the destruction of the ancient synagogue that is now being rebuilt, and which the racist Arabs are rioting about).
“continuing the expansion of settlements even now in East Jerusalem” – restoring Jewish refugees to the land stolen from them by the Arabs’ illegal occupation in 1948.
“leaving the land free for Israeli occupation” Er, Israel pulled out of Gaza, leaving it to the Arabs, together with significant infrastructure, which the Arabs destroyed becuase it had been touched by Jews.
The incessant terror attacks by the Arab terror gangs cheered on by their supporters in the West is merely an attempt by the Arabs to ethnically cleanse Jews from the whole of the Middle East. They have succeeded in doing it for most of the Middle East already, only little Israel to go.
Report This Comment
@Nautilus,
Your comment is evidence that you know absolutely nothing about the history of the ummah – Israel conflict you repeat word by word without thought the regurgitated propaganda of madmen if you are Scots you are an embarrassment on the world stage, purring for your own destruction at the feet of the ummah like George Galloway.
Report This Comment
“The blockade of Gaza” is maintained by Egypt.
Report This Comment
Oh goody, I see we’ve descended into another propaganda-flinging session about Israel/Palestine.
Report This Comment
Surely the problem is that there are truths, lies, and myths equally on both sides. Both sides have been guilty of atrocities, and in the case of the Jews, sometimes towards Britain, one of the hnds which fed it.
Nothing good will happen until both sides agree to forget the past and start again, and thats about as likely as the proverbial snowball lasting the day in hell.
If they want to fight, let them get on with it, just don’t let us get involved.
Report This Comment
“in the case of the Jews, sometimes towards Britain, one of the hnds which fed it”
You seem ignorant of the fact that the British occupation forces illegally imprisoned many Jews, and tortured many of them. You also seem not to know that the British forces turned back Jews fleeing from Nazi Germany, and forced them to return to Germany, and their anti-immigration policies caused many more to be killed en route.
True, the British had the courage once upon a time to issue the Balfour Declaration, but that binding undertaking to the Jews was then betrayed many times over.
“Nothing good will happen until both sides agree to forget the past and start again” – this however makes sense. Until the negotiations start from what is on the ground, then there will never be peace.
Report This Comment
its tooooo hard ! ! ! ….lets just let the inordinately powerful torment the absolutley powerless ….they are both equally to blame (arent they ?)….do you think about this stuff before you post it ? ….i could get a more considered analysis from “dave down the pub”
Report This Comment
sorry ,that came across as a bit personal, for elucidation see below
Report This Comment
its quite simple really , an organised gang came from europe and ethnically cleansed a peaceful population whose forebears had farmed the land of Palestine since time immemorial , the collective guilt they feel for the acts of inhuman sadism they utilised to perform this crime against humanity , has led to a classic “displacement behaviour” that means they are unable to digest the disgust that the decent world feels toward their actions , and must deny that which turns every other peoples (apart from the amoral americans)stomach . even when their foul deeds are as plain as a pikestaff they will absurdly deny it ………
or turn it inside out to blame their helpless victims
Report This Comment
Aye make it up as you go along linda(latest user name). anyone who supports Palestineans is a terrorist supporter.
VIVA ISRAEL!
Report This Comment
Look it’s simple – an organised gang came from Arabia and ethnically cleansed a peaceful Jewish population from a land their forefathers had farmed since time immemorial. The collective guilt they feel for the acts of inhuman sadism they use to maintain their evial apartheid regimes in place across the Mdidle East, has led to a classic “displacement behaviour” that means they are unable to digest the disgust that the decent world feels toward their terrorist actions, and must deny that which turns every other peoples (apart from the amoral European left) stomach. Even when their foul terrorist deeds are as plain as a pikestaff they will absurdly deny it ………
Or turn it inside out to blame their helpless Jewish victims when they try to defend themselves
Report This Comment
Kobi: It’s this simple: I have just spent 10 days in the US and there is change in the air vis a vis Israel. Despite the wall to wall propaganda from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and the covert anti Arab message in a number of TV dramas people are starting to question their country’s support for Israel.
