Sharon's blow to Bush's plans

Financial Times ^ | April 14 2002 20:34 | Quentin Peel

[McGavin999]

Yeah, right! That's going to help a lot on staging areas. I believe that Israel has a right to defend itself, but it's defending itself at the cost of the US. If the US gets nuked or hit by bioterrorism, what's Israel going to do all alone in the world?

[arkfreepdom]

A "realistic defeat of the Arabs" is a pipe-dream, especially when you consider that something like 60% of them are under the age of 18. This may be hard for people to accept in aging countries like Israel and the United States, but these Arabs are here to stay and will be a force to be reckoned with in the 21st century.

You must be joking. The Arabs can't even rule themselves...much less any of the world. Also, despite being blessed with oil-wealth, they show every sign of wasting it all. They are only dangerous because they are weak. They are seriously in need of their own "Age of Enlightenment", but are unlikely to develop the cultural courage to start one.

[RamsNo1]

I disagree. Just look at the US Congress. They have pledged overwhelmingly their support for the Israeli cause.

[garbanzo]

The only good thing that can be said of Mr Sharon's use of tanks to terrorise the Palestinian people is that it will eventually discreditthe use of military force as a tool against terrorism.

So you guys are going to release all your IRA terrorists in jail? Well it seems as if they've grown accustomed to capitulating to terror in the UK and think it's a good policy worldwide. Or maybe just for the Jews...who knows - it's impossible to understand anyone's moral reasoning nowadays.

[krogers58]

A "realistic defeat of the Arabs" is a pipe-dream, especially when you consider that something like 60% of them are under the age of 18. This may be hard for people to accept in aging countries like Israel and the United States, but these Arabs are here to stay and will be a force to be reckoned with in the 21st century.

A little cesium and strontium could cure that problem. They are a cancer on humanity.

[Alberta's Child]

I didn't say the Arabs were going to become captains of industry or lead an effort to eradicate cancer -- I said they were a force to be reckoned with. And if people like you can't see that even now, then I have every reason to expect that events like September 11th are going to occur with boring regularity in the U.S. over the next few decades.

[Alberta's Child]

I was really thinking about the kind of reflective people who you'll find at the State Department. The problem with elected officials is that most of them have no pronciples except those of their financial supporters.

[whadizit]

Now I'm confused as to which of my posts you are referring to being confused by. LOL!!

[Alberta's Child]

They are a cancer on humanity.

If they are such a "cancer on humanity," then why are they such an important part of Israel's labor force? When Lenin said that "they will sell us the ropes we use to hang them," he sure knew what he was talking about.

[arkfreepdom]

I didn't say the Arabs were going to become captains of industry or lead an effort to eradicate cancer -- I said they were a force to be reckoned with. And if people like you can't see that even now, then I have every reason to expect that events like September 11th are going to occur with boring regularity in the U.S. over the next few decades.

And I never said they weren't dangerous. They are not a force, however....more like a nuisance. There may very well be another 9/11, but if the Arabs don't get their house in order quick they will be destroyed by the fire they started.

[whadizit]

Yeah, that's the ticket! We should stop electing people to positions of authority. Elections, pshaw, who needs them. Now, you take Venezuela for instance. That's a fine model. What does a coup every now and then hurt? And, besides, we all know how our "pronciples" are "reflected" in the State Dept.

[Lessismore]

It would figure that a guy named Quentin would write a piece like this.

Emma Peel is far more fetching.

[kcvl]

04.02.02 - Quentin Peel comments on Bush' speach

Quentin Peel comments in FT on the first State of the Union speech of George Bush. As somebody already said: a great speech, but lousy politics.

Mr Bush bracketed Iran and Iraq, two implacable foes in the Middle East, in the same conspiracy. By then throwing in Hamas, Hizbollah and the Islamic Jihad, all anti-Israeli organisations, as three of his four named members of a "terrorist underworld", the president caused alarm bells to ring in all the Arab states of the region. His speech reads like a blueprint for US policy designed by Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister.

[krogers58]

If they are such a "cancer on humanity," then why are they such an important part of Israel's labor force?

I suspect, that they haven't been contributing very much to the Israeli economy for the past 2 - 3 months. Moreover, I believe that Israel, when they do withdraw from the west bank, will erect a "Berlin" type wall, and sever all their ties to the palestinians.

When Lenin said that "they will sell us the ropes we use to hang them," he sure knew what he was talking about

Are you talking about the same Lenin, who predicted this about Communism's triumph over democracy? If so, you should, perhaps, open a newspaper once in a while, and see the results of your idol's prowess with predicting the future.

