SpankyMcFarland

I've read what he said, thank you. See how I take the high road there? You can too. IMHO Bennet's proposal of Area C settlement is Apartheid in all but name.

The embassy’s location in Jerusalem is hardly a typical, routine internal US matter given the decades of negotiations that the US has been involved in on the status of Jerusalem. The Europeans are standing by a principle that such decisions should not be made unilaterally. Their allance with the US does not mean they have to behave like Warsaw Pact vassal states when the US does something very odd in another part of the world. This is capitulation, not negotiation. Russia’s recent history has been tragic. There’s no reason that country couldn’t be as prosperous as Canada if it had kept up with democratic reform instead of lapsing into autocracy and paranoia. But even the Russians and Chinese voted with the US on North Korea at the UN recently. There is scope for some cooperation.

Actually, I deplore Russia keeping its border in Chechnya. Lord knows how many they murdered there to stop independence which is part of a time honoured tradition in that country where they are keen to protect the rights of ethnic Russians in other countries in the West but are blind to the rights of their own ethnic minorities. I think the Ukrainians should let Crimea and the eastern provinces go. The inhabitants can regret their decision at their leisure.

The Jooos? So I’m a racist because I disagree with you? Very PC. Am I on record supporting any of these wars? Such a bizarre mixed bag of different situations. In general, I’m a secessionist - if it can be arranged with a proper vote a la Scotland - so you’re not going to get some massive defence of the nation state from me. The first one doesn’t merit comment. I would have been somewhat in favour of the South Vietnamese regime but it was no shining beacon of justice and due process. Regarding Biafra, it was legally part of Nigeria and you’ll find many people on sites like this (not me) who deplore secession in any form. Argentina, the UK and the Falklands/Malvinas situation was ‘two bald men fighting over a comb’ but the Argies started it. A democratic Argentinian govt will never attempt that again. Yemen was kinda subverted before Iran ever appeared on the scene and has been in trouble since the Brits were in Aden. North and South should never have united and the Houthis have basically confirmed that. East Timor did get its freedom eventually. What about the Kurds? Am I an enemy of theirs too? I’d like to see them get a state but Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Russia AND the US disagree with me so what can I or they do?

There is an argument for abstention on such issues. It's a whole lot of trouble in a faraway part of the world which we have no influence on anyway.

Justice was eventually served in East Timor.

Even the Russkies didn't claim all of Berlin.

This has been the argument of every colonizer. The land was nearly empty and underused, and we deserved it more than the lazy, ungrateful and treacherous natives.

Two wrongs and all that. Post WWII we no longer endorse the might is right concept for changing borders.

Does that justify making a Palestinian state impossible? I find it easy to blame the Israelis for that. The Palestinians have been asked to adjust to a great deal already.

It is a problem for the Palestinians as it was for most nations in North America,

Haley's threat that she was taking names was so sad to hear, un-American really. Is she taking the names of NATO members? Russia and China? Of course not. Only small, poor nations who can be bullied. What a pathetic end for the US.

Go ahead, amigo.

Maybe Europe considers right and wrong here? They are certainly under less political pressure from one side than the hapless US Congress.

Dealing with a crazy person doesn't justify stealing. Israel is constantly adding to 'facts on the ground' that will insidiously create a permanent apartheid state on the West Bank. That might be OK with the Trumpian fascists here but many Israelis will be unconfortable with such such a grimly tribal reality separating them from the West.

I don't remember the Russians ever claiming Berlin as their capital.

I was using ‘celebrate’ there as a transitive verb, as in to praise or honour publicly, not singing or dancing. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/celebrate https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/celebrate Also note that I was referring to all soldiers of the world, not just Israeli soldiers. It’s unlikely I would have intended to insult my own country’s soldiers.

A campaign pledge is, by definition, internal politics. He didn’t make this campaign pledge to Europe or the Arab world.

Friend and acquaintance are difficult terms to distinguish when applied to countries. However one wishes to describe it, the Saudis and Israelis do appear to have a definite convergence of interests at the moment: http://m.jpost.com/Israel-News/Inside-The-Prospective-Israel-Saudi-Arabia-Rapprochement-515801 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/covert-israeli-saudi-arabia-relations-171120142229835.html

Kent and Normandy would be a nice start. They're all the same over there anyway.

Yes even the Saudis who are anxious to be friendly with Israel at the moment given their conflict with Iran.

You didn't read my post correctly. I said all tribes celebrate their warriors. You may need to take a break from this forum given the tone of your post.

Sharing a language doesn't make you all the same e.g. Canada. Leaving aside the Israeli issue completely, I don't think Jordanians, Palestinians and Egyptians would regard themselves as identical. You can hear the difference between Egyptians and the others even when they speak English. Jordanians and Palestinians represent the boundary between Levantines and Peninsular Arabs; there's considerable overlap but differences as well.

One reason would be that the government has always rejected the Apartheid analogy as slanderous. In the Bennett model, you will have de facto Bantustans surrounded by the Israeli state whose inhabitants have no rights in the state.

What should it be exactly? Pro-Putin?