Israel/Hamas War Superthread

[Dill]

(12-24-2023, 04:00 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: In Afghanistan, we thought we had an answer. Occupy the country and give the people some breathing space to see other options than the ones forced upon them by the extremist group. We were there for almost 20 years and the Taliban rolled back in just as soon as we left. It didn't work. I suppose one could argue that our efforts won over a portion of the population and perhaps in the future they may overtake the Taliban. But that would require an organized grassroots resistance movement to the Taliban rule. That could happen. And if that group reached a certain maturity and size, then outside powers might be able to covertly support them.

Could that work in Gaza? It might have, before Netanyahu and crew started lowering the heavy hand on the area years ago. The Israeli extremism has just made it easier for the Taliban to point at them and declare they are the enemy. And the Palestinian people buy it because they see that with their own eyes on an almost daily basis. How does the Empire in Star Wars go to the people of Tatooine and convince them that they are really the good guys and are just misunderstood because they have to take these extremist measures? It doesn't fly with them.

I have a somewhat different view of this B-zona. 

We went into Afghanistan determined to avoid "state building," and pretty much turned sections of the country back over to the warlords who helped us.
I.e., we re-created the conditions which created the Taliban in the first place. We didn't go their to take their land and homes for ourselves, and settle it 
with hundreds of thousands of Americans so it was easier to disengage.

I like the Star Wars analogy though. For virtually all Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon, the state which dispossessed them is
still the #1 enemy and ongoing threat.

Merry Christmas to you and your family, by the way.