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Ron64
Joined: 04 Aug 2009
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Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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Allow me to give you some different perspective. When it comes to the middle east:
War is good for business, peace is usually not.
Take Iran first, you have a tyrant that have a good life while all of his people suffer from poverty. Iran and it's leaders have lots of money from Oil, while the common people doesn't have much. The tyrant simply convince the people that there is a holly war of the Arab people against the evil nonbeliever. He spends tons of money to send weapon to Lebanon. He Invest in a free education system in Gaza strip, where in free kindergarten of Hamas people, kids are brainwashed to hate and to fight. The Iranian people support their "brothers" in Lebanon and in Gaza, and their holly leader who leads the war. Only few have the courage to speak against it, most of them are smart enough to keep silent and stay alive.
Take the mighty U.S., In decades when the price of Oil is raising, the U.S. government managed to postpone the reduction of energy consumption and the reduction in relying on oil, which is what the European did. Instead, the U.S. concentrated on a smart serious of political alliances and wars. It worked well for many years, and it was especially profitable for certain companies that ware close to the previous administration. Well, eventually the U.S. paid the price in staying behind Europe and East Asia in energy efficiency (the collapsing automotive industry for example), but it worked well for many years.
Look at Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, they all used the same methods of financing war in more direct or less direct ways to achieve their Goal.
After the Iraqi experience most of them knows that it's better to have the war going on out of your area, so you have terrorists attack in the U.S. and in Europe, and you have well funded wars in Lebanon and in Gaza.
Even counties like India and Pakistan are fighting each other by funding groups across the border instead of a direct conflict most of the time.
The only country in the middle east that does not profit from the war is Israel, who doesn't have much oil so it is dependent on commerce and tourism. (well actually some of the investment into the military technology comes back as a boost to the hi-tech industry of Israel, in a similar manner to how it happens in the states)
It is very popular these days to say that peace is the solution for everything but peace can be done between two sides that are interested, it can not be done when there are several other parties that peace is against their interest.
All this long explanation is leading in one direction. Do not believe simplistic propaganda claims such as: If some country will give up on some territory, or another will leave the middle east entirely the war will be over, It will not.
The U.S. have clear economical interests in the middle east, it is not going to change anytime soon. Israel is one country that the U.S. can use for it's interest. It is more trustworthy than any other ally of the U.S. in the region (Iran used to be an ally in the past, once it change over night). The U.S. is investing money for it's economical interest. There is no other major reason. (2% of Jewish in the US does not have a significant political influence, even some Cristian groups have more influence than the Jews)
This friendship is based on mutual interest, the political talks makes it sound like some noble friendship, but that's just how politics works.
I promise you that in 30 years, after Oil will become a minor energy source, everything will look different. Maybe then, Oil based economy will be over, and after twenty more years without hate inflammation funds, there will be peace finally. I can only wish that it will happen much sooner. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired
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Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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The U.S should only scale back relations with Israel if they get something in return.
Foolish to trade something for nothing...particularly if that something is good relations with a reliable ally which has one of the best (if not the best) intelligence gathering agencies in existence. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Location: All over the map
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Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
The U.S should only scale back relations with Israel if they get something in return.
Foolish to trade something for nothing...particularly if that something is good relations with a reliable ally which has one of the best (if not the best) intelligence gathering agencies in existence. |
Good point. U.S. "intelligence" could benefit from taking a page or two out of Mossad's playbook. |
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Reggie
Joined: 21 Sep 2009
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:53 pm Post subject: |
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TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
The U.S should only scale back relations with Israel if they get something in return.
Foolish to trade something for nothing...particularly if that something is good relations with a reliable ally which has one of the best (if not the best) intelligence gathering agencies in existence. |
American taxpayers give Israel over $4000 for every Israeli man, woman, and child every year, a ridiculous sum of money considering the levels of national debt, personal debt, homelessness, aging infrastructure, and health care funding issues in America.
We don't get anything out of it but trouble: stolen uranium, dead USS Liberty sailors, the OPEC oil embargo, 9/11, and so on. And let's not get too excited about the Mossad or the IDF. The IDF and Mossad both got schooled by their Hezbollah counterparts in 2006 despite all of the money and weapons we shoveled to the Israelis. |
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Reggie
Joined: 21 Sep 2009
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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caniff wrote: |
TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
The U.S should only scale back relations with Israel if they get something in return.
