Sickening. Sad to say, Israel could eliminate the last Hamas and free the normal Palestinians who are not brainwashed and another malevolent force will emerge to take its place. I feel bad for the normal Palestinians, who even other Arab nations will not accept, but they are pawns in a much bigger game. Some force wants Jews gone and Israel erased. Until that is faced, no peace.
The most important thing for all people on this planet facing immenent death by nuclear obliteration to remember is that in civilizations waning years, America had no mean tweets coming from the White House.
Indeed, so will we all. Perhaps our Blue Haired and Blue voting friends with bathe in their moral superiority when the mushroom clouds begin sprouting. They will prove Pink Floyd wrong as we won't all be equal in the end. Our betters will just be better. . .
One comfort is they won’t be targeting my place in the Smokies. They’ll be targeting Blue cities. If America can’t return to rational conduct that improves civilization during peace, perhaps we’ll do it recovering from nuclear devastation, the silver lining of which would be a marked decrease in Blue voters.
The first act of the postwar government must be to find every bunker--the Greenbrier, Cheyenne Mountain etc--and fill the external air intakes with cement. The decendents of this generation of bunglers should have no say in the rebuilding of society.
Chris, not leaving. You make too much sense. Sad to see that there are folks who have appreciated your analysis up to this point (7 Oct) who can no longer tolerate it. I think it is a reminder how important it is that each of us reach outside of our preferred sources for information that might challenge our priors.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media spent yesterday throwing every basic journalistic practice out the window in pursuit of a sordid little narrative that has led to mass protests and riots around the globe, attacks on Jewish symbols, and the cancelation of bilateral meetings between the president and his counterparts in Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority. By uncritically spouting incredibly weak propaganda without evidence, they've turned up the temperature and made peace all the more unlikely.
The only solution to this is the people of Israel must stand up and condemn the behavior of their own government! If not, every Jew in the entire world will be in danger. The only war we should all be fighting and supporting is the war against EVIL! The neocon scum in Washington and throughout the entire world who advocate wars solely for their own selfish reasons. I think we all pray for the day people stand up and eradicate the world of this vermin so we all may finally live in peace, solidarity and prosperity! Between the constant wars, Covid bioterrorism and the lethal injections how many more millions and perhaps billions of people need to be deliberately murdered before people revolt? This has surpassed the greatest crimes against humanity. There are no words to describe this degree of barbarism. It's those who're in charge who must be stopped.
I don't know, man. Since the vax mandates, I've been so black pilled, I'm pretty much over it at this point.
I will do everything I can to make sure my own children survive whatever is coming, but we're ruled over by morons and psychopaths, so other than being armed, being able to survive in the house for a month or two, and having some sort of bug-out plan, there's not much anyone like me can do.
I've almost reached a zen-like state of helplessness. There's no point in worrying any more.
If you ever feel like reflecting on that topic in a blog post, I’d want to read it!
Feels like some sort of black pill-induced apathy has been the story of my life the past two years. Only now feeling some positive forces motivating me to get going again.
I agree with you No Name, "There's no point in worrying any more."
I too have been taking steps, for many years, to provide my grandkids and great-grandkids with the means, and tools, to help them survive what's coming.
I did not expect to live long enough to personally witness the collapse of the freest, richest society the world has ever known. Though at the rate we're going...
For me, the bright spot is the number of people who seem to be awakening to the fact that the issue is not political or cultural or economic, but spiritual. I think that unless there is a Great Awakening greater than any we’ve experienced in the past, this world is nearing its end. My faith in Jesus gives me hope.
““Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
I have family ties to Israel, have visited multiple times and wish that the Palestinians would live peacefully with Jews. Unfortunately, the concept of a Palestinian people distinct from Syrians and Jordanians and other Arabs was developed and fostered to change the narrative about Israel as a heroic state of Jewish survivors returning to their homeland into Israel and Jews as oppressors. The Palestinian cause always has been about the elimination of Israel more than the Palestinians. It is central to Hamas.
