I think the Juicebox Mafia — Ezra and Matt amongst them — has no clue about what goes on in Israel on a daily basis. It would suit you both well to take a trip now and then — it would show the limits of your experience.
There is no “present bias” here — people have been talking about the need to take action like this for years — at least since Gilad Shalit was captured and the war with Hezbollah in 2006.
Just because you had your head up Obama’s rear end doesn’t mean other things weren’t happening in the world.
Maybe if the juicebox mafia followed events more closely they would clue in to a truism — no country will let 7000 rockets land on it’s territory without a response.
The fact is — it was never news to you when Sderot was hit by fire daily. it’s only news to you now when Israel responds.
this, in any case, shows the limits of blogging — particularly the limits of blogging on 300 different subjects while being master of none.
I suggest you stick to food – you are pretty good at that.
1) Why is Obama not speaking out against Israel’s aggression on Gaza?
2) Why does he continue to ‘talk down’ the economy? This doom-speak (which, admittedly, started with Hank Paulson when he was trying to sell his still half-unused bailout) is materially affecting the economy. People are holding off on decisions to buy or invest based on it.
More posts on the moral basis of the Israel/Palestine conflict, please. With all the effort commenters here have put in to discussing the topic, I’m sure we must be close to definitively finding out which side is in the right.
“Maybe if the juicebox mafia followed events more closely they would clue in to a truism — no country will let 7000 rockets land on it’s territory without a response.”
The problem with this statement is it can equally be used for Palestinians, perhaps moreso given that they are being occupied and colonized.
Where were all these hailers of a country’s rights to self defense when Israel struck Syria early in the year? I didn’t see them demanding that Syria had a right to invade and overthrow Kadima.
I realize that this won’t help you with folks in the new administration, but someone really needs to delve some more into the piece that was written in the American Conservative on the neocons shifting to gain influence in the Democratic party. You’re already starting to see more positive coverage of the Obama/Hillary national security team in the neocon press…Given what’s happening in the Middle East and the tiny window that we have with respect to Iran’s nuclear program (although I’d argue that we’re far past the point of dealing over a nuke with them), we don’t need to have a redux of neocon policy-making.
Imagine that you are a resident of a refuge camp in Gaza. What would you be thinking?
You would probably have a sense of being wronged, but, obviously you don’t like bombs raining on you. At what point would you be willing to give up and say: “OK, we are screwed anyway, lets cool it off and try to make the best of living on the reservation”. After all the Apache didn’t fare any better than the Cherokee.
Which brings an interesting question… would they ever allow opening casinos in Gaza and Ramallah?
If somebody doesn’t start talking about it, tens of thousands of people will die in silence. Who knows, a few thoughtful posts and maybe a few thousand in private aid might go to these proud, afflicted people.
If we’ve learned anything at all, if nobody says anything then nobody DOES anything.
J Street gets a fair amount of blogospheric attention, but I can’t quite figure out if this is because the organization is effective or just because it’s really the outlet of its kind.
Really I’m trying to figure out if I should give some money to J Street. I’m tempted to, but I don’t know a damned thing about them. I’m also assuming you don’t want to take on the role of being my charity advisor, so I’m hoping you can say something more generally about what are likely to be the most effective strategies for shifting the political dialogue regarding Israel.
Unless you have any advice for a recent college grad seeking a job, I don’t really have too many questions.
Well, yeah I do. Do you have any thoughts on Ezekiel Emmanuel’s Guaranteed Health Care Access Plan outlined in his book, Healthcare Guaranteed? I understand the political limitations that make his plan pretty impossible, but I’m curious about your thoughts on the merits.
Also, do you know why CAP and other progressive organizations and pols seem hellbent on supporting improvements to the current employer-provided insurance model? Beyond Zeke Emanuel and Ron Wyden, is anyone else proposing any interesting alternatives that ditch employer-provided health insurance?
I’m a student representative for CAP’s youth wing Campus Progress and run a publication funded with one of their grants, and if you really want to know why they aren’t going to move beyond private insurance and the employer-based system, I’d adivse you to follow the money. Their healthcare fellow Tom Daschle was essentially on the insurance industry’s payroll and CAP’s president Podesta (temporarily head of Obama transition team) as soon as he left the Clinton white house went to lobby for big HMO’s. It’s not the most independent of groups unfortunately, even if it has a lot of great people and ideas.
ZAID — SINCE YOU ARE EITHER 12 YEARS OLD OR OF LIMITED MENTAL CAPACITY, I’VE TAKEN TO PUTTING MY ANSWERS IN CAPS FOR YOU.
“Maybe if the juicebox mafia followed events more closely they would clue in to a truism — no country will let 7000 rockets land on it’s territory without a response.”
The problem with this statement is it can equally be used for Palestinians, perhaps moreso given that they are being occupied and colonized. ACTUALLY ZAID, PLEASE SEE “EVACUATION OF GAZA SETTLEMENTS, CIRCA 2005.” ALSO SEE, ISRAELI PEACE OFFERS 1977-2000. ALSO SEE — RULES OF WAR, TARGETING OF CIVILIANS. IF HAMAS NEVER FIRED A ROCKET THERE WOULD BE NO WAR, NO BLOCKADE, NO IDF AND NO SETTLERS. LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TERRORISM AND SELF-DEFENSE.