As an aside, I read your comment “elsewhere” regarding the US Healthcare bill. I agree with your point that it is unconstitutional (particularly with reference to the “equal protection clause”) and will be challenged through the courts.
Report This Comment
Welcome back. Can’t disagree with you on the mood in parts of the US at the moment. There have been dips in the support previously, but don’t worry though, the Arabs will do something stupid shortly, and support will be restored.
Interesting point re the constitution. The equal protection clause is always a difficult one – the courts have been quite happy to disregard it (or at least give a weird interpretation of it) through a variety of school choice cases, so I am wary of relying on it.
Report This Comment
thatscottishwoman,
Unfortunately for your position what you are actually witnessing is the dissolution of the post-war political order in both Europe and the U.S. this is the precursor to the re-establishment of a stronger and sober type of politics – in a sense Obama in the U.S. and the diversity politics of Europe are the final acts of the dreamcast politics.
Report This Comment
yeah , well ,”strong government” usually a euphemism for some kind of fascism , which is apt considering the genesis of German zionism , “sober” ?
if sober means ……………”do what we say, without demur or there will be consequences ” i think you already covered that with “strong government”
my grandfather used to say “scratch a zionist and underneath you will find a nazi”
when they realised they could never enlist or co-opt him they used every dirty trick in the book to sabotage his career , but he was still amongst the most successful and well loved figures in his profession . he remained resolute in his opposition to the zionist entity until the very end of his life , his funeral was attended by hundreds of Jews and Gentiles
Report This Comment
“”strong government” usually a euphemism for some kind of fascism”
Yeah, like in most Arab countries, or most Muslim countries, where they practice a form of apartheid that makes South Africa look positively liberal.
Report This Comment
Hello, Goy. I agree to an extent. The Healthcare Bill has been a tipping point in the US. However, I wouldn’t be so sure that the phoenix that will arise from those particular ashes will be more stronger or sober.
In terms of Europe, I don’t envisage much change in the politics of the old Europe. However, new Europe is a whole different (and dangerous) kettle of fish. The sharp rise of the extreme right wing, some elected on an anti Gypsy/Roma platform, should give us all cause for concern.
Report This Comment
the B N P supporter …is a fan of zionism …..surprised ?
Report This Comment
The BNP supporter is a fan and supporter of Israel!
Report This Comment
the wee lad persists in the tactic of the backwards parrot …..it never works as it is unhistorical ….the Arabs ? everybody knows who expelled the Jews from first century Palestine ….making it up ? tell it to any historian worth his salt ….they would just laugh at your antics
Report This Comment
All serious historians (no salt – the Arabs stole it) are too busy laughing at your made-up history and your endless parroting of the Arab terror gangs’ mythological past to pay any attention to my “antics”.
Report This Comment
The Jews left Palestine over a thousand years ago in the main to find prosperity in the wider world. Palestine was left with a small nucleus of Jews until the ’30s when Jews started returning in numbers. I am referring to recent conflict where the Jews, armed with weapons of warfare including fighter aircraft and tanks have been using them against stone-throwing kids, women and children. All the Palestinians have are home-made rockets that mostly do not work and a few small arms.
It is not possible for the Palestinian Arabs to harm Jews in any significant way. The numbers killed on each side tells the story.
Report This Comment
“The Jews left Palestine over a thousand years ago in the main to find prosperity in the wider world. ”
Well done. You have demonstrated that you know little about the history of the area.
Various attempts were made to expel the Jews from their homeland – the Babylonians, the Romans, the Arabs, but on each and every occasion, the expulsion was partial, a significant number of Jews remained, and within a relatively short period, more Jews returned.
Glad to see that you accept that Jews were “returning”, not going anywhere new. In the 1930s, the Arabs started pourng into Mandate Palestine in significant numbers as well, to be where the prosperity created by the Jews was.