For Jews to live in Israel, Hamas and its culture of pathological Jew-hatred has to be crushed. Maybe then Palestinians, like the Germans after WW II could recover from their pathological Jew-hatred and imagine living in peace with Israel.
Imagine how different the Middle East would be today if, after Oslo in 1993, the Palestinian Authority revised Palestinian schools’ curriculum to feature peaceful coexistence with Israel instead of vile anti-Semitic indoctrination. Most Palestinians under 40 today would be for peace and coexistence and probably would be living in a Palestinian state at peace with Israel. What a lost a lost opportunity.
The current conflict started exactly as it was designed to do, 74 years ago, when Balfour's evil seed sprouted. And WHERE was Balfour's Farm?....And the original evil seed greenhouse & nursery where those evil seeds were first propagated?....Nobody recalls root causes anymore.... MANufacture of life is wrong. Our 2 Mothers had it right. Let's start heeding Mother Earth and Mother nature again....
First and foremost, good on ya for sticking to it despite the slings and arrows sent your way (I had to pause and look up “whether a sling in that idiomatic usage can be “sent,” and I’m still not clear so I claim creative license, trusting the reader to understand my meaning!).
As a blogger since 2011, one of my regrets right now is over the past few years, too often I’ve allowed the critics to silence me before I even get started.
Anyway, I just want you to know that while I don’t agree with you on some things in this post, I’ll still keep reading you. Why? First, the same point “Old and in the Way”--we need to consciously cultivate media from a variety of sources with various perspectives.
How I determine whether to give my time to a writer is whether I believe they are speaking in good faith (i.e. not propaganda designed to manipulate me) and then, important here, their writing is enjoyable to read in some way. As a writer, I appreciate pieces that have craft. I also appreciate unique voices. Personally, I think the more one writes earnestly, the more one both develops that craft and that voice.
Like you, I came of age in a world where people could discuss issues even if they disagreed. This is no longer tolerated in the US. I saw it coming when all of a sudden, there was a thing called a "hate crime." And now seemingly everything is a hate crime, and disagreeing with crazy people make you a -phobe.
Keep on writing, Chris - mostly because you know you're driven to do so. You're a funny, rational person doing a painful job.
“…we need to consciously cultivate media from a variety of sources with various perspectives.”
Only if the source deals with facts, reality and the logical consequences of recommended policies. I decline to waste time on ppl who think pulling the plug in a bathtub will drain only the front half b/c that was their intention.
You said it, Bryan. My life would be teeny tiny indeed if I only listened to the voices I agreed with. In fact, eventually I'd just be listening to my own. Hmmm... I feel a Dr. Seuss-like book coming on...
"Perhaps one day we can find something on the planet that we’re willing to not subsidize. Finnish cheesemakers?"
I find your hatred of Finnish cheesemakers to vicious and appalling. Haven't Finnish cheesemakers suffered enough from the brutal genocide directed against them by the powerful anti-Finnish-cheesemaker conspiracy? The blood of Finnish cheesemakers, and perhaps their cheese? will be on your hands!!!
The worst thing that happened to Finnish cheesemakers was the "western" sanctions imposed on Russia in 2014. They lost the Russian market and now Russia makes its own cheese.
We must fund Finnish cheesemakers to offset the idiotic sanctions Europe is paying dearly to uphold! Just a bit longer and we'll win.
The hospital story yesterday was highly revealing. Check out this post at Ace of Spades: https://ace.mu.nu/archives/406659.php Good stuff — particularly the section about NBC News "disinformation expert" Ben Collins, who was completely sucked in by Hamas propaganda. Yet they don't understand why we don't trust them and, often, despise them.
Chris, if any of your subscribers can’t, or won’t, see the common sense logic and absolute humanity of your thoughts on this Israel v Hamas mess, and insist your comments are some sort of dog whistle for one side or the other, they need to go. They’ve lost the thread of decency and attraction to the “light.” They’re miserable, lost creatures masquerading as humans. Good bye and good riddance.