Where were all these hailers of a country’s rights to self defense when Israel struck Syria early in the year? I didn’t see them demanding that Syria had a right to invade and overthrow Kadima. ISRAEL AND SYRIA HAVE BEEN IN A STATE OF WAR FOR 60 YEARS. SYRIA COULD HAVE STRUCK AT ISRAEL AFTER ISRAEL DESTROYED IT’S NUCLEAR PROJECT. BUT THEY DIDN’T. PLEASE SEE “DETERRANCE” OR “BAMF”.
Israel’s Policy Is Perfectly ‘Proportionate’
Hamas are the real war criminals in this conflict.
By ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ
Israel’s actions in Gaza are justified under international law, and Israel should be commended for its self-defense against terrorism. Article 51 of the United Nations Charter reserves to every nation the right to engage in self-defense against armed attacks. The only limitation international law places on a democracy is that its actions must satisfy the principle of proportionality.
Since Israel ended its occupation of Gaza, Hamas has fired thousands of rockets designed to kill civilians into southern Israel. The residents of Sderot — which have borne the brunt of the attacks — have approximately 15 seconds from launch time to run into a shelter. Although deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime, terrorists firing at Sderot are so proud of their actions that they sign their weapons.
When Barack Obama visited Sderot this summer and saw the remnants of these rockets, he reacted by saying that if his two daughters were exposed to rocket attacks in their home, he would do everything in his power to stop such attacks. He understands how the terrorists exploit the morality of democracies.
In a recent incident related to me by the former head of the Israeli air force, Israeli intelligence learned that a family’s house in Gaza was being used to manufacture rockets. The Israeli military gave the residents 30 minutes to leave. Instead, the owner called Hamas, which sent mothers carrying babies to the house.
Hamas knew that Israel would never fire at a home with civilians in it. They also knew that if Israeli authorities did not learn there were civilians in the house and fired on it, Hamas would win a public relations victory by displaying the dead. Israel held its fire. The Hamas rockets that were protected by the human shields were then used against Israeli civilians.
These despicable tactics — targeting Israeli civilians while hiding behind Palestinian civilians — can only work against moral democracies that care deeply about minimizing civilian casualties. They never work against amoral nations such as Russia, whose military has few inhibitions against killing civilians among whom enemy combatants are hiding.
The claim that Israel has violated the principle of proportionality — by killing more Hamas terrorists than the number of Israeli civilians killed by Hamas rockets — is absurd. First, there is no legal equivalence between the deliberate killing of innocent civilians and the deliberate killings of Hamas combatants. Under the laws of war, any number of combatants can be killed to prevent the killing of even one innocent civilian.
Second, proportionality is not measured by the number of civilians actually killed, but rather by the risk posed. This is illustrated by what happened on Tuesday, when a Hamas rocket hit a kindergarten in Beer Sheva, though no students were there at the time. Under international law, Israel is not required to allow Hamas to play Russian roulette with its children’s lives.
While Israel installs warning systems and builds shelters, Hamas refuses to do so, precisely because it wants to maximize the number of Palestinian civilians inadvertently killed by Israel’s military actions. Hamas knows from experience that even a small number of innocent Palestinian civilians killed inadvertently will result in bitter condemnation of Israel by many in the international community.
Israel understands this as well. It goes to enormous lengths to reduce the number of civilian casualties — even to the point of foregoing legitimate targets that are too close to civilians.
Until the world recognizes that Hamas is committing three war crimes — targeting Israeli civilians, using Palestinian civilians as human shields, and seeking the destruction of a member state of the United Nations — and that Israel is acting in self-defense and out of military necessity, the conflict will continue.
Is it possible to get Alan Dershowitz’s JD revoked because his emotional attachment to the government of Israel makes it so that he can’t validly interpret the law?
As a brand new resident of California, I’d love to read some intelligent assessment of Governor Schwarzenegger. I’d followed the earlier part of his terms closely from my old home in DC, but then kind of tuned out for the last year and a half. Any thoughts on how he’s doing, and on the state’s budgetary crisis in general? Are we really so far from Republicans talking about amending the Constitution to allow a President-inator?
Matt I’ve been wondering this from across the Atlantic for some time: where are all the foreclosure people?
Millions have lost their homes across the US and yet with the exception of the odd ‘middle class person sleeping in car’ human interest story on CNN and a comment in this week’s Economist about parents within two parent families moving out of state for work I really can’t recall seeing much within my trusty US print sources on where these people are now living or the wider social consequences of this.
Are they renting and if so where and what? How many people have moved in with nearby friends/family? Are there any clear migration trends towards cities (supporting the ‘it’s better to be poor in a city’ hypothesis)? Are the rustbelt states haemorrhaging people fastest or are the worst hit places paradoxically more affordable despite the lack of job prospects? If it’s still too early to know then anecdotally?
Are there really any strong reasons for the 111th Senate to adopt Rule 22 (60 votes for cloture)? A short preemptive rebuttal:
Political price: Americans don’t cherish procedural traditions of the Senate–they will support measures to ensure the passage of popular legislation. It also would help vulnerable D Senators in Repub states by allowing them to vote against progressive legislation and still have it pass.
Fairness: The Repubs abused the filibuster, at least as it was traditionally treated. Moreover, if you think the filibuster is generally bad and should never have been adopted, it has to be abolished when *somebody* has the majority.
