Bernadotte

Of course, the notion of a perfectly symmetrical response is ridiculous and nobody here has claimed otherwise. Â But if Israel is not morally bound to restrain its attacks then why have only ~1000 Palestinians been killed? Â In fact, Israel is restraining itself. Â They know they can kill around 200 innocent kids and destroy at least one UN facility per week without angering their American sponsor - especially during a period of political transition in the US - as long as there are a few Hamas heads to show for it. Ultimately, it's not the asymmetry of the effectiveness but the effectiveness of the asymmetry that has intelligent people concerned. Â After the dust settles Hamas (just like Hezbollah) will still be there and Israel will again have plenty of innocent blood on its hands. And the rockets will continue to fly because, according to Israeli intelligence, it wasn't even Hamas who was firing them: In other words, West Bank terrorists shot rockets out of Gaza in an effort derail the truce between Hama and Israel. Â And it worked. Â And Israel knows this even though they continue to blame Hamas for the rockets.

So what? Â They got most of the rich coastal plain. Ultimately, the UN offered the smaller half of Palestine that was 99% Arab to the Arabs and the larger half that was 45% Arab to the Jews. Surely a fair deal in the eyes of anyone with a racist double standard. How many Arabs had an opportunity to participate in Israel's first government? Â Would the US still be a democracy if the Republicans were denied an opportunity to participate in government, representing just ~45% of voters? In any case, I'd intended to ask about Israel's demographics after the 1949 armistice added another 22% of Palestine to their land area. If 700k Arabs living there hadn't become refugees Jews would definitely have governed as a minority.

Exactly. Â There's no need for racist laws as long as a nation is able to rely on the racism of its electorate. Â However, Israel is not quite racist enough to rely on its electorate and occasionally must put up with ultra right-wing attempts to pass racist laws: However, even Israeli members of parliament who voted in favour of the ban know it won't stick: So why the hell did they support such a ban in the first place if they knew it wasn't legal? Â Perhaps to put on a show for some of their more hateful constituents. Israeli friends keep telling me that Palestine won't have peace until Israel is at civil war with itself. Â In fact, the Palestinian conflict is probably the only thing holding Israel together. Â How ironic is that? How much smaller? Â Would it have dropped from the 56% of Palestine that the UN partition offered all the way down to the 5% of Palestine that the Jews actually owned? Â And what if the Arab population of that 56% hadn't fled as refugees? Â Israel would have been founded and governed by a Jewish minority; hardly the birth of a democracy. You're off by at least 1000 years. Â However I suspect it will still matter more to you that it was Jewish land 2000 years ago than Muslim land 1000 years ago... or 100 years ago... or even 60 years ago. Of course it's new because in 1948: - There were internationally recognised land and property archives specifiying who owned the invaded land; - The UN was able to provide refuge to those forced from their properties; - There was a Geneva Convention to protect the indigenous populations from being exterminated; and most importantly - The invaders forced most of the non-Jewish population into indefinite statelessness rather than assimilate them. When did conditions like those prevail during any of those previous invasions? Shouldn't be too difficult given that Israel has blockaded all exports out of Gaza since 2006, in open violation of international agreements. Here's another fine example of Israel acting as the tail wagging the American dog and even smacking it in the face: The Israeli PM ordered the US President not to support a UN resolution that the US actually helped to draft and then publicly boasted about shaming the American Sec of State. Â Just incredible! Btw, the resolution was passed 14:0 with 1 abstention. Â

Hi ya Bals, m8. After nearly 2 decades in Central Europe I returned to Canada for a while and immediately gained around 5 kg. So, unfortunately, I am starting to look a bit more like Saturn than Jupiter. Of course, I mostly blame ArmA. Â

Never? Â Never ever? Â Yeah, that is funny. Here on planet earth I can hear of acts like that being condemned all the time. Â

It just won't be the same around here. Â Best of luck, m8. Â

Ver 0.807 is out. Â

Good one!! The article also referred to a truck fire in France that had caused some panic because it was carrying 900 smoke detectors. Â Apparently, that's where the guy got the idea (...and hopefully not my post). Â However, it's interesting to see how reasonable and calm the public has been in the aftermath of so many recent Polonium-210 detections. Â I understand the sushi bar's been shut down, but that seems to be about the extent of the disruption as far as I've been able to tell.

