- Oct 30, 2000
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Originally posted by: Aimster
Just curious..
why doesnt Syria just send thousands of troops into Golan Heights and take back their land?
it is not like Israel can say anything
Uphill battle.
Originally posted by: Aimster
Just curious..
why doesnt Syria just send thousands of troops into Golan Heights and take back their land?
it is not like Israel can say anything
Originally posted by: Aimster
Just curious..
why doesnt Syria just send thousands of troops into Golan Heights and take back their land?
it is not like Israel can say anything
...
But for me, I just don't quite understand the Syrian position. Faced with a strong Turkey to the North,
having a friendly or weak Lebanon to the South is a understandable goal. But why not somewhat cozy up some to the West to hedge its bets as a Soviet Iranian proxy?---Syria just does not have the oil to benefit from a oil price rise.---why risk being bombed by Israel? But I can see that they and Turkey might get together and try to carve out some of the Kurdish oil wealth in Iraq if the opportunity presents itself.
Further reading on this (if anyone wish to) on wiki entries: Syria, Baath Party, Alawite....The UAR lasted for three years and broke apart in 1961, when a secretive military committee, which included a number of disgruntled Alawite officers, including Hafez al-Assad and Salah Jadid, helped the Ba'th Party take power in 1963. In 1966, Alawite-oriented military officers successfully rebelled and expelled the old Ba'ath that had looked to Michel Aflaq and (Sunni Muslim) Salah al-Din al-Bitar for leadership. They promoted Zaki al-Arsuzi as the "Socrates" of their reconstituted Ba'ath Party.
Iran, ever since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has risen to power, has been taking an ever increasing role in the Middle East conflict. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doctrine about the Middle East in general and Israel in particular, as being interpreted by the west, goes something like this (cliff notes):Originally posted by: Lemon law
Irans goals are clear enough---if the mid-east goes up in flames who knows what it can grab---And Uncle Sammies Iraqi problems does not bring tears to Tehran. And oil price increases are a long term goals---if nothing else a armed conflict in Lebanon makes a nice smokescreen for the nukes they need to keep Uncle Sam from getting any Iraq like ideas. But being a largely Shite nation in a a larger Islam that is mainly Sunni does present some other unique problems and opportunities.
Russia now has the largest oil reserves---but getting it developed and to market is another problem.
But oil price increases can be fostered by mid-east problems Russia can create by arming various groups.
So any comments on those points might increase understanding of some of the side problems feeding the current conflict.
It's not my doctrine, only my interpretation of it, it's him (Ahmadinejad) that put Israel in the center of it. If you want to know why Israel is so crucial for him you will have to find someone that can understand him/his doctrine better. I don?t have the slightest clue what goes on in his head.Originally posted by: Lemon law
To Kobymu,
If nothing else, an interesting read. But the things that struck me were the following.
1. The idea that only Israel prevents an arab bloc---if such a block could be put together, the presence or non-presence of Israel would make no
difference is and remains my dominant impression.
Only on the surface, maybe, on the surface, Palestinians only have 2 options, blame themselves or blame Israel (blaming the rest of the Arab world isn?t a valid option any more, after the many attempts of peace negotiation between Israel and Palestinians its either our fault or theirs), and it doesn?t take a PhD in psychology to figure out which one of these options is the 'easier' one, which one will be more applaud to by the crowds when a leader makes a public speech, which one will help you net more votes in the election*, which one sound better when you are asking the rest of the Arabs for economical assistance and so on and so on.2. The idea that the Palistinian people are having it slowly dawn on them that they are being used as pawns--but that realization just fades away (possibly because they are dumb and sub-human ?---seems to be the thrust of that latter statement )
With the inner dynamics within Palestinians politics, functions, armed organization and all that, Israel cant give hope to the Palestinians, liked I said many times before, there isn?t a single faction among all the different Palestinians faction that can 'take charge' of the Palestinians as a nation, they are too scattered, spread out too thin. Also there are too many outside forces (some are very powerful, but I don?t want to repeat myself) that are interested in divided Palestinians, divide and conquer.I personally believe the Palistinians are somewhat the key to a mid-east peace---if Israel leaves them with no hope,
basically the legacy of the past 58 years, then the problem will fester. Only if Israel is instramental in giving the Palistinians hope and something to build a future on, can the Palistinian problem be solved.----I have said it before so I will say it again---as the Palistinians go---so goes Israel---and they are the factor limiting Israel.---and given the choice netween charity
and selfishness---
What did pigs ever do to you that you hate them so much?Israel invariably chooses selfish.---which is the politics of a pig---and its why most pigs end up being bacon.