Theoretical threat of Dems not being able to use it the next time Repubs control both Houses plus the Presidency: The Dems are pretty darn secure for the short-to-mid term, and only for four years in modern U.S. political history have the Rs controlled all three. The Rs at this period had the singular advantages of 9-11 and Harry Reid’s milquetoast leadership. In any case, a future Republican Party that manages to control all three will be very different from the unhinged rump that it is today.
And what do you think of Merriweather Post Pavilion?
Beat you to that one. And for the record, I think it is the most accessible AC album, and while it lacks a landmark song like “Fireworks” it may also be their best.
And what do you think of Merriweather Post Pavilion?
The traffic is usually pretty terrible, though I’ve been assured that Nissan Pavilion is much worse. And getting there on a weeknight is a real pain in the ass. Other than that, it’s pretty standard.
“ACTUALLY ZAID, PLEASE SEE “EVACUATION OF GAZA SETTLEMENTS, CIRCA 2005.”
As far as I know, while settlers were removed, Gaza’s air and sea still belong to the Israelis. They can’t even import food freely, as they’ve been under an 18-month long blockade. At the same time Israel removed settlers from Gaza, it seized more land in the West Bank than all the land it gave up in Gaza.
Does that sound like decolonization or rather a shuffling of colonizers?
I’m interested in Matthew’s question, too. Al logically correct, while omitting the fact that McCain’s plan was a recipe for forcing everyone on either individual medical insurance plans or to go strictly cash for service. Most consumers would have gotten screwed. Obviously, MY didn’t approve. If you’re going to troll, use a bit of imagination.
Matthew Struhar Says: …is anyone else proposing any interesting alternatives that ditch employer-provided health insurance?
Al Says: John McCain made just such a proposal to move us away from employer-based health insurance. Matthew hated it for exactly that reason …
One can talk, much like one can talk about settling Mars. Reading Said’s piece, I think it’s plain that he’s thinking ‘way into the future. The inhabitants of Sri Lanka are closer to working out their issues that those of Palestine.
A question of more immediate import would be what happens in Gaza if the birth rate doesn’t throttle *way* back.
Wu Tang: OR why don’t more people talk about the “One State Solution” as outlined by Edward Said in 1999…
Re the right wing’s lack of intellectual capital, how about putting up a thread to solicit examples from readers of the most stupid/embarrrassing wrong things the right wing blogosphere/Fox News/ Bill O’Reilly /Rush etc have said over the past 8 years and how that has hurt America.
Examples should have reference/citation so you and other readers can verify it. (Hopefully, before a lot of archives start disappearing ).
You (Matthew) select what you think are the best examples. If there are a lot, then do series of threads on the subject over the next month.
It’s really disappointing that the left wing is not beating the living shit out of the right wing over the right wing’s past actions. That people like Fox News pundits are not being held accountable before the American people.
People think Bush’s departure means the long nightmare will be over. It won’t.
Another thought would occur to me as the resident of a refugee camp in Gaza: what happened to all those Jewish refugees who were kicked out of Arab countries sixty years ago. Are they still living in refugee camps somewhere? If not, why not?
Matt: what do you make of the kerfuffle over Obama’s tax cut plans? I’ve read a number of sources — Krugman included — expressing disquiet at the possibility that as much as 40% of the stimulus package will be tax cuts. Are you worried?
Ending the alliance with Israel, wouldn’t it benefit American interests in terms of operational flexibility in the ME, as well as goodwill in terms of numbers both in the ME and globally, enable our support for moderates in the region to not be radioactive, and we would no longer be trapped whenever Israel decides to beat up on it’s neighbors.
Plus, hopefully, they would find it more difficult to spy on (or in very rare cases attack) us!
“The reason for the blockade is the rockets. Why would Israel let Hamas import its rockets? enough trouble with the tunnels anyway.”
As far as I know the undermining and strangulation of Gaza began as soon as Hamas was elected and was a response to that.
As for things they’ve done to better the Palestinian condition, their expensive social support for the population is exactly why they beat out Fatah in the elections.
If one is going to be watching some of these recent mob flicks, he or she (hypothetically speaking) should consider viewing not just the Brasco one or the obvious (Goodfellas, Miller’s Crossing, et al [no need to cite the Frank flicks]) but the classic London mob pictures: Get Carter and the Long Good Friday (one of the best movies of the 1980s).
What are the difference in the current Israel/Gaza conflict that make the leadership in America to declare that we stand on the side of the superpower and its disproportionate response, but on the Russia/Georgia conflict the leadership of the USA declares “we are all Georgians” and decries Russia’s disproportionate response.
Oh yeah, 13 Jews in the US Senate and the ownership of the Media corporations. The Jews get a disproportionate share of the $700B bailout, and now they get our military to backstop their friends in Israel … fan freaking tastic!
Probably too late, but can someone wack Andrew Sullivan over his misunderstanding of global climate change and what is required to actually address the issue?
Andrew has a problem. He only abandons his unfounded conservative beliefs if he cannot find a scientific sounding reason to keep them.
He is a reasonable person. He believes in science. The only problem is that he lacks the skills necessary to actually determine what is science and what sounds like science. Most people lack this skill, but Andrew is exceptionally vulnerable.