...And just in case anyone missed this: Any questions? Â

<span style='font-size:13pt;line-height:100%'>17 months ago:</span> <span style='font-size:13pt;line-height:100%'>1 month ago:</span>

Flaming = 1WL added = Ban. Ahhh poop!!! Â The only reason I didn't report stuff like this was that the dude was already just one off being booted for good. Â You see, his various posts in this thread have done a great deal to demonstrate the nature of the injustices Palestinians have had to live with for nearly a century. Â With Nemesis around, there was never any need for me to post about pro-Israel fanatics who actually believe things like Palestinians having volunteered to be refugees. Â We could all simply read it for ourselves, straight from the horse's mouth. I do understand the banning, but I'm really sorry to see him go. Â

Death Cults? Â Isn't it their Birth Cults that you are supposed to be worried about? Â After all, the average Palestinian has about 3 or 4 times as many kids as the average Israeli. Â Isn't a majority non-Jewish Israel really just a few years away? Â I'd have thought you'd be encouraging their Death Cults rather than complaining about them. Besides, I can't see how their "Death Cults" can be very successful with birth statistics like that.

Well, we don't exactly see them discussing how to destroy your bunkers, do we? Â

No it's not. Â I've inspected some that could easily fit into 3 or 4 subway stations. Really? Â Then good luck attacking an underground facility if they couldn't even level a surface complex. Um... How terrible!! Â Â

How does a nuke pose a threat to any nation that might be involved in such a reprisal? Â ...Not to mention that nuke usage would be utter suicide. Now you're just fantasizing. Â Something tells me a well educated and oil rich nation is able to construct far more bomb-proof facilities than what the Taliban did in Tora Bora. Â And just look how well airstrikes brought that place down. Â

By "out of reach" I didn't mean out of range. Their facilities are buried deep. How do you figure it's a "big" risk? Â Do you honestly believe that nukes would give them some additional desire or ability to blockade other gulf nations. Â Just look what happened back in 1973 when the entire region turned off the oil taps. Â Would Arab or Iranian nukes have made any difference? Â Of course not. Â None of the Western oil consuming nations even came close to turning the taps back on by force.

Oh really? Â What need do you, in Britain, have that is incompatable with Iran's need for security? Â Their oil, maybe?

Yeah, like that's really gonna convince the Iranians that they don't need a nuclear deterent. Â Besides, nobody truly believes that they've built their most important facilities within reach of an airstrike. Meanwhile... >>> Â Â Â Â Â <<<

But, look who was celebrating horrible death just a few hours earlier: Indeed, it's quite sick when some guy in Denmark celebrates the violent deaths of desperate refugees from half a world away. Prove it!! Â According to MEMRI's translated excerpt, Ahmadinejad merely referred to the possibility of others saying it: MEMRI probably didn't consider the rest of his statement inflamatory enough to translate. Â

Why not use the translation originally released by MEMRI before it was mutated into the famous "wiped off the map" propaganda that people like Nemesis love to throw around? In fact, it sounds little different from what Bush was calling for in Baghdad a few years ago. Â

No. Â That was the Six Day War. Â See: Â USS Liberty Incident News (for some of us): Looks like the Israeli government has been telling lies. Â Â [Original post got lost in rollback, methinks. Â ]

yes

Whatever is most convenient for you, huh? Â 100% true. Did your family identify themselves as Soviets, Ukrainians or perhaps even Russians before moving to Israel? Â

Oh really? Â Who is "they" ? Â Who are these people who apparently all think according to this same opinion that you believe "they" have? Just because I happen to know a few racist bigoted Israelis does it mean all Israelis are racist bigots? Â Of course not. Ariel Sharon was born a Palestinian and remained a Palestinian during the first 20 years of his life. Â Nonetheless, nearly all people calling themselves Palestinians these days are Arabs. By the way, what do Arab Israelis call themselves? Â ...Israelis or Palestinians? Â

You do know that they only bought 5% and then <s>stole</s> ended up with over 50%, right? Â