Between militaristic encroachment and unilateral compromise, there should be enough ground to find a way out of this war that neutralizes Hamas and formalizes a process that can work toward solving the puzzle of two peoples living together on one small parcel of land.

As bad as militaristic encroachment has been, unilateral compromise has been worse.

I agree.

I call projection on you, Kick!

I call deflection on you, Canada.

I mean, seriously, read your last many comments out loud and you'll see what I'm talking about. Heh.

If you want to increase your reading comprehension/speed, stop moving your lips. *laughs* I don't need to read anything "out loud" to understand it. If my comments sound repetitious to you, it's because I'm quoting at length your repetitive drivel and spew.

Maybe this will help, Kick ...

You've thoroughly convinced me you are beyond "help," but "knock yourself out" reading it if you think it'll do you some good. :)

Israel's Self-Destruction?

I call projection on you, Kick! I mean, seriously, read your last many comments out loud and you'll see what I'm talking about. Heh.

https://www.ft.com/content/2a1555bd-6831-4c41-9d74-0a3dec994d9c

Patently false?

Yes.

Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has made his views quite clear on whether a two-state solution or any political solution is in the cards.

So you're seriously now claiming that your definition of "the most extremist Israeli government" was meant as simply "Netanyahu"? Do you also think the United States government is one person? Rhetorical question.

It's as if you don't even read anyone's comments or don't understand them... just lather, rinse, repeat, repeat, repeat ad nauseam.

These views of his, by the way, are apparently at odds with the views of many Israeli citizens.

And those Israeli citizens have representatives in the Israeli government, and (like JL made abundantly clear) the israeli war cabinet includes almost all parties, left right and center.

And, honestly, you actually don't know what political solutions they're discussing because you're not privy to that information... but keep digging.

patently false. for example, "no hint of a political solution coming from the most extremist Israeli government" - that's just not the case.

Patently false? Hardly. Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has made his views quite clear on whether a two-state solution or any political solution is in the cards. His views on this are extreme. His views on illegal settlements are extreme, etc. These views of his, by the way, are apparently at odds with the views of many Israeli citizens.

Israel has for decades given lip service - as well as time, energy and effort - to the idea of Palestinian statehood and a two-state solution to the decades long Palestinian-Israeli conflict. On 10/6, I would have guessed that the two-state solution was dead or, at the very least, dormant. But, in the aftermath of the horrors of the 10/7 Hamas attacks against Israel, that long sought after solution seems to have been given new life. By people of the highest caliber, I might add, like Ehud Barak.

...there is no political solution possible with someone who is still trying to kill you.

Well, of course, when I write about political compromise and a two-state solution I am NOT talking about working toward that end with Hamas at the table. That much SHOULD go without saying. I keep forgetting how precise I need to make my language. I should know better than to leave any room, whatsoever, for assumptions that would make me out to be a Hamas appeaser.

prior to october 7 the leadership coalition was very right-wing, but the israeli war cabinet includes almost all parties, left right and center. Why? because there is no political solution possible with someone who is still trying to kill you. it is not israel's responsibility to propose endless political compromises on palestinian statehood when there's no common ground on the matter of whether or not the state of israel will continue to exist.

JL

I didn't mean to say that YOU were making any assumptions.

How did you not "mean to say that" when you reference two of his comments at 25 and 26 and then state: "All of that assumes"?

How would I know what assumptions you make or don't make.

That's a question. Answer: The same way you claim to know what Nancy Pelosi and a "lot of commenters in this very blog" thinks in your comment at [1] above.

I don't understand how the way Netanyahu and the IDF are going about this - with more than 27,000 Gazans dead with many more, presumably, still under the rubble, so far; with little or no humanitarian aid getting to where it is needed; with no hostages rescued by the IDF and three of them killed at the hands of IDF soldiers; with no hint of a political solution coming from the most extremist Israeli government in my lifetime and, in fact, a refusal to entertain the idea of a Palestinian state - is making Israel more secure or its citizens more safe, in the short, medium or long term.

