In the run up to the Iraqi war I was involved in a project called Stand Down which attempted to gather bloggers on the “right” and “left” of the political spectrum to write posts in opposition to going to war. Sadly the site is down. I say sadly because it would provide useful documentation of how correct the anti-war [...]
The war in Yugoslavia was a turning point in the human rights movement. Appalled by the atrocities they saw, many Western war correspondents advocated for military intervention by the US and the EU. The rallying cry was “how can we stand by and let another Holocaust happen?” Eventually (not soon enough for what would soon be known as the [...]
Continue reading about Feature: Humanitarian Intervention - Part I
Yesterday while reading AMNY I saw an article about Kosovo. As with the so-called “Cedar Revolution” and “Orange Revolution” there was the obligatory picture of a pretty girl sitting on someone’s shoulders and waving a flag. Given the parallels my skeptical nature kicked in. While knowing very little about the issue, I began to wonder [...]
Question Four: The end justifies the means, so why are you complaining about a few civilians killed if in the long run many more lives will be saved?
Question Five: The number would be unnoticed if the victims had died at the hands of an Arab government. Israel is far more moral than its enemies so [...]
Continue reading about Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions - Numbers Four and Five
Question: Terrorists only understand force and nothing will stop them except their destruction. How can we negotiate with terrorists?
Answer: The underlying thinking behind this world-view (now embodied in the US by the neo-cons) is so simplistic, one wonders how otherwise intelligent people can spout such nonsense.
Continue reading about Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions - Number Three
Nicholas Kristof column today addresses a more sophisticated variant of the first question I raised. Obviously his mild criticism of Israel’s approach made all the “pro-Israel” types flood his mailbox. Here’s how he phrases the question he received from his readers:
“What else can a country do when it is subjected to rocket attacks and cross-border [...]
Continue reading about Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions - Number Two
When I was young, one of my favorite magazines was William Gaines’ Mad Magazine. In the tradition of great Jewish subversives, Gaines poked fun at all the pieties of middle class American society, provoking young minds to think differently than their elders. One of my favorite sections of the magazine was called “Snappy Answers to [...]
Continue reading about Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions - Number one
Today is the fourth of July. In regards to patriotism, two quotes by Mark Twain succinctly describe my own attitudes:
“Man is the only Patriot. He sets himself apart in his own country, under his own flag, and sneers at the other nations, and keeps multitudinous uniformed assassins on hand at heavy expense to grab slices [...]
Starting from Benny Morris’ diatribe, Kathleen Christison analyzes how many Jews deal with the Israel/Palestine conflict. Her analysis leads me to some thoughts of my own.
“Halper writes that as one of the few Israelis who have ever even been to Palestine, he finds it ‘impossible to convey to my own people, my own neighbors (good [...]
Continue reading about Feature: These are the Generations of Mankind
Not too long ago I had a discussion with Asaf precisely on this topic - why I think Ghandi is one of the greatest men who ever lived. It was just after I had seen the movie about Ghandi’s life for a second time. I was gratified to read this article by Niranjan Ramakrishnan, which [...]
Continue reading about Feature: What’s So Great About Gandhi, Anyway?