HASBARA: Maksim's Take On the Israel-Hezbollah War...

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Hi Guys,

I've been getting an immense amount of correspondence about the current Israel-Hezbollah War and it's moved me to say my peace here at my blog. While I want to keep the focus of my blog on gaming, I will, on occasion, speak about politics, especially in regard to the Middle East, which I feel is crucial to the progress of civilization.

I added an array of links to Israeli/Jewish web sites for folks to peruse who are interested.

First of all, if I could recommend just one article to read about the current conflict, I would recommend this one from Treppenwitz:

http://briefurl.com/Thanks_I_Needed

A short caption from his article:

Just as every person who had ever rescued that bully from admitting defeat helped create the cowardly brute I saw that evening in the bar, every well-intentioned power that has ever stepped in and negotiated a ceasefire for an Arab aggressor has helped create the monsters we see around us today.

President Lahoud of Lebanon, a big Hezbollah supporter and a close ally of Syria, has been shrieking non-stop to the UN Security Council for the past two days to get them to force Israel into a cease fire.

I highly recommend reading the whole article.

What Treppenwitz has done is capture the totality of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which goes something like this:

1. Arabs incite and instigate through terrorism, sabre rattling and indiscriminate murder.
2. Israel uses "strong language," but fails to reply in force.
3. Arabs increase the level of violence until Israel gets really angry; angry enough to do something about it.
4. Wars breaks out between the Arabs and the Israelis.
5. The Arabs are defeated militarily on the battlefield by Israel.
6. The "world," through the auspices of the United Nations and other "international organizations" steps in, nullifies the Israeli victory, and turns every Arab military defeat into a political draw.
7. The cycle repeats.

Now, I don't beleive in the hogwash about a "cycle of violence," unless it's imposed from the outside as in this case. Normally, when a fight breaks out, whether on a school playground or between nations as in W.W.II, someone takes a beating and learns a lesson... even if only in the short term. And it takes the vigilance of a just victor to make sure that the bully learns his lesson. And...

That's what needs to happen in this conflict. Both Hezbollah and Hamas need to take a full beating... not a few punches and then have "international organizations" step in to stop the fight. Both Hezbollah, Hamas and their masters in Syria, Iran and elsewhere have lessons to learn and we do the Arab world no favors if we hold Israel's hand. The Arab people, and Muslims in general, deserve better than the tyrannies they now suffer under...

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I have a few more recommendations...

If you really want an easy way to get a toe hold on what's going on in the Middle East, I can do no better than to recommend that you become a fan of The Dry Bones comic strip. Yaakov Kirschen has been writing it for years and it has been revered by both Arabs and Israelis for at least as long. I love him, some of the most inciteful humor I've ever read:

http://drybonesblog.blogspot.com/

I took another comic strip from Cox & Forkum, political cartoonists extraordinaire...

http://briefurl.com/Rock-em-Sock-em

I'm also a huge fan of Abba Gav, one of the most astute bloggers out of Israel... also one of the funniest.

http://briefurl.com/Pacifism-Isnt-Answer

And lastly, since the Treppenwitz article mentions a Marine in bad standing, I wanted to find a post that more accurately represents the United States Marine Corps as one of the finest instituions I have ever had the privilