Israel’s Waltz With Bashir is a shocking Oscar loser over Japan’s Departures in the Best Foreign Film category.

[video] Waltz With Bashir Trailer

My theory as to why Bashir lost?  It’s simply a matter of food.  Hummus vs. sushi. I’ll be the first to admit that the Unites States has shit hummus.  Seriously, we have no clue how to do it properly.

On the other hand, there’s gotta be at least a dozen amazing sushi restaurants in L.A. alone.

An oversimplification?  Maybe.  But never underestimate the subconscious power of food.

Dear Mr. (soon-to-be) President,

You don’t know me, and technically I’m not an expert in anything- I have no formal schooling much beyond the high school level, have held no civilian career outside of basic retail services, and while I am an OIF vet and current member of the U.S. Military… my role in it has been rather small and low profile thus far. 

That being said, I still want to express my sympathies for the role you are about to assume in the world you have inherited.  Let’s be honest, it’s a nightmare out there.  The economy, heh, well we all know how THAT’s going.  But while we focus strongly on fixing the American economy, there are global matters we must keep a close watch on, because whether we like it or not, since throwing ourselves headlong into the “War On Terror” we are now deeply involved in most every conflict that could even possibly take place in arguably the most destabilized region of the world. 

First, Israel and the Gaza Strip conflict.  I understand where both sides are coming from here.  Hamas and the Palestinians are mad that there isn’t a Palestine anymore, and are bitter with the Israelis who now live in that region because they want their land back.  Israel wants Hamas to stop firing rockets into their country.  I know that’s over-simplified, but there is simply too much here to possibly get into without writing a text book.  Thus far you’ve been standing kind’ve in the background when it comes to this conflict, relying on statements such as “There’s only one President at a time”, when both you and I know that you have been working with great zeal on other aspects of what you’ll be doing as President.  It almost seems like a cop out to wait and see what happens.  One largely quoted reason that the assault on Gaza took place when it did is there was only a short period of time between the end of the ceasefire, and the beginning of your term in office, and while Israel knew Bush would totally be behind blowing things up in a major way, how you would feel was under dispute.  But here we are sir, and you’ll have to decide how America continues in response to their entire debacle. 

I’m not saying Israel is wrong to attack here, however their methods of doing so are mighty questionable, and our silent approval is turning many who were starting to maybe give us the benefit of the doubt with you coming into office against us.  Protests and flag burnings are being held not only in Arab states, but also throughout Europe.  Israel is our ally, however, we’re still looking at at least 1,200 Palestinians dead, near half of that have been children, and that’s not counting the many thousands injured.  Israel has lost 10 soldiers, and 3 civilians since this all began.  This starts to look less like a war, and more like a slaughter, especially when you consider that aid and escape for the Palestinian civilians has been rendered impossible, the only people escaping are the members of Hamas who thought ahead to use their smuggling tunnels and other means to get away as the assault began.  And before anyone accuses me of admonishing one group while ignoring the violence perpetrated by another (the U.S. tends to have pretty staggering numbers differences in our wars as well) I will gladly say that I’m against the death of any civilian, regardless of who causes it and why. 

Anyway, we need to work towards a ceasefire and some semblance of a resolution.  And we can not completely back Israel without backing their methods, and I believe we as a nation would be poorly served to do so.  Not only on moral grounds, but also out of, sadly, some amount of self-interest.  The Arab world was already weary of us after our lack of focus on Afghanistan, and our sudden needless at the time involvement in Iraq. 

Now after making progress in Iraq, and trying to refocus on Afghanistan, here we are again looking at a conflict that will quickly turn to blanket Us vs Them unless we work to mediate all sides.  Egypt and Afghanistan are calling for a stop to the assault and rendering of aid and reconstruction to the region, and usual pot-stirrers Iran, Syria, and others are calling for retribution in the name of the Arab community against Israel.  Violent times are pending with a finger on the trigger if we allow the conflict to continue for much longer.  It won’t matter what nations we bring Democracy to, if in their bitterness and anger they elect violent extremists to office.  If all Israel’s neighbors turn against it in full scale warring, we will have to come to their aid, and that is a battle we can not afford at this time, if ever. 

