If Russia wins, Ukraine will be neutral and NATO will finally be dumped into the wastebasket of history. If Russia loses there will be nuclear war and humanity will be extinct. That’s the choice.
Dear Jim — a very important piece. I was going to comment, but my comments were so voluminous, I compiled them in a Word DOC to paste in, but — WAY too long. So I saved them as PDF to my website — here's the link:
You give voice to my own thoughts as well. The problem is that those who could stand to benefit from your knowledge invariably refuse to listen. I know that from my own experience, having been informed by my sister that Putin is an "evil dictator". I think he inherited the title from Gaddafi but apparently must share it with Assad. I think the U.S. feels there's only room for one evil dictator and that must be Uncle Sam.
All I can do is "get it off my chest" and meanwhile refine my thinking. I've heard "evil Putin" from people I was more in contact with before the Great Lockdown. I'm sure I would hear the same parroted crap the more people I asked. I'm in Woke Vancouver. But lately I've had to see the other side of the university kids I used to know – I was an usher at UBC's Chan Centre for almost 20 years until the Covid thing shut us down and I retired – the other side of the kids is demonstrated by their protest against Israel and support for the Gazans. I decried Woke and Gender Studies etc. but the kids my granddaughters' age that I worked with are also good people, sweet kids and smart. I miss being around them.
We probably disagree about Israel-Palestine. I question why now? Why Gaza? Why the Palestinians? Why did they not protest against the horror we committed against Libya? Against Iraq? Against Syria? and on and on. Why now and why Israel? We're all settler nations. I hope our young people will start seeing the evil in their own countries and fight against that. It should be far more effective (I at least hope it will) in getting rid of our own corrupt governments. The entire western hemisphere is guilty of doing exactly what Israel di - and worse. Where are the protests for the Natives in the U.S. or Brazil or anywhere in their own countries? Only Israel is the culprit here? I believe there's enough fault on both sides in a situation created originally by the U.S. and U.K. - the usual suspects.
I hasten to add that I very much appreciate you commenting on my stuff. I am grateful for the civilized and reasoned tone of your comment. I hope my disagreeing with some of what you say and my falling into what sounds like a grumpy tone doesn't obscure that. Thanks for reading my piece and considering it! People can disagree and remain friends, that's my motto. Time will tell how things pan out.
Although you make some very supportable points, I answer your question, "Why now?" by saying: Because the mass murder of Gaza is happening now, and the slaughter of over 35k civilians – by aerial bombing and denial of food and water and obliteration of shelter and other infrastructure vital to human life – is only the beginning according to statements made publicly by Netanyahu and Gallant and, going back many years, other Israeli leaders. The intent of Israel's "war" on Gaza (and the current iteration is only the intended climax of a campaign ongoing at least since 2007, or even 1967) is to utterly level Gaza, utterly eliminate the native population and rebuild it, using US money, into a vacation land and an internally secure economic resource [the offshore oil and gas] to make the "State of Israel", for the first time since 1947, a truly self-supporting government, no longer dependent upon the USA. Along with, or just following, the "Final Solution" for Gaza will be the more peaceful ethnocide of the West Bank in order to round out the borders of the State of Israel.
What underlies the genocidal campaign to wipe Palestine off the earth and delete Palestine from the historical memory of humanity? The material fact that "Modern Israel" has been a phony, "Potemkin Village" of a nation state, a vampire (or maybe fetus is another good metaphor) on the USA. Israel has never been able to really have a viable economic existence without "aid" from Washington. Until now Israel has been perpetually dependant upon political coercion and manipulation of, and charity from, the essentially liberal/secular American Jewish community, a money stream politically sustained by American Zionist billionaires' influence on the White House and Congress and the US media. What is needed to finally cut the umbilical chord? Not just a totally Nothing-But-Zionist-Jews territory. That's just the beginning.
This purified, ethnically-cleansed territory must have the self-sustaining source of economy without which a national state cannot exist. This would be the complete, internationally recognized ownership of all the offshore oil and gas resources now in legal dispute. This resource will either be the future life support of Palestine or of Israel; to the dominant political class centred on Likud there is no third option since they will never (so these old men say) accept a "Two State Solution".
