humanities.philosophy.objectivism

chazwin wrote: >I am an atheist too. The formation of the Jewish state
in 1948 was a complete mistake. Most of the problems of the middle
east can be traced back to that draconian act of ignorance.

It was a terrible idea but a great deal of blood has already been
spilled. I think I understand your frustration but IMO to turn back
the clock now would only cause even more suffering. (sort of like
handing back America to the native indians who's ancestors really got
the shalf)

I read Israeli online newspapers once and awhle so I know there are
many good Israelis that really do want peace but are being held
hostage by ultra-nationist extremists and religious wackjobs amongst
them (and I'm not talking about the Palis in this instance). The Palis
really hate us (and much of the Muslim world) but I lay a fair chunk
of the blame for that hate on the actions of the west too (although
not solely because rather than take the high road like Ghandi in
Indian with passive resistance... they became violent)

The biggest problem at the moment is not Israel though... it's
actually the US. If the US puts its foot down instead of sucking up to
Likud/Aipac nasties.. whether some Irgun/Stern terrorist sympathizer
in Israel likes it or not..... there will be a two-state solution. (I
think this will require an exchange of populations as well as land)

And by no stretch of the imagination is the blame only on violent
extremist Jews either. McCain is friends with a certified end-o-the-
world nutbar John Hagee.... and before him there were the Pat
Robertsons and the rest of the kooks that have slowly been trying to
add religious references to the US constitution and to bring back
creationism (and an assortment of other stone age hateful
descriminatory practices under the guise of "being conservative""....a
term that appears to reference Constantine for them)

IMO the focus for all decent Americans (both left and right and
moderates of any demonimination) AND the rest of the world....should
be to help purge as many US politicians who voted for the war (or were
unapologetic about it) from office. We expect the Muslim nations to
clean up their violent nuts... meanwhile ours are terrorizing the
world with talk of WW3 and invading foreign countries leading to the
deaths of hundreds of thousands (and possibly hundreds of millions in
the future).

We seriously need change ;)

> As a Greek how do you feel about the Turks BTW? What is the future for
> Cyprus?

Relations are quite good between leadership even though some Greek's
still harbour resentments (as do some Turks no doubt) To be honest I
don't know why I should mad at some Turkish dude because some goofball
decided to invade Greece 500 years ago or 30 years for that matter. Or
some German... or some Russian... or some American.

Like seriously what do those people have to apologize for? In my
eyes it's pretty insane how people harbour resentments generation
after generation for the actions of dead people they never knew... for
situations we really don't know all the story behind....for relatives
they barely or never knew. From what I've observed so far in life
these sorts of ancient resentments are just an excuse be an asshole to
people who never did them an ounce of harm. Insecurities is my bet.