The most recent problem is the shell game of “gas-tax”, “payroll-tax” and “global-warming”.
His simple brain, based upon the conservative template, thinks that “global warming” can be “solved” by using a “gas tax” to replace “payroll taxes”.
First: a gas tax is maximally regressive. The payroll tax (repeal) is semi-regressive, but benefits the rich more than the poor. (Payroll taxes phase out, so the rich get a huge benefit after a certain income.)
Second: Raising gas prices may reduce gas consumption in the US, but that only reduces the global price for oil. It also has no effect on the consumption of coal or other carbon producing fuels.
Third: A carbon tax is not a penalty, but a distribution of global costs of a particular fuel. If a gas tax is re-distributed to a payroll tax, this has nothing to do with global carbon.
Conservatives are really trying to find a way to get rid of taxes and efforts to address global climate change, for them this is a three-fer. They get the poor to pay for their payroll taxes and get everyone feeling good about paying more for gas as an answer to global climate change.
I’d likes to see something more on the crabs dribble. I got that meself and have a hard time gettin hoors to lay with me. This terrible disease needs to be spotlighted.
I’ve been reading from a lot of different perspectives on I/P, but they all have names like “Levy” and “Cole.” Can you point me in the direction of a respected scholar of Arab descent who blogs regularly?
Mike:
Do you mean Mustafa Barghouti? I’m pretty sure Marwan Barghouti is currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison.
While I have immense respect for Mustafa Barghouti, I was looking for someone more along the lines of an academic or journalist rather than a politician or activist.
About that huge chunk of U.S. foreign aid that goes to Israel and Egypt:
1) Is that an artifact of the 1978 Camp David accords – basically a pot-sweetener to help them agree to buy into a peace treaty?
2) If so, is there any reason why this should be continued indefinitely? After 30 years, isn’t it safe to assume that Israel and Egypt would continue to have diplomatic relations even if we gradually reduced the level of aid we’re giving them?
Hi Matt- I’ve got a question about our long-term vision in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It has become the accepted wisdom (appropriately so, in my opinion) that the US financing, training, and arming of Islamist fighters in Afghanistan to defeat the Soviets really came back to hurt us in the personage of bin Laden and numerous others. This “blowback” is also evident in Pakistan, where groups like LeT, created by the ISI to stir up trouble in Kashmir, have now turned on their former masters.
Meanwhile, in Iraq we are training, paying (and possibly arming, I’m not sure) the “Sons of Iraq” and other militias. General Petraeus recently hinted that the new strategy in Afghanistan might follow a similar course.
Is this shortsightedness on our part? Is there a real chance that in 10 or 15 years we will consider the “Sons of Iraq” to be terrorists? Or have we learned our lesson, and doing something differently this time around?
This has puzzled me for awhile, and nobody seems to be talking about it, so please share your thoughts.
hello
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thanks for all of the great info here…be safe, be well, be prosperous
January 5th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Why is Barack Obama such a pussy?
January 5th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I think the Juicebox Mafia — Ezra and Matt amongst them — has no clue about what goes on in Israel on a daily basis. It would suit you both well to take a trip now and then — it would show the limits of your experience.
There is no “present bias” here — people have been talking about the need to take action like this for years — at least since Gilad Shalit was captured and the war with Hezbollah in 2006.
Just because you had your head up Obama’s rear end doesn’t mean other things weren’t happening in the world.
Maybe if the juicebox mafia followed events more closely they would clue in to a truism — no country will let 7000 rockets land on it’s territory without a response.
The fact is — it was never news to you when Sderot was hit by fire daily. it’s only news to you now when Israel responds.
this, in any case, shows the limits of blogging — particularly the limits of blogging on 300 different subjects while being master of none.
I suggest you stick to food – you are pretty good at that.
Big A
January 5th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
What Gabriel asked — why destroy the possibility of effectively dealing with the oncoming depression to appear ‘post partisan’?
And what will it take to shut up the “Israel can do no wrong! You question them and you’re an ignorant Hitler!” trolls?
January 5th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Can you recommend some good blogs that cover Urban Planning, transit, etc?
January 5th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
1) Why is Obama not speaking out against Israel’s aggression on Gaza?
2) Why does he continue to ‘talk down’ the economy? This doom-speak (which, admittedly, started with Hank Paulson when he was trying to sell his still half-unused bailout) is materially affecting the economy. People are holding off on decisions to buy or invest based on it.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Taxi medallions. Pro or con?
January 5th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
More posts on the moral basis of the Israel/Palestine conflict, please. With all the effort commenters here have put in to discussing the topic, I’m sure we must be close to definitively finding out which side is in the right.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Why is Marty Peretz such a racist douche bag? Why don’t Chait and the good guys at TNR not pack up and move to the Prospect?
January 5th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
What would win in a fight? The I/P issue, or friday cat blogging?
January 5th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
I seem to recall you mentioning in the past that you were a fan of They Might Be Giants. Do you have any specific favorite tracks/albums?
January 5th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
“Maybe if the juicebox mafia followed events more closely they would clue in to a truism — no country will let 7000 rockets land on it’s territory without a response.”
The problem with this statement is it can equally be used for Palestinians, perhaps moreso given that they are being occupied and colonized.