I don’t have an end resolution, I wouldn’t even begin to know where to look for one because as long as one group loses here, either the Palestinians or the Israelis, that group will be unhappy and looking to continue the fight, but we can’t completely remove one side from the table, that would be genocide, and while there are genocides or near-genocides that we have largely ignored (Armenians in Turkey, Burma, Darfur) we are better than that, and if we aren’t, then we should be. 

I know I’ll be unpopular for speaking against Israel here, even with just the members of this site, and I’m not excusing the actions of Hamas, their actions are criminal and the members of Hamas themselves should pay for them, but there is too much destruction here with the potential for more with no end in sight, so Mr. President, I ask you to prepare, because the moment you assume office, you will be looked towards to see how America will respond to the current state of things in the Gaza conflict, and what you say will have repercussions that will last us many many years, likely beyond your own Presidency, and I’m sure you know all about coming into the job with a lot already on your plate to be cleaned up.

A side note, but somewhat related- India and Pakistan… They are not currently at war with each other, and war is highly unlikely all things considered.  However, they are not truly at peace either, and possibly never will be.  That said, any escalation on either side of their border will only bode poorly for the world.  Pakistan has a direct link to our fight in Afghanistan for starters, and beyond that both are nuclear armed nations, and that last thing the world needs is a close quarters “Cold War” between the two.  Pakistan is a tenuous ally at best, between the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and the continued conflict along their border with Afghanistan in which they strongly demand that we steer clear of their side even when we know for a fact that the extremist factions we are fighting are staged there, we must be very weary of how we tread, we can not afford our fight to suddenly carry across into the two neighboring countries, especially when a 3rd (India) is poised for action even if they don’t desire it.

On the plus side, it does appear that the major conflict in Iraq is over, now we must simply continue to allow the Iraqi people to keep increasing their governing of their own country, and our drawing back and out of their way, after all… that was our end goal all along, right?

You have a lot to handle, and I’ve not even looked at employment, health care, the economy, or anything else that plagues our country.  So I want you to know that if everything is not 100% better in 4 years, I understand.  Progress is all I ask, just make progress.  The more the better. 

Best of luck to you,

~Skitz M. Jones

THIS is exactly why Israel has banned journalists from the Gaza war zone. Thank you, TimesOnline for ruining a great first-person war dispatch and turning it into douche-baggery:

In truth, the dogs, and the near-kidnapping of Roi, represent the failure of the Israeli military operation in Gaza. After 14 days, the biggest military machine in the Middle East has achieved little. Despite more than 1,000 Israeli air sorties, this weekend Hamas continued to launch rockets and even increased their number.

About 800 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians, and more than 3,000 injured, but the main fighting force of Hamas was unhurt and lay in wait for the Israelis in Gaza City and the refugee camps in the north and south of the Gaza Strip.

Read the complete article here.

My Dilemma:

I love Israel and I love Democracy.  So what should we do with this story?

Arab parties disqualified from Israeli elections

I’m hoping this was just an emotionally charged irrational vote by Israel’s Central Elections Committee which will be overturned before the February 2009 general elections.

And here’s a number to chew on:  20% of Israeli’s are Arab.

UPDATED:

To my great relief and admiration of Israel, the ban has been reversed by the High Court of Justice.

Israel, I’m so sorry…  please don’t judge all of America on this douche.

Joe the Plumber is in Israel as an AP report.  God help us all.

[video]

Who’s recruiting over at the AP and, more importantly, if I say non-sense on camera during a Presidential election would it get me a free trip to Israel too?

Maybe.  And why not?

The Right is screaming bloody murder and insists U.S. talks would tie Israeli hands from “finishing the job” of wiping Hamas off the face of the earth.

