Hi Fester,

Seems you can't justify Israel's illegal expansionism in the West Bank so you deflect to the situation in Iran. Both are reprehensible and should be called out. So you, like the author, is comfortable with Israeli genocide against Palestinians living in the West Bank?

Hi Paul,

People see the world in all manner of ways, but making an enemy of someone because they see things differently seems a bit silly to me. If I saw the world as you do I would likely think Israel genocidal, but I don't see the world as you do. Instead, I see the conflict as the result of a murderous hatred of Jews by Palestinians that is passed on from generation to generation. I cannot see the conflict easing until the hatred is addressed, wherever it resides.

Golda Meir remarked "We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.".

Hi AC,

I listened to the Jeffrey Sachs address to the EU parliament. He is terribly clever, but I have trouble seeing western democracy as being an equivalent to the threat of a militarised autocracy. (I cannot remember seeing people disappointed by the fall of communism, but I'm sure there were many.). He also didn't have much to say about the LGM and Crimea, but he only spoke for 50 minutes.

I'm sure that Israel is giving plenty of help to the Iranian protestors. I hope they succeed. I will have a look at your other link soon.

And I looked at the Mackinder thesis: thought it reminded me of 1984 and confirmed it in the comments. I suspect that the Ukrainian mindset would be more shaped by memories of life in the USSR and the Holodomor. Autocracies have a very different mindset: I look at China's behaviour toward Taiwan and have trouble seeing it in any way peaceful or defensive. I prefer nations to be more focused on the mercantile than the military.

Hi Again Fester,

You apply the notion of collective guilt, which in my view is unjustified. You say; "I see the conflict as the result of a murderous hatred of Jews by Palestinians that is passed on from generation to generation." So, the murder and genocide of Palestinians living in the West Bank, example Palestinian olive farmers, been there for generation is justified. That's no better than saying radical Palestinians who hate Jews are justified in targeting Jews, because some Jews hate Palestinians. Where does it all end?

Hi Paul,

"You apply the notion of collective guilt"

Not at all, but with Hamas running the show and all the propaganda and child abuse to brainwash the hatred into kids, most hate the Jews and Israel. I don't attribute collective guilt to Germans, but most Germans supported the Nazis with all the propaganda they were subjected to. If you openly dissented you didn't live long. That is the reality of propaganda and terrorist regimes. It is a horrible combination.

Hi There Fester,

Steady on there; "Hamas running the show" incorrect;

"No, Hamas does not control the West Bank. The West Bank is primarily governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA Internationally recognised), which is dominated by the rival Fatah faction, while Hamas's primary base of control has been the Gaza Strip since a political and territorial split in 2007."

So what is your justification for the dispossession and murder of Palestinians in the West Bank by Zionists?

I see the American warmonger Trump has ordered the murder of innocent Venezuelans on the grounds that greedy America wants Venezuela's rich oil reserves. Wow, no that's not correct it all about illegal drugs. Australia should bomb our Asian neighbours, based on the excuse, drugs are coming into Australia from Asia. Where does it all end?