“using them against stone-throwing kids, women and children” – the Arabs are notorious for sending out youths to throw stones, and then snipers concealed in buildings behind, fire at IDF troops, hoping for a response back into the stone throwers. Sometimes the Arab snipers even deliberately shoot their own children to generate images that are beamed world-wide.
The IDF do not use fighter aircraft against stone-throwers. What they do is targert those Arab terrorists who hide themselves in amongst civilians in the hope that they will be attacked and civilians will die. Thousands of times IDF mssions are aborted becuse the risk to civilians is too high, but sometimes civilians do die, and that is the fault in law of the Arab terror gangs who place their military installations and fighters right in the midst of them, contrary to all the rules of war.
“All the Palestinians have are home-made rockets that mostly do not work”
Tell that to the family of the Thai worker killed in the past few days by a rocket that does not work. Many of the rockets are in fact supplied by Iran, and are proper military weapons.
Report This Comment
i wish people would stop referring to “Jews” when they mean “zionists” , the two are in no wise co-equivalent , my own lineage is descended of Mittel European Jewish stock and we are hardly unique in being ardently ANTI zionist .
the zionists deliberately conflate the two , but it is of a piece with the displacement behaviours they cannot escape , whereby they know the truth , but for the sake of their collective sanity , can NEVER acknowledge it
Report This Comment
linda wooler,
In a previous post you gave a personal preference for the hijab, the art of deception runs deep.
Report This Comment
i said i, “have a preference for the hijab”
it is known the art of hasbara runs to outright lies ….i may have said “let women wear what they will” or “the hijab controversy is whipped up by anti muslims to their own porpoises ”
but i almost certainly DIDNT say i have a preference for the hijab ….i find the scarf attractive …which i dont with the niqab …but even that is a matter of SOMEONE elses taste , which i respect ….respect for other people a concept alien and unpracticed amongst zionists , still if it consoles you to think that people dont dislike your vile conduct towards others for any other reason than they simply dislike your treatment of others …fill your boots with delusion
Report This Comment
Linda, Just a pity muslims would not show respect for Christian countries, when in Rome as they say.
The hijab has no place in any CHRISTIAN country, the way christians are treated in pakistan, nigeria etc etc is disgusting, perhaps however we should return the favour but that would be racist of course.
Islam has no place in a civil world.
Report This Comment
Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people.
Report This Comment
despite my ever courteous tone , i seem to be suffering the pre moderation which makes this site such an annoyance to grown ups ,
what i am saying may not “suit” , but unlike others it will be “thoughtful” in the sense it will have been pre- considered …. i have a reputation to uphold to say nothing of self respect , i will leave the knee-jerk abuse to others , i prefer the rapier to the cudgel
Report This Comment
zionism……a violent minority pursuit .
that is only succeeeding in alienating the decent world , and giving succour to the mirror image extremists who mean such harm to minorities including World Jewry
their conduct apes yours ,in the respect that your barbarism gives a green light to neo fascists everywhere
Report This Comment
If you don’t want to be liberated, fine. That is your choice to remain under the bondage and oppression of the Arab terror gangs and their oil driven Islamofascism. Wear your niqab with pride.
However millions of Jews, and billions of others, do want to be liberated from the creed you knuckle under to.
Report This Comment
hey its all “arab terror gangs” with you ,the VAST MAJORITY of Jews live rewarding lives in the bosom of their home countries , the only upsets they encounter are from Sammys friends , who attack the different where ever they find it ,
and feel ,as i say ,some justification by the institutionalised racism and overt fascism that you have made your hallmark in historical Palestine .
i’m sure it brings you solace to imagine your critics have ulterior motives , but the vast majority of your critics are merely sickened at the callousness of your conduct towards the people whose land you have already stolen , and the sheer mendacious greed towards those whose land you wish next to steal ….your critics are not the knuckle draggers of the extreme right , go team Sammy !, those are about your only allies , and i would remember the words of Pastor Niemdller in that regard
Report This Comment
Would anyone care to comment on the following (Yes that includes you; Sam the WASP)
“The UK is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of 12 cloned British passports in the Dubai murder of a Hamas leader, the BBC has learned.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband will make a statement to Parliament later.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8582518.stm
Report This Comment
Well the FCO has been in the hands of Arabists for decades. Can’t upset the chaps with the oil, what?