I mean, it’s not like Obama’s claiming he’ll want an idiotic unconditional cease fire like the lame and useless United Nations.  Obama has always said he would be willing to open communication channels with Hamas as long as they recognize Israel and stop being terrorist assholes.

What good would silence do for either Israel or Palestine?  It’s clear the United States will need to get their hands (at least a little) dirty in this mess.

Discussion is a necessity but it doesn’t mean Obama will give up the farm for it.

It used to be that we thought of Pakistan as a relatively good ‘Stan.  Afghanistan was the more difficult ‘Stan, though once they were our buddies too, of course, we were busy with them “damned commies” at the time…  Enemy of my enemy and all that you know.  Anyway, India is saying that Pakistan is trying to hype everyone up for war following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Last November’s Mumbai attack must have had support from some official agencies in Pakistan, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said.

Mr Singh also accused Pakistan of “whipping up the war hysteria”.

On Monday, India said it had handed to Islamabad evidence that linked the attacks to “elements” in Pakistan.

(T)he Pakistani government have denied any involvement.

Relations between India and Pakistan have plummeted to a new low since the attacks with an escalating war of words between the two neighbours.

There have been reports that Pakistan has moved troops from its western border – where the military is involved in action against the Taleban and al-Qaeda militants – to the eastern border with India.

“Today even as Pakistan engages in whipping up war hysteria, our nation remains steadfastly united and if anything the process of national consolidation is becoming stronger,” Mr Singh told a meeting of state chief ministers in capital Delhi.

“There is enough evidence to show that given the sophistication and military precision of the attack it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan,” Mr Singh added.

The evidence was given to Pakistan’s gov’twho are currently reviewing it, but so far seem to be saying they see nothing conclusive and are not making any actions.  As long as Pakistan is moving it’s troops towards India, that now opens up more potential for trouble on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Already a trouble spot given that many of the terrorists we’ve been fighting in Afghanistan have been hiding out in the hills just over the border.  Of course, the Afghans have a little something on their minds other than dealing with us and/or the Taliban and/or Al Qaeda.  They’re showing their strong support of the Palestinians who are caught up in the battle between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The modest white Miladul Nabi mosque is almost hidden beneath a massive poster that depicts a red fist raised to the heavens surrounded by slogans expressing sympathy for the Palestinian people, support for what it calls their jihad against Israel and hatred of the “blood-sucking” American government.

Last weekend, the mosque sponsored a protest rally against the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. On Monday, half a dozen young men with cellphones worked in its library, organizing a drive to collect money, blood plasma and volunteers to fight alongside the Palestinians. Sitting among them was the mosque’s imam, Ehsan Habibullah.

“Afghanistan is the land of holy warriors. We feel the pain of the innocent Palestinians, and we will stand with them to the end,” Habibullah said. “Israel is a terrorist state, and the Americans are supporting it, so how can they claim to be against terrorism? In Afghanistan, they are bombing civilians and setting dogs against women and children. They are not killing al-Qaeda — they are killing us.”

Well, you know how we were looking like we were going to have a groundswell of Muslim support around the world once Obama, who is known for showing a more open mind than our current Prez when it comes to world relations, takes office?  Yeah, forget about that, as Obama stands pretty much silent behind Bush and Co’s very wide open show of support for Israel saying little more than “There’s only one President at a time”, the world’s Muslims who feel the pain of Palestine view that as little other than a silent endorsement, even while most suspect that the reason for Israel initiating their attacks at this time is because they were not as certain that Obama would support them, but knew that Bush was all about blowing shit up, regardless of who it is.  So disregarding the question as to whether or not the Israelis are right in their current bombardment of the Gaza Strip, it’s still gonna wind up likely fucking us in the end as we’re having enough troubles in Afghanistan, and this is not going to win us any favor in the general public.  So whoo hoo for that.

