Wednesday, 11 October 2023

The current war in West Asia [Content Warning - violence, war]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Content shown in green (which may be only part of a news story) is about what is generally considered “good news”, but personal history may still make such events triggering. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/.  

I have been trying to avoid posting anything not related to the Voice in this week, but I cannot ignore what is happening in West Asia between Israel and an organisation that I will not name - as I do not name violent extremists nor violent extremist (VE) organisations ... nor do I give them the satisfaction of using the T word. 

To put some context on this, I outlined my perspective on the historical context at https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2023/10/despair-content-warning-violence.html, and I want to supplement that with the following: 

  • the actions of the attackers who started this were appallingly barbaric and mediaeval in their cruelty. I will not provide any links to articles on that - partly because providing the details are gratuitous, partly because this is a blog and not a primary news source, but also because the effects of Israeli actions are not being equally covered; 
  • Israel, and Israel’s supporters, must avoid falling into the trap of an excessive reaction (such as the USA did after 9/11 - see discussion in the Juan Cole/Informed Comment article below) - and I note that, until now, Israel has often either tried or claimed to try to target only places connected to VEs, with destruction often occurring only after phone warnings. That appears to no longer be the case, with women and children being - again - victims of the counter attacks, and reports of attacks on medical centres; 
  • Palestinians, and Palestinian supporters, must avoid falling into the trap of antisemitism, but decades of repression is impossibly hard to bear;
  • the news reports below - and I will add to these when I consider articles worth it - show that Israel was arrogant and inept, as IT HAD BEEN WARNED ... but also that the organisation which committed these attacks has effectively COMMITTED SUICIDE ... but Israel’s brutal occupation will simply lead to another similar organisation in the future.
    Historically, the many failings of     THE ENTIRE WORLD - especially regarding the Holocaust, which covers every nation that failed to act or rejected Jewish people - have, in my opinion created this situation, and thus THE ENTIRE WORLD has a direct responsibility to resolve this, which, in the short term, includes equally the welfare of Israeli hostages and the many Palestinians who just want to have a decent life - and, on that, as someone with Indigenous ancestry myself, I ache for their loss of land.
    In the longer term, thinking Israel will stop existing is unrealistic, but, in my opinion, a proper, genuine Two State solution is the ONLY way to a true, genuine, and lasting peace;
  • notwithstanding that previous point, I fear what is coming for those in Gaza - and possibly elsewhere - will be horrendous. Israel will also pay a steep price, as it found when it was entangled in urban warfare in southern Lebanon some decades ago; 
  • the current batch of politicians at the top of the hierarchies in that area of the world are inept (see the links below), and need to be replaced by genuine leaders.

The news links are: 

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

  • this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

  • there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  • I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below.

Vote Yes for the Voice in Australia.  

Finally, remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing.



 

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