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Re: U.S.-Israel Alliance
| quote: | Originally posted by kush paintings
1. Our country was founded and operated for a long time with the ideal of peaceful friendships with all, |
First mistake is this assumption -- you need to do some reading. 
| quote: | Originally posted by kush paintings
...entangling alliances with none. |
A Wilsonian illusion, that didn't last.
| quote: | Originally posted by kush paintings
Why have we developed an entangling alliance with Israel? |
The US is allied primarily with Israel in the Middle East because it feels it can identify moreso with the Israeli-Jewish experience than with that of the Arabs. Also because the Jews successfully integrated with the British and American cultures long before the problem of a state of Israel arose.
An element of racism is also to be noted, as well as common religious cause between Jew and Christian and bad blood between Christian and Muslim within the context of contention over the 'Holy Land' in the Middle Ages (we'll ignore that the Christians also went on Crusade against other Christians as well as the Jews during the Middle Ages for the purposes of this discussion).
| quote: | Originally posted by kush paintings
2. What benefits do we get out of this alliance?
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3. Why is this alliance so strongly supported by both Democrats and Republicans? |
Good questions, but not politick to discuss here. You might want to browse through the mega Israeli-Palestine thread (warning: currently at 131 pages and mostly useless) for some ideas on the matter:
http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...threadid=247184
By way of more serious introduction, try to find a documentary called _The 50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs_ or perhaps the treatment in the CNN series _The Cold War_ at your local university AV center.
| quote: | Originally posted by kush paintings
4. Does Israel have a right to land in the middle east? |
The answer will depend on the individual's religio-political perspective.
Israel's claim to the land is set on a biblical precedent and has arguments founded in the Jewish experience during the Holocaust (if you're an atheist, you will find this unconvincing).
Palestinian claim to the land is based on a Qur'anic precedent, their military conquest and residency of the area since the Middle Ages, and on the promises made to them for an autonomous country in exchange for their cooperation vis-a-vis the Nazis and the Young Turks during WWII (if you're an atheist, or of the opinion that the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence discussed nothing of the sort, you will find this unconvincing).
For a quick primer (which I have no interest in detailing further), read this thread:
http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...threadid=264113
| quote: | Originally posted by metalgearsolid
ehh this is bullshit you know the americans payed for the israilies to withdraw and now the israeli gov wants two billion more for the withdraw. |
3 billion, actually.
| quote: | Originally posted by George Smiley
The US does not give the UK $5 billion every year for a start! Plus, the UK is America's poodle - we do what we are told, sir. |
This is silly. The Brits are up for kicking anyone's ass whenever, just ask them to (get drunk and) show up -- they'll come with centuries of street fighting experience. The above could only be uttered by someone not alive during the reign of Iron Maggie and the Falklands. Looking at it from sheer practicality, George would be stupid not to ask the Brits to back him.
Hell George even asked Canada to back him -- we didn't go along (officially, exactly), but he did try to assemble a fraternity of complicit warmongers, and who can blame him?
What an irony it is that everyone pins the bully, imperialist, and warmongering label on the USA when the Brits have been doing it longer, more efficiently, and with more success than any Western power on the planet. The UK taught the US almost everything it knows about war; if anyone's the warmonger, it ain't the US -- it's the UK.
In fact the UK has had more years of experience in war, imperialism, managing, and modernizing foreign populations than all the years the US has been in existence. The UK is an older-brother ally to the USA, with much to teach from its pre-WWI experiences in the Empire. Half the USA's problem is that it is such a poor student.
Where Sith Lords go, the USA is the apprentice. The Sith Master is laughing in the shadows as everyone picks on the apprentice's faults and inexperience.
Calling the Brits a lapdog is beyond absurdly laughable, and demonstrates ignorance of basic modern history. If you really wanna bash warmongering and meddling in foreign affairs, if you must cast mud, for gawd's sake have some aim!
Cheers,
-N
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Last edited by TheNobleEu on Aug-16-2005 at 22:15
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