Re: Yes... all of these Arabs were either pawns, or the product, of colonialist powers.
And many are still in power.
I've already answered that problem in the following post:
Message 15828508
As I said, it's one thing to deal with "colonial gerrymandering", quite another to artificially displace a whole population, that is, to create a country that is doubly artificial --artificial borders and artificial settlers.... That's what the Palestinians' right of return is all about:
The Right of Return for Palestinians Has to Be Taken Seriously
Richard W. Murphy and Muhammad Muslih International Herald Tribune
Thursday, January 4, 2001
NEW YORK The apparent assumption on the part of American and Israeli negotiators that there can be a trade off between some form of limited Palestinian sovereignty over parts of East Jerusalem and the right of return for about 3.5 million refugees is invalid. The right of return, which is contained in UN General Assembly Resolution 194 of December 1948, cannot be so easily dropped.
mafhoum.com
Re: I would like to see the same thing in the US. Then, no matter how wealthy we might become later on in life, we would all possess the shared experience of having trained to defend our nation.
Don't bet on it.... First, it runs opposite the relentless automating trend across every military branch. Today there's already extensive use of surveillance drones; tomorrow the Air Force will rely on pilotless fighters as well. Times have changed, Hawk, and there's no need today for numerous infantry battalions to clash against each other in a Napoleonic fashion.
Besides, there're hopefully many other ways to "defend one's nation": by defusing hostility towards "US imperialism", American citizens abroad who help developing countries to get ahead are as, if not more, praiseworthy as the military crowd.
Gus. |
