I will cut to the chase. I don’t support either side in this conflict. I have true convictions about diplomacy and believe having hard conversations not only solves problems but nobody dies.
War solves nothing, and religious wars are even worse, they continue to have no end.
What is happening to the people of this region reminds me of the forced religious schooling of indigenous people in North America.
We could have found a way to live in solidarity with natives, instead we have enslaved them.
Both parties in this conflict have endured irreparable harm to generations of people in the name of hate. REAL HATE. The kind that makes you want to kill your fellow man based on his faith beliefs.
I am hoping that the citizens on both sides stand up and tell their supposed leadership, we don’t want to live and die this way anymore. You can read your book and I can read mine, and when we meet on the street we can agree to disagree on how we spell GOD.
We don’t have to love each other, but we do need to understand why we love the people we do.
No matter your faith in a higher power, we all have to live together, but why do we have to make it so f’king miserable?
The real problem in the Middle East is that there is a lack of a middle class in many parts of that region. The absence of a true middle class in any society, or geopolitical reality, then lends itself to militancy. We even see this happening in our own country. There is a direct political correlation, I would suggest, between the collapse of the American middle class over the last 40 years and the events of January 6th. AND, it is the real reason for our own border crisis, where the lack of a true middle class in Central and South America causes a massive exodus of people hoping for the promise land in the United States, which, do to growing income inequality, is ironically less of a promise land today than it was 40 years ago, which then only lends itself to greater political instability in our own country.
Also, there is a lot of oil money in the Middle East. So, why aren’t the richer Arab or Muslim countries in the Middle East using some of that capital to rebuild and stabilize especially areas like the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and also to further stabilize economically the Palestinian Authority? Such a strategy would do much to end the militancy in that part of the world.
Many people are protesting now asking for a cease fire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. I say cease the ground invasion by Israel and replace it with a more tactical approach to Gaza. Currently, the Israeli approach to the horrendous events of October 7th is too reminiscent of how the US handled 9/11 with ground assaults into Afghanistan, and eventually Iraq, when from day one those should have only been tactical assaults, with special forces, to root out bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.
But if you remember right, Bush41 needed a protracted war or wars, which a ground assault, or assaults, will give you in order to stay in power. Bush41 beat Kerry by wagging the dog and keeping bin Laden alive so the fear would stay alive to get Bush41 re-elected. IMO.
Now, the Israelis, or better yet the Netanyahu government, are doing the same thing. Keep in mind that Netanyahu is not popular in his country, especially after his recent and current attempts to make major judiciary changes to the structure of their overall government. He also leads a coalition government which was vulnerable prior to October 7th, and the unity government he has now formed with the opposition, due to declaring war, is not only reminiscent of what the British did during World War II between Churchill and Attlee, but it also speaks to the potential vulnerabilities of a parliamentary form of government, and especially during times of war. AND, I would allege this vulnerability lends itself to the need for Israeli political leaders to thus wag the dog like Bush41 to stay in power, but a wagging which is only reinforced by a ground assault and not a tactical one, which then only further complicates matters and only breeds further problems for Israel down the road as their current bombing and ground assault campaigns only create heightened distain on the other side in Gaza and thus further interest on the other side to be militant or to become militant.
But in closing, I find it utterly amazing, that although I do not approve of the Israel ground assault approach to this crisis, I do find it interesting and sad how far too many people on the Muslim side of this equation were far too quiet after Hamas killed 1300 Jews in one day on October 7th, but are now very vocal and opposed to Israel’s current ground assault. There should have been far greater condemnation by the Arab and or Muslim world against what Hamas did on October 7th from the start and people should not be chanting “from the river to the sea” and no one should be questioning Israel’s right to root out Hamas with a tactical approach.
“I think you mean Bush43″….. 🙂
Hamas is not the ruling class. Palestinians could have routed them out and saved Gaza. A passive stance is susceptible. It’s sad when a majority of the innocent population gets killed and cities demolished. Not long ago Netanyahu was considered the regional terrorist. The US has taken his side. Why take any side in the Middle East? They’re not on the side of democracy and don’t share American values. Religion there leads into conflict. In the US, there’s freedom of religion without political intervention.
Stay out of their business. Sell them obsolete weaponry. Use new tech to build more and better. In the process the economy here thrives. Theirs crashes. Provide humanitarian relief and slowly colonize.
When the US gets involved there, prejudice awakens here. Religious and racial division has been tame. Get back to basics. If anything, focus on gun control and runaway inflation. There’s no peace in the Middle East. Here, I’ll take another piece of pie.
Trump had 3 peace agreements in the Middle East
This is exactly what he said would happen if you voted for Joe.
You can sure bet this wouldn’t happen under his or any other strong leaders watch. Another war started under Democrat rule. When will people learn?
More blood on this administration. No denying it.
The US actually had been warning Israel for a couple of weeks about an imminent attack. We tried to stop it but the Israeli government is ran by a right wing maniac who is trying to convert his country from a Democracy to an Authoritarian/Religious state while wiping out innocent civilians, on both sides.