Yes. It was harsh. I suppose I’m finished with “pretending” that most folks are open to dialogue. Based on their vitriol, those commenters were not. The fight we find ourselves in is too serious to waste our time and energy on the close minded. Find the potential champions for freedom and invest in them.
Just to be clear, my personal philosophy is to seek the common ground... to focus on points of agreement and then ask good questions. I learned the hard way during the scamdemic that it’s easier to fool people than to convince them they’ve been fooled. It’s like wrestling with pigs. In the end, you end up covered in mud and realize the pigs really enjoyed it.
I love your posts and always read yours first. Thank you for investing yourself in this.
There is nothing new in their behavior. Most likely, unable to willfully debate any subject. No open mindedness. Just one take. One stance. The Whip is right! Good riddance.
Relax, he was preaching in private to the Choir Director....so no eavesdropping, that's cheating!....lol....the pus of soul rot must be expressed, like popping a zit, or lancing a boil. Same idea, but rhetorically....
My position on this would probably be categorized by many as callous, but here goes: they both suck. Hamas has done terrible things, yes. Absolutely. So has Israel. That isn't whataboutism, it's "there are no good guys here". I feel the same way about Israel/Palestine as I do about border disputes in post-Soviet states: horrible, yes, I'm sure, but not my circus, not my monkeys, not my problem.
If they want to fight, let them. I want no part of it.
That said, where I see this going is:
1) conservatives, particularly of the evangelical variety and shepherded by the neo variety, will line up to support Our Greatest Ally The Only Democracy In The Middle East, giving a green light (and plenty of money) to go full ethnic cleansing in Gaza, thus
2) Leading to the expansion of the conflict as Hezbollah, and maybe Iran, get pulled in, which
3) Will result in a lot of displaced Muslims, who
4) Their coreligionists and woke supporters in the West will clamor to be resettled in Europe and North America, thereby
5) yielding a win/win for the regime, which gets the two things they love most of all: war and third world immigration. Invade the World, Invite the World.
Unfortunately, I think you have an accurate read on the GAE's objectives. "Invade the world, invite the world" is a perfect summary of their game plan. And then these international conflicts become domestic ones, with western capitals looking indistinguishable from cities in the Middle East this past week.
You are not the only one losing subscribers because you have a nuanced view. I have read similar comments on other substacks. You do quality work, Chris. Keep it up and say goodbye to the idiots who are only happy living in echo chambers.
I'm a historian, and I have a hard time seeing a good way out of this situation. How many innocents are there in Gaza? I don't know. History does not say much for their innocence. Islamic conquests have always been brutal with no regard for what they consider inhuman life--that is anyone who doesn't submit to Allah. Unlike the voices you hear in the streets of the West, the Geneva Conventions allow for self-defense in kind. Use mustard gas on the US, the Geneva Conventions would allow the US to use mustard gas in return. Any other policy would be martyrdom.
World War II was waged against civilians more than soldiers and armies. The American forces tried "precision strategic bombing" and found it was not only ineffective but self-destructive, losing up to 40% of their bombers and personnel on every mission with little effect on war production by Germany. The Germans had already tried to wipe London off the face of the earth, by targeting civilians by late 1940. By summer of 1942 they had also methodically followed a policy of executing Jews and sometimes Ukranians for the crime of existing. They did it enthusiastically just as Hamas machine-gunned, raped, and beheaded unarmed civilians.
After WWII, America spent a lot of money and effort at writing propaganda to deprogram both Germans and Japanese, transforming their societies in the process, because it was only a minority in both countries who refused to believe the lies, boasts, and grievances of their own leaders. Could the Israelis do that to the Gazans? Hamas has controlled life in Gaza for decades, inculcating hatred and dehumanization of Jews (and Americans--remember Iran considers us the Great Satan to Israel's Little Satan). Does anyone believe "world opinion" would stand for such a thing from Israel? Israel has been publicly accused of genocide for decades in the streets and the halls of governments. Why wouldn't they be tempted to adopt a policy of the only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian if that is already what everyone tells them they have done since 1948?
