Part One: STOP KILLING EACH OTHER
The following post is the first in an ongoing series I am starting that represent one person's (mine) perspective on what's going on in the Middle East and Southwest Asia conflagrations. I am NO expert, NOR am I claiming to be one. I am going to assume most of my audience is American (although I know folks from Syria, Saudi Arabia, Greece, and the UK are among my international readers).
Also, (and again I am speaking only for myself) I have a hard time confronting what is going on in these regions because I have lived in a country where people don't kill each other over religion (anymore, and if so, rarely). They may shout a lot and file law suits to have "so help me God" taken out of the Inauguration Oath (and occasionally bomb a perfectly legal Planned Parenthood). It's hard for me even to begin to comprehend the hatred and hopelessness created by this never-ending cycle of violence, especially on this scale.
Nor am I going to propose any kind of solution other than: FIRST, STOP KILLING EACH OTHER.
What I write here is cobbled together from years of reading Amero-centric media reports, being raised in a country where we are supposed to support Israel no matter what, and following developments through the international news. I have included a map for reference because it is important first off to be aware of the geographic situation:
If you are unfamiliar with the region I suggest right clicking on the image to open it in a new tab so you may have an enlarged view.
Over the years I have had very contradictory feelings about Israel's foreign policy. I think there does not exist a word to describe the pinnacle of man's inhumanity to man witnessed in the Holocaust. But, the holocaust is not over in terms of the cycle of violence that is still ongoing between Israel, Gaza, and all other countries which have been forced to take sides.
It's an unpopular thing to say anything bad about Israel. Even the New York Times didn't want to get invovled. To do so immediately classifies one as an anti-Semite. The thing is, there is a distinction between Jewish people as a faith and the Israeli aggression/defense toward/against its neighbors. There is a distinction between ideology and theology, no matter how much we try to deny that distinction. Perhaps better put, there should be a distinction. And if the separation of Church and State nay-sayers think this is wrong, pay close attention to what is happening in that part of the world.
The conflicts in the Middle East and Southwest Asia have been brewing for millenia. Fights over resources, land, religion, and power do NOT boil down to ownership as one might think. As time has passed, more and more excuses are given why these people hate each other and are justified in their hate (again, land, religion, power, economics, etc., etc., etc.)
These wars are revenge-driven blood-feuds, and I'm not talking Hatfields and McCoys, either.
In no way do I mean to belittle the scale of these conflicts. This is beyond important for all of us to be paying attention and warming up our keyboards to write our congress-people and get ready to protest.
Now I know I am no expert on Middle East policy; I've only read a couple of books about the US relationship to the Middle East (Power, Faith, and Fantasy is the most recent). In terms of books about the countries' relationships to each other, not read one.
I do read international news papers online and get a pretty good sense that emotion has been winning and will continue to win over logic in these wars.
I'm not saying people don't have a right to be upset, angry, scared of each other in that part of the world.
What I am saying is that I believe that most people want the killing to stop. They want the parties involved to come to a lasting peace agreement. However, I think Zbigniew Brzezinski hit it on the head recently on Morning Joe when he said these countries are obviously incapable of sorting this out for themselves.
The only hope I am proposing here with this first installment is a cease fire to stop the killing.
I would love to read anything anyone has to say on this topic.
Food for thought: Bush 43's first presidential visit to Israel and The West Bank was in January of 2008. Took him seven years to get his own ass over there.