Writers? The head of Aman and the former head of the Shabak? These are not 'Writers' or historians, or even columnists we are talking about here; these are professionals, highly regarded professionals in the intelligence community, and not some people with opinions. Are the CIA head, FBI head, DoD head and NSA head..... 'Writers' ?3. While your post is well sourced, the thinking of a few writers hardly constitutes a concensus. And as historians read prior writers that think they are the voice of reason at the time. later analysis usually show such writers are unusally bad predictors of the future. The point being, there are lots of different thoughts going on---even if there is some concensus on final goals. But in a crisis---emotions rather than cold reason usually rules the day.
This is probably the biggest mistake you have, There isn?t a single or a series of actions that can make 'hatreds' go away just like that, sadly there isn?t a way to 'defuse hatreds', hatreds dies just like empires, slowly...4. Even if one accepts your version of the forces arrayed against Israel, what is misssing in action is any method to defuse hatreds---and in final analysis---the Israeli strategy is and continues to be maintaining military hegmony as the only arrow in your quiver.---with not one single word in the entire article even suggesting that Israel could do much to defuse the
hatreds.
Originally posted by: Lemon law
And to also hold their fellow arab States feet to the fire to also fund the formation of such a State.
A giant number two is to educate the Palistinians in Israeli schools---and with Israeli students co-mingled in. And both sides are likely to discover the other side is not the devil incarnate, and is instead as human as anyone else.
Once the Palistinian has some hope and something to build on---in the form of building a future---you both marginalise Hamas and reduce the tendency of Palistinians to be
be bomb throwers.
Ever heard of the boycott against Israel? Or even against companies trading with Israel? Or even against companies trading with companies trading with Israel?Israel needs to establish trading relations with its arab neighbors
You never herd about the Arabic embargo I guess, beside waging war on us a couple of time in the last 50 years, the Arab nation has put an embargo on Israeli good and commodities. We found around this by letting some Europe middle man rebrand Israeli commodities and then sell them to the Arabs, this was prevalent 20-30 years ago. Today Jordan, Egypt and Turkey enjoy an open commercial relationship with Israel.Israel needs to establish trading relations with its arab neighbors---which makes their fellow arabs somewhat dependent on Israeli goods--and proves the State of Israel belongs in a larger mid-east---and at the same time Israel can begin buying Arab goods---making them dependant on an Israel that suddenly belongs in a wider mid-east.
Were do you live in exactly? The Arabs speak Arabic, and Israeli you speak Hebrew.A giant number two is to educate the Palistinians in Israeli schools---and with Israeli students co-mingled in. And both sides are likely to discover the other side is not the devil incarnate, and is instead as human as anyone else.
Once the Palistinian has some hope and something to build on---in the form of building a future---you both marginalise Hamas and reduce the tendency of Palistinians to be
be bomb throwers.
Israel seems to want an up and running Palestinian nation better then the Palestinian do.The giant number one is for Israel to be an advocate of a Palistinians State. And to also hold their fellow arab States feet to the fire to also fund the formation of such a State.
But even then, the precursor to that action is to get the Israeli settlers off of the land set aside in the Oslo peace accords.---as in immediately.
Originally posted by: kobymu
The only course of action left is to disengage from them unilaterally.
First we will force feed them independence they may or may not be prepared to handle, most Israeli doesn?t care anymore, all they want is to get the Palestinians off their backs, we grown tried of them, if they cant handle independence that will be their problem not ours.Originally posted by: dna
Unilateral disengagement does not work, as was proven with Lebanon, and Gaza. Rockets and mortar shells have no problems crossing borders.
After they bitched and whined for it in the last 15-20 years, they can't have it, if they can deal with it, it will be their problem.Originally posted by: Lemon law
The old toss them into the desert and let them starve or die of thirst trick.