That has to be the understatement of all time. Jesus, look at what is going on. The war in Ukraine. The Chinese gearing up for some sort of conflict, be it militarily or otherwise. Afghanistan is still a disaster.
And now the Israelis are fighting a war they never wanted but fully expected.
One thing I will say is that I have been pro-Israel for as long as I can remember. They have been one of strongest allies (along with Great Britain) and have tried to maintain some sort of peace in that totally inhospitable region.
I give the Israelis props on so many different levels. They have become one of the fiercest military’s in the World and for a country barely the size of New Jersey that is impressive enough. They also have probably the best educated labor force in the World as well. All the while, defending against every mindless terrorist group on the planet. Yes, they have had support from the US on a number of levels but they still have to defend a country almost everyone in the region wants destroyed. Try that in this country.
My biggest prop is the one I think America should implement as well, mandatory military service after high school. This is just a great idea on so many levels and explains why young people in Israel will die defending their country. They have a national pride that is unmatched anywhere else. Part of that could be the survival instincts, part of that is how the younger generation is educated. They have been taught from a very young age about Israel and it’s history and the importance of surviving in an extremely unforgiving location.
There are valid arguments for and against the State of Israel and I do not profess to know or understand all of the arguments but I do know that this is not a recent occurence. The hatred for the Jews goes back thousands of years and is ingrained in the teachings in most Middle Eastern countries and that hatred is not easily overcome by peace accords and cease fires. I am not sure if it will ever end to be honest.
The one thing that is not up for argument is the methods Hamas has used and continues to use to strike out at Israel. To be frank, they have acted like 15th century barbarians and while they may have the support of some backwards Islamic countries, most of the civilized World condemns the actions.
The Israeli’s are not without fault as well and they will be taken to task for it after all is said and done but the impression I have always gotten from the Israelis is that really could care less what the World thinks. They are going to defend their homeland. They are going to defend their right to exist. No matter what the cost. I applaud them for it.
Do I want to see innocent people killed on the way to retailiation. Absolutely not but innocent people were never a thought to Hamas so if you want to get Biblical, it’s an eye for eye. The fighters of Hamas know this and they could care less about their own people dying in this fight. This group and Hezbollah use civilian homes as shields against the Israeli attacks and while standard military procedure is to avoid civilian casualties if you can help it, makes this current battle a treacherous one.
How did intelligence fall so far behind on this attack? This is going to be a major line of inquiry after this war is settled. The Israelis have the best intelligence gathering operation in the World and the US is probably second and they both missed this very well coordinated attack. Finger pointing in the US and Israel should start soon enough. I would be surprised if the New York Times doesn’t blame climate change for this.
There are several things that we will need to watch closely.
The first is if Israel will have to fight a 2 front or 3 front war. Hezbollah has been gathering arms and munitions for months and they might think the time is right to attack Tel Aviv or Jerusalem from the West Bank. The Syrians might think it wise to attack from the North. Pulling some, if not all, the levers is Iran. They have been supplying arms to everyone under the sun for the past 9 months and lately have been really loading up Hamas for this strike.
I wonder, when the Biden administration freed up 6 billion dollars to Iran, did that prompt this? Think about Iran and the fact that a week after they received that money, the head mullah said “the free state of Iran will use the money as it sees fit.” What a shock, the Iranians not holding to a binding agreement. Did they use that cash to build more and more rockets for Hamas and Hezbollah? Probably.
Here in this country, the tendency is to take a partisan side to pretty much everything and unfortunately I won’t do that. I don’t think the president Biden is responsible for this. I think his reaction was a solid one and cutting through his gibberish, you can see that he is sincere. How the US responds, however, will be a huge test.
We have sent anywhere from 90 billion to 130 billion dollars of aid to Ukraine. Will we be as generous to Israel? The dynamics are different in both wars but the fact remains that the US will support Israel and I would not be surprised if the US gets directly involved in the Middle East conflict.
Does US involvement in Israel change Vladimir Putin’s plans in Ukraine? Does China somehow stick their nefarious little head in either situation? Or do they take this opportunity to bulrush Taiwan?
As I said, the World is a mess and the scary thing is that the US has mentally suspect leadership and this is a point where the US needs to have a very strong hand and we may not have that.
I am not a “what if” guy but you really have to think, what if Trump won? Does Russia invade Ukraine? I say absolutely not. Does China continue it’s build up and planning to take over Taiwan? I say yes. Does Hamas strike Israel? Yes, but it might have been done differently and not with such blunt force. The terrorists only went full steam ahead because of Iran and you can only imagine what shape Iran would have been in if Trump was President. They probably wouldn’t be pressing anyones buttons because their own buttons would be broken.
I am not going to predict how any of this gets fixed and concludes. There are forces that normal average citizens like you and I just can not fathom. The hatred, the fear of living with a dictator, the loss of all freedoms. Americans know nothing about any of this and if anyone tries to tell me otherwise I have that typical refrain my father would say “You think it’s better somewhere else, go live there and tell me about it”.
A FEW NOTES
I will be out of the office for a week. I love being consistently inconsistent.
I should have done this a while ago but if any of you want to reach out to me directly and privately my personal email address is Peterp.Costa@Gmail.com. I tend to answer every email but it may take a little bit for a reply.
No, Iran did not use the 6 billion dollars to supply arms, the 6 billion dollars was, as of last week, still sitting in the bank. What if Trump had won? We would be fighting on our own soil, Trump told Russia about Israeli security details, you think that didn’t go from Russia to Iran? Don’t be a part of the madness