Israel and Shit

Well, this blogger doesn't really have anything intelligent to add to the Gaza/Israel clusterfuck. That's why he hasn't written about it. But this being the blogosphere and all, much smarter people than I already have, so I can just link to them.

First off, Luddite Robot, here and here. I'm not going to comment, but I know a little bit more of the story from LR. I'd like to remind him of his standing offer to post at UsefulActivism. By the way, if anyone else in the nerdosphere is interested in posting there, lemme know. I'd like to hear his thoughts about the protest that he attended. (I haven't posted there in a while. Severe writers block right now, and am also trying to come up with an independent study/thesis topic by the end of the week. Yeah, I quit my job and have decided to return to the warm, pillowy bosom of academia, for at least another semester or two. Might as well finish off this goddamn six year masters degree at some point, right?)

And if you hadn't noticed, Arthur Silber is back. Goddamn, it's good to see that guy writing again. And Hud is totally a great fucking movie.

For a very long time, the United States government has specialized in the pattern pursued by Israel. The vastly more powerful nation wishes to act on a certain policy -- almost always territorial expansion, for purposes of access to resources, or to force itself into new markets, or to pursue the evil notion that economic and ideological success depend on brutality and conquest -- but a specifically moral justification for its planned actions does not lie easily to hand.

So the powerful nation embarks on a course designed to make life intolerable for the country and/or those people that stand in its way. The more powerful nation is confident that, given sufficient time and sufficient provocation, the weaker country and people will finally do something that the actual aggressor can seize on as a pretext for the policy upon which it had already decided. In this way, what then unfolds becomes the victim's fault.

The United States government has utilized this tactic with Mexico, to begin the Spanish-American War, even, dear reader, in connection with the U.S. entrance into World War II, most recently in Iraq, possibly (perhaps probably) with Iran in the future, and in numerous other conflicts. It's always the fault of the other side, never the fault of the United States itself. Yet the United States has always been much more powerful than those it victimizes in this manner. The United States always claims that its victims represented a dire threat to its very survival, a threat that must be brought under U.S. control, or eliminated altogether. The claim has almost never been true. This monstrous pattern is "The American Way of Doing Business."

And finally, Dennis Perrin:

I certainly know the feeling, living the majority of my adult life on the political margins. After awhile you get used to it, adapt to the conditions while hopefully not resigning yourself to failure and loss. Lord knows I've surrendered to despair more times than I care to admit. But as I've recently noted, from the Republic Windows sit-in to the widening critical awareness and action against Israeli aggression, unrest stirs below. Many people are restless, looking to connect with others as opposed to curling up in private. Desperate times affect people in various ways, of course; but now anyone with Web access can immediately share his or her thoughts with countless others. This helps make one feel less alone, the starting point for any social movement. Little wonder why elites and their media megaphones despise the Internet so...

...Their leaders are making it sparkling clear what they think about Palestinian lives and society, the destruction and marginalization of which is financed by American taxpayers who have no say in how their money's spent. Will American liberals truly challenge this blood arrangement? Or will they rub their hands and meekly plead for whatever CHANGE they think they can get with the least effort? I still believe that in the end, liberals will defend Obama, albeit "critically." It's certainly easier and safer than taking the next big step, which would put many libs outside of their comfort zones. The time for serious rebellion is as ripe as it's been in memory. What will it be?

For real, yo.