Why are the ‘Stans so angry? Because it’s pretty much in their countries natures to be angry.  These are countries that have been warring with someone here, there, or elsewhere for more years than we’ve even given thought to them.

Over the past two years, the Afghan populace’s initially welcoming attitude toward U.S. troops has soured, in part because the international coalition forces here have failed to quell rising criminal and insurgent violence and in part because of civilian casualties during bombing raids and alleged violations of Afghan traditions by U.S. ground troops in conflict zones.

Now, the Israeli attack on Gaza, widely seen here as an act of aggression enabled by the United States, has become conflated in the minds of some Afghans with U.S. motives and actions in Afghanistan. Taliban propaganda and sermons by conservative clerics have contributed to a notion of the United States as an occupying power that seeks to subjugate the Muslim world.

“We have cable TV, and we know what the Americans are doing,” said Mehrabuddin Ali, a baker in a working-class Kabul district. “First they attacked Iraq. They didn’t find any nuclear weapons, but they killed a lot of Muslims. Now they are supporting Israel in killing innocent Palestinians. If they have come here to help us, we will welcome them. But if they come to destroy us, we will drive them out like we drove out the Russians. Real Muslims only need the protection of God.”

Well isn’t that cheery?  Boy I can only hope that all our various countries’ leaders and top military minds really know what they’re doing, because we’re aiming for a massive conflagration of animosity and violence the likes of which I don’t even want to think about.

Even though many of the U.S. cities highlighted in this video are MUCH further away than 30 miles from the Mexican border, I think it’s an important and powerful message anyway:

As we look into the next year, here’s a few topics to kick off the new year here, and around the world…

As Israel continues it’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, the succeed in the taking out of one of the only high level members of Hamas to not flee to the underground.  Nizar Rayan and 11 others, 6 of whom were family members died in the bombing of a 4 story building in which his apartment was located.  It’s the first high level target to be hit during the 6 day assault.

Cuba is celebrating it’s 50 year anniversary of the revolution that placed Communist leader Fidel Castro in charge of the country.  Raul Castro became President in February after his brother fell ill and it is hoped that as the new year progresses President Elect Barack Obama and Castro will be able to open talks to continue to improve relations with the country, and end many of the restrictions on travel and trade currently in place.

The UK has handed over the Basra Airport to the country of Iraq in a continuing of the drawing down of international forces and increased control over the country being placed in the hands of it’s own government and public.  It is said that the UK will have all troops withdrawn from the country by July of this year.

At the same time Iraq is taking control of the Green Zone as U.S. forces continue handing over the of the country to local police and military.  Soldiers will remain in place to continue assisting with security patrols in the area for at least the next 90 days at which point the next step will be decided by leaders of U.S. and Iraqi security forces.

So there you have it, just a small portion of the happenings in our world as we kick off 2009.  Here’s to it being better than 2008!

The IDF has started a YouTube channel to post videos of their on-going actions again Gaza.  Personally, I feel their decision to neutralize the Gaza threat is long overdue and justified.   Launching rockets into ANY country for no apparent reason is call for action.  Period.  While I agree there are some people who need help understanding why Israel is fighting Hamas,  I’m not sure that YouTube is the way to do it.

What I’m confused about is why the IDF felt a need to post YouTube videos that look like standard guided missile footage from an aircrafts cockpit.  While they’re really bad ass and cool, I don’t particularly see any PR value in them.  I  mean, as far as I can tell, they could be from any battle or country.   I’m no target analysis expert nor do I think most of the civilian population are.

Can anyone actually identify a “weapons smuggling tunnel” or “terror targets” or “weapons stores” in these videos?

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Case in point, now watch a British Tornado in Iraq:

[video]

Can you tell the difference? Neither can I.

The purpose of the IDF YouTube channel is to help people understand Israel’s mission and to prove they’re only targeting legitimate military targets. But who’s to say if it’s true unless you’re an expert at analyzing these things?