And BTW, Trump called dead soldiers ‘Losers’.
“Say, whatever happened to Jared Kushner’s Middle East peace plan?”…. “It must be in a stack of files along with Trump’s health care plan, huh?”…..
“Jared”: I never trust a person whose name is a past tense. It suggests that they are not forward thinking.
Lewis makes a good point. Why do you think the aircraft carriers were not in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941?
Trump has many accomplishments:
92 felonies, net worth a tenth of what’s claimed, leading a terrorist attack on the US Capital, unsecured top secret documents he took home, submarine tech secrets he gave the Chinese, legal federal gag order violations, a rape conviction, an affair with a porn star, etc.. He’s left a trail of professionals who will be doing serious time in federal prison while he commands respect and high esteem.
He’s so smart he refused to respect thousands who lost their lives in battle, he didn’t spend 8 years in a North Vietnamese bamboo cage prison with a permanent disability. Now, he’ll end up confined to Mira Largo. The only traitor in US history with secret service protection aka prison guards.
Every kid wants to grow up to be Donald Trump. He’s a hero more famous than Pablo Escobar snd Saddam Hussein. He’s got big hair but every bit a skinhead.
“Trump in prison: Do you think it’s weird that I’ve already asked for that in a letter to Santa for Christmas?”….. “Else, Dua’s new album”….. 🙂
Are you on drugs? Like, really bad drugs? Most of what you just said is a bold face lie but don’t let facts get in the way of your demented rants.
Thank God, Joe and Kami have only a year left. Praise Jesus!
I don’t think Trump will be the next prez, I also don’t think Biden will be either. LCJ, it’s your lucky day, because come Hell or High water (and a little massaging of the voting districts) and you have a Republican President. See the rePugs learned long ago they can’t win elections at the polls, so they cheat and when they lose at cheating, they cheat more.
Nikki Haley will be the Republican nominee and she will pick Tim Scott as her running mate and with their moderate approach will crush Biden.
Trump just isn’t going to make it to the finish line.
Trump is a criminal. Biden is old and senile. I’m thinking republicans will not accept Trump as their candidate. It’s to late for democrats to bring in another candidate. It’s looking like there will be a Republican President. I like Scott but it’s still early.
Yup, I’m crazy. When there’s so much evidence against Trump, his family, and his faction; he’s gonna be president of something. For now he’s present in court and will be up to and beyond the election. Watching him lose his wealth and stature is very entertaining. He could be president of the Screen Actors.
Biden v. Trump. Biden wins.
The most interesting thing about those battleground state polls, which came out recently, is the fact that of NV, GA, AZ, WI, MI, and PA, Biden only needs WS, MI, and PA to win with 272 electoral votes.
Also, in those polls, Wisconsin was Biden’s strongest state, but yet his weakest of the core states of PA, MI, and WI (which caused Hillary to lose to Trump in ’16) in 2020. The Biden camp thought they had Wisconsin by 100,000 votes in ’20, but ended up winning by only 20,000 after all of the mail in ballots were counted. But when it’s all said and done, Biden will carry PA, MI, and WI once again; and the fact that Wisconsin was Biden’s strongest state in those polls just shows how unscientific those polls were relative to recent historic trends and truth.
Plus, many think that NC is once again in play to Biden’s favor, and I also think that Florida is now in play due to how Biden has been playing a strong Jewish card with the recent events in Israel and Gaza, and that’s why Trump, to no avail, tried to create division, after the October 7th tragedy, between Netanyahu and the Jewish American community.
Biden is the only Democrat who can beat Trump in ’24. All of the other potential Democratic candidates are too defined as they are products of single issue constituencies, which Trump would easily be able to exploit in a fall campaign.
I also think that Haley is too plastic in her persona and Trump could easily exploit that, too, in a Republican debate if he had to return to the Republican debate forums to save his nomination candidacy.
Looking forward, what Democrat can beat Liz Cheney in ’28?
( and Woodstock adds: “Britney, I mean Taylor Swift?”….. )
To answer your question, Kushner is doing what he’s always done…making deals where there was no deal before:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/jared-kushners-saudi-backed-private-equity-fund-clinches-first-investment-in-israel/
Le3is, can you add this to my post above:
“Affinity Partners’ Jared Kushner (left) and Shlomo group chairman Asi Shmeltzer. (Courtesy)
Jared Kushner’s US private equity firm Affinity Partners is buying a 15 percent stake in Shlomo group’s car and credit unit, for NIS 570 million ($150 million).
The deal marks Miami-based Affinity Partners first investment in the country. As part of the investment agreement, a new subsidiary will be created with an equity valuation of NIS 3.8 billion consolidating Shlomo Holdings’ car leasing, car rentals and sales, and its credit business operations.
Shlomo Holdings will hold 85% of the new company’s issued share capital and Kushner’s private equity fund — which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund — will hold the remainder 15%. The transaction is still subject to necessary approvals, the two partners said in a statement.”
Maybe Jared’s plan is to help the middle class in the Middle East. A healthy middle class always enjoys renting a car. AND, I think OJ is now available again, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z_VpVaPLWs