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    #26
    Islamic State Watch

    It is a tiny bit mental.

    My brother voluntarily did his 3 years (I think it was 3, not sure, maybe 2? Didn't speak to him for ages) and came out of it... a comedian.

    Now, he lives in Newton Mearns.

    My other brother said "fuck off, I am not fighting against people I dont know for no apparent reason" and possibly, rightly so.

    I am not at liberty to say what I did.

    And yet, I can easily point to it, as the happiest days of my life. Wrongly.

    Perhaps I am not being clear in what I mean. Israel, like everything,today, is constructed. It is not of our choosing. But the fallout, is.

    I will die for my country. But, I have no idea why. Or who. Or what colour my underwear is, and I am wearing them, and can see it, but is it my choice? Or is it something to stop me wearing a tinfoil pair of earmuffs.

    I don't want any part of it. I really don't. But, it is what it is. And pick a side boys and girls... because at some point, this is going to matter.

    Fuck Israel. BUT, fuck everyone else, too.

    Sometimes you just have to do what you are told... said no-one ever. (Deleted due to Godwin's law.)

    Comment


      #27
      Islamic State Watch

      I diverted the original topic. Sorry. YAY ISIS. (or whatever.)

      IS keeps people in the arms trade forever. I apologise for my thoughts and views. But they are what they are.

      I am only on the side of me. And mine. And, if I ever get to meet you, yours. Until then, I fight. I hope you do, too. Whoever you are.

      Comment


        #28
        Islamic State Watch

        Not for the first time I find that gero's posts are written in a language that I have no knowledge of. It seems, sometimes, that he supports the occupation and the accompanying apartheid. And then at other times he seems to cloak that belief in a mass of impenetrable gibberish.

        Suffice to say that I find his views (to the extent that i can make them out) utterly abhorrent.

        Comment


          #29
          Islamic State Watch

          http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/news/844-20-of-palestinians-imprisoned-since-1967

          The answer to my own question.

          Comment


            #30
            Islamic State Watch

            gerontophile wrote: It is a tiny bit mental.

            My brother voluntarily did his 3 years (I think it was 3, not sure, maybe 2? Didn't speak to him for ages) and came out of it... a comedian.

            Now, he lives in Newton Mearns.

            My other brother said "fuck off, I am not fighting against people I dont know for no apparent reason" and possibly, rightly so.

            I am not at liberty to say what I did.

            And yet, I can easily point to it, as the happiest days of my life. Wrongly.

            Perhaps I am not being clear in what I mean. Israel, like everything,today, is constructed. It is not of our choosing. But the fallout, is.

            I will die for my country. But, I have no idea why. Or who. Or what colour my underwear is, and I am wearing them, and can see it, but is it my choice? Or is it something to stop me wearing a tinfoil pair of earmuffs.

            I don't want any part of it. I really don't. But, it is what it is. And pick a side boys and girls... because at some point, this is going to matter.

            Fuck Israel. BUT, fuck everyone else, too.

            Sometimes you just have to do what you are told... said no-one ever. (Deleted due to Godwin's law.)
            Zeev Sternhell calls Israel a fascist state or at least on the road to fascism.

            Sympathy for kids who face emigration, prison or service in what at the best of times is racist repression and at the worst of times out-and-out genocide, but y'know, fuck everyone's who's complicit with an increasingly fascist Israel.

            Comment


              #31
              Islamic State Watch

              Is the average Israeli citizen complicit in it's government's actions, however? Certainly, if they actually voted for Likud, and the argument can be made that, as in apartheid SA, failure to protest denotes covert acceptance, but if they voted for Labour in the hope of a different strategy, does that make them merely "useful idiots"?

              Comment


                #32
                Islamic State Watch

                What different strategy?

                Comment


                  #33
                  Islamic State Watch

                  The idea from the election coverage was that they were more doveish in relation to the settlements, and historically they've shown greater imagination in relation to the crises.

                  Comment


                    #34
                    Islamic State Watch

                    Unless they want to end the occupation they're basically just about how many settlements they want to build, and how bullish/vaguely apologetic they are about racially motivated mass murder. But frankly the differences in foreign policy in the occupied territories are so minimal as to be meaningless.

                    Comment


                      #35
                      Islamic State Watch

                      That seems more like wishful thinking than anything, tbh. They are less overtly racist than some of Likud's governmental partners, perhaps. "Freezing settlement construction outside major settlement blocs" is stil a racist settler-colonial policy.

                      Comment


                        #36
                        Islamic State Watch

                        Obviously there are genuine opposition groups/organisations in Israel, but they tend to act at a grassroots level, not involved in electoral politics

                        Comment


                          #37
                          Islamic State Watch

                          Antonio Pulisao wrote: Yeah, most Israelis just want to live in Tel Aviv or Haifa or wherever and go about their lives.
                          No doubt there are loads of decent, kind Israelis. But if the country's election results of the modern age are anything to go by, they are outnumbered by racist paranoiacs who are very happy for the Palestinians to twist in the wind for the next few centuries.

