Latest Comments

• Israel to Declare War on Lebanon

  Wed Jul 12, 2006
  • Dennis: Tag away. Oluseye:

• Israel to Declare War on Lebanon

  Wed Jul 12, 2006
  • That notion is already covered by the whole "reservation" system. We get casinos and cheap cigarettes out of the deal, the remaining Native Americans get hosed by their tribal leaders and voted off the reservation if they speak up. Hooray for miniature city-states! Gah.

• Israel to Declare War on Lebanon

  Wed Jul 12, 2006
  • @Oluseye: Guess I'd better be firin' up the Wayback Machine right about now, so that I can give "Palestine" back to its Ottoman owners. Wait, they took it by conquest too? Hmmm, no land for the Turks on the southeastern Mediterranean then, I guess.

• Israel to Declare War on Lebanon

  Wed Jul 12, 2006
  • The country has never been called "Palestine". The area encompassing much of Transjordan was known colloquially as "Palestine", but it has never been a country. It went from Ottoman to British to Egyptian/Jordanian/Israeli-held territory.

• Israel to Declare War on Lebanon

  Wed Jul 12, 2006
  • @Roan:

• Israel to Declare War on Lebanon

  Wed Jul 12, 2006
  • So it comes to this, Brian: do the historic Jews have any claim on the land that now constitutes Israel? Is there a place for a Jewish state? If not, why? What particular events, in your opinion, erased Jewish rights to the area now encompassed? The dispersion by the Romans after 73 A.D.? The …

• Israel to Declare War on Lebanon

  Wed Jul 12, 2006
  • Brian: Does Mexico maintain, as official state policy, pursuit of a reclamation of the Southwest US from the "Gringo invaders"? Is there an ongoing undeclared low-level conflict? Have Mexican officials called for "pushing American imperialists into the seas, both of them!"?

• Israel to Declare War on Lebanon

  Wed Jul 12, 2006
  • The Wikipedia piece on Israel offers some perspective on the roots of Zionism and the desire for a restoration of the Jewish state. What it comes down to, though, is that the Israelis/Jews have a historical claim on the land.

• Israel to Declare War on Lebanon

  Wed Jul 12, 2006
  • Dennis: You don't even need to cite UNR 1559 - it's primarily a restatement of the Lebanese gov't's duties as a part of the Taif agreement.

• Israel to Declare War on Lebanon

  Wed Jul 12, 2006
  • I understand your confusion; however, when talking about Islamist terrorist groups with a decidedly "Kill the infidels!" set of core values, I prefer to take them at their word and be specific when talking about them, even unto the point of calling them by their proper name.