Report This Comment
Report This Comment
No Probs be delighted to comment.
I was shocked when I heard this morning on SKY news, we should be thanking Israel for their actions and what harm has the passport incident done to Britain……NONE.
The world is a safer place without this terrorist scum.
Report This Comment
What harm has the incident done to those that had their identities stolen, Sam?
Report This Comment
It has done them no harm at all, do you not agree?
Report This Comment
No.
Report This Comment
Can the site managers please sort out the technical glitch which directs my posts to an error page, please. This will save me the inconvenience of having to hit the back button and refresh the page to check my comment has posted.
Report This Comment
its happening to everyone ….not just yourself ….i was just wondering where you had been …did you see the black and gay congressfolk being insulted …..it was like montgomery had never happened ….america ?…..i would have to be gagged , bound and kidnapped to go there ….but you know what they say……
“careful what you wish for”
Report This Comment
Hello, Linda.
I was in a Republican heartland state. It was important to me that I met face to face with those who stand against universal healthcare and who stand for Israel. I followed the fall out from the proposed Bill. It was particularly interesting to watch the wall to wall propaganda ala Glen Beck on Fox News, it is not difficult to see how people can be drawn in, the man is a Meister of spin and an expert in the manipulation of iconic images and the Christian faith to hammer home his point which in a nutshell is: anyone who supports the Bill is a Marxist, Communist, Maoist, baby killing, godless traitor to the country and the principles of the founding fathers.
Report This Comment
Having exactly the same problem. Must be a terror attack on zionists…..
Report This Comment
thatscottishwoman,
Courting the muslim vote and the ummmah, from the very government who made the UK passport and citizenship a joke, how many terrorists hold British passports.
Report This Comment
And a comment on this one, please. I’m posting this with reference to my comment last night vis a vis US support for Israel as the publication is read across the political spectrum in the US. This type of information is what is changing the mindset.
“Activists around the world are marking World Water Day today with school campaigns, films, and concerts – all designed to draw attention to the fact that access to safe drinking water is something 1 in 5 people don’t enjoy, while 40 percent of the world’s population doesn’t have adequate sanitation.
An acute example of the human cost can be found in the densely populated Gaza Strip, where experts say a potent mix of politics and geography are pointing toward the onset of a full-blown water crisis. In the small coastal territory, resources are either scarce or contaminated, sewage goes largely untreated, and already ailing infrastructure buckles under an Israeli economic blockade in place since Hamas took over in 2007. According to the United Nations (UN), the current environmental damage could “take centuries to reverse.”
Full article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0322/World-Water-Day-Thirsty-Gaza-residents-battle-salt-sewage
Report This Comment
This is actually interesting, as opposed to having to respond to the usual guff. More power to your elbow thatscottishwoman.
Much of the demand for water in the region comes from agriculture, and Israel (out of necessity) is the world leader in developing micro-drop, drip irrigation and sprinkler technology for use in agriculture – makes the scarce water go even further.
USAid is currently seeking quotations for the installation of a Gravity Feed Family Drip Irrigation Systems in the Gaza Strip for farmers: http://www.edipusaid.com/index.php?action=irrigation
I could be wrong (can’t find the article to hand at the moment) but I am sure that one of the reasons that the Jewish communities in Gaza were so successful in their production of organic (and kosher) fruit and veg was due to widespread use of this technology (that, and their hard work and that of their Arab friends and co-workers). Until the systems were destroyed as soon as the last Jew had left Gaza.
