On Feb 18, 7:23*pm, wrote:
On Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:10:07 -0600, "Attila Iskander"

wrote:

wrote in message
.. .
I still am not sure it was worth it but as long as the neocons in the
US are willing to start WWIII to save the West Bank Israeli
settlements, it was better than the alternative.

The problem with that argument is that war has been a continuous and ongoing
process in the Middle-East ever since Mohammed got started.
The US, Israel, or even your boogie-man neo-cons had nothing to do with it.
Learn some history instead of spouting some ignorant ideological cant

I know plenty of history. This particular problem started when we
allowed displaced European Jews to occupy Palestinian territory after
WWII instead of just making the Germans and French give them their
property back ... and maybe a little more.

Who exactly is this "we"? You make it sound like Palestine was
a peaceful place where everyone was getting along just fine until
some Jews from post WWII Europe showed up. The region had
been in conflict for a long time. While it's true there was a large
additional migration of Jews there after WWII, Jews had already
been migrating their for decades prior. And the area was in conflict,
as far back as WWII and after, when under British rule.
The Palestinians were fighting the British, the Jews, etc.
To be sure, the arrival of more Jews didn't help, but it's incorrect
to trace the origins of the problem to the aftermath of WWII



Unfortunately that would not have helped us pacify
Germany.
I believe they did owe the Jews massive reparations but we did not
make the Germans pay, we made the Palestinians pay and they have been
paying more and more every year since.

Again, who is this "we"? It was Russia that proposed the
resolution in the UN for Israeli statehood.




*The new settlements on the West Bank are a threat to world peace and
it is just a matter of time before it spins out of control.

I agree that the one thing that Isarel is doing that isn't helfpful
is building more settlements. But if you compare that to the
Palestinian position, which has been and continues to be that
Israel doesn't have a right to exist, it's not the major problem.



It certainly does not help that we are quickly losing all the North
African dictators who we have been paying off for a half century to
ignore it.


When the Muslim Brotherhood takes over Syria, Jordan and the Emirates
it is, game over.

Which seems to indicate that you recognize which side in
this conflict is really the loons.....



All it would really take is for them to forge an alliance with China,
for the oil, and the west would be powerless to stop them if they
wanted to kick the Israelis off the west bank ... unless we really had
WWpick a number.

The oil market is fungible. Jordan and Syria don't have
oil that amounts to anything. The UAE is a very westernized
and wealthy country. The chance of nut case Muslims taking it
over isn't likely. Even if they did, the rest of the scenario makes
no sense.


It would be an economic war, a war we lose. China can crush us by
simply redeeming their bonds instead of rolling them over.
Of course China could drive up interest rates by simply trying to sell
our debt, making US bonds a glut on the market. How much quantitative
easing (buying up un sellable bonds with printed money) can we stand
before we see rampant inflation?

I don't know, but we seem to be doing that right now, without
regard to what China does or doesn't do. There would be severe
repercussions for China if they ever attempted such a thing.
We are their largest trading partner and they would be killing
the value of their own investiment in the process. For what,
again exactly? To help the Palestinians? Like China gives a
rat's ass?