It has, so far, escaped the notice of anybody I have ever heard to comment, that once Gaza is emptied of Palestinians – those pesky people whom the Zionists claim not to have ever existed – a "genocide" by expulsion and mass murder as well as obliteration of all historic monuments and all modern infrastructure, then will come the remaking of former Gaza into a Schwabian/WEF, Smart City. This will take money. Where will those hundreds of billions come from? Where else? The American taxpayer! After the US economy has been milked dry and then its lifeblood emptied completely, "Israel" will have no further use for the "Liberal Diaspora", especially in the liberal-secular USA, which underneath their hypocrisy the Zionists have complete contempt for.
You say "we are all settler nations". I think I have a very firm understanding of the ideology from which that characterization comes. I repudiate it. I shall not discuss it here. I, for one, am not a "settle", much less a "colonizer" of Canada, I am a native-born Canadian whose ancestry in this land goes back three or four generations. The underlying implication of saying that "we" are all "settlers" is that my right to be a citizen, in fact that all Canadians' right to call our nation a nation, depends on the colour of our ancestors' skin. The deeper corollary of that stream of thought leads to wars of genocide because if some are always "Settlers" then they must always dominate "natives" by violence. The deepest implication of this ideology is that everything, in the final analysis, depends on power and power is a limited quantity whose possession depends on winning a zero-sum game. I recommend not being a racist, that way we Canadians have a nation of equal citizens instead of a fractured and factionalized population riven by hate and privilege. That is my ideology.
With all due respect, you are talking about the past, I'm talking about the future. And that is being decided in the present. And the decision is being made by collective humanity on this increasingly connected globe.
Returning to practical matters:
Just a few days ago a prominent Saudi official said that Israeli leaders' rejection of a viable, recognized Palestinian State, the "Two State Solution", really does not matter in any practical sense because there will be a Palestinian state whether Bibi Netanyahu likes it or not. This seems obvious to me. The Israeli campaign to wipe out Gaza has already failed. It was based on a fevered delusion militarily and economically as well as politically. Already Israel is a pariah. Already Israel is being deserted. Wiping out Palestinians is impossible; wiping out Israelis is impossible. One day, and it won't be long coming, there will be One State (maybe with a porous, merely notional, border in the middle of it) and it will be a multi-ethnic state and its citizenship will not depend on religion, race or creed but upon lawful, shared living in a secular democracy.
Perpetual war is incompatible with a decent and prosperous human life. Perpetual conflict characterizes places which are perpetually impoverished "tribal areas", riven by banditry and slavery, which stronger governments must babysit if they cannot govern. Scotland and Northern England was just that from 1066 to 1605. Northern Pakistan is that today; it's even officially called "The Tribal Areas". That will not be the fate of Palestine.
May 24·edited May 24Liked by James Bernard Shepard
I'm in Woke WA. Donut let the Nasties get you thinking that everything is BLEAK. I was so pleasantly surprised by the American students getting out and protesting for the Pals. I think we have to be careful NOT to believe the PROPAGANDA that everyone is stupid and ignorant and nobody gives a shit... It's MEANT TO DISCOURAGE US, so Resist! If anyone should know, it's ME, that refusal to succumb to negativity is the ticket. Be a beacon for others, that's what I try to do. I think it makes a difference, what sort of energy we manifest, and I'll keep saying it... WE SHALL PREVAIL. (Dammit!) ;) Now, cheer up! South Africa is kickin' Israel/US ass, and have you seen the newest NZ electee to govt? Lemme find it...
Thank you for your comments James. I actually have been thinking about what you had said and I think I partially agree with you, but I did anyway. Actually I started writing a (too long) response to you and my stupid computer (or its stupid user) somehow deleted everything I wrote. In every war, the people lose and the predators win. This is no different. I know it makes no difference due to - its been a long time. But it is the location from which the Jews who fought back against Rome were dispersed. . And to underline their contempt, Rome changed the name of Judah to Palestine. The Jewish people spent millennia wandering through a variety of countries all over the known world at the time. There were also Jewish communities in India and China and Ethiopia. They were treated brutally throughout both the Christian and Muslim world, including the Arab ironic (and insane) support of Hitler. II do not support the oppression or violence toward any people (I think I'd like to make an exception of the raptor class). I know that the U.S. and Israel have an ulterior motive in mind and, as usual, it is not the best interest of the people that they're concerned with. I don't know if the word "genocide" is the correct one, but solving problems by killing those with whom one disagrees is hideous. One death is too many and if Manson who I think is a perfect example since he also didn't kill anyone, just ordered others to do so, got life in prison as a result, so should governments who engage in war. My understanding is that Palestine, under advice from other Arab nations in 1948, refused to compromise with Israel or discuss a two-state solution. I don't know that anyone can say they were either right or wrong. Would we want another country taking part of our country? But in this country, so far, it's been the reverse. One-third of this country was stolen from Mexico, Hawaii from Spain as well as Puerto Rico. In my opinion that is also wrong. I do believe that the U.S./U.K. decision to give land they themselves were not entitled to, to the holocaust survivors. to the diaspora Jews, was based on 1. they didn't want the Jews in their own countries and 2. having what amounted to a base in the middle east. It might (or maybe not) have been better to buy some land in South America (where they had already sent all the nazis, maybe even Hitler). But I still believe that Israel has more right to exist where it is than the entirety of the Western Hemisphere, that Europe colonized and committed an actual genocide on the inhabitants. It still seems questionable to me, no matter the immorality of Israeli government actions, for people living on stolen, bloodied land where the original inhabitants are still being oppressed for people to suddenly develop a sense of moral outrage over this one country. We all saw the pictures of the Africans hanging by their feet, being sold into slavery in Libya, under Gadaffis the richest country in Africa, now more to the liking of theObama-Clinton cabal. Or how about Syria where we are dropping bombs and stealing their oil without even being at war. What really angers me is a country, thoroughly corrupt to its core, declaring its "right" to force "regime change" in countries that won't bow down to them. And finally, one of my favorite quotes - from last entury of course: "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Dear Jim — a very important piece. I was going to comment, but my comments were so voluminous, I compiled them in a Word DOC to paste in, but — WAY too long. So I saved them as PDF to my website — here's the link:
proudprimate.com/resources/JShepard-notes.pdf
Thanks John. I will read it. Been busy lately. I get so much in my email every day it's like shovelling snow in a blizzard.
I couldn't say any less. And the video of Boyle's comments I can't recommend highly enough.
Hey, it doesn't stop ME. Just DO it, lol.
You give voice to my own thoughts as well. The problem is that those who could stand to benefit from your knowledge invariably refuse to listen. I know that from my own experience, having been informed by my sister that Putin is an "evil dictator". I think he inherited the title from Gaddafi but apparently must share it with Assad. I think the U.S. feels there's only room for one evil dictator and that must be Uncle Sam.
All I can do is "get it off my chest" and meanwhile refine my thinking. I've heard "evil Putin" from people I was more in contact with before the Great Lockdown. I'm sure I would hear the same parroted crap the more people I asked. I'm in Woke Vancouver. But lately I've had to see the other side of the university kids I used to know – I was an usher at UBC's Chan Centre for almost 20 years until the Covid thing shut us down and I retired – the other side of the kids is demonstrated by their protest against Israel and support for the Gazans. I decried Woke and Gender Studies etc. but the kids my granddaughters' age that I worked with are also good people, sweet kids and smart. I miss being around them.
We probably disagree about Israel-Palestine. I question why now? Why Gaza? Why the Palestinians? Why did they not protest against the horror we committed against Libya? Against Iraq? Against Syria? and on and on. Why now and why Israel? We're all settler nations. I hope our young people will start seeing the evil in their own countries and fight against that. It should be far more effective (I at least hope it will) in getting rid of our own corrupt governments. The entire western hemisphere is guilty of doing exactly what Israel di - and worse. Where are the protests for the Natives in the U.S. or Brazil or anywhere in their own countries? Only Israel is the culprit here? I believe there's enough fault on both sides in a situation created originally by the U.S. and U.K. - the usual suspects.
