Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (52172)	10/15/2002 1:05:48 PM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Arafat is defensible only insofar as he is a lightning rod for the Palestinians. His blunders and missteps of the past few years suggest that he has a barely hidden agenda, i.e., the destruction of Israel as a viable nation. This maximalist agenda is unrealistic and irrational, not to mention unachievable. He is, in my opinion, wedded to it despite the crystal-clear fact that he will not destroy Israel. As a result, his effectiveness no longer exists, not that he was very effective in the first instance. If the Palestinians voluntarily or involuntarily continue to follow him, they will suffer more than they have already suffered, which is a great deal. That paragraph is definitely consistent with your other posts about Arafat. My concern, at the moment, is with what follows Arafat. As I've typed to others but can't recall whether I typed to you, I see the two scenarios, one in which Arafat is followed by a secular based govt and the second in which it's an Islamist group in power. Sharon's current tactics contribute more to the latter than the former. So it increases my fears by increasing its probability. As for the role of rationality in all this, that seems to be in low supply all around.