You're right; you don't understand. You're also being misinformed and repeating the false information in this paragraph.

What is success in this situation regardless of how high or low the bar is set?

I will tell you one thing I know for certain; it's not your problem to solve, particularly when you are so misinformed and just generally have repeatedly demonstrated that you have very little understanding of historical events and continue to regurgitate ad nauseam nothing but repetitive rhetoric that involves "solutions" bordering on appeasement or that are outright appeasement.

I don't know but it seems we are nowhere near any part of it at this point.

You're right; you don't know, but I have an idea for you. Treat Russia and Hamas like they are COVID trying to overtake and annihilate the people of Ukraine and Israel, respectively. The virus will never go away; it will take many forms and will have to be defeated over and over in order to save people from extinction. SARS existed before but was contained. It returned in full force and was named SARS-CoV-2 a.k.a. COVID. Now remember how you whined ad nauseam that the United States was a rich nation who owed the world to protect everyone from the virus? Connect the dots. Here, let me help you:

As I observe it from your commentary, your flaw is in your seeming belief that there's a correct/perfect solution to every unknown global issue being thrown at it and that the United States is somehow to blame for it.

That'll do for a start.

I don't understand how the way Netanyahu and the IDF are going about this - with more than 27,000 Gazans dead with many more, presumably, still under the rubble, so far; with little or no humanitarian aid getting to where it is needed; with no hostages rescued by the IDF and three of them killed at the hands of IDF soldiers; with no hint of a political solution coming from the most extremist Israeli government in my lifetime and, in fact, a refusal to entertain the idea of a Palestinian state - is making Israel more secure or its citizens more safe, in the short, medium or long term.

What is success in this situation regardless of how high or low the bar is set? I don't know but it seems we are nowhere near any part of it at this point.

israel's operations in gaza right now are occurring for the purpose of preventing more terrorist attacks in israel right now, not twenty years from now. it would be wonderful if hamas could be completely dismantled and prevented from engaging in more terrorist attacks in the future, without harming any gazan civilians in the process.

however, we don't all have the luxury of setting such a high bar for success.

All of that assumes that what the IDF is doing is going to destroy Hamas and/or not create Hamas 2.0.

Your ignorance regarding both situations is (still) obvious in that you're once again (and again and again ad nauseam regurgitation here) making the argument/asinine assertion that one should not deign to fight for their very existence against attackers who have vowed to annihilate them unless that invading entity can be defeated in their current totality and possibly future forms.

Furthermore, it assumes that the long-term security of Israel is actually being enhanced by the accomplishment you speak of.

Now you're just basically putting words in his mouth and failing (as usual) to recognize the accomplishment that he speaks of for both Israel and Ukraine is not being annihilated by those whose goal is ending their very existence.

Cut to the chase:

* History is obviously not your strong suit.

* Your regurgitated argument ad nauseam is what is known as "appeasement."

* JL and MtnCaddy are dead on accurate about this... 100%.

All of that assumes that what the IDF is doing is going to destroy Hamas and/or not create Hamas 2.0. Furthermore, it assumes that the long-term security of Israel is actually being enhanced by the accomplishment you speak of.

Very dangerous assumptions, on both counts.

Exactly!

:)

Meanwhile, and since it's Sunday in Weigantia, here's a special tune just for our Kick. Enjoy!

Could you kindly let all us "commenters in this very blog" know when your Nancy Pelosi commentary metamorphosized into self-executed pity party is going to be brought to its merciful conclusion? *blows party horn*

Asking for a friend. :)

The war is going fine! Ukraine is still an independent country, something that the Ukrainians who are fighting and dying value more than a certain Canadian Weigantian. The only Weigantian who believes that telling Russia that Ukraine will never join NATO isn’t a “Help yourself, Vlad!” The one who ignores geopolitics. They’re bleeding Russia dry and once the West puts the rest of the tools needed in their hands bc it’s just a matter of time.

[21]

I wouldn’t have gone that far but I cannot summon much in the way of disagreement.

