As you all know, I love making things as simple as possible. I leave it up to the reader many times to learn more, ask questions and just become better informed. With my column I like to bring up things that I simplify but really do need to be dug down a bit to get a better understanding. That’s up to you. I can dig down but I find that people form their own opinions when when they look into things and learn.
Researching something on your own helps you understand a subject better I think.
The War in Gaza is a perfect example of listening to the news and then doing some research to formulate a better, more intelligent opinion. In this day and age, that is not easy to do. For one thing, news agencies are inherently biased and to me, the news is the news, I don’t need your take on it, I’ll do the heavy lifting of forming an opinion by myself.
I have sighted a few mistakes the media has made in the reporting of the war. I know that in the fog of war reporting is sketchy at first and put an intended bias on top of that, what do you get? Shoddy journalism but that’s not what I want to talk about.
What I would like to go over is where I see things going and the much bigger picture that is barely mentioned regarding this war.
First things first. We are starting to see a pushback from around the World about the Israeli’s approach to this war. The day after day bombings, the cut off of supplies, the death and destruction of innocents. Some or all of that may be true but I really don’t think we are getting the truth from anyone involved here.
Let’s start with the bombings and throw in the invasion of Gaza City. Surely innocent people have been killed and their homes have been destroyed. The devastation, no matter what your news source, is real. A lot of the pushback the Israelis have been getting is because of these nightly attacks. Is it too much? Are the wrong people suffering? What is the point of the destruction?
I will say that I understand the Israeli response and hate to see innocent people suffer but that is an unfortunate cost of war. The terrorist group that runs Gaza, Hamas, has for years shielded their soldiers and positions by using innocent families and schools and hospitals as refuges and cover respectively. I know it sucks and I totally believe that most Israelis and Jews around the World would rather see less loss of life but the Israelis did not invent the strategy, they just need to deal with it.
The siege that began in Southern Gaza may not be all on the shoulders of the Israelis. It seems that several choke points in that part of the territory were destroyed by Hamas and the Israelis have been trying to repair and rebuild those vital links. Two border crossings were definitely destroyed by Hamas and a natural gas pipeline was destroyed by those wily, brave Hamas fighters.
Apparently, making their own people suffer is a tactic that these brave warriors have been using and it’s as if being poor and basically prisoners in their own territory wasn’t enough.
No matter what side of the table you sit on you can’t disagree with a nations right to defend itself against terrorism or an unruly neighbor. The Israelis are doing just that. Over a thousand innocent people died along the border and Hamas has still not come out of their holes to say why. Even in his demented, twisted, narcissistic head, you knew where Putin stood on his invasion. These guys are cowards and while they said in the past that they represent the Palestinian people and Muslims everywhere, I am pretty sure Palestinians hate these savages as much as the Israelis do.
The bigger picture to all of this is a lot more disturbing. Israel will eventually end it somehow. Hamas will not surrender of ever give up so no matter how far into the tunnels the Israelis eventually go, they will never be able to root out these fighters. It’s not to say that the Israeli’s won’t inflict serious damage on the organization, it will. The problem is much deeper than that. The organization may have around 45,000 members actively fighting and in a normal conflict, better trained and better supplied forces usually will win and eradicate the opponent but in the Middle East it’s different.
The death of one Hamas fighter may result in two or three more taking up the cause. They in turn carry the Hamas brand of governance and terrorism forward to another generation. The Arabs and the Jews have been at odds for thousands of years and that is not going to change with the eradication (or as close to possible eradication) of Hamas. There will always be another terrorist group that was inspired by hatred and funded by Iran (or possibly any number of Arab countries).
The cycle continues war after war. Peace is a fleeting dream in the Middle East.
What does it mean for us here in the US? Our support of Israel has to be unwavering (so far it has) and we also have to remind the Israelis that restraint at times is a better tactic. However, we are not under attack and our very existence is not threatened so it’s easy for us, 4,000 miles away, to say ”take is nice and slow”.
The unrest around the country is another matter altogether. The liberal campuses around the United States are erupting in such a fervor that sometimes I want to say to these kids, “Shut up and worry about your grades”, but they are young adult expressing their opinions loudly. What concerns me more than their freedom of speech rights is that they may be demonstrating in favor of a a group of people that thinks nothing of beheading people and raping young women because they are captives.
It worries me that these people may want peace for the Palestinians but also embrace Hamas. Are they F****ng stupid?
You want to see an end to the war because innocents are being killed, fine, I get that. However when you show support for a terrorist organization, that is where I draw the line. Is our education system falling into such a ultra left wing vortex that these educators are actually condoning Hamas-like tactics? Time to rein these people in and stick to the role of educator and not indoctrinator.
The society they are clamoring for is something from the 15th century and they think thats a good thing. Woman marching on the streets of New York or Chicago in favor of a culture that treats women with zero respect.What I think might be very informative for the lot of them, ship them to Gaza City or Tehran and see how well they do.
Do they even know what they are protesting? Keep it on point, I say. You want an end to the war, fine. You want the Israelis to show some mercy on the innocent Palestians, I am ok with that as well. Show support for Hamas? Maybe rethink that idea a bit.
It is a very slippery slope here. Students and Americans in general have a right to protest anything they want. I am a huge proponent of free speech and I believe you can support anything you want. It is your right. What is also a right of all Americans is how they feel about your protests. I disagree with supporting Hamas. I support Israel. I also have the right to exclude you because of your support of Hamas.
Last week or the week before I wrote about this subject and I felt that it was a little closer to McCarthyism than I cared to get, blackballing someone because of their political beliefs. The more I thought about it though, this is not a political belief, it is outright support of a terrorist organization and that, I am sorry to say, is where I draw the line.
The last point I want to make here is political.
To start off with, I have not dug all that deeply into the next topic so forgive me for my simple mindedness.
With the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, now in place, we can get back to the business of governing. LOL. The clown show has a new head clown. OK let’s see what they are up to.
Lo and behold it’s pretty simple. Speaker Johnson wants to separate the aid packages Congress will be approving. Money for Ukraine and then money for Israel. Two separate packages, not one whole 100 billion dollar spending appropriation. I am in favor of it because I like my money spent exactly where it says it’s going to be spent. Combinations always leave a lot of wiggle room. I don’t like when the playas in Washington have wiggle room.
Sadly, I think we are starting to feel a war weariness about Ukraine. I also think this is exactly what Vladimir Putin wants. The West is tiring of spending billions and billions and seeing very small successes. Russia is grinding it out. With zero concern for the men that are dying or being crippled and the population as whole. He is their fearless leader and it isn’t over until he says it’s over. They did it in Stalingrad, they failed in Afghanistan (20 years and 150,000 lives), they will do it here. Russia’s war machine moves on because there is a supply of cash that they have and you can thank China, India and whomever else is buying their oil. This lands on the Biden administration’s shoulders. We still are the most powerful economic engine on the planet. Should we actually use that might to crater the Russian oil industry the war would end in 3 months not 3 years or 3 decades. Put pressure on China. Have the Saudis supply more oil to China, pump more oil at home, rebalance the oil economy away from Russia. Remember, the Russians produce nothing of value on the World market other than oil and maybe diamonds.Anything, including oil, can be purchased elsewhere. Yet, they still have cash coming in to produce armaments and feed the soldiers. Cut it off completely. Show some guts.
It’s simple.
Your back on track and its good to see, Excellent observations!
Truly amazing insights !!!