Rog... spot on.

Sage.. toooooooooooooo many 'unusual/big/rare' words mate.. sorry.. I did the 'machine shop/metal bashing/woodwork' stream at Assy Tech, not the 'humanities' stream at Mordy High.

We are treading through a mine field of light globes at the moment.

Many inconsistencies are being noted (why not attack North Korea) etc.. and the Wests ability to live with a Nuclear this country and that country.. Then there is the wild card of Pakistan. Who is our defense against a rogue Islamist regime there ? India most likely.

China and the Soviet Union are increasingly acting like Telstra.. "I'm in it for the MONEY" and their interests are always being calculated, Its not an easy path to solve Dafor Sudan etc... Chinese interests at stake.. and can we blame them ? We rammed unwanted Opium down their throats for decades, had gun boats off the coast or up the rivers.. punished them with EXTREME economic burdens when they objected, humiliated them with treaties like Nanjing. Why should they care one iota for our interests now ?

On the inside their leadership is probably saying "OUR TURN".......and we will reap what we sowed.

Of course there is an Israeli lobby in the US, just as there is an Australian, British and every other countries.

All these lobies are doing things diplomatically for security and economic reasons. Duh.. welcome to the reality which has been with us for like..SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN !

The important issue is more 'how will we fare or stand when the END of the world comes' ? and if things continue the way they are now, even without the return of our Lord, we will create our own Armageddon.

But I have confidence that things are shaping up as prophesied in Scripture, I cannot join the dots, and don't intend to try, but I can warn, urge, encourage and proclaim, that In Christ, we will enjoy forgiveness, salvation and life as it was intended.

Before getting into the warm fuzzy feeling of righteousness and retelling our version of who did what to whom start with the basics. Kindergarten?
Distortion of what happened, our and every ones media has its own spin on truth, for the latest see Glasgow university media department on this issue Pluto press.
We all have our liked “truths” biases based on temperament what’s in it for us and does it satisfy my credo as voiced in whatever book of imaginings takes our fancy. Dissenters shall be hanged or shot or well whatever all on the basis of conformity to myth.

Surely Israel arose from colonial history and a sense of deserving some compensation because of their treatment, wave to religious belief in passing, all at someone else’s expense. Terra Nullus Palestine was not, but then as now the world order was determined by the powerful and lobbies within the powerful. It was ever thus.
Dispute resolution does not come from fixed positions yet dangerously in the time left the issue becomes hotter with each little power sounding off, the Palestinians outbreed the Jews and Islam fights for its end.
Me I find no enjoyment in this game having no evangelical desire to kill anyone, banned by the books, nor to trade one fact against another as facts are reported. Friedman or Fiske etc.
Oh yes feeling threatened gives life a tingle, a purpose a potential momentary meaningfulness. More enjoyable than the peace of humanity also found in the books. Meanwhile our Government true their stated belief in big powers pushes the nationalistic beliefs so much part of the problem.

Sorry BD, I thought you had access to Google.

Do you show as much reluctance to reach for your bible to obtain a quote or to settle an argument about some passage in your bible?

Tubs think you be playing the competing narratives game there untutored. We have all seen this one before.

Yes, they all take sides, the media too. Pity about the western media. Might get both sides more often if it were otherwise.

Anyway, that being the case, we take sides. Please to notice how many (and in particular who) pick which side. Also what each side is promising.

Maybe it is all about that frisson that comes from life's little tingles as you say. Maybe not. Maybe the whole narratives thing, my journo is better than yours, is beside the point when nutjobs start lobbing nuclear bombs. What do you think? Meaning comes from not being dead too, you know. Tubs writes more stories that way.

Dear Sage
I didn't mean to annoy you there mate.. nor was I being facetious.

For those who feel its just about 'narratives' consider this.

All biological Jews (those descended from the 12 tribes) of whom there are many, particularly those named "Levi" (with variations) and "Cohen" (with variations) and I would guess 'Reuben'Stien, can trace their ancestry back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, particularly Jacob, who was married to 'Rachel' and 'Leah', though whom the sons who formed the 12 tribes came. Now, while this happened around 3500 years ago, you can goto Israel/Palestine today and there is a place called 'Rachel's Tomb'. The Palestinians have desicrated it, to eliminate all sense of connection to the land, but it still is there.

Not just this, but the Caves of Macpelah (Abraham) and numerous other sites directly referred to in Genesis.
The connection to the land, goes back quite a long way. So, I feel Israel has a very sound claim on the land historically and morally.

This leads to the problem 'What to do'? Does the fact that your home was illegally repossesed by a bank, and given to the managers nephew, make it any less 'your home' ? Does the idea that you were driven out by a local gang leader, and your home given to his cronies make it any less yours ? If you had the wherewithall to RE-TAKE IT.... would you goto the corrupt bank or the gang leader to 'discuss' the matter ? Unlikely, they had their chance, no, of course, you would USE that wherewithall to re-take what was rightfully yours.

The ensuing social dislocation of those who took advantage of your illegal and immoral exile, is, to be frank, not your problem. I suggest the 'baggage' and expense, and 'picking up the pieces' costs, should be borne by those who initiated the problem. Lets list them.

1/ Italian government (Romans)
2/ Saudi Arabia (Islamist invaders)
3/ Iran (Persian invaders)
4/ Turkey (Ottoman Invaders)

All these should share not only the cost of resettlement of Palestinians, but ALSO the cost of re-establishing Israel.

And with the above I rest my case against intelligent design.