I hasten to add that I very much appreciate you commenting on my stuff. I am grateful for the civilized and reasoned tone of your comment. I hope my disagreeing with some of what you say and my falling into what sounds like a grumpy tone doesn't obscure that. Thanks for reading my piece and considering it! People can disagree and remain friends, that's my motto. Time will tell how things pan out.
Although you make some very supportable points, I answer your question, "Why now?" by saying: Because the mass murder of Gaza is happening now, and the slaughter of over 35k civilians – by aerial bombing and denial of food and water and obliteration of shelter and other infrastructure vital to human life – is only the beginning according to statements made publicly by Netanyahu and Gallant and, going back many years, other Israeli leaders. The intent of Israel's "war" on Gaza (and the current iteration is only the intended climax of a campaign ongoing at least since 2007, or even 1967) is to utterly level Gaza, utterly eliminate the native population and rebuild it, using US money, into a vacation land and an internally secure economic resource [the offshore oil and gas] to make the "State of Israel", for the first time since 1947, a truly self-supporting government, no longer dependent upon the USA. Along with, or just following, the "Final Solution" for Gaza will be the more peaceful ethnocide of the West Bank in order to round out the borders of the State of Israel.
What underlies the genocidal campaign to wipe Palestine off the earth and delete Palestine from the historical memory of humanity? The material fact that "Modern Israel" has been a phony, "Potemkin Village" of a nation state, a vampire (or maybe fetus is another good metaphor) on the USA. Israel has never been able to really have a viable economic existence without "aid" from Washington. Until now Israel has been perpetually dependant upon political coercion and manipulation of, and charity from, the essentially liberal/secular American Jewish community, a money stream politically sustained by American Zionist billionaires' influence on the White House and Congress and the US media. What is needed to finally cut the umbilical chord? Not just a totally Nothing-But-Zionist-Jews territory. That's just the beginning.
This purified, ethnically-cleansed territory must have the self-sustaining source of economy without which a national state cannot exist. This would be the complete, internationally recognized ownership of all the offshore oil and gas resources now in legal dispute. This resource will either be the future life support of Palestine or of Israel; to the dominant political class centred on Likud there is no third option since they will never (so these old men say) accept a "Two State Solution".
It has, so far, escaped the notice of anybody I have ever heard to comment, that once Gaza is emptied of Palestinians – those pesky people whom the Zionists claim not to have ever existed – a "genocide" by expulsion and mass murder as well as obliteration of all historic monuments and all modern infrastructure, then will come the remaking of former Gaza into a Schwabian/WEF, Smart City. This will take money. Where will those hundreds of billions come from? Where else? The American taxpayer! After the US economy has been milked dry and then its lifeblood emptied completely, "Israel" will have no further use for the "Liberal Diaspora", especially in the liberal-secular USA, which underneath their hypocrisy the Zionists have complete contempt for.
You say "we are all settler nations". I think I have a very firm understanding of the ideology from which that characterization comes. I repudiate it. I shall not discuss it here. I, for one, am not a "settle", much less a "colonizer" of Canada, I am a native-born Canadian whose ancestry in this land goes back three or four generations. The underlying implication of saying that "we" are all "settlers" is that my right to be a citizen, in fact that all Canadians' right to call our nation a nation, depends on the colour of our ancestors' skin. The deeper corollary of that stream of thought leads to wars of genocide because if some are always "Settlers" then they must always dominate "natives" by violence. The deepest implication of this ideology is that everything, in the final analysis, depends on power and power is a limited quantity whose possession depends on winning a zero-sum game. I recommend not being a racist, that way we Canadians have a nation of equal citizens instead of a fractured and factionalized population riven by hate and privilege. That is my ideology.
With all due respect, you are talking about the past, I'm talking about the future. And that is being decided in the present. And the decision is being made by collective humanity on this increasingly connected globe.
