Katherine

I think that’s a good analysis. I don’t know if they will take the Russian defense approach (who needs troops when you have nukes?), but they may. Their welfare state soaks up any money that would be available for a real force, even though in the US it takes only about 5% of our GDP.

One of the sad things is that the ex-Warsaw Pact countries are going to be part of this. They are jumping from the frying pan to the fire.

One question: Where did you grow up? I believe you said it was under communism.

It is the economic rules, and the smothering effect of a remarkably unresponsive bureaucracy that I think will destroy the economies. Speech codes (like those in Canada) will be the first stage of authoritarianism.

David Thomson

You are right, no doubt. Note that when she became First Lady, Hillary was pro-Palestinian. It wasn’t until she decided to run as a carpetbagger of New York Senate did she change to loving Israel. That lady is dangerous (sociopath?). But what amazes me is all the Democratic Jews in her area that voted for her. Don’t they have any memory. Don’t they remember her kissing up to FrogFace Arafat?

The same patterns of thought discussed above apply to many democrats – the Marxism derived oppressor/oppressed model. And that means that many on the left in the US will apply that to Israel, ending up antiIsrael and pro-Palestinian. There is no doubt this will include Jews, and not just self-hating Jews. That Marxist model is extremely powerful to those who belief it – it has the power of a basic religious tenet. It forms the basis for all thought on many topics.

This attitude is visible in the left in Israel, although less so as a result of the latest Intifada. Arafat has never seen an opportunity which he didn’t screw up, and this was one of them. The terror attacks deeply damaged the left in Israel.

The one thing I do not understand is why Israel put up with all of that so long. I would have been blowing the hell out of the West Bank and Gaza after each attack, and announcing the expansion of Israel by a certain number of square miles per death.

After all, what would the world do – fire up the ICJ? They did that anyway. The Arabs would be angry. No change.

That Israel, the third most powerful country in the world militarily, would tolerate those attacks on its innocents is something I truly do not understand. I don’t think America would put up with that at all, unless Kerry was in, in which case he would ponder the nuances.