Big Day For Int'l News; Ground Offensive Begins In Gaza....

[Lord Jim]

I heard about that earlier today...

Wow, color me shocked...

ETA:

The one-term U.S. president

Thank God for that...

[Gob]

One explanation...

We support the Iraqi government in the fight against ISIS.

We don't like ISIS, but ISIS is supported by Saudi Arabia, who we do like.

We don't like Assad in Syria. We support the fight against him, but ISIS is also fighting against him.

We don't like Iran, but Iran supports the Iraqi government in its fight against ISIS.

So, some of our friends support our enemies, some enemies are now our friends, and some of our enemies are fighting against our other enemies, who we want to lose, but we don't want our enemies who are fighting our enemies to win.

If the people we want to defeat are defeated, they could be replaced by people we like even less.

And all this was started by us invading a country to drive out terrorists who were not actually there until we went in to drive them out.

Don't ask, I don't know who wrote it, weren't me.

[Econoline]

Okay, here's a cartoon that I don't find offensive. (Note: if the caricature of Obama had been a generic Jim Crow-era stereotype, then it would be offensive.)

[Long Run]

One thing is for sure, while we in the western world debate the best way for us to spend time, money and energy to help the Palestinians, 1) they keep making it harder by allying themselves on the wrong side of the Arab-Israeli battle (you would think after close to a 100 recent years, and centuries before that, they might get a clue), and 2) they have not a friend among the Arab world, who collectively have never spent more than two seconds considering how to actually help the Palestinians as opposed to using them.

[Big RR]

I'm not sure they have a friend on the Israeli side either. And that's the sad thing. Right now they see Israel as the oppressor, and will team up with whomever will help fight them/improve their lot. Kind of like when some American Indian tribes teamed up with the French to fight the British Colonials.

[Sue U]

The current government in Israel will never convince the Palestinians in general, and Gazans in particular, that it can be a trusted negotiating counter-party, let alone a friend. The view of Israel as oppressor is not unfounded, although it has been often exaggerated and at best tells only half the story of the last 75 years or so. Nevertheless, the best hope of a political solution is for the PA to re-gain its governmental legitimacy over Gaza and for the the Israeli government to engage in serious talks with it, addressing access and economic development as well as security issues.

[Gob]

Tens of thousands of people have taken part in a rally for Gaza in London.



The demonstration came amid renewed violence between Israel and Palestinian militants after a three-day ceasefire ended on Friday.

An emergency appeal in the UK for people affected by the conflict in Gaza has raised £4.5m in less than 24 hours, the Disasters Emergency Committee said.

'Day of rage'
The demonstration in London was part of a worldwide "day of rage" against Israeli military action in Gaza. In other demonstrations on Saturday:

At least 50,000 people gathered in Cape Town, South Africa, organisers of the protest said
Thousands marched through central Paris, in defiance of a ban imposed by French authorities
About 2,000 people are estimated to have marched in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia
Members of Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind organised a protest in the centre of Bangalore, India.
Other demonstrations were held in Spain, Greece, Jordan and Yemen on Friday.

Meanwhile, David Cameron and Barack Obama have expressed "serious concern" about the renewed hostilities.

The UK prime minister and US president, who discussed the ongoing fighting during a phone call, have both called for another ceasefire. They condemned Hamas for launching rockets from civilian areas and said Israel needed to show "restraint".

The Department for International Development (DfID) is sending a team of NHS medical experts to the region to help those injured in Gaza.

Palestinian deaths
1,935 killed, including at least 1,408 civilians
452 children
235 women


Israeli deaths
64 soldiers
3 civilians, including one Thai national in Israel

[MajGenl.Meade]

How jolly to see the flag of the Arab Revolt (designed by an Englishman to promote Arab national identity in the fight against Johnny Turk and Harry Hun) flying so bravely once again

[Sue U]

How jolly to see the flag of the Arab Revolt (designed by an Englishman to promote Arab national identity in the fight against Johnny Turk and Harry Hun) flying so bravely once again

Well, not exactly. The Palestinian flag switches the white and green stripes. I don't think anyone uses the original version anymore.