I address YOUR points and then justify my arguments. You don’t address seemingly ANY point I’ve gone through the trouble bapping out on my smart phone.

Exactly correct.

You then wait a couple weeks and then proceed to repeat your unsupported position. Rinse and repeat.

So you're saying it's like an echo? Inside a chamber? ;)

Ms. Pelosi is merely acting and talking like a lot of commenters in this very blog. Which is to say that she thinks people who disagree with her are automatically echo-chamber imbeciles.

If you're making posts claiming to actually know what "a lot of commenters in this very blog" are actually thinking, then I wouldn't describe you as an "echo-chamber imbecile"... a demonstrable one, obviously.

I know.

Like I said, "demonstrable imbecile."

I deal with that sort around here all the time, of late. :(

Also apparently butthurt enough to twist a totally unrelated post about Nancy Pelosi into a manufactured pity party for yourself. *blows party horn*

Trump wants the market to crash and is only the second president in US history to lose jobs, so can't we just call him "Depression Donald" since he's determined to Make America a Great Depression Again?

So, let me get this straight: Trump has (so far) spent $55 million for lawyers who have (to date) lost in court to the tune of $5 million plus $83.3 million, and stay tuned next week where I expect Trump will lose (guessing) somewhere in the neighborhood of between $200 and $250 million more to the State of New York for multiple instances of committing fraud.

Winning! *shakes head*

I hope the right wingnuts are tuning into the Grammy Awards on Sunday when Taylor Swift has a very good chance to become the first artist (living or deceased) to ever win Album of the Year -- "The Big Award" -- four times. As I write this, Taylor is tied with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon with three Grammys each for Album of the Year.

So FAIR WARNING... this right-wingnut conspiracy BS could go into overdrive if Taylor wins The Big Award. Travis Kelce will not be there at the Grammy Awards because he's (obviously) in Nevada pretending to practice for The Big Game where the fix is in. ;)

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/31/opinion/biden-iran-israel.html

Don't see how this sort of strategy ends well until the, ah, root causes are addressed.

Palestinian death toll closes in on 27,000, mostly women and children with, undoubtedly, many more still buried under the rubble.

More civilians have been killed in Gaza than during two years of war in Ukraine. Are the Russians that much worse than the Israelis at killing civilians? Ah, that would be no.

And, on it goes ...

A waste of time, money and lives UNLESS, of course, you happen to be in the arms business and the fossil fuels business.

Sigh.

Say, has anyone here heard of Neocon Island!? ;)

… automatically echo-chamber imbeciles.

I do not consider you an echo-chamber imbecile although it’s clearly a waste of time to address the issue of Ukraine, for example. I address YOUR points and then justify my arguments. You don’t address seemingly ANY point I’ve gone through the trouble bapping out on my smart phone. You then wait a couple weeks and then proceed to repeat your unsupported position. Rinse and repeat.

The 'anti-abortion rights plus' movement surely does need to be exposed by Dems. But, the message does need to be cleverly framed to be most effective ...

“They have laid out an 887-page blueprint that includes, in painstaking detail, exactly how they plan to leverage virtually every arm, tool and agency of the federal government to attack abortion access,” she said. “Trump’s close advisers have actual plans to block access to abortion in every single state without any help from Congress or the courts.”'
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/29/trump-abortion-ban-2024-campaign-00138417

TP 6 is the very first that I've seen since Biden was elected that even gets close to global climate crisis, one of the TOP concerns of younger voters.

Indeed it is. Which is a bad thing and not something Biden should be running on, at the very least.

Of course, we, as a planet, are well beyond being in any sort of position to mitigate climate change in any meaningful way by phasing out our love affair with fossil fuels, so ...

When it comes to the economy, Trump in particular and Republicans in general are seen by many Americans to be far better for the ...er, their economy than are the Democrats. This is a wildly misguided perception than Democrats, at long last, need to focus on correcting.

As for Taylor Swift, aren't her fans fairly equally distributed amongst Republicans and Democrats? Hmmm ...