I also remember reading somewhere before the Egyptian/EU/Israeli blockade came into force that the quality of the water was already deterioriating since the Israeli pull-out, due to the substantial number of unauthorised wells that were being sunk.
Report This Comment
i also find slow pressure micro drip hydroponics interesting ….the nazis were innovative in addressing transport infrastucture (and train timetables and the like)….i didnt like much else about them ….anyway making the “desert bloom” is a Filipino / Thai thing . south east asians are the zionists “friends and co-workers” nowadays , i wonder how much that pays ?
Report This Comment
““desert bloom” is a Filipino / Thai thing . south east asians are the zionists “friends and co-workers” nowadays , i wonder how much that pays ?”
Well it seems to pay with your life if you were the Thai worker murdered by the Arab terror gangs recently.
Report This Comment
Thanks, Kobi. My area of work is community development, the people not the infrastructure. My knowledge of natural resource management is limited (but enough to know that water and other natural resources are one of the key issues of the conflict) so I want to learn more. I was working in Gaza just before the disengagement (had to leave early in case I got caught up and fenced in) during my time there I met with a few Europeaid/UN staff who were working on addressing the quality of the water which I can confirm was in a very poor state then.
As you will know there has been talk for some time about water wars in the region. See below for a couple of links from the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/677547.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2949768.stm
Report This Comment
Flipping ‘eck, my posts are being moderated:-(
Report This Comment
for an anarchist , you are the most reasonable of posters ….i am sure it must have been a mistake ….moderation is a subject much discussed here of late .
i am convinced the editors are determined to get this right ….they seem quite fair minded
Report This Comment
Thanks, Linda. We Anarchists are often misrepresented. I am sure you will know the common definition (mob rule etc – used mainly by the media) of Anarchists/Anarchism is inaccurate.
But back to the moderation. My post has not been published perhaps the glitch monster swallowed it. As I do not think it was contentious I will repost it now.
Thanks, Kobi. My area of work is community development, the people not the infrastructure. My knowledge of natural resource management is limited (but enough to know that water and other natural resources are one of the key issues of the conflict) so I want to learn more. I was working in Gaza just before the disengagement (had to leave early in case I got caught up and fenced in) during my time there I met with a few Europeaid/UN staff who were working on addressing the quality of the water which I can confirm was in a very poor state then.
As you will know there has been talk for some time about water wars in the region. See below for a couple of links from the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/677547.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2949768.stm
Report This Comment
sorry ,i in turn was being pawky , although i realised instantly i saw the result , that irony is difficult in two dimensions , some of the most considered people i have known, would have described themselves as anarchists .
as you know i believe ALL the water in Palestine belongs to Palestinians ,the fact that one particular religious grouping wants to abrogate it almost exclusively to themselves , is not a matter for polite discussion , but struggle and resistance . the prospect of a two state solution is becoming less and less realistic , it is only a matter of time before the provision of water becomes a matter to be considered by ALL Palestinians whether they be Jews or Arabs . let it be decided democratically , when historical Palestine finally becomes democratic
Report This Comment
Oops! Yes I see what you meant now, Linda.
I agree, sharing of all natural resources will have to be decided democratically. Any discussions will have to include the immediate neighbouring countries who also have a stake in the issue for example Jordan who, I believe, are currently “buying back” water from Israel.
Report This Comment
Anyhoos, I’ll leave it at that for tonight as the process of checking your comments have been posted it a tad irritating at this time of night. Hopefully the tech folk will have sorted this out by tomorrow.
Report This Comment
thatscottishwoman,
Did you think that the people were so perfect that they did not need to drink water this illustrates the deep flaws in your utopian politics and thought processing, water wars have been an issue for decades.
Report This Comment
Sorry Goy I don’t understand your reasoning in the first part of your post. As to the second part, yes I know that water wars have been an issue for decades, I tried to illustrate that from posting an article from 2000 which although only a decade ago illustrates the point.
