Wretchard at his best. In an off-hand comment to his post, Belmont Club » The strike on Hamas Richard Fernandez sees what others prefer not to see:
Maybe the root of this conflict isn't "land," "statehood," or even religion. Maybe its about preserving fighting and terrorism as a way of life; as a business. Palestine is an alibi for anything, but mostly it is the justification for a mode of employment, a whole series of professions, a whole raft of contractors, a self-sustaining funding network that could not exist without continuous and never-ending war. This monster has already consumed the Palestinians; stolen their future, made a mockery of their hopes.
But sometimes I wonder if the West is any better off. How much "aid", how many diplomatic jobs, how many tenured positions in universities, how many "activist's" careers, how much research and development, weapons manufacturing, military training programs -- how many jobs depend on keeping this abomination going.
This is too much of a good thing for everyone except the ordinary Israeli and Arab for the music to stop. Sometimes I wonder whether it is any more feasible to finish this war than it is to stop illegal immigration. Maybe nobody really wants either a fence or victory to happen. That would be too simple. One thing seems certain: whatever the UN or the diplomats propose isnât going to make a dime's worth of difference. One can't read the drivel coming from the UN without wondering whether they are joking, mad or moronic. And no, Obama's not going to fix it. We are in the real world equivalent of Groundhog Day. What worries me is the suspicion that some people want us to stay there.
There is something worse than war. It is war without end masquerading as a "peace process".Posted by Vanderleun at December 27, 2008 11:28 PM
He makes an interesting point. I'm not sure he's entirely on the money, though. Most Israelis that I've known have said they would be quite happy for this to end (with security for them, of course), and those Palestinians wealthy and sensible enough to leave have long since done so. The ones remaining behind seem to be the poor and powerless or largely invested in the status quo. But there may be an element of truth to Wretchard's comments.
Posted by: waltj at December 28, 2008 5:44 AMSounds a whole lot like the US's "defense" companies, does it not?
Posted by: Dagny at December 28, 2008 7:49 AMpreserving fighting and terrorism as a way of life = ISLAM
Posted by: reliapundit at December 28, 2008 7:54 AMThere will always be war. The reason that people continue to express surprise about this is that stupidity is also part of the human condition.
Dagny, why do you single out US's defense contractors? Are you foreign to the US and obsessed with USA derangement syndrome? Are you one of these treasonous Americans who hate everything in their country without seeing how much worse others can be?
What about the Germans, third largest arms sellers in the world? Any comment on the Russians and Chinese selling every weapon and war materiel under the sun?
Is there any arms manufacturer anywhere not hypocritical about war? Is hypocrisy not another part of our condition?
Posted by: Fred Z at December 28, 2008 8:44 AMActually, Dagny, no it doesn't.
Posted by: Charlie (Colorado) at December 28, 2008 11:39 AMThe costs of this ongoing series of wars is very large. Both to the Israelis and the Palestinians. Real peace, however, is not coming much closer.
The current operations don't seem designed to create a long term change, just to set back Hamas a year or two. Any human losses can be made up, and are not seen by Hamas as significant.
The only significant changes that can be made are territorial; Shutting down the tunnels (flooding them?) or moving populations back to where they can no longer launch rockets into Israeli populations. Conceivably, enough Gazans could migrate to Egypt to generate peaceful conditions.
There is about to be a major sub-crisis as an Iranian "Aid" ship is about to attempt to sail into Gaza.
Posted by: Fred at December 28, 2008 1:13 PMGood point. Compare "Racism, Inc." (Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson) or "Minority Grievance & Victimology, Inc." (La Raza, NOW, etc).
Posted by: KAB at December 28, 2008 3:18 PMAgreed with realipundit: Islam would not know what to do with itself were it not for its violent (and non-violent) drive for domination. They cannot rest until they have no betters or even peers, anywhere in the world. From this also comes their "lust for death". If we take these things to be true, plus their special hatred of Jews and Israel, it doesn't make much sense to say there is a willing perpetuation of a war industry all around. One group decides their master plan, the other responds in order to survive.
Posted by: Hannon at December 28, 2008 3:24 PM
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