Wanted: NY Times reporters; degree in stupid required
Bookworm on May 03 2008 at 4:33 pm | Filed under: Israel, Media matters, Palestinians
The New York Times periodically pops up with articles in which its perplexed employees report that the incarceration rate in the US is up but, for reasons they cannot fathom, crime is down. Life is so difficult if you’re absolutely certain that “A” and “B” can’t possibly be related or, even worse, that “A” can’t possibly have a causal relationship to “B.” Incomprehensible causality is again on display at the NYT, this time with regard to Israel:
Suicide bombings in Israel have dropped off so significantly that the nation’s security officials now dare to speak openly of success. But the very steps they are taking to thwart bombers appear to collide head-on with the government’s agenda of achieving peace with the Palestinians.
The separation barrier along the West Bank has drawn international criticism. Israeli security officials say it has proved helpful.
It is a classic military-political dilemma. The progress in stopping suicide bombers, the vast majority of whom cross into Israel from the West Bank, has brought enough quiet for Israel to resume peace talks with the Palestinian leadership there.
But the current calm is fragile, and to maintain it Israeli security officials say they must continue their nightly arrests and sometimes deadly raids in the heart of the West Bank — tactics at odds with a peace effort that envisions a separate Palestinian state, an eventual Israeli withdrawal from much of the West Bank and, in the meantime, a gradual transfer of authority to the Palestinian police.
“The price of staying out” of the West Bank, said one senior Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of military restrictions, “might be one that we don’t want to pay.”
The military’s faith in its efforts comes across in its charts showing a steep decline in suicide bombings — from a high of 59 in 2002 to only one in 2007, and one so far this year.
The poor reporter seems so bewildered. Why is it that Israel, having finally stemmed the horrible attacks on her children, is loath to enter into negotiations with Palestinians, negotiations that invariably followed a set pattern: (1) Palestinians killed Israelis; (2) Israelis gave lots of money and/or land and/or freed dozens or hundreds of suicide bombers, while getting nothing in return; and (3) Palestinians, flush with the success of their tactics, killed more Israelis.
I get the feeling that the Times‘ reporter saw nothing wrong with that decades old status quo and thinks it unconscionable that Israeli is changing the terms, so that the Palestinians’ sole negotiating tactic isn’t simply ever more dead Israelis.
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7 Responses to “Wanted: NY Times reporters; degree in stupid required”
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“The military’s faith in its efforts comes across in its charts showing a steep decline in suicide bombings — from a high of 59 in 2002 to only one in 2007, and one so far this year.”
Seems to me there’s been no political progress between 2002 and 2007. In fact, with Hamas’ ascension to control over Gaza, and control over all the media outlets in Gaza, the political situation for a two-state solution has gotten far, far worse.
I don’t think political progress between 2002 and 2007 accounts for the decrease in suicide bombings.
So, my goodness me, my goodness me, what could it be? What could it be?
Perhaps the security FENCE, physical, not virtual, has a leeetle leeetle leeelte bit to do with it. Methinks.
As far as “degree in stupid” is required, you have got to check out this quote:
(begin)
Would the Holocaust have happened if there had been no war or if the western democracies had acted against Nazi Germany earlier? We can never know - though it is likely that, if Britain had made peace in 1940 after the fall of France, the Jews would have been sent to Madagascar. What is certain is that the war prevented any concerted attempt at rescue.
Resources used to help Jews would be diverted from the war. Any mass movement of refugees ran the risk of the Germans planting agents among them. Oil supplies were too vital to Britain to risk upsetting Arabs by evacuating them to Palestine. Any of the suggested swaps - Jews for German PoWs, for example - might suggest allied weakness. Besides, why should the allies assist Hitler to rid Europe of Jewry? The best we could do, as Anthony Eden, the British foreign secretary, observed in 1944, was to “hope that the German government will refrain from exterminating these unfortunate people”.
(end)
Now, let’s all get this straight. A requote:
“Would the Holocaust have happened if there had been no war or if the western democracies had acted against Nazi Germany earlier [...] the Jews would have been sent to Madagascar.”
Is this even worth further commentary?
Well, I guess, solely because the left has become mind-bogglingly STUPID!
Sheee-it, I suppose I could say the following: During the American slavery of Negroes, had the blacks been just a bit nicer, the South would have set up institutes of higher learning, and sent all their negroes to those institutes, to ensure the best of all educational possibilities.
The insanity of people sometimes just boggles, boggles, boggles the mind. I cannot comprehend.
Madagascar! Hitler… sends his venemously, genocidally hated Jews… to Madagascar! The mind boggles.
Security is never a good thing unless it is provided by duly sanctioned and licensed Democrat party officials or allies, Mike.
It is the same logic that notes U.S. crime rates are down and then bemoans the fact so many young men are incarcerated. Banishing cause and effect serves ideological interests.
Oh, and let’s not forget - Happy 60th Birthday Israel!
NY Times is generally bewitched, bothered and bewildered by Israeli policies and tactics.
The fence is working along with good intelligence on the ground. It will never be perfect, but it is certainly an improvement.
As an aside, fences/walls continue to be built in N. Ireland 10 years later (except for a couple of neighborhoods).
MIKE:
Long ago I dismissed anything the Brits had to say concerning Jews in Britain, Jews in Israel and pretty much everywhere. Look how long it took them to send Ken Livingstone packing.
MIKE: To further illustrate my point, 10 years later…this is what consumed them. Have a good giggle.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080504/od_afp/britainhistorysecurityfoodoffbeat;_ylt=AjXRvqzoMUMkdc0EoK1GUDQuQE4F