http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/6463925.stm

A welcome decision that may herald an end to the international boycott without dictating manifesto to a democratically elected government.

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

Norway normalised relations with the new Palestinian government yesterday.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...lestinians.php

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,259663,00.html



You Europeans can appease terrorists.

Definitely Europe needs to wake up and realize that with any terrorism there are no negotiations or alternatives.

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“Good leaders abhor wrongdoing of all kinds; sound leadership has a moral foundation.”

-Proverbs 16:12

What do you expect them to do, Duh?

I have repeatedly stressed my condemnation of attacks against civilians - Israeli or Palestinian - but I noted how America and Israel and many posters here also cried `terrorism`over Corporal Shalit`s capture - a purely military target.

I note also how the deaths of civilians is shrugged off when they are Palestinian civilians. A quick comparison (of which I`m sure you`re already aware):

Israeli casualties since 2000 - deaths 1,130 injured 6,485

Palestinian casualties - deaths 4,416 injured 31, 296

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-...rrorism%20sinc

http://www.palestinercs.org/crisista...of_figures.htm

The Palestinians are entitled to resist the occupation and theft of their land and the `State Terrorism` that is inflicted upon them. I feel that attacks against civilian targets (apart from being morally reprehensible) are counter-productive to the Palestinian cause however the levels of radicalism within Palestinian society are throughly predictable given the injustices they face on a daily basis, the fact their home has become a giant `prison camp` (your words, I seem to recall) and the lack of meaningful constraints from the West upon their oppressor.

The international boycott of the Hamas-led government was, like Israel`s recent demolition of the Gazan infrastructure, another form of collective punishment visited upon the whole society. The stated hope was that this would cause the Palestinians to turn away from the radicalism. The reality, which I believe was well understood by Sharon, Olmert, etc was that it re-inforced the Palestinians perceptions of being under siege and drew them ever closer to their `protectors`.

The boycott has not pacified Gaza. Time to lift it.

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

That`s funny.

The creation of Israel itself was partly the result of negotiations with `terrorists`.

The peace process in Northern Ireland is the dividend reaped from negotiations with (American funded) terrorists.

Tell me, GreatAmerican, what is the difference between a `terrorist` and a `freedom fighter`?

Didn`t the US deal with terrorists when it dealt with the Contras or the Afghan Mujahadeen?

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

Something a little ironic about the US being willing to talk to a select few people they like. Palestine and Lebanon are new, but true democracies voted in by the people. I thought that was what the US wanted - democracy in the Middle East. Now why aren't we talking to them? Oh, yea, the people voted in terrorists.

Something doesn't fit here.

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Hobo
Charter member of 'Republicans Who Hate Bush" Club

They voted for who they liked, not who we liked. That's the thing about democracy we overlooked. You can't just hand it out and expect people to start acting like us. We needed to win hearts if we were going to have any influence over their democracies, but we ruined that chance when we started a dubious war within their homeland. Now the whole area is pissed at US and terrorists gain political clout. They even get voted into office. If it keeps up, we won't be fighting against small organizations of international criminals but full-blown terrorist nations.

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WARNING: In the unlikely event of an accidental agreement with any or all points made in the above post, contact a clinical psychologist immediately.

The views expressed in the above post are not necessarily those of Joker and/or any of his affiliates.

is what "communist" was during the cold war

an inflammatory label to define who we are by identifying what we are against


notice today's terrorists, those who oppose us today, were once freedom fighters who then opposed the USSR

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“Mayor Palin fails to have a firm grasp of something very simple: the truth.”

[Frontiersman editorial, 2/7/97]

Obviously Palestine can't be a real democracy. Because they attacked another country. Democracies don't do that...
or perhaps our "defense" plan of "spreading democracy" isn't all it's cracked up to be.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside