JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Betzee
Governments, not to mention commanders on the ground, in fact prefer to avoid "asymmetric warfare" operations because they usually end without an obvious victor. That's right, nobody says "uncle," there is no white flag waved and, of course, no peace treaty is signed formalizing the end of the fighting. (This is why the US "victory" in Iraq has not been recognized, much to the chagrin of some who see a liberal media conspiracy to deny the GWB administration and those who "knew we could do it" their due.)
Most of what I know about war I learned from teaching political refugees at the start of the Gulf War in 1991. Though they had sought refuge in the US, they were very suspicious of our government and media reports "only two killed." Having lived through things like the civil war in El Salvador, where a communist insurgency was beaten back but at great civilian cost, they understandably viewed such claims skeptically.
Once the decision was made to start a bombing campaign against Hamas collateral damage was inevitable, Sailwind. It is simply impossible to carry out a military strike in one of the most densely populated parts of the world without civilian casualties. None other than Hamas is banking on this. Militants hide among the innocent knowing the world will condemn Israel for any loss of life.
The same condemnation is not leveled against suicide bombers, no matter how many bodies are carried out of a marketplace or mosque. The reason for this double standard is simple: suicide bombers are not acting to further a country's objectives. So we can't blame a government for their criminal deeds. For this reason, the US Military will always be more harshly condemned than the Madhi Army for actions that result in the loss of civilian life in Iraq.
Posted in: Israel demands monitors as part of a Gaza truce
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Betzee
There are two sets of objections, one moral and the other strategic. Motivated by the latter, Washington is in fact scrambling to effect just such an outcome. People in high places are worried that the assault on Gaza could drag on yet, in the end, fail to destroy Hamas and ultimately strengthen it. Such was the outcome of Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 2006 against Hezbollah (that was similarly applauded here on JT).
Posted in: Israel rejects 48-hour halt to Gaza assault
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Betzee
High Points:
Overhearing my neighbor's young daughter's continually expanding vocabulary in conversations with my cat, knowing I had provided her with her "first pet."
Watching (on TV) a friend win an Academy Award.
Receiving recognition for my work in the form of a hefty raise.
The election results.
Several memorable trips/vacations.
Low Points:
The stock market tanking.
Posted in: What were the highlights and lowlights of your year?
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Betzee
That's not what Gershon Shafir, an Israeli historian (based in the USA) thinks in his post "War Without End," a refreshing read because it's not aimed at straw men like "Hamas apologists" or "usual leftists":
At a strategic level, Hamas is not interested in political alternatives to armed confrontation. But whether one wants to call the Hamas strategy resistance or terrorism, the lack of a serious political plan to accompany military strategies is always counterproductive, as it is has been for Hamas and for the people of Gaza.
It will be equally counterproductive for Israel. It appears that Israeli political leaders and military planners labor under the illusion that there is a military “solution” to Hamas. The extended military operation in Gaza is expected to serve as a pedagogical tool for moderating or eliminating Hamas. But this will not work, and the idea that a ground invasion of Gaza could actually eliminate Hamas as a force in Palestinian politics is delusional. The Israeli approach is every bit as driven by militarism as Hamas’ strategy is. Beyond a certain point, it can serve no realistic political goals.
http://jeffweintraub.blogspot.com/2008/12/war-without-end-gershon-shafir.html
Posted in: Israel rejects 48-hour halt to Gaza assault
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Betzee
That is in fact the American public's opinion.
But no elected official will take such a position. Obama's reasoninng bothered me when, on a trip to Israel earlier this year, he declared: "If someone was sending rockets on my house where my daughters were sleeping at night, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Israelis to do the same thing."
Yet, as Glenn Greenwald points out in his daily salon.com column, that logic applies equally well to supporting the other side: "if my family and I were forced to live under a 4-decade foreign occupation and had our land blockaded and were not allowed to exit and my children couldn't access basic nutrition or medical treatment, I would do everything to stop it, and I would expect Palestinians to do the same thing."
Such personalization reflects nothing more than a juvenile refusal to view the world through any prism besides total self-centeredness.
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
The world has changed. The Israelis did well against conventional armies. But that's not what Hamas and Hezbollah are; Hezbollah can now project force further than it could in 2006. And it's part of the political landscape in Lebanon where it garners support at the ballot box through patronage. The Taliban, by contrast, drew support from its ability to provide a draconian form of law and order where none existed.
Most problematic for Israel is the enemy within; Arabs will outnumber Jews by 2040. And they are an increasingly radicalized bunch.
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
The problem here is that each side is afraid of appearing weak, which would invite worse aggression, and therefore won't back off.
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
Hezbollah, Hamas and the Taliban are not comparable. The former two have developed charitable networks providing food and medical assistance to those who would be hard pressed to get it elsewhere. And they compete in elections. The Taliban, by contrast, does not and has no intention of pursuing that sort of strategy to acquire political power. While in power, it denied medical care to women.
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
Sailwind,
In Israel the 2006 war is judged a failure. That provided public support for the Gaza invasion (which is high). Israelis worried they weren't taken seriously by their adversaries.
Now Palestinian militants based in southern Lebanon may be preparing to join the fray. Obviously that would mark a major escalation, and might even provoke another Israeli invasion of Lebanon, igniting a regional war. Not good.
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
[T]he Bush administration badly miscalculated the outcome when it launched a policy of democracy promotion in the region—meaning above all a headlong rush toward elections....
