Hi Tejek, RE: "I wasn't talking about his involvement in the ME."
You said, "whose interests do you think Bush has at heart...not America's"
RE: "I was talking about how we are supporting a regime"
America's support here exists, for America.
RE: "that is playing unfair with the Palestinians."
It is playing unfair. America is putting its needs for oil ahead of world humanity.
Palestine cannot give America stability in oil. Israel and Saudia Arabia can. Of course, if the govt were smart they'd take the token gift from the auto mfgs and start taxing gas to reduce economic dependency on an area that is most unstable.
RE: "I am also tired of paying Israel a yearly allowance of $3 billion to insure that they maintain their regional superpower status......militarily and economically."
Your bias is showing against Israel, when you said "I am also tired of paying Israel." This is because the sentence structure shows an emphasis onto Israel, rather than an emphasis on payment of $3B. You're making the focus Israel, rather than our decision for the payment.
This payment ensures our oil supply. Yet your annoyance is with Israel, rather than with ourselves for our ultra high consumption of oil & our mechanism of achieving our oil needs, as well as our lack of follow through to reduce dependency on oil.
Why is it Israel's fault if we decide to pay them $3B per year for our oil stabiliyt needs? If you don't like paying Israel $3B/year, then this is the USA's fault, not Israel's. The underlying issue is our oil needs and our lack of handling them properly - this is our decision and our fault.
RE: "If we cut back on their allowance, I think Sharon would be a lot more interested in negotiating with the Palestinians."
Israel (and Saudi Arabia) have been given carte blanche to do what they want, provided we continue to be dependent upon oil. But this is our fault, not theirs. Rather than getting upset at them, it's better to focus inward and make change at home. Namely, our dependency upon oil needs to be reduced, otherwise it makes us dependent upon an unstable region in the world, and makes us support policies that violate world humanity.
RE: "under the Bush administration, Israel has gained much more power in Congress."
Why would you blame Israel for this? You continue to blame Israel for things which are our own decisions. It's like blaming your mother-in-law for something your husband didn't handle. It's misdirected blame. We are the ones that control ourselves. The error is with how we control our oil needs.
RE: "fall promising the Israelis the world."
Please try to see, Israel does not control the USA. We are granting Israel the right to protect our oil needs. This is our decision. This is a decision under our control. This is something we control. If the decision is wrong, then this is our fault. We are accountable for our decisions - we don't blame our decisions onto others.
RE: "if you read the history of Palestine and Israel, Israel is not the saint often portrayed to us."
The media does not portray the body count of Palestines. There are two reasons for this. First, it is difficult for the media to report from inside a country they could be killed by simply trying to get information on such a count - so information will always be more plentiful for the side where the information flows without risk of life. Second reason is, there does exist some cultural level of bias against Palestines, certainly after 9/11, that becomes evident with phrases such as, "Angry Palestines", compared to "Concerned CountryABC". The word "angry" is used to make a society sound irrational - this is how bias against a country is portrayed in the media. Meanwhile, the word "concerned" sounds rational. This is how the media makes one country sound rational, while making the other country sound irrational. This is how bias is presented in the media - but it may be unintentional bias. It takes education to make a society aware of unintentional biases.
RE: "I believe Israel has a right to exist but I don't think it has a right to keep the Palestinians from their independence. And that's what Sharon and the Likud party are doing."
I was of the impression the media said Sharon is supporting independence of Palestinian. What he is not supporting, is the return of 3.5M Palestinians into Israel. Jordon is obviously upset with that - because that unloads 3.5M dependent people onto Jordon.
RE: "Americans need to wake up...we can't continue to support Israel at the total expense of our relationship with the Muslim world."
Your course isn't showing you how America is accountable for its own decisions. Israel is not accountable for our decisions. You can't blame Israel for America's decisions.
You keep blaming Israel, rather than blaming a decision the USA controls. We are granting Israel the right to protect our oil needs. This is our decision. This is a decision under our control. This is something we control. If the decision is wrong, then this is our fault. We are accountable for our decisions.
RE: "We are so far from weaning ourselves off oil, its pitiful."
That is our fault. Stop blaming Israel, and start blaming the USA for how we are handling things. We control our own decisions.
Regards,
Amy J |
