current forum:National & International Affairs

[djh]

with violence and terror rampant in the middle east, the worlds focus on iran and al qaida as THE culprits in terrorism is very apparent. israels dehumanizing attacks on lebanon and more recently gaza not only got little negative press coverage, but praise from major u.s. tv networks and newspapers. is terror, terror? or is the u.s. govt financed, israeli machine of death and destuction immune to such classification? is a terrorist still a terrorist even if he or it is well financed?

[cherenkov]

both sides of that conflict are guilty of terrorism, in my opinion. They're both to blame, they are both stubborn and provoke the other party. I wonder if it will ever be resolved peacefully.

[sputnik]

That's what happens when you have two religions started by the same father but different mothers.

[sjcoutts]

This is why "terrorism" is such a slippery concept. By labelling a group as terrorists, it basically legitimizes any actions taken by the state to suppress it.

I guess everyone sleeps better at night if we allow ourselves to think that "they're just crazy, they just hate us" rather than confront the fact that they may have legitimate grievances.

It's difficult to even say how much of the conflict is religious and how much is political; they're so intertwined. But it seems to me that Israel, as the "legitimate state" in this conflict, needs to step up here. Stopping the expansion of Israeli settlements onto Palestinian territory would be a good start. Eventually a Palestinian state needs to be created. This wouldn't solve the long-standing religious disputes (putting it mildly), but it might de-escalate things a bit.

Just my $0.02

(Note: I do not support violence on either side)

[djh]

as a add onto my thread title: should the western christian founded world in any way get involved in religious and or political diputes between jews and muslims? missing letters in posts due to crappy keyboard.

[johndk51]

Middle Easterners see Israel as a Western incursion into their land, hence the term 'Zionists,' who are largely of European descent. Iran is home to over a million Jews, with President Ahmadinejad being of Jewish descent (how's that for irony).

The U.S. & NATO's presence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan only heats up the cauldron.

[Bait]

Middle Easterners see Israel as a Western incursion into their land, hence the term 'Zionists,' who are largely of European descent. Iran is home to over a million Jews, with President Ahmadinejad being of Jewish descent (how's that for irony).

The U.S. & NATO's presence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan only heats up the cauldron.

I just stumbled upon this post, and needed to comment on it. Iran has never had 1,000,000 Jews, and President Ahmadinejad is definitely not of Jewish descent. At most, there were 150,000 Jews in Iran after the end of World War 2.

After the creation of the Jewish state, the population of Iran dwindled to approx. 80,000 Jews. In 1979, during the Islamic Revolution, the jewish population was further dimished, and how it is estimated there are less than 25,000 Jews in Iran, with some figures as low as 11,000.

Sorry to bring up an old post, but I had to correct the inaccurate information.

sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Jews

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/iranjews.html

[rosencrentz]

I noticed a previous post of yours in another thred about Jews was not very nice. In other versions of you around the forum world you've made unkind comments regarding these wonderfull people. Do you have some some concerns about people that live on Wellington Crescent or were you joking?

[Bait]

I noticed a previous post of yours in another thred about Jews was not very nice. In other versions of you around the forum world you've made unkind comments regarding these wonderfull people. Do you have some some concerns about people that live on Wellington Crescent or were you joking?

edit*

[Bait]

I noticed a previous post of yours in another thred about Jews was not very nice. In other versions of you around the forum world you've made unkind comments regarding these wonderfull people. Do you have some some concerns about people that live on Wellington Crescent or were you joking?

and?