Empires valued subjects because they were useful. The end of empires meant the emergence of states based on more traditional allegiances such as blood, religion and economic relationships. In Europe this unstable phase was "cured" by wars that led to wholesale administrative population transfers (WWII in the east), semi-violent ethnic cl…
Empires valued subjects because they were useful. The end of empires meant the emergence of states based on more traditional allegiances such as blood, religion and economic relationships. In Europe this unstable phase was "cured" by wars that led to wholesale administrative population transfers (WWII in the east), semi-violent ethnic cleansing (Poles vs Ukrainians; Serbs vs Croats; Greeks vs Turks) and genocide (in the case of the Jews). At the end of WWII the problem of the Jews was "solved" by a population transfer to Palestine and a war which led to ethnic cleansings. We got the largely Jewish-free Arab states like Yemen and Morocco, the largely Arab-free Jewish state of Israel and the Jewish-free West Bank and Gaza strip. The possible long-term solution of a grumpy Jewish-Arab truce with recognized borders for the Jewish and Arab Palestinian states with unintentionally untended by the 1967 War and an Israel political system which empowered fringe parties like the Jewish religious nationalists whose aim was a Jewish state based on Old Testament boundaries "from the Jordan to the sea". Once the "change the borders by slow ethnic cleansing" was underway, peace became impossible and both sides now seem to have gone Old Testament; everything between the Jordan and the sea is contested and the US must opposed democratic change in the Arab world because genuine elections would lead to anti-Israeli governments.
Gaza simply proves that you can herd sheep with thousand-pound bombs. But the videos will not be pretty. And much to the shock of Jewish Americans the traditional sympathy for the Jews has been replaced by a more sympathetic view of the Palestinians and I believe an even more dangerous (for Israel) attitude of "A plague on both their houses" and "Not my fight". The post-imperial unraveling continues.
If Western governments are sending money, weapons, and bodies (via dual citizenship passport holders) to Israel, parking their massive fleet nearby and flying reconissance missions to gather intelligence for Israel, all the while literally criminalizing protests for anti-genocide, then it's definitely not a "not my fight" situation yet.
If the "West" actually stopped caring, as in stop heaving their entire weight onto the scale on behalf of Israel - Israel would cease to exist. AIPAC and ADL would be outlawed for illegal interference with US domestic politics. Israel would not receive further US funding due to holding uninspected and undeclared nuclear weapons. No more Israeli iron dome dude to lack of American missiles. UN would sanctions Israel for flagrant violations of international law. Iran would send in the Quds force without fear of US nuclear retaliation.
Empires valued subjects because they were useful. The end of empires meant the emergence of states based on more traditional allegiances such as blood, religion and economic relationships. In Europe this unstable phase was "cured" by wars that led to wholesale administrative population transfers (WWII in the east), semi-violent ethnic cleansing (Poles vs Ukrainians; Serbs vs Croats; Greeks vs Turks) and genocide (in the case of the Jews). At the end of WWII the problem of the Jews was "solved" by a population transfer to Palestine and a war which led to ethnic cleansings. We got the largely Jewish-free Arab states like Yemen and Morocco, the largely Arab-free Jewish state of Israel and the Jewish-free West Bank and Gaza strip. The possible long-term solution of a grumpy Jewish-Arab truce with recognized borders for the Jewish and Arab Palestinian states with unintentionally untended by the 1967 War and an Israel political system which empowered fringe parties like the Jewish religious nationalists whose aim was a Jewish state based on Old Testament boundaries "from the Jordan to the sea". Once the "change the borders by slow ethnic cleansing" was underway, peace became impossible and both sides now seem to have gone Old Testament; everything between the Jordan and the sea is contested and the US must opposed democratic change in the Arab world because genuine elections would lead to anti-Israeli governments.
Gaza simply proves that you can herd sheep with thousand-pound bombs. But the videos will not be pretty. And much to the shock of Jewish Americans the traditional sympathy for the Jews has been replaced by a more sympathetic view of the Palestinians and I believe an even more dangerous (for Israel) attitude of "A plague on both their houses" and "Not my fight". The post-imperial unraveling continues.
If Western governments are sending money, weapons, and bodies (via dual citizenship passport holders) to Israel, parking their massive fleet nearby and flying reconissance missions to gather intelligence for Israel, all the while literally criminalizing protests for anti-genocide, then it's definitely not a "not my fight" situation yet.
If the "West" actually stopped caring, as in stop heaving their entire weight onto the scale on behalf of Israel - Israel would cease to exist. AIPAC and ADL would be outlawed for illegal interference with US domestic politics. Israel would not receive further US funding due to holding uninspected and undeclared nuclear weapons. No more Israeli iron dome dude to lack of American missiles. UN would sanctions Israel for flagrant violations of international law. Iran would send in the Quds force without fear of US nuclear retaliation.