War on Flying

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Nov 17, 2014 at 15:07

HI, Sara

It is indeed a confusing situation. First of all, there's the "Who hates Whom" approach. The more a Middle Easterner hates another, the more likely it is that they are brother. Also, Jihad is all about purity. What better way is there, to prove how holy one is, than to behead another who is identical to him save one flaw? That doesn't require hatred: It only requires attention to the details of sanctity.

Concerning the UAE, yes -- I see that they are "upping the ante" for the Qataris, forcing the latter to declare just what side of the fence they sit on. Someone suggested that this conflict withing the GCC was more about the gas-producers vs. the oil-producers than it was about religion; but perhaps the parties involved would think it blasphemous to paint their conflict in such crassly "Zionist", capitalistic colors.

Until my imagination gets shaken by some new reality, the conflict in the Middle East can be summed up as being between four power centers:

1. Iran 2. Saudi Arabia-Egypt 3. Turkey and 4. Israel

Religious lines are often crossed in this conflict. Some of Israel's worst enemies are Jews; and though Sunnis tend to hate the Shi'ites nearly as much as they do the Jews, Sunni Gaza has opened up its arms to welcome the Shi'ite Iranians. Christians tend to seek protection from the Shi'ite (sort of) Bashir al-Assad; but in Lebanon, the Sunnis and Christians are closer to each other than they are to Shi'ite Hizbullah. Even so, many Christians and Sunnis support Hizbullah -- especially against the Jews. The Druze are another matter: In Syria, they support Assad; in Israel, they fight alongside the Jews in the IDF -- sometimes against Assad's supporters.

Outsiders enter this fray at their own peril.

Concerning "terrorists", the Arabs and others have correctly pointed out that some Jews, including future Israeli PM Menachem Begin, supported and committed "terrorist" acts -- most notably, the bombing of the King David Hotel. Samson in the Bible could also have been described as a "terrorist", in that he killed hundreds of civilians in a "suicide attack" in their place of assembly.

There's no end to the sanctimoniousness of all this "terror" business.

Two woodpeckers are chashing each other through the tall trees outside my window. Are they conducting a "War on Flying"? I don't know, but it's more interesting than this "War on Terror" business.

Shalom shalom :-)

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