Foolish to trade something for nothing...particularly if that something is good relations with a reliable ally which has one of the best (if not the best) intelligence gathering agencies in existence. |
Good point. U.S. "intelligence" could benefit from taking a page or two out of Mossad's playbook. |
CIA & Mossad = Dumb & Dumber |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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I wouldn't say mossad is that dumb, just careless on a few occasions. Especially not compared to the CIA (who missed the fall of communism, 9/11, and who knows what else). |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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Reggie wrote: |
TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
The U.S should only scale back relations with Israel if they get something in return.
Foolish to trade something for nothing...particularly if that something is good relations with a reliable ally which has one of the best (if not the best) intelligence gathering agencies in existence. |
American taxpayers give Israel over $4000 for every Israeli man, woman, and child every year, a ridiculous sum of money considering the levels of national debt, personal debt, homelessness, aging infrastructure, and health care funding issues in America.
We don't get anything out of it but trouble: stolen uranium, dead USS Liberty sailors, the OPEC oil embargo, 9/11, and so on. And let's not get too excited about the Mossad or the IDF. The IDF and Mossad both got schooled by their Hezbollah counterparts in 2006 despite all of the money and weapons we shoveled to the Israelis. |
It took Mossad 27 agents to kill that one guy in Dubai! And they still got caught! |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Location: All over the map
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:05 pm Post subject: |
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bacasper wrote: |
It took Mossad 27 agents to kill that one guy in Dubai! And they still got caught! |
Yeah, but he's dead and I don't see Mossad or the Israeli gov't worried about the fallout. Mission accomplished, I'd say. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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caniff wrote: |
bacasper wrote: |
It took Mossad 27 agents to kill that one guy in Dubai! And they still got caught! |
Yeah, but he's dead and I don't see Mossad or the Israeli gov't worried about the fallout. Mission accomplished, I'd say. |
exactly. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Location: retired
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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If I were one of the agents I'd never sleep well again. Millions of pissed off muslims have seen their faces. I assume it isn't over.
Ben Netenyahoo has been refusing to return Clinton's call. Biden even called him to ask him to return her call. He didn't.
This guy has brass balls.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35928291/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/
Biden said Obama has steel in his spine. I don't believe it. Bombing third world dumps from a computer in Utah doesn't take balls. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Location: All over the map
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:31 pm Post subject: |
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mises wrote: |
Bombing third world dumps from a computer in Utah doesn't take balls. |
Bill Maher would agree. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Location: retired
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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Now that he's on HBO he can say it again. Though he's so drunk in love with OMGObama he wouldn't dare. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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mises wrote: |
Bombing third world dumps from a computer in Utah doesn't take balls. |
And this fact seems to be responsible for individuals who pilot drones suffering from mental disorders at an increased rate when compared to normal soldiers. The experiences of a drone pilot are talked about briefly here. This is pretty much as bad as combat can get for a human being. All the horror of killing other men, without any of the potential justification. You yourself are at absolutely 0% risk. This isn't fighting, it's just killing.
Purely as an aside, I think the experiences of these pilots beyond a doubt disprove any of the hypotheses about our brains not being able to distinguish a video game from reality. Drone pilotting is as close to a video game as you can get while still killing people, and our brains clearly can tell the difference based on the psychological results. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Location: retired
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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My reference re: "balls" was directed at Obama. Obama can do all the killing and look like a big bad Commander in Chief without any of the pain of sending in Marines, who invariably come home in body bags (regardless if the media reports them or not). I've never given consideration to the gamer on the controlling end. If they have problems blowing up women and children in Yemen for no good god damned reason they should find another job. |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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Fox wrote: |
mises wrote: |
Bombing third world dumps from a computer in Utah doesn't take balls. |
And this fact seems to be responsible for individuals who pilot drones suffering from mental disorders at an increased rate when compared to normal soldiers. The experiences of a drone pilot are talked about briefly here. This is pretty much as bad as combat can get for a human being. All the horror of killing other men, without any of the potential justification. You yourself are at absolutely 0% risk. This isn't fighting, it's just killing. |
Do you differentiate between drone pilots and artillery forces? |
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