Where were all these hailers of a country’s rights to self defense when Israel struck Syria early in the year? I didn’t see them demanding that Syria had a right to invade and overthrow Kadima.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I realize that this won’t help you with folks in the new administration, but someone really needs to delve some more into the piece that was written in the American Conservative on the neocons shifting to gain influence in the Democratic party. You’re already starting to see more positive coverage of the Obama/Hillary national security team in the neocon press…Given what’s happening in the Middle East and the tiny window that we have with respect to Iran’s nuclear program (although I’d argue that we’re far past the point of dealing over a nuke with them), we don’t need to have a redux of neocon policy-making.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Who’s your favorite regular troll on your blog?
January 5th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Also, everyone should watch slumdog millionaire and this in HD.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
How about a mental exercise.
Imagine that you are a resident of a refuge camp in Gaza. What would you be thinking?
You would probably have a sense of being wronged, but, obviously you don’t like bombs raining on you. At what point would you be willing to give up and say: “OK, we are screwed anyway, lets cool it off and try to make the best of living on the reservation”. After all the Apache didn’t fare any better than the Cherokee.
Which brings an interesting question… would they ever allow opening casinos in Gaza and Ramallah?
January 5th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Congo. Goma. Kivu.
If somebody doesn’t start talking about it, tens of thousands of people will die in silence. Who knows, a few thoughtful posts and maybe a few thousand in private aid might go to these proud, afflicted people.
If we’ve learned anything at all, if nobody says anything then nobody DOES anything.
Thanks…
mikey
January 5th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Let’s get a indie rock thread going, it has been awhile. What are people’s thoughts on the new Animal Collective?
January 5th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I’d like to know what in the hell the juicebox mafia is.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
J Street gets a fair amount of blogospheric attention, but I can’t quite figure out if this is because the organization is effective or just because it’s really the outlet of its kind.
Really I’m trying to figure out if I should give some money to J Street. I’m tempted to, but I don’t know a damned thing about them. I’m also assuming you don’t want to take on the role of being my charity advisor, so I’m hoping you can say something more generally about what are likely to be the most effective strategies for shifting the political dialogue regarding Israel.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Unless you have any advice for a recent college grad seeking a job, I don’t really have too many questions.
Well, yeah I do. Do you have any thoughts on Ezekiel Emmanuel’s Guaranteed Health Care Access Plan outlined in his book, Healthcare Guaranteed? I understand the political limitations that make his plan pretty impossible, but I’m curious about your thoughts on the merits.
Also, do you know why CAP and other progressive organizations and pols seem hellbent on supporting improvements to the current employer-provided insurance model? Beyond Zeke Emanuel and Ron Wyden, is anyone else proposing any interesting alternatives that ditch employer-provided health insurance?
January 5th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Is the number of Representatives in the House a good idea? Should there be more? Less? What are some of the costs and benefits to the current size?
January 5th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
I’m a student representative for CAP’s youth wing Campus Progress and run a publication funded with one of their grants, and if you really want to know why they aren’t going to move beyond private insurance and the employer-based system, I’d adivse you to follow the money. Their healthcare fellow Tom Daschle was essentially on the insurance industry’s payroll and CAP’s president Podesta (temporarily head of Obama transition team) as soon as he left the Clinton white house went to lobby for big HMO’s. It’s not the most independent of groups unfortunately, even if it has a lot of great people and ideas.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Sen. Diane Feinstein…
She’s bad-mouthing the Panetta to CIA decision. Is she going to cause trouble during the confirmation hearings?
More to the point, isn’t it possible that Obama’s biggest problem will be the conservative Democrats in Congress, and not the Republicans?
January 5th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
ZAID — SINCE YOU ARE EITHER 12 YEARS OLD OR OF LIMITED MENTAL CAPACITY, I’VE TAKEN TO PUTTING MY ANSWERS IN CAPS FOR YOU.
“Maybe if the juicebox mafia followed events more closely they would clue in to a truism — no country will let 7000 rockets land on it’s territory without a response.”
The problem with this statement is it can equally be used for Palestinians, perhaps moreso given that they are being occupied and colonized. ACTUALLY ZAID, PLEASE SEE “EVACUATION OF GAZA SETTLEMENTS, CIRCA 2005.” ALSO SEE, ISRAELI PEACE OFFERS 1977-2000. ALSO SEE — RULES OF WAR, TARGETING OF CIVILIANS. IF HAMAS NEVER FIRED A ROCKET THERE WOULD BE NO WAR, NO BLOCKADE, NO IDF AND NO SETTLERS. LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TERRORISM AND SELF-DEFENSE.
Where were all these hailers of a country’s rights to self defense when Israel struck Syria early in the year? I didn’t see them demanding that Syria had a right to invade and overthrow Kadima. ISRAEL AND SYRIA HAVE BEEN IN A STATE OF WAR FOR 60 YEARS. SYRIA COULD HAVE STRUCK AT ISRAEL AFTER ISRAEL DESTROYED IT’S NUCLEAR PROJECT. BUT THEY DIDN’T. PLEASE SEE “DETERRANCE” OR “BAMF”.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Globalzero is making its debut. How about a little bit on the growing movement for nuclear disarmament?
January 5th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Israel’s Policy Is Perfectly ‘Proportionate’
Hamas are the real war criminals in this conflict.
By ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ
Israel’s actions in Gaza are justified under international law, and Israel should be commended for its self-defense against terrorism. Article 51 of the United Nations Charter reserves to every nation the right to engage in self-defense against armed attacks. The only limitation international law places on a democracy is that its actions must satisfy the principle of proportionality.
Since Israel ended its occupation of Gaza, Hamas has fired thousands of rockets designed to kill civilians into southern Israel. The residents of Sderot — which have borne the brunt of the attacks — have approximately 15 seconds from launch time to run into a shelter. Although deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime, terrorists firing at Sderot are so proud of their actions that they sign their weapons.
When Barack Obama visited Sderot this summer and saw the remnants of these rockets, he reacted by saying that if his two daughters were exposed to rocket attacks in their home, he would do everything in his power to stop such attacks. He understands how the terrorists exploit the morality of democracies.
In a recent incident related to me by the former head of the Israeli air force, Israeli intelligence learned that a family’s house in Gaza was being used to manufacture rockets. The Israeli military gave the residents 30 minutes to leave. Instead, the owner called Hamas, which sent mothers carrying babies to the house.
Hamas knew that Israel would never fire at a home with civilians in it. They also knew that if Israeli authorities did not learn there were civilians in the house and fired on it, Hamas would win a public relations victory by displaying the dead. Israel held its fire. The Hamas rockets that were protected by the human shields were then used against Israeli civilians.
These despicable tactics — targeting Israeli civilians while hiding behind Palestinian civilians — can only work against moral democracies that care deeply about minimizing civilian casualties. They never work against amoral nations such as Russia, whose military has few inhibitions against killing civilians among whom enemy combatants are hiding.
The claim that Israel has violated the principle of proportionality — by killing more Hamas terrorists than the number of Israeli civilians killed by Hamas rockets — is absurd. First, there is no legal equivalence between the deliberate killing of innocent civilians and the deliberate killings of Hamas combatants. Under the laws of war, any number of combatants can be killed to prevent the killing of even one innocent civilian.
Second, proportionality is not measured by the number of civilians actually killed, but rather by the risk posed. This is illustrated by what happened on Tuesday, when a Hamas rocket hit a kindergarten in Beer Sheva, though no students were there at the time. Under international law, Israel is not required to allow Hamas to play Russian roulette with its children’s lives.
While Israel installs warning systems and builds shelters, Hamas refuses to do so, precisely because it wants to maximize the number of Palestinian civilians inadvertently killed by Israel’s military actions. Hamas knows from experience that even a small number of innocent Palestinian civilians killed inadvertently will result in bitter condemnation of Israel by many in the international community.
Israel understands this as well. It goes to enormous lengths to reduce the number of civilian casualties — even to the point of foregoing legitimate targets that are too close to civilians.
Until the world recognizes that Hamas is committing three war crimes — targeting Israeli civilians, using Palestinian civilians as human shields, and seeking the destruction of a member state of the United Nations — and that Israel is acting in self-defense and out of military necessity, the conflict will continue.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Is it possible to get Alan Dershowitz’s JD revoked because his emotional attachment to the government of Israel makes it so that he can’t validly interpret the law?
January 5th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
As a brand new resident of California, I’d love to read some intelligent assessment of Governor Schwarzenegger. I’d followed the earlier part of his terms closely from my old home in DC, but then kind of tuned out for the last year and a half. Any thoughts on how he’s doing, and on the state’s budgetary crisis in general? Are we really so far from Republicans talking about amending the Constitution to allow a President-inator?
January 5th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Noah Feldman — antichrist?
January 5th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Matt I’ve been wondering this from across the Atlantic for some time: where are all the foreclosure people?
Millions have lost their homes across the US and yet with the exception of the odd ‘middle class person sleeping in car’ human interest story on CNN and a comment in this week’s Economist about parents within two parent families moving out of state for work I really can’t recall seeing much within my trusty US print sources on where these people are now living or the wider social consequences of this.
Are they renting and if so where and what? How many people have moved in with nearby friends/family? Are there any clear migration trends towards cities (supporting the ‘it’s better to be poor in a city’ hypothesis)? Are the rustbelt states haemorrhaging people fastest or are the worst hit places paradoxically more affordable despite the lack of job prospects? If it’s still too early to know then anecdotally?
January 5th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Are there really any strong reasons for the 111th Senate to adopt Rule 22 (60 votes for cloture)? A short preemptive rebuttal:
Political price: Americans don’t cherish procedural traditions of the Senate–they will support measures to ensure the passage of popular legislation. It also would help vulnerable D Senators in Repub states by allowing them to vote against progressive legislation and still have it pass.
Fairness: The Repubs abused the filibuster, at least as it was traditionally treated. Moreover, if you think the filibuster is generally bad and should never have been adopted, it has to be abolished when *somebody* has the majority.
Theoretical threat of Dems not being able to use it the next time Repubs control both Houses plus the Presidency: The Dems are pretty darn secure for the short-to-mid term, and only for four years in modern U.S. political history have the Rs controlled all three. The Rs at this period had the singular advantages of 9-11 and Harry Reid’s milquetoast leadership. In any case, a future Republican Party that manages to control all three will be very different from the unhinged rump that it is today.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Panetta, of course.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
And what do you think of Merriweather Post Pavilion?