[kcvl]

Airstrikes will not bring lasting peace. Only concerted diplomatic effort can resolve the conflict that breeds fanaticism, says Quentin Peel

Published: October 14 2001 19:50

World peace is in terrible danger. As US missiles rain down on Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden's terrorist network issues new calls for a holy war, seldom have Kofi Annan and his United Nations peacemakers seemed so isolated.

Quentin Peel

The international coalition brought together in horror and sympathy over the atrocities of September 11 is very fragile. Moderate Muslim opinion is torn between fear of fundamentalism and revulsion at civilian casualties. Vital US allies such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia could face revolutions if the bombing lasts too long. There is a rising sense of panic in the US over anthrax.

And yet precisely because the present moment looks so bleak, it could and should become an extraordinary opportunity for peacemaking. It is time to attempt once more to resolve the conflicts labelled "too difficult" - the festering sores that have bred despair and given the fanatics the excuse and the environment from which to plan murder and mayhem.

If it does not sound too callous, Afghanistan is a side-show in the real campaign against global terrorism. This is just Phase I of a long conflict. Victory or defeat will only be determined by how and where Phase II is fought.

There is a powerful lobby in Washington to carry on in a military vein. Conservatives within the administration want to finish the job started at the end of the Gulf war and forcibly remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. They would like to turn America's fearsome military machine on other countries accused of "harbouring" terrorists.

There is more but I refuse to copy it.

[DentsRun]

Presumpuous? No, It's the essence of ignorance. The writer chooses to ignore that the relationship between the USA and Israel is more than strategic or political, it is one written in blood.

Once before, the US neglected its reponsibilities to the Jews, turning away refugee ships so that the occupants could be sent to the death camps and then refusing to bomb the camps themselves.

Thank all that is holy that there will be no more betrayals. Bush can prevaricate and waver but, ultimately, he knows where his obligations reside -- unlike FDR.

If you think America did nothing to help European Jews in WWII, who do you think provided the troops and equipment to defeat Hitler? When you look at all those rows of crosses stretching out into infinity in military cemeteries, don't you ever feel a little bit of gratitude for their sacrifice, giving that they were fighting the greatest enemy the Jews every had? When you look at the upwards of $80 billion American taxpayers have given to Israel over the last three decades, don't you feel the slightest appreciation for what working Americans (most of them Christian) have done for Israel?

No, instead you insult America by saying it has "betrayed" the Jews. Let me clue you in. The U.S. has no religious, moral or legal obligation whatsoever to support Israel. We do it because we choose to. If you don't like the quality and character of America's support for Israel, fine. Move to a home for the congenitally ungrateful. But don't tell us we owe anybody anything. We've done far more for other countries and other peoples than they've ever done for us.

[DentsRun]

Presumpuous? No, It's the essence of ignorance. The writer chooses to ignore that the relationship between the USA and Israel is more than strategic or political, it is one written in blood.

Once before, the US neglected its reponsibilities to the Jews, turning away refugee ships so that the occupants could be sent to the death camps and then refusing to bomb the camps themselves.

Thank all that is holy that there will be no more betrayals. Bush can prevaricate and waver but, ultimately, he knows where his obligations reside -- unlike FDR.

If you think America did nothing to help European Jews in WWII, who do you think provided the troops and equipment to defeat Hitler? When you look at all those rows of crosses stretching out into infinity in military cemeteries, don't you ever feel a little bit of gratitude for their sacrifice, giving that they were fighting the greatest enemy the Jews every had? When you look at the upwards of $80 billion American taxpayers have given to Israel over the last three decades, don't you feel the slightest appreciation for what working Americans (most of them Christian) have done for Israel?

No, instead you insult America by saying it has "betrayed" the Jews. Let me clue you in. The U.S. has no religious, moral or legal obligation whatsoever to support Israel. We do it because we choose to. If you don't like the quality and character of America's support for Israel, fine. Move to a home for the congenitally ungrateful. But don't tell us we owe anybody anything. We've done far more for other countries and other peoples than they've ever done for us.

[rmlew]

This would be far moire believable if the FT did not take an editorial stance against invading Iraq.

[rmlew]

US involvement in the European theater had nothing to do with Jews. At first it had to do with American finiancial and military support for the British. Then Japan attacked the US on December 7th and shortly there after Germany declared war on us.

[willyone]

Who cares what you take with a grain of sand. You have no say in anything so go crawl back under your rock. If you just plain don't like Jews just say so and not b.s. around with a bunch of nonsense. If your family and friends were being blown away by a bunch of so called martyrs even you would probably respond in a forceful way as the Israelis are doing.