Don't be lulled into Hannah Arendt's delusion of "the banality of evil". Eichmann lied his ass off, and she fell for it. Read any account of the death camps and massacres from survivors and witnesses. People have to be taught to hate, the song says, but, trust me, they have been taught very well throughout history.
Do you want peace? The historical path to peace from ape tribes to Genghis Khan has been, kill all the men, rape all the women, so their loyalty to their former nation/race is mollified by their loyalty to their progeny, or salt the earth, and carry away anyone left alive to a far country to be slaves.
If you refuse to allow Israel to take full control of Gaza, and its schools for decades to deprogram the hatred Gazaans been taught, then why would you not expect them to eventually live up to the reputation you have saddled them with?
As I said at the beginning, I see no good way out of this. We are now left with the least bad of possible choices whatever that may be. In Mein Kampf, Hitler was not shy about his goals, so when you hear crowds chant, "From the river to the sea," you'd best take those people at their word, and decide what to do about those who want you to die.
Near term best you can do is lay the foundation for the long term. In this case the near term goal is to eradicate Hamas with maximal precision. This is why Israel told the Gazans to go south, to save as many innocents as possible from the impending crushing blow. Incredibly enlightening how many try to obstruct that. These acts confirmed their allegiance to something other than the lives of the people. Lots of possible motives there but anything other than trying to save human life is repugnant.
Israel must destroy Hamas to make any real change. The wild card is Iran, and we do not have a competent president (Trump) to keep them in their corner. Instead we have a ruling class of corruptocrats whose only game is corruption, using their only tools of money and favors. Tools which do not have a history of utility in persuading religious maniacs.
If Hamas can be eradicated that is sufficient change to require a new balance of power in the Middle East.
Agree. The only reason Germany and Japan are allies today is because we beat them until they submitted. I see no other option for Israel. It won’t be pretty but will actually save lives in the long run.
As an aside read “The sword and the scimitar” and tell if Hamas’ actions last week are bot reminiscent.
Thank you for remaining level-headed, Chris, and refusing to jump on the war-crimes bandwagon because violence somehow justifies violence against innocent Palestinians just trying to live their lives without being bombed into oblivion by self-righteous, raging, jingoistic tyrants, propagandists, and indignation-signalers who have no skin in the game.
Just trying to live ... until they're old enough to kill Jews themselves.
Do you have any idea what the culture is like there? Maybe if it weren't for Hamas, the schools in Gaza would be all bunnies and rainbows and peaceful coexistence with all mankind.
And I just remembered the open letter in the NYRB from alleged public intellectuals:
"On Saturday, after sixteen years of siege, Hamas militants broke out of Gaza."
https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/10/14/an-open-letter-from-participants-in-the-palestine-festival-of-literature/
Again, counterproductive. Speaking of peace in ways that are extremely unlikely to produce it.
Sickening. Sad to say, Israel could eliminate the last Hamas and free the normal Palestinians who are not brainwashed and another malevolent force will emerge to take its place. I feel bad for the normal Palestinians, who even other Arab nations will not accept, but they are pawns in a much bigger game. Some force wants Jews gone and Israel erased. Until that is faced, no peace.
The most important thing for all people on this planet facing immenent death by nuclear obliteration to remember is that in civilizations waning years, America had no mean tweets coming from the White House.
I will be comforted by this in our dying moments.
Indeed, so will we all. Perhaps our Blue Haired and Blue voting friends with bathe in their moral superiority when the mushroom clouds begin sprouting. They will prove Pink Floyd wrong as we won't all be equal in the end. Our betters will just be better. . .
