Frogs Luxuriating in a Large Pot of Warm Water, Over a High Flame.
Reader comment on item: Israel and Syria going to war?
in response to reader comment: Israeli leaders, weak or strong, inevitably make bad deals with the Arabs

Submitted by mariana (United States), Jun 9, 2007 at 11:51

Mr. Besig: Your devastating analysis is so "right on" that it makes my stomach ache! While I've come to terms with the indolence and stupidity of Americans [who've been habituated to peace at home excepting 9/11, which they've virtually obliterated from memory}], I find these tendencies in Israel suicidal in extremis; one would think a country at war since the second of it's birth would get the hang of it in 60 years, and figure out that a serious defeat of their enemies is long overdue. Perhaps they've already waited too long.

I believe generalized war in the area is inevitable and imminent . The problem is, the longer Israel denies, dithers and delays, the more "together" Syria, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia [and the rest of America's " Moderate Arab friends] have to finance, arm and organize with Hizbullah, Hamas and Fatah with great assistance of UN, EU, UNIFIL, and the Arabist permanent foreign policy establishment in America. Jordan, as always and regardless of their earnest protestations to the contrary in secret meetings, too feckless and stupid to understand it's own vested interests, will ultimately side with Israel's enemies, opening another front up to the walls of Jerusalem and beyond. Those Israelis betting on the natural fractiousness and disorganization of their opponents are betting the farm while operating under delusions of the "best case scenario." You are now dealing with West Point, Harvard, Yale and War College educated brains, covertly strategising and running your opponents' rabble gangs and armies.

The Makka conference S.Arabia held for "peace talks," I believe, was one huge strategy session where commitments were made to support a generalized war against Israel. SA, threatened by the "Shi'ia Crescent," has absolutely nothing to lose; by supplying $$ and operational plans covertly, they can continue to appear the valued friend and "honest broker;" if the Arab forces win, they get credit and so much the better; if they lose, SA will have eliminated a lot of dangerous enemies of their own, using Israel as their weapon and target simultaneously. One way or the other, the so-called "Moderate Arabs" win and Israel loses.

I can't help being reminded of Clemenza in Puzo's "The Godfather," who patiently explained that it was time "to go to the mattresses again," because every 10 years or so, a serious blood-letting was needed to clear up the detritus that had accumulated during the interregnum since the last all out war between the fractious families; and that without it, the always tenuous peace was unsustainable.

Kadima's competence and seriousness is so horrendously below the mean of Israel's governments, and all of their automatic responses are so farcically predictable, that I see real danger here. You're correct: the politicians are utterly self-interested and prolonging their tenuous hold on power, far outweighs national security or anything else for that matter. They believe they can just prattle along, playing diplomatic games, pretending to be "statesmen," and the status quo will abide. This same situation abides in America and I find this chronic, delusionary behaviour on the part of the "democratic" governments quite terrifying.

Democracies understand the benefits of and strive for peace, and have historically conjured up fantastical explanations and excuses to maintain even the fiction of "peace," long after this fiction had lost any credibility or value. From where I sit, Israel has effectively had no "peace" since Oslo; only a cruel game of "Escallatio;" as soon as the shoe starts to pinch, Hamas, Hizbullah, Fatah, Lebanon or whomever, sue for peace, whining until The World forces Israel to withdraw, and Israel withdraws. The analogy of the frog, gleefully swimming around in a pot of warm water over a high flame, seems inescapably apt to me. mariana

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