Toad I appreciate your honesty about not caring about the plight of Gazans but have no idea what you're talking about regarding it.
Most people in Gaza are refugees from what is now Israel, while some others are native Gazans and Egyptians.
No war has ever been launched from Gaza. I am definitely impartial to this issue, having worked with Palestinians for almost two decades and having many friends, some of them close friends from here - killed in Gaza.
I don't like the military wing of Hamas, but there are millions of innocent people there who have been terrorized for generations. You don't hear about the Palestinians killed there on a daily basis, the tens of thousands of homes destroyed, the daily sonic booms over Gaza meant only to terrorize, etc.
I have two very close friends getting on a boat going to Gaza right now. Anyways...
Burzerker I wish I knew where you came up with your material. Kren you kind of state things along the same lines, assuming the "West" just wants to do right by people but it's hard and it's complicated. The facts of the
er are we have supported dictatorship over democracy, time and time and time again. Why? Because dictatorships are more reliable, they can be coaxed into making the "right" decisions which will benefit the strategic interests of the west. Democracy can be much more messy, they might not always do the "right" thing, and therefore all over the world, especially Latin America, Asia, and the middle east - we have worked hard, spent trillions, and killed millions to try to prevent democracy.
Some mention Iraq - he slaughtered millions right? Who did he slaughter? Mainly Iranians, with chemical weapons. Who coaxed him to do that, gave him chem and bio precursors, special equipment for outfitting helicopters to spray chem weapons, satellite intel of where and how to hit? The US. What was our reaction when he gassed Iranians? To block a UN reslution condemning him for it and Reagan offering him more support. What was our reaction when he gassed Kurds? The US blocked the UN from condemning him for it.
Iraq is just one example - look at what's going on now. In Yemen we are propping up a dictator everyone wants to go. In Bahrain which is probably the worst crackdown going on right now - where they are literally rounding up, torturing, and jailing for life doctors and nurses who treated injured protesters. What has been our response to this, in the country where the 5th fleet is based? We sold weapons and training to Saudi Arabia and gave them the green light to go help Bahrain put down the democracy protests.
Many of you talk like this stuff is ancient past - but it's still going on today.
Oh Egypt - the military and secret police we supported for so long - notorious for torture and disappearances - that's a win? Obama supported Mubarak until the bitter end, and they know it. We were not an ally for democratic change - we almost never are.
Edit -
One of the really great things about the Arab Spring is how little religion is involved in it. It has proven that Al-Qaeda methods are not the path to change - popular nonviolent struggle is the path. I think in 50 years there will not be a dictatorship left in the region.
Politeness is a discipline that compels respectful behavior. Morality is like a politeness of the soul, an etiquette of the inner life, a code of duties, a ceremonial of the essential.