One comfort is they won’t be targeting my place in the Smokies. They’ll be targeting Blue cities. If America can’t return to rational conduct that improves civilization during peace, perhaps we’ll do it recovering from nuclear devastation, the silver lining of which would be a marked decrease in Blue voters.
The first act of the postwar government must be to find every bunker--the Greenbrier, Cheyenne Mountain etc--and fill the external air intakes with cement. The decendents of this generation of bunglers should have no say in the rebuilding of society.
You're pretty nice to call them bunglers. I think they're a lot worse than that, actively trying to kill off a large portion of the global population.
I have a thesaurus full of words I would have liked to use to describe our feudal/futile ruling class, but I was reaching my reply word limit.
Oops…just remembered. Blue voters never die, even if they reach 10,000°F.
Chris, not leaving. You make too much sense. Sad to see that there are folks who have appreciated your analysis up to this point (7 Oct) who can no longer tolerate it. I think it is a reminder how important it is that each of us reach outside of our preferred sources for information that might challenge our priors.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media spent yesterday throwing every basic journalistic practice out the window in pursuit of a sordid little narrative that has led to mass protests and riots around the globe, attacks on Jewish symbols, and the cancelation of bilateral meetings between the president and his counterparts in Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority. By uncritically spouting incredibly weak propaganda without evidence, they've turned up the temperature and made peace all the more unlikely.
https://www.euphoricrecall.net/p/the-real-misinformation-merchants
I agree that they turned up the temperature for very poor reasons and in remarkably sloppy ways. It's painful to watch.
The only solution to this is the people of Israel must stand up and condemn the behavior of their own government! If not, every Jew in the entire world will be in danger. The only war we should all be fighting and supporting is the war against EVIL! The neocon scum in Washington and throughout the entire world who advocate wars solely for their own selfish reasons. I think we all pray for the day people stand up and eradicate the world of this vermin so we all may finally live in peace, solidarity and prosperity! Between the constant wars, Covid bioterrorism and the lethal injections how many more millions and perhaps billions of people need to be deliberately murdered before people revolt? This has surpassed the greatest crimes against humanity. There are no words to describe this degree of barbarism. It's those who're in charge who must be stopped.
I agree, the vaxx mandates were the worst crime against humanity ever.
https://patrick.net/post/1377537/2022-11-03-everyone-who-imposed-toxxine-mandates
Keep it up. I love your writing. We need all the reasonable people we can get.
Let em go back to Twitter and throw their fits there.
Your take is totally reasonable man
I don't know, man. Since the vax mandates, I've been so black pilled, I'm pretty much over it at this point.
I will do everything I can to make sure my own children survive whatever is coming, but we're ruled over by morons and psychopaths, so other than being armed, being able to survive in the house for a month or two, and having some sort of bug-out plan, there's not much anyone like me can do.
I've almost reached a zen-like state of helplessness. There's no point in worrying any more.
Fighting the black pill is a daily fight. I feel it all the time.
If you ever feel like reflecting on that topic in a blog post, I’d want to read it!
Feels like some sort of black pill-induced apathy has been the story of my life the past two years. Only now feeling some positive forces motivating me to get going again.
I agree with you No Name, "There's no point in worrying any more."
I too have been taking steps, for many years, to provide my grandkids and great-grandkids with the means, and tools, to help them survive what's coming.
I did not expect to live long enough to personally witness the collapse of the freest, richest society the world has ever known. Though at the rate we're going...
For me, the bright spot is the number of people who seem to be awakening to the fact that the issue is not political or cultural or economic, but spiritual. I think that unless there is a Great Awakening greater than any we’ve experienced in the past, this world is nearing its end. My faith in Jesus gives me hope.
““Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Matthew 7:13-14 ESV
I have family ties to Israel, have visited multiple times and wish that the Palestinians would live peacefully with Jews. Unfortunately, the concept of a Palestinian people distinct from Syrians and Jordanians and other Arabs was developed and fostered to change the narrative about Israel as a heroic state of Jewish survivors returning to their homeland into Israel and Jews as oppressors. The Palestinian cause always has been about the elimination of Israel more than the Palestinians. It is central to Hamas.
