i was just being a smartass.

i dont see any possible outcome that could be accepted by both sides. the level of animosity and the absolute opposition of interests are almost unprecedented. it’s such a simple problem (Thunderdome) that there can be no meaningfully peaceful solution.

my wifes’ uncles are pretty standard informed conservative Jews, and the levels of Zionism they can reach are pretty surprising. when we discuss this stuff, it always humbles me to hear just how intractable their views are on the situation. and i think to myself: if a pair of middle-class Jews in central Ohio who’ve never been to Israel can think like this, what chance do the cooler heads have at prevailing?

there’s a level at which religion, geopolitics, and colonialism fall by the wayside and it very simply boils down to two peoples who want the same thing. it’s zero-sum. i guess we can hope a 2-state solution can be hammered out and the worst we see is tenuous peace sprinkled with sporadic terrorism, but is that really a victory?

for agreeing with me.

One of my best buddies went on a trip to Israel this winter sponsored by ZOA: Zionist Organization of America. He’s not particularly ideologist, but he’s down for a free trip. And it scared the holy hell out of him. If it wasn’t for US and Saudi interests conflicting over it, and if it wasn’t for billions of dollars of US-made weaponry being sent to Israel every year, it’d be a lot different.

I’m fairly pro-Israel and right-to-exist and all of that good stuff, but it kinda sickens me when I talk to folks who work for Northrop and Lockheed and talk about how great Gaza and Georgia are for business.