                          Comment


                            #38
                            Islamic State Watch

                            ad hoc wrote: Unless they want to end the occupation they're basically just about how many settlements they want to build, and how bullish/vaguely apologetic they are about racially motivated mass murder. But frankly the differences in foreign policy in the occupied territories are so minimal as to be meaningless.
                            Was reading an article by (I think) Ali Abunimah a while back in which he argued that Netanyahu getting back in was actually slightly better news for the Palestinians, because the likes of Livni and Herzog were offering more or less the same thing but were better at passing themselves off as moderates and honest brokers.

                            Comment


                              #39
                              Islamic State Watch

                              Antonio Pulisao wrote: Yeah, most Israelis just want to live in Tel Aviv or Haifa or wherever and go about their lives.
                              Most Palestiniains from both places would love the opportunity to live there.

                              Comment


                                #40
                                Islamic State Watch

                                Green Calx wrote:
                                Originally posted by Antonio Pulisao
                                Yeah, most Israelis just want to live in Tel Aviv or Haifa or wherever and go about their lives.
                                No doubt there are loads of decent, kind Israelis. But if the country's election results of the modern age are anything to go by, they are outnumbered by racist paranoiacs who are very happy for the Palestinians to twist in the wind for the next few centuries.
                                I'm convinced that the military service aspect is contributing heavily to this. Between the age of 18 and 25 young people are often developing political awareness and their political views are formed, often for the rest of their lives. And in Israel every young person is required to do three years (or two in the case of women) military service. So instead of going off to college at age 18 they are sent off to a military environment and learn how to operate semi-automatic weapons and patrol borders. I can't imagine what would have happened to my young brain if I had spent my youth in such an environment. It doesn't surprise me, therefore, that Israeli society has become militaristic and paranoid. And that's not even getting into the awful horrors they endured as a people in the past centuries...

                                To be honest, I have no idea how the problem should be solved. I honestly don't believe the two state solution will ever work. A few years ago I had some hope that the Israeli Arabs would increase in population and that Israel might one day become a secular, more inclusive state that would include Palestinians in some kind of power sharing agreement a la Northern Ireland. I tried suggesting this to an Israeli woman I knew, but she reminded me that Israel is a different situation to Northern Ireland, because "in Israel we have to deal with Arabs." What do you say to crap like that...

                                As for my Israeli friend. He did everything he could to get out of military service. He told them he was a pacifist but they wouldn't believe him. He then tried to tell them he was suicidal and couldn't be trusted with weapons but they wouldn't believe him. In the end he managed to be such a pain in the arse that he got himself transferred to radio communications.

                                Comment


                                  #41
                                  Islamic State Watch

                                  Erdogan remains dominant, but his absolute power has been checked. The Kurds will be happy with their representation, but the secularists less so.

                                  Comment


                                    #42
                                    Islamic State Watch

                                    Sunni Islam AKP and Turkish Nationalists MHP look set to form a coalition, not good news for the Kurds, Shiites and any other minority in the region.

                                    Comment


                                      #43
                                      Islamic State Watch

                                      I know historians hate counter-factuals, but how different would IS's structure and strategy be if the US had maintained its 2007-2009 troop levels in Iraq?

                                      Comment


                                        #44
                                        Islamic State Watch

                                        Seeing as the US locked up the leadership, housed and fed them I guess they would have been stronger. They created training and development camps, much in the same way that the UK run internment camps did the same for Sinn Fein and the IRA.

                                        Comment


                                          #45
                                          Islamic State Watch

                                          http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-eshki-and-israel-dore-gold-netanyahu-share-allies-iran.html?_r=0

                                          Dore Gold meets the Saudis, the anti-Iran axis grows in a bizarre way.

                                          Comment


                                            #46
                                            Islamic State Watch

                                            http://www.todayszaman.com/national_mit-providing-isil-militants-safe-passage-through-turkey-daily-claims_385162.html

                                            Turkey is helping IS according to this and other reports, it's not just militarily but they are also providing electricity and other forms of help.

                                            Thousands of Kurds trying to free the conflict are again being prevented from entering Turkey.

                                            Comment


                                              #47
                                              Islamic State Watch

                                              It is pretty nebulous issue, but it seems that IS is getting a lot of help from a lot of places...

                                              http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/alleged-spy-arrested-in-turkey-for-helping-girls-join-islamic-state-was-working-for-canadian-embassy-in-jordan-reports

                                              Comment


                                                #48
                                                Islamic State Watch

                                                linus wrote: It is pretty nebulous issue, but it seems that IS is getting a lot of help from a lot of places...

                                                http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/alleged-spy-arrested-in-turkey-for-helping-girls-join-islamic-state-was-working-for-canadian-embassy-in-jordan-reports
                                                All of the Turkish sources quoted in the article are AKP media propaganda outlets, make of that what you will. IS is getting support from many places and Turkey is one of the biggest, weapons, personnel, medical support and training bases are all on their northern doorstep on an extremely porous border.

                                                Comment


                                                  #49
                                                  Islamic State Watch

                                                  Reports on the radio this morning that some of the bigger UK package holiday companies are offering any concerned holidaymakers alternatives to Turkey, if they've already booked their week in Bodrum or Antalya in July. The election over there hasn't suddenly increased the risks that much, has it?

                                                  Comment


                                                    #50
                                                    Islamic State Watch

                                                    The Druze in the Golan Heights have lynched two IS or Al Nusra fighters depending on which source you read. The two fighters were travelling in an Israeli ambulance at the time.
                                                    http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0P40NE20150624?irpc=932

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