For Jews to live in Israel, Hamas and its culture of pathological Jew-hatred has to be crushed. Maybe then Palestinians, like the Germans after WW II could recover from their pathological Jew-hatred and imagine living in peace with Israel.
Imagine how different the Middle East would be today if, after Oslo in 1993, the Palestinian Authority revised Palestinian schools’ curriculum to feature peaceful coexistence with Israel instead of vile anti-Semitic indoctrination. Most Palestinians under 40 today would be for peace and coexistence and probably would be living in a Palestinian state at peace with Israel. What a lost a lost opportunity.
I think it comes eventually, but I think it was just set back by fifty years.
The current conflict started exactly as it was designed to do, 74 years ago, when Balfour's evil seed sprouted. And WHERE was Balfour's Farm?....And the original evil seed greenhouse & nursery where those evil seeds were first propagated?....Nobody recalls root causes anymore.... MANufacture of life is wrong. Our 2 Mothers had it right. Let's start heeding Mother Earth and Mother nature again....
must be crushed?
First and foremost, good on ya for sticking to it despite the slings and arrows sent your way (I had to pause and look up “whether a sling in that idiomatic usage can be “sent,” and I’m still not clear so I claim creative license, trusting the reader to understand my meaning!).
As a blogger since 2011, one of my regrets right now is over the past few years, too often I’ve allowed the critics to silence me before I even get started.
Anyway, I just want you to know that while I don’t agree with you on some things in this post, I’ll still keep reading you. Why? First, the same point “Old and in the Way”--we need to consciously cultivate media from a variety of sources with various perspectives.
How I determine whether to give my time to a writer is whether I believe they are speaking in good faith (i.e. not propaganda designed to manipulate me) and then, important here, their writing is enjoyable to read in some way. As a writer, I appreciate pieces that have craft. I also appreciate unique voices. Personally, I think the more one writes earnestly, the more one both develops that craft and that voice.
Anyway, I thank you for sharing yours!
I try to at least be interesting, in case I turn out to be wrong.
And unlike many of the monsters you write about, you have occasionally been, and admitted to being, wrong. Keep on writing. Please.
Like you, I came of age in a world where people could discuss issues even if they disagreed. This is no longer tolerated in the US. I saw it coming when all of a sudden, there was a thing called a "hate crime." And now seemingly everything is a hate crime, and disagreeing with crazy people make you a -phobe.
Keep on writing, Chris - mostly because you know you're driven to do so. You're a funny, rational person doing a painful job.
“…we need to consciously cultivate media from a variety of sources with various perspectives.”
Only if the source deals with facts, reality and the logical consequences of recommended policies. I decline to waste time on ppl who think pulling the plug in a bathtub will drain only the front half b/c that was their intention.
You said it, Bryan. My life would be teeny tiny indeed if I only listened to the voices I agreed with. In fact, eventually I'd just be listening to my own. Hmmm... I feel a Dr. Seuss-like book coming on...
While I agree with you, I’m also all in favor of a Dr. Seuss-like book being created!
Roger that. I started working on it yesterday!
"Perhaps one day we can find something on the planet that we’re willing to not subsidize. Finnish cheesemakers?"
I find your hatred of Finnish cheesemakers to vicious and appalling. Haven't Finnish cheesemakers suffered enough from the brutal genocide directed against them by the powerful anti-Finnish-cheesemaker conspiracy? The blood of Finnish cheesemakers, and perhaps their cheese? will be on your hands!!!
Lmao!!
The worst thing that happened to Finnish cheesemakers was the "western" sanctions imposed on Russia in 2014. They lost the Russian market and now Russia makes its own cheese.
We must fund Finnish cheesemakers to offset the idiotic sanctions Europe is paying dearly to uphold! Just a bit longer and we'll win.
If only it were that simple.