Returning to practical matters:
Just a few days ago a prominent Saudi official said that Israeli leaders' rejection of a viable, recognized Palestinian State, the "Two State Solution", really does not matter in any practical sense because there will be a Palestinian state whether Bibi Netanyahu likes it or not. This seems obvious to me. The Israeli campaign to wipe out Gaza has already failed. It was based on a fevered delusion militarily and economically as well as politically. Already Israel is a pariah. Already Israel is being deserted. Wiping out Palestinians is impossible; wiping out Israelis is impossible. One day, and it won't be long coming, there will be One State (maybe with a porous, merely notional, border in the middle of it) and it will be a multi-ethnic state and its citizenship will not depend on religion, race or creed but upon lawful, shared living in a secular democracy.
Perpetual war is incompatible with a decent and prosperous human life. Perpetual conflict characterizes places which are perpetually impoverished "tribal areas", riven by banditry and slavery, which stronger governments must babysit if they cannot govern. Scotland and Northern England was just that from 1066 to 1605. Northern Pakistan is that today; it's even officially called "The Tribal Areas". That will not be the fate of Palestine.
I'm in Woke WA. Donut let the Nasties get you thinking that everything is BLEAK. I was so pleasantly surprised by the American students getting out and protesting for the Pals. I think we have to be careful NOT to believe the PROPAGANDA that everyone is stupid and ignorant and nobody gives a shit... It's MEANT TO DISCOURAGE US, so Resist! If anyone should know, it's ME, that refusal to succumb to negativity is the ticket. Be a beacon for others, that's what I try to do. I think it makes a difference, what sort of energy we manifest, and I'll keep saying it... WE SHALL PREVAIL. (Dammit!) ;) Now, cheer up! South Africa is kickin' Israel/US ass, and have you seen the newest NZ electee to govt? Lemme find it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPiJftYyovw
Thank you for your comments James. I actually have been thinking about what you had said and I think I partially agree with you, but I did anyway. Actually I started writing a (too long) response to you and my stupid computer (or its stupid user) somehow deleted everything I wrote. In every war, the people lose and the predators win. This is no different. I know it makes no difference due to - its been a long time. But it is the location from which the Jews who fought back against Rome were dispersed. . And to underline their contempt, Rome changed the name of Judah to Palestine. The Jewish people spent millennia wandering through a variety of countries all over the known world at the time. There were also Jewish communities in India and China and Ethiopia. They were treated brutally throughout both the Christian and Muslim world, including the Arab ironic (and insane) support of Hitler. II do not support the oppression or violence toward any people (I think I'd like to make an exception of the raptor class). I know that the U.S. and Israel have an ulterior motive in mind and, as usual, it is not the best interest of the people that they're concerned with. I don't know if the word "genocide" is the correct one, but solving problems by killing those with whom one disagrees is hideous. One death is too many and if Manson who I think is a perfect example since he also didn't kill anyone, just ordered others to do so, got life in prison as a result, so should governments who engage in war. My understanding is that Palestine, under advice from other Arab nations in 1948, refused to compromise with Israel or discuss a two-state solution. I don't know that anyone can say they were either right or wrong. Would we want another country taking part of our country? But in this country, so far, it's been the reverse. One-third of this country was stolen from Mexico, Hawaii from Spain as well as Puerto Rico. In my opinion that is also wrong. I do believe that the U.S./U.K. decision to give land they themselves were not entitled to, to the holocaust survivors. to the diaspora Jews, was based on 1. they didn't want the Jews in their own countries and 2. having what amounted to a base in the middle east. It might (or maybe not) have been better to buy some land in South America (where they had already sent all the nazis, maybe even Hitler). But I still believe that Israel has more right to exist where it is than the entirety of the Western Hemisphere, that Europe colonized and committed an actual genocide on the inhabitants. It still seems questionable to me, no matter the immorality of Israeli government actions, for people living on stolen, bloodied land where the original inhabitants are still being oppressed for people to suddenly develop a sense of moral outrage over this one country. We all saw the pictures of the Africans hanging by their feet, being sold into slavery in Libya, under Gadaffis the richest country in Africa, now more to the liking of theObama-Clinton cabal. Or how about Syria where we are dropping bombs and stealing their oil without even being at war. What really angers me is a country, thoroughly corrupt to its core, declaring its "right" to force "regime change" in countries that won't bow down to them. And finally, one of my favorite quotes - from last entury of course: "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."