I’m late to this party but have to throw in my 2 (or 3) cents. Travis’s, your comments regarding a clear delineation between actual genocide and what is horribly occurring in Palestine are very accurate. I recently finished an insightful review of Africa in the 80’s and 90’s entitled, “The Graves are not yet full”, {2001 Basic Books} by …
I’m late to this party but have to throw in my 2 (or 3) cents. Travis’s, your comments regarding a clear delineation between actual genocide and what is horribly occurring in Palestine are very accurate. I recently finished an insightful review of Africa in the 80’s and 90’s entitled, “The Graves are not yet full”, {2001 Basic Books} by Bill Berkeley, who had spent the ‘80’s and 90’s covering Africa fr various entities. A lot of US excuses for backing really bad leaders in countries all over Africa, from Liberia to Sudan to South Africa, through multiple administrations was, as per usual always viewed through the lens of US v USSR and countering soviet influence. But more to the point, we backed or acquiesced to horrible leaders for poor reasons. When you note we should ask the Tutsi in Rwanda- those who miraculously survived, about what genocide looks like, I think they’d concur with your point of view. That is not what is occurring in Palestine. It doesn’t make the situation any better to know this. Similarly our support of South and Central American Dictators out of fear of communism (and liking our own oligarchs financial gain) is also horrible. But there larger issue to me vis-a-vie the Palestine situation is the misidentified nature of the term genocide. Genocide is what Hamas has as a platform towards the Israelis. I wonder if we had a group of Mexicans or Canadians ( not the citizens and not even the government- just a group) who had a platform espousing the destruction of all Americans (from the pacific to the Atlantic) entering the US and slaughtering a thousand or so Americans, whether we might retaliate similarly to the Israelis with even less consideration for those who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think I don’t have to think what the response would be….
I’ve made the same point you make at the end of the comment elsewhere. Like if Native American tribes were launching rockets at the suburbs and blowing up whatever police come into the reservations to arrest them with TOW missiles and suicide bombings, or if Mexican cartels were doing ISIS-style cross-border raids while demanding that they be given back the American southwest. Don’t think we’d be talking about any 2-state solutions in that scenario, given how we responded to 9/11 alone.
Full concur on the rest of your commentary with respect to backing really bad people/groups in the War Against Communism on a number of continents as well.
I’m late to this party but have to throw in my 2 (or 3) cents. Travis’s, your comments regarding a clear delineation between actual genocide and what is horribly occurring in Palestine are very accurate. I recently finished an insightful review of Africa in the 80’s and 90’s entitled, “The Graves are not yet full”, {2001 Basic Books} by Bill Berkeley, who had spent the ‘80’s and 90’s covering Africa fr various entities. A lot of US excuses for backing really bad leaders in countries all over Africa, from Liberia to Sudan to South Africa, through multiple administrations was, as per usual always viewed through the lens of US v USSR and countering soviet influence. But more to the point, we backed or acquiesced to horrible leaders for poor reasons. When you note we should ask the Tutsi in Rwanda- those who miraculously survived, about what genocide looks like, I think they’d concur with your point of view. That is not what is occurring in Palestine. It doesn’t make the situation any better to know this. Similarly our support of South and Central American Dictators out of fear of communism (and liking our own oligarchs financial gain) is also horrible. But there larger issue to me vis-a-vie the Palestine situation is the misidentified nature of the term genocide. Genocide is what Hamas has as a platform towards the Israelis. I wonder if we had a group of Mexicans or Canadians ( not the citizens and not even the government- just a group) who had a platform espousing the destruction of all Americans (from the pacific to the Atlantic) entering the US and slaughtering a thousand or so Americans, whether we might retaliate similarly to the Israelis with even less consideration for those who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think I don’t have to think what the response would be….
I’ve made the same point you make at the end of the comment elsewhere. Like if Native American tribes were launching rockets at the suburbs and blowing up whatever police come into the reservations to arrest them with TOW missiles and suicide bombings, or if Mexican cartels were doing ISIS-style cross-border raids while demanding that they be given back the American southwest. Don’t think we’d be talking about any 2-state solutions in that scenario, given how we responded to 9/11 alone.
Full concur on the rest of your commentary with respect to backing really bad people/groups in the War Against Communism on a number of continents as well.