The hospital story yesterday was highly revealing. Check out this post at Ace of Spades: https://ace.mu.nu/archives/406659.php Good stuff — particularly the section about NBC News "disinformation expert" Ben Collins, who was completely sucked in by Hamas propaganda. Yet they don't understand why we don't trust them and, often, despise them.
Chris, if any of your subscribers can’t, or won’t, see the common sense logic and absolute humanity of your thoughts on this Israel v Hamas mess, and insist your comments are some sort of dog whistle for one side or the other, they need to go. They’ve lost the thread of decency and attraction to the “light.” They’re miserable, lost creatures masquerading as humans. Good bye and good riddance.
Harsh, man, harsh. Hope to see some people find a way to talk together. But if they can't....
Yes. It was harsh. I suppose I’m finished with “pretending” that most folks are open to dialogue. Based on their vitriol, those commenters were not. The fight we find ourselves in is too serious to waste our time and energy on the close minded. Find the potential champions for freedom and invest in them.
Just to be clear, my personal philosophy is to seek the common ground... to focus on points of agreement and then ask good questions. I learned the hard way during the scamdemic that it’s easier to fool people than to convince them they’ve been fooled. It’s like wrestling with pigs. In the end, you end up covered in mud and realize the pigs really enjoyed it.
I love your posts and always read yours first. Thank you for investing yourself in this.
There is nothing new in their behavior. Most likely, unable to willfully debate any subject. No open mindedness. Just one take. One stance. The Whip is right! Good riddance.
Relax, he was preaching in private to the Choir Director....so no eavesdropping, that's cheating!....lol....the pus of soul rot must be expressed, like popping a zit, or lancing a boil. Same idea, but rhetorically....
Amen!!
My position on this would probably be categorized by many as callous, but here goes: they both suck. Hamas has done terrible things, yes. Absolutely. So has Israel. That isn't whataboutism, it's "there are no good guys here". I feel the same way about Israel/Palestine as I do about border disputes in post-Soviet states: horrible, yes, I'm sure, but not my circus, not my monkeys, not my problem.
If they want to fight, let them. I want no part of it.
That said, where I see this going is:
1) conservatives, particularly of the evangelical variety and shepherded by the neo variety, will line up to support Our Greatest Ally The Only Democracy In The Middle East, giving a green light (and plenty of money) to go full ethnic cleansing in Gaza, thus
2) Leading to the expansion of the conflict as Hezbollah, and maybe Iran, get pulled in, which
3) Will result in a lot of displaced Muslims, who
4) Their coreligionists and woke supporters in the West will clamor to be resettled in Europe and North America, thereby
5) yielding a win/win for the regime, which gets the two things they love most of all: war and third world immigration. Invade the World, Invite the World.
The only way to win is not to play.
Unfortunately, I think you have an accurate read on the GAE's objectives. "Invade the world, invite the world" is a perfect summary of their game plan. And then these international conflicts become domestic ones, with western capitals looking indistinguishable from cities in the Middle East this past week.
You are not the only one losing subscribers because you have a nuanced view. I have read similar comments on other substacks. You do quality work, Chris. Keep it up and say goodbye to the idiots who are only happy living in echo chambers.
I'm a historian, and I have a hard time seeing a good way out of this situation. How many innocents are there in Gaza? I don't know. History does not say much for their innocence. Islamic conquests have always been brutal with no regard for what they consider inhuman life--that is anyone who doesn't submit to Allah. Unlike the voices you hear in the streets of the West, the Geneva Conventions allow for self-defense in kind. Use mustard gas on the US, the Geneva Conventions would allow the US to use mustard gas in return. Any other policy would be martyrdom.
World War II was waged against civilians more than soldiers and armies. The American forces tried "precision strategic bombing" and found it was not only ineffective but self-destructive, losing up to 40% of their bombers and personnel on every mission with little effect on war production by Germany. The Germans had already tried to wipe London off the face of the earth, by targeting civilians by late 1940. By summer of 1942 they had also methodically followed a policy of executing Jews and sometimes Ukranians for the crime of existing. They did it enthusiastically just as Hamas machine-gunned, raped, and beheaded unarmed civilians.
