A call to political action

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I'm bringing three more issues to the table to liven things up. First, what does everyone think about the state of affairs in Isreal? What are your feelings on America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (too much or too little)? And what do think about the recent killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin?If that doesn't excite you, then what do you think abou educational reform? I know a lot of people have strong opinions on "No Child Left Behind" and other potential reforms.

American interests are very dependent on Israel for technology such as pentium, cell phones, etc. so it is important to keep things good with Israel, however an important step was taken with Bush condeming the retalliation of the Israelis. American involvement is fine where it is now.I think Yassir, well, it was gonna happen sooner or later, so now seems to be better.

Dependant on Israel for technology??? What are you talking about?

I was thinking the same thing...

I'll get the info. My mom got an e-mail or something and it was just friggin' amazing!!!

I'll see If I can get it!!

Re: Trade info about Israel Israel does have a strong technology sector, but it's a clear overstatement to say that the US is dependent on Israeli tech. Israel ranks somewhere around 20th overall as a trading partner with the US, and precious stones constitute the vast majority of Israeli exports to the US.They also import a significant quantity of US goods, including more tech-electronics than they export (although we're running a significant trade deficit with Israel). Perhaps most significantly, they import a large amount of military equipment/vehicles/weapons. Much of the foreign aid provided by the US (as I recall, a little bit less than 1/3rd of US foreign aid goes to Israel) is used to purchase military goods from US military contractors (Lockheed, NG, Raytheon, etc.) This is one reason why military contractors strongly lobby on Israel's behalf. If this post hasn't already put you to sleep, then you might also note that Israel has a large foreign debt- most of it owed to the US.

The Japanese are the best in technology. Maybe not as far as militarily, but everything else, hell ya. IMO, Japanese society is somewhat how the whole world should be. Less focused on military and more focused on bettering technology in other fields.

I am getting her to send it to me tommorrow.I believe it said that Israel is one of a few countries that house Pentium development labs from the US or something...I swear, I'll have it tommorrow!!!!

George Tenet stated in the 9/11 hearings today that "Decapitating one person -- even bin Laden in this context -- I do not believe we would have stopped [the 9/11 attacks]." Rumsfeld mirrored these statements yesterday with a similar assertion. We might say that same of the assassination of Ahmed Yassin, or of even capturing Hussein- these are futile, symbolic victories based on foreign policy fiction. Yet somehow, while acknowledging the invalidity of this fiction, this administration and this country continue to rely upon it.

Here's the fiction that the US (and Israel) have adopted: Terrorism and totalitarianism (in the case of Iraq) are pathologies that can be cured by eliminating single individuals or regimes. The Bush administration and Sharon's administration repeatedly evoke the snake analogy: Terrorism is like a snake, if you cut of it's head it will perish. Do we really believe this? For instance, has capturing Saddam done anything to alleviate terror in Iraq? Is killing Yassin likely to weaken Hamas, or to strengthen Hamas by creating a martyr out of Yassin? Doesn't this analogy incredulously assume that most of the Arab populace is pro-Western/American?

Sadly, the US is reluctant to admit that there are deeper problems in the Middle East. Anti-Western sentiments permeate the fabric of many Middle Eastern societies. Worried brought up an interesting corollary to this point in the "Your lot" thread: animosity between the West and the Middle East cannot be traced to single historical episodes. I agree, and I add that the problem is also much deeper than single individuals or regimes (like Bin Laden). This is why I'm so doubtful of military solutions that change regimes and leaders, but do nothing to remedy underlying social realities and hatred (on the contrary, they often inflame such hatred). Who feels safer now that Saddam has been overthrown? Not Spain... and anyone in the US who feels safer is fooling themselves.

Again I find myself ranting and raving against this administrations foreign policy, but even I'm implicitly subscribing to the "snake analogy" by assuming that a change in administrations would actually alter how American society views the terrorism problem. In reality, I think the problem is deeper than Bush and the ever-hawkish Neo-cons. American society has become increasingly aggressive and retributive in its foreign policy. In this respect, our foreign policy is becoming more like our criminal justice system- based on retribution, while leaving deterrence and rehabilitation on the sidelines. Practical, problem solving goals come secondary in this scheme to non-consequentialist urges to "get the bad guys." But we should all be familiar with the results of such shallow policy- just as prisons often make non-violent offenders into violent offenders, unnecessary war will likely make moderate Muslims into extremists. The only difference is that the stakes are potentially higher with terrorism.

So there's my stance: Current American foreign policy (and Israeli domestic policy) is about as good at fighting terrorism as gasoline is at fighting fire. It's time to make a change and here's how we should start: Vote the war mongers out of office, take a more neutral approach to Israel (no more giving them hundreds of millions of dollars to buy weapons from American companies), and start taking multilateralism seriously (it adds legitimacy to whatever policy we ultimately follow). [I think this is my most partisan post yet, but I can't conceal my disdain for Bush's foreign policy]

That's an impressively well-written argument, Steppenwolf.