Higgly

... makes sense if you want peace with it. Before Fatah recognized Israel, how do you think it was brought around to doing so? Answer: through negotiations. Wrong! The fall of the USSR destroyed their only real ally prior to the "Palestinian's" re-alignment from "Marxism" to "Islamism". Thus, until "Islamism" replaced "Marxism" as the power in a position to topple the West (and get the support of misguided leftists) Fatah had nowhere to go but into Israel's arms, temporarily. Who gives a shite.

Well in fact, they did it entirely for recreation. You left yourself open to this one dckhead.

The same reason that Mississippians, New Jerseyites, New Yorkers, etc. are not entitled to a separate level of self-determination. No one proposed a "self-determining state" for the "Palestinians" while Egypt ruled Gaza and Jordan ruled the West Bank. This suddenly became very important when Israel finally established secure, defensible borders. Your hypocrisy sickens me. Sure. Please let us all know when the Palestinians have any say at all in the bizarro world of Isra-ayli politics.

Arab life is cheap but an Argentinian life is useful. Is that your point?

Haganah. Irgun. Who gives a shite. This fat f#ck invaded a number of Arab countries and masssacred entire villages, police posts, and cities. The Yanks are gonna hang Saddam. When are they gonna get around to Pinochet and Sharon?

Collective punishment is specifically interdicted by the Geneva Conventions.

Is that why they took so long to elect Sharon? Oh brother.

The Jewish population in Hebron has always been small. This is a flashpoint that guys like Sharon and Netanyahu have been magnifying and provoking. Hebron has had an Arab majority for centuries.

Huh?

Why hasn't this thread been disappeared? Where are the mods?

The gov't already has made an exception for real estate trusts - if you argument has any merit then then the government could make an exception for energy trusts as well. This is a specious argument. Real estate trusts are being left alone because the Yanks are allowing it, as are the Brits. The justifications are bafflegab. What difference does it make if you generate your revenue stream from real estate or from oil & gas revenues?

Yes indeed. You would also be nuts not to see that this was being held as a negotiation card by the Egyptians, that Nasser was negotiating through back channels, and that Israel decided that it did not want to negotiate but to force the issue by virtue of military might. Navigation of the Suez Canal was a minor inconvenience to the Israeli economy which had access to the sea on both its Mediterranean and Red Sea shores. Israel was looking for a a cassus belli and that is all there was to it.

At the Marid conference, the Syrian foreign minister held up a British 'Terrorist Wanted' poster of Itzhak Shamir. Shamir of course went on from his humble terrorist days to become prime minister of Israel. Does this mean Israel is a terrorist state?

Argus, I am gob-smacked that you could show such a complete understanding of the Palestinian sitution.

Canadian values on display here, courtesy of Argus

Yadda yadda yadda. A population of simple shepherds, shopkeepers and farmers has been reduced to a pre-magna carta class of medieval serfs with no citizenship rights, no property rights, no right to assembly or petition - in fact no human rights at all, because Israel displaced millions of people to serve its own purposes. Yadda yadda yadda.

According to whose perceptions? The Israelis constantly view themselves as being under threat. They probably think they are under threat from Zulus waving spears. Everybody threatens them. All the time. Whenever they need to attack someone, they come up with a threat.

Substitue 'pre-emptive' with 'unprovoked'. Get the picture?

Ricki Bobbi, you are ignorant, inexperienced and uninformed.

Sure they will. The Alberta oil and gas economy has been built on companies that are completely structured on the income trust model. These companies will have to restructure to accept this. Get real.

In fact, income trusts were an opportunity for junior oil and gas companies to attract investors by offering to share revenue when capital appreciation was unlikely. Income trusts kept our energy sector alive in very tough times. The Canadian Oil Sands Trust (COS.UN) and a number of others are now at risk of being taken over by New York fedge fund a$$hole$ and foreign governments, and Canadians who trusted Harper and relied on these fixed income instruments to pay their bills have been hung out to dry. What have you done for the economy lately, August?

And who is it exactly who is driving our economy these days? Look at this morning's employment numbers. Look at real estate values. What makes you more important?

It wasn't done well at all. It was a sandbagging, pure and simple. It was Lyin' Jim Flaherty doing what he did before the last Ontario election. It was arrogance; it was not consultation or even forethought. It was a panic attack by a government lacking the depth to undertsand that the geeks in Finance have even the smallest sense of the economy and the people who make it work.

Exackly! They have pissed in their own nest.

For sure; this is the here and nnow.