January 5th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Electric industry restructuring since the California mess. Good? Bad?
Esp, Texas’s ERCOT, PJM, CAISO, MISO, and NYISO.
Or if you want a more focused topic, wind development and nuclear announcements in Texas.
January 5th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
And what do you think of Merriweather Post Pavilion?
Beat you to that one. And for the record, I think it is the most accessible AC album, and while it lacks a landmark song like “Fireworks” it may also be their best.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
And what do you think of Merriweather Post Pavilion?
The traffic is usually pretty terrible, though I’ve been assured that Nissan Pavilion is much worse. And getting there on a weeknight is a real pain in the ass. Other than that, it’s pretty standard.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
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January 5th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
“ACTUALLY ZAID, PLEASE SEE “EVACUATION OF GAZA SETTLEMENTS, CIRCA 2005.”
As far as I know, while settlers were removed, Gaza’s air and sea still belong to the Israelis. They can’t even import food freely, as they’ve been under an 18-month long blockade. At the same time Israel removed settlers from Gaza, it seized more land in the West Bank than all the land it gave up in Gaza.
Does that sound like decolonization or rather a shuffling of colonizers?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Craig – That the black Civic is buried to the axles in asphalt?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
I’m interested in Matthew’s question, too. Al logically correct, while omitting the fact that McCain’s plan was a recipe for forcing everyone on either individual medical insurance plans or to go strictly cash for service. Most consumers would have gotten screwed. Obviously, MY didn’t approve. If you’re going to troll, use a bit of imagination.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Nuclear power.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
I would like to hear Matt’s opinion on the great NBA blog/vlog – thebasketballjones.net
OR why don’t more people talk about the “One State Solution” as outlined by Edward Said in 1999:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00EFDC143EF933A25752C0A96F958260
January 5th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
More doctor bashing, please.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
In a less useful vein, who are some plausible candidates for the Commerce slot?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
It’s well documented that Alan Dershowitz sucks non-cut cocks. His allegiances are, at very least, very dubious.
Is he circumcised?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
One can talk, much like one can talk about settling Mars. Reading Said’s piece, I think it’s plain that he’s thinking ‘way into the future. The inhabitants of Sri Lanka are closer to working out their issues that those of Palestine.
A question of more immediate import would be what happens in Gaza if the birth rate doesn’t throttle *way* back.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Re the right wing’s lack of intellectual capital, how about putting up a thread to solicit examples from readers of the most stupid/embarrrassing wrong things the right wing blogosphere/Fox News/ Bill O’Reilly /Rush etc have said over the past 8 years and how that has hurt America.
Examples should have reference/citation so you and other readers can verify it. (Hopefully, before a lot of archives start disappearing ).
You (Matthew) select what you think are the best examples. If there are a lot, then do series of threads on the subject over the next month.
It’s really disappointing that the left wing is not beating the living shit out of the right wing over the right wing’s past actions. That people like Fox News pundits are not being held accountable before the American people.
People think Bush’s departure means the long nightmare will be over. It won’t.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
“Imagine that you are a resident of a refuge camp in Gaza. What would you be thinking?”
Let’s see:
1) I’m actually not a refugee, but the grandson of a refugee from ‘48, so why am I living in a refugee camp?
2) Are there any other refugees from events sixty years ago that are still called refugees and are still living in refugee camps?
3) Can you believe that the UN has one hole refugee agency to deal with just us, and one to deal with all of the rest of the world’s refugees?
4) Since Israel left Gaza in 2005, why am I still living in a refugee camp? Why haven’t we built some permanent housing here?
5) Why does Hamas keep firing rockets at Israel, triggering Israeli military responses? What does this accomplish for us?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Now the Yuppie Nuremburg Defense on Gaza is that Palestinians want to be refugees and poor? Just to piss Israel off, right?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Another thought would occur to me as the resident of a refugee camp in Gaza: what happened to all those Jewish refugees who were kicked out of Arab countries sixty years ago. Are they still living in refugee camps somewhere? If not, why not?
January 5th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Why does Hamas keep firing rockets at Israel, triggering Israeli military responses? What does this accomplish for us?
Tell it, Bubba! I keep telling my wife the same damn’ thang—if she don’ want me to beat her, why does she keep pissin’ me off like that?
January 5th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Matt: what do you make of the kerfuffle over Obama’s tax cut plans? I’ve read a number of sources — Krugman included — expressing disquiet at the possibility that as much as 40% of the stimulus package will be tax cuts. Are you worried?
January 5th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
why, oh why does anyone thing John Bolten has anything at all useful or relevant to say?
January 5th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Zaid,
The reason for the blockade is the rockets. Why would Israel let Hamas import its rockets? enough trouble with the tunnels anyway.
Name one thing Hamas or Fatah has done to improve the lives of Palestinians?
what did Jesus say to the Palestinians before he went up to Heaven? Don’t do anything until I get back!!!!
hahahahahah!!
January 5th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Ending the alliance with Israel, wouldn’t it benefit American interests in terms of operational flexibility in the ME, as well as goodwill in terms of numbers both in the ME and globally, enable our support for moderates in the region to not be radioactive, and we would no longer be trapped whenever Israel decides to beat up on it’s neighbors.
Plus, hopefully, they would find it more difficult to spy on (or in very rare cases attack) us!