Report This Comment
you make my point ……
Report This Comment
Interesting that the BBC makes no mention of the efforts by Syria a few years ago (can’t remember when, but in the last decade) to divert far more of the Jordan for its own use. IMHO Israel has not been closer to a all out war, than it was then.
“the quality of the water which I can confirm was in a very poor state then” – thanks for the confirmation. I do accept that the conflict has made it worse though.
If you are interested in the politics and economics of water supply in the developing world, have a read of this: http://www.policynetwork.net/environment/publication/water-provision-poor-how-ideology-muddies-debate
Report This Comment
Thanks for the link, Kobi. I have work today so will read it later.
“I do accept that the conflict has made it worse though.” Indeed and that is why I think the CS Monitor article is important in terms of pointing out how the conflict impacts on the daily lives of the people of Gaza. Clean and freely available water is a fundamental human need and something we in the West take for granted we should know that others do not have access to it and work to ensure that even in conflict zones it is available to all. As I mentioned in an earlier post much of the US media has dehumanised the Palestinian people (particularly the citizens of Gaza) via their anti Arab propaganda and many US citizens have accepted this without question. I believe articles such as the CS Monitor’s can go some way to address this.
Report This Comment
“As I mentioned in an earlier post much of the US media has dehumanised the Palestinian people (particularly the citizens of Gaza) via their anti Arab propaganda and many US citizens have accepted this without question.”
I would accept that to a certain extent. What I would also maintain is that the establishment in much of Europe tries to maintain a simple narrative on the whole Arab-Israeli conflict, that boils down to poor Arabs, nasty Israel (but we need to support their right to exist only because we feel guilty about the Holcaust), occupied land, all Arabs there from time immemorial, settlements the cause of all the problems, etc etc etc and you see it in areas as diverse as the BBC’s recent “A Walk in Jerusalem”, to comments from people on various web boards like this and others, where they pop in, spout a few of the approved cliches, and then rarely respond to detailed rebuttal. I can respond in such cliches very easily myself, but it gets us nowhere.
The whole conflict and the history is mightily complex, and the devil is often in the detail. The reporting of the building of new housing in eastern part of Jerusalem is a case in point. Rarely is any of the history behind the area explored, the Jews who were forced to leave their homes there, the destruction of synagogues and cemeteries, etc etc. Yet no piece on the conflict seems to be complete without a dispossessed Arab.
It comes across a concerted effort to create victims and oppressors, and to demonise and dehumanise Israelis, most of whom just want to live in peace.
Report This Comment
Kobi: “Rarely is any of the history behind the area explored[....]“ I agree. Whilst there is no doubt that the international community has the potential and opportunity to play an important and positive role in building a lasting legacy of peace in the region; this conflict (or any other conflict for that matter) will never be solved if all protagonists don’t recognise each conflicting party’s narrative, history and human rights. It is the international community’s duty (governments, supranationals, the media and civil society) to facilitate this process. If we fail to do so we become what we seek to condemn, we plunge into the abyss that Hannah Arendt names “the banality of evil”.
Report This Comment
“recognise each conflicting party’s narrative, history and human rights”
True, however each should not be necessarily accorded equal weight. The parts of the narrative that are clearly myth should be treated as such.
Report This Comment
@thatscottishwoman.
Come on thatscottishwoman in your utopian fantasy world again HAMAS, P.A., O.I.C. and the rest of ummah do not even recognise their own peoples human rights or those of non-believers in lands they subjugate as for any historical narrative that is only for twisting for propaganda purposes.
Ahmadinejad not only hates Israel he also hates persia and its people.
Report This Comment
Goy, I fear you have become what you seek to condemn and have fallen into the abyss.
Allow me to assist you in the climb back to sanity:
http://www.bbfladdersplatforms.co.uk/
Report This Comment
And for you thatscottishwoman, for mankind to stare into the abyss is terror, to daydream of the abyss is willful annihilation. -Goy.
Report This Comment