After WWII, America spent a lot of money and effort at writing propaganda to deprogram both Germans and Japanese, transforming their societies in the process, because it was only a minority in both countries who refused to believe the lies, boasts, and grievances of their own leaders. Could the Israelis do that to the Gazans? Hamas has controlled life in Gaza for decades, inculcating hatred and dehumanization of Jews (and Americans--remember Iran considers us the Great Satan to Israel's Little Satan). Does anyone believe "world opinion" would stand for such a thing from Israel? Israel has been publicly accused of genocide for decades in the streets and the halls of governments. Why wouldn't they be tempted to adopt a policy of the only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian if that is already what everyone tells them they have done since 1948?
Don't be lulled into Hannah Arendt's delusion of "the banality of evil". Eichmann lied his ass off, and she fell for it. Read any account of the death camps and massacres from survivors and witnesses. People have to be taught to hate, the song says, but, trust me, they have been taught very well throughout history.
Do you want peace? The historical path to peace from ape tribes to Genghis Khan has been, kill all the men, rape all the women, so their loyalty to their former nation/race is mollified by their loyalty to their progeny, or salt the earth, and carry away anyone left alive to a far country to be slaves.
If you refuse to allow Israel to take full control of Gaza, and its schools for decades to deprogram the hatred Gazaans been taught, then why would you not expect them to eventually live up to the reputation you have saddled them with?
As I said at the beginning, I see no good way out of this. We are now left with the least bad of possible choices whatever that may be. In Mein Kampf, Hitler was not shy about his goals, so when you hear crowds chant, "From the river to the sea," you'd best take those people at their word, and decide what to do about those who want you to die.
I see some ways out that could easily play out over the course of a century. I don't see near-term ways out.
Near term best you can do is lay the foundation for the long term. In this case the near term goal is to eradicate Hamas with maximal precision. This is why Israel told the Gazans to go south, to save as many innocents as possible from the impending crushing blow. Incredibly enlightening how many try to obstruct that. These acts confirmed their allegiance to something other than the lives of the people. Lots of possible motives there but anything other than trying to save human life is repugnant.
Israel must destroy Hamas to make any real change. The wild card is Iran, and we do not have a competent president (Trump) to keep them in their corner. Instead we have a ruling class of corruptocrats whose only game is corruption, using their only tools of money and favors. Tools which do not have a history of utility in persuading religious maniacs.
If Hamas can be eradicated that is sufficient change to require a new balance of power in the Middle East.
I wish more people knew history, and could see current events through the long lens that you do. Spot on.
Agree. The only reason Germany and Japan are allies today is because we beat them until they submitted. I see no other option for Israel. It won’t be pretty but will actually save lives in the long run.
As an aside read “The sword and the scimitar” and tell if Hamas’ actions last week are bot reminiscent.
All of this. Exactly.
Thank you for remaining level-headed, Chris, and refusing to jump on the war-crimes bandwagon because violence somehow justifies violence against innocent Palestinians just trying to live their lives without being bombed into oblivion by self-righteous, raging, jingoistic tyrants, propagandists, and indignation-signalers who have no skin in the game.
And 50% of those just trying to live in Gaza are children 18 and younger, according to Glenn Greenwald. Just trying to live.....
Just trying to live ... until they're old enough to kill Jews themselves.
Do you have any idea what the culture is like there? Maybe if it weren't for Hamas, the schools in Gaza would be all bunnies and rainbows and peaceful coexistence with all mankind.
But I doubt it.
Hamas was voted in by the last generation. Hamas did not appear from thin air.
Is it really just Hamas in Gaza?
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/10/17/resurfaced-video-shows-houston-based-muslim-children-pledging-soldiers-martyrs-iranian-ayatollah/