January 5th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
“The reason for the blockade is the rockets. Why would Israel let Hamas import its rockets? enough trouble with the tunnels anyway.”
As far as I know the undermining and strangulation of Gaza began as soon as Hamas was elected and was a response to that.
As for things they’ve done to better the Palestinian condition, their expensive social support for the population is exactly why they beat out Fatah in the elections.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
If one is going to be watching some of these recent mob flicks, he or she (hypothetically speaking) should consider viewing not just the Brasco one or the obvious (Goodfellas, Miller’s Crossing, et al [no need to cite the Frank flicks]) but the classic London mob pictures: Get Carter and the Long Good Friday (one of the best movies of the 1980s).
January 5th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
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I got donuts.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Comment on why the nyt got the Russia/Georgia conflict so wrong for so long. This seems to sum it up:
http://exiledonline.com/how-to-screw-up-a-war-story-the-new-york-times-at-work/all/1/
January 5th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
What are the difference in the current Israel/Gaza conflict that make the leadership in America to declare that we stand on the side of the superpower and its disproportionate response, but on the Russia/Georgia conflict the leadership of the USA declares “we are all Georgians” and decries Russia’s disproportionate response.
Oh yeah, 13 Jews in the US Senate and the ownership of the Media corporations. The Jews get a disproportionate share of the $700B bailout, and now they get our military to backstop their friends in Israel … fan freaking tastic!
January 6th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Probably too late, but can someone wack Andrew Sullivan over his misunderstanding of global climate change and what is required to actually address the issue?
Andrew has a problem. He only abandons his unfounded conservative beliefs if he cannot find a scientific sounding reason to keep them.
He is a reasonable person. He believes in science. The only problem is that he lacks the skills necessary to actually determine what is science and what sounds like science. Most people lack this skill, but Andrew is exceptionally vulnerable.
The most recent problem is the shell game of “gas-tax”, “payroll-tax” and “global-warming”.
His simple brain, based upon the conservative template, thinks that “global warming” can be “solved” by using a “gas tax” to replace “payroll taxes”.
First: a gas tax is maximally regressive. The payroll tax (repeal) is semi-regressive, but benefits the rich more than the poor. (Payroll taxes phase out, so the rich get a huge benefit after a certain income.)
Second: Raising gas prices may reduce gas consumption in the US, but that only reduces the global price for oil. It also has no effect on the consumption of coal or other carbon producing fuels.
Third: A carbon tax is not a penalty, but a distribution of global costs of a particular fuel. If a gas tax is re-distributed to a payroll tax, this has nothing to do with global carbon.
Conservatives are really trying to find a way to get rid of taxes and efforts to address global climate change, for them this is a three-fer. They get the poor to pay for their payroll taxes and get everyone feeling good about paying more for gas as an answer to global climate change.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:32 am
I’d likes to see something more on the crabs dribble. I got that meself and have a hard time gettin hoors to lay with me. This terrible disease needs to be spotlighted.
January 6th, 2009 at 1:40 am
I’ve been reading from a lot of different perspectives on I/P, but they all have names like “Levy” and “Cole.” Can you point me in the direction of a respected scholar of Arab descent who blogs regularly?
January 6th, 2009 at 1:57 am
marwan barghouti
January 6th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Mike:
Do you mean Mustafa Barghouti? I’m pretty sure Marwan Barghouti is currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison.
While I have immense respect for Mustafa Barghouti, I was looking for someone more along the lines of an academic or journalist rather than a politician or activist.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Yes Shawn, I actually mean Marwan, not Mustafa, Barghouti.
Marwan’s indeed in an Israeli prison, he’s also, in my opinion, the Palestinian leader.
January 6th, 2009 at 9:08 am
About that huge chunk of U.S. foreign aid that goes to Israel and Egypt:
1) Is that an artifact of the 1978 Camp David accords – basically a pot-sweetener to help them agree to buy into a peace treaty?
2) If so, is there any reason why this should be continued indefinitely? After 30 years, isn’t it safe to assume that Israel and Egypt would continue to have diplomatic relations even if we gradually reduced the level of aid we’re giving them?
January 6th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Peak Oil. 6 eu nations had their winter heat source shutoff as nations posture for declining resources. http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/4933#more
January 8th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Hi Matt- I’ve got a question about our long-term vision in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It has become the accepted wisdom (appropriately so, in my opinion) that the US financing, training, and arming of Islamist fighters in Afghanistan to defeat the Soviets really came back to hurt us in the personage of bin Laden and numerous others. This “blowback” is also evident in Pakistan, where groups like LeT, created by the ISI to stir up trouble in Kashmir, have now turned on their former masters.
Meanwhile, in Iraq we are training, paying (and possibly arming, I’m not sure) the “Sons of Iraq” and other militias. General Petraeus recently hinted that the new strategy in Afghanistan might follow a similar course.
Is this shortsightedness on our part? Is there a real chance that in 10 or 15 years we will consider the “Sons of Iraq” to be terrorists? Or have we learned our lesson, and doing something differently this time around?
This has puzzled me for awhile, and nobody seems to be talking about it, so please share your thoughts.
Thanks
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My friend Christy sent me a link to a movie about radical muslims in America. These guys are absolutely nuts…
they want to take over our country.
http://www.thethirdjihad3.tk
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