Radical groups are not the issue here: Terrorist organizations that pursue extreme goals through violent means have already made their choices and will not be changed one way or another by U.S. policies. But most Islamist organizations are in transition, and the U.S. reaction may have a significant impact on their evolution. Organizations such Hamas, Hezbollah, and most political parties in Iraq (including the secular Kurdish parties) are pursuing political strategies while maintaining an armed wing.
The United States has decided to tolerate the situation without more than an occasional nod toward the necessity of disbanding militias in Iraq and expressed displeasure but took no action when Hezbollah joined the Lebanese government. It is, however, taking a hard line with Hamas after its victory in Palestine on the assumption that the suspension of U.S. and European support for the Palestinian Authority will force Hamas to recognize the legitimacy of the state of Israel, disband its militia, and moderate its position. In reality, the policy could easily lead Hamas to seek support from Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other oil-rich Gulf countries.
Grand Ayatollah Sistani has now signaled his support for the Palestinians, kinda tells me which way we're gonna go here.....
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=17978&prog=zgp&proj=zdrl
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
Didn't Ariel Sharon promise to wipe out Hamas altogether? Poof! Problem solved. If he couldn't do, now what chance does the current leadership have?
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
“He became vice president well before George Bush picked him,” Wilkerson said of Cheney. “And he began to manipulate things from that point on, knowing that he was going to be able to convince this guy to pick him, knowing that he was then going to be able to wade into the vacuums that existed around George Bush—personality vacuum, character vacuum, details vacuum, experience vacuum.”
Ouch!
Posted in: Ex-Bush aides say he never recovered from Katrina
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Betzee
Why so selective? I mean Paul Wolfowitz revealed to Vanity Fair in May 2003 that the members of Bush's war cabinet had difficulty reaching a consensus on the reasons for the invasion of Iraq:
The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason, but . . . there have always been three fundamental concerns. One was weapons of mass destruction, the second is support for terrorism, the third is the criminal treatment of the Iraqi people.
I never really saw him as a Vanity Fair kinda dude. But it established the mag's credibility for gettin' the inside scoop from those connected with the GWB administration.
Posted in: Ex-Bush aides say he never recovered from Katrina
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Betzee
I was first exposed to the plight of the Palestinians during the 1970s in, of all places, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Like many American girls, I cherished her diary as a rite of passage to womanhood that was ended by monsters.
Though it won't be easy to achieve, Israelis cannot have security in the absence of Palestinian dignity.
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
The real challenge is not staying fit, but rather doing so without becoming completely self-absorbed.
I quit going to one gym where they installed mirrors, at member request, so you could look at your butt. A friend then had a set installed at her home, claiming she needed to so do for attire purposes. I'd much rather look at other people than admire my own reflection in the mirror.
Posted in: What do you do to stay fit?
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Betzee
Things may be about to change:
For years, the subject of Israel has been the biggest third rail subject we have to deal with...Any criticism of Israel was greeted with catcalls of anti-semitism, which would inevitably draw out the anti-semites...
But as the current crisis unfolds in Gaza, all that seems to have reversed itself. Although a lot of bloggers are still obviously gun shy, it looks like readers are ready to take it on, and they are doing so without letting the conversation devolve into an endless flame war....
Finally, an end to political correctness in sight on the subject of Israel.
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
Can you imagine such a view appearing in a major American newspaper? Nope, the fact the war in 2006 failed to achieve any strategic objectives doesn't seem to come into play.
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
Wow, this is gonna be hard for Laura and Condi to counteract. Maybe it's time to bring out the heavy artillery, Mommy Dearest Babs.
The Chinese are very proud their national response to the Sichuan earthquake last spring was better than that of our federal government to Katrina in 2005.
We can't afford to have a leader who's lost public confidence in power for over three years. Things have only gone from bad to worse and partly explains why our president elect enjoys a level of support not seen since Eisenhower.
Posted in: Ex-Bush aides say he never recovered from Katrina
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Betzee
Really? That's not the view expressed in a major Israeli newspaper:
Blood will now flow like water. Besieged and impoverished Gaza, the city of refugees, will pay the main price. But blood will also be unnecessarily spilled on our side. In its foolishness, Hamas brought this on itself and on its people, but this does not excuse Israel's overreaction.
The history of the Middle East is repeating itself with despairing precision. Just the frequency is increasing. If we enjoyed nine years of quiet between the Yom Kippur War and the First Lebanon War, now we launch wars every two years. As such, Israel proves that there is no connection between its public relations talking points that speak of peace, and its belligerent conduct.
In another week or two, those same pundits who called for blows and more blows will compete among themselves in leveling criticism at this war. And once again this will be gravely late.
Hezbollah was not weakened as a result of the Second Lebanon War; to the contrary. Hamas will not be weakened due to the Gaza war; to the contrary. In a short time, after the parade of corpses and wounded ends, we will arrive at a fresh cease-fire, as occurred after Lebanon, exactly like the one that could have been forged without this superfluous war.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050459.html
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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Betzee
One can certainly criticize Obama for offering nothing new. But to do that, you gotta admit GWB's "ballots and bullets" approach failed.
The Israelis chose to act between administrations. President elect Obama deferred to lame duck Bush who gave the same advice he did in 2006, "Do what you gotta do, but try to minimize civilian casualties." So we can expect the Palestinians to drag out the bodies of dead women and children. This will be greeted with, "Well you used them as human shields cause you can't fight like men. Not our fault."
Bottom line: Another problem which has been dumped in Obama's lap.
Posted in: Israeli attacks on Gaza complicate Obama's Mideast policy