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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (207775)	10/21/2004 3:34:01 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 1574261

Re: It looks to me like you underestimate the Kerry side of the equation. You mean "the Tweedledee side of the equation"?? <g> Re: You see the big question hovering before us is not what are the differences between two men and two parties, but rather are we willing to continue to be a democracy in the face of risking more terrorist attacks. Judeocons have already answered that question... as I said on other threads (), the ongoing West-Bankization of Iraq will entail a gradual israelization* of the U.S. Now, does that worry you at all? The U.S.A. turning into one, big, continentwide Israel? After all, Israel is a democracy, isn't it? You Yanks will all soon become Israelis... in a world populated by billions of ugly, benighted Palestinians (like the French). Gus (*) Message 20132105 Message 20070038

To: tejek who wrote (207775)	10/21/2004 4:35:16 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 1574261

Footnote -- what lies ahead for Americans: [...] How many Israelis think about the fact that a handful of generals is dictating our lives, lives that have lost all meaning, except for the combat meaning that our own lives are full of? On Passover, after the killing of [Hamas spiritual leader] Yassin, few Israelis ventured on trips in the outdoors, and those who watch their children carefully - those who cannot fly abroad for short vacations - preferred to remain at home. The 40 days of mourning for Yassin passed, and the revenge attack didn't come. The chief of staff was quick to volunteer his "We told you so": Look, there was an "assassination" that succeeded, and those who said that something very bad would happen as a result were mistaken. The method has proven itself. But when doesn't the method prove itself, when the issue relates to the IDF? Never. The army has a monopoly: "to succeed," to decide what "success" is, and the main thing - never to fail (in spite of its colossal failure). This monopoly was not created with the help of the stupidity of the ordinary citizen. This monopoly creates the utter stupidity on the television screen and in the tabloids, and in the best case, it also creates the utter disbelief in "intelligence warnings." Now, when everyone is reprimanding those who travel in the Sinai, swearing not to return there, we are forgetting the Passover holiday after the assassination of Sheikh Yassin. Would the security apparatus have published a warning not to go on trips in the Israeli outdoors, if they'd had worrisome data that spring? Of course not. Anyone who is in doubt should recall how official Israel, the Israel that distances itself from human suffering, the Israel that is close to the decision makers - the government, the top echelons of the army and the newspaper commentators - treated the citizens who abandoned Kiryat Shmona during the Katyusha rocket attacks. Moreover, did warnings about a Qassam to be fired on Sderot deter the decision makers from carrying out assassinations, attacks, bombings? Never. At meetings during which they decide on some operation or another, do they ever take into account the price that "all of us" will pay? Maybe, but they're ready to pay it. After all, those who decide aren't the ones who pay. Hasn't the time come to say so? In cases when the decision makers fear that the residents will abandon the city (as in the case of Kiryat Shmona), the entire ideological apparatus for reprimanding people ("Zionism") is implemented, to make sure that they remain where they are. And at the same time, of course, because there is no faith in the Zionism of those who are far from the decision makers - terrible destructive force is applied as well, in order to prevent the next shooting. Is the next shooting prevented? Until the next shooting. But now try to compare the flight from Kiryat Shmona, during one of the times when it was abandoned, to the mass flight from the Sinai. Here is the image that arises from behind the camouflaging details: We are living in a fortress. With the onset of darkness - in other words, when the army decides that it's dark - the trumpets call the knights to return. The bridges are raised and the fortress guarantees quiet to its inhabitants, even at the price of horrors for those who are not defined as inhabitants. Does it fulfill its promise of quiet? Absolutely not. What the military establishment promises the masses (not what it promises itself and its associates) is what the Marquis de Sade sarcastically promised the French people: "One more effort, citizens." That is the motto of sadism. haaretz.com Of course, the difference between the US and Israel --so far-- is that you Americans can still refer to "the US government" instead of "the army/military/Pentagon" as the ultimate decision-maker... Unlike Israel, the US has not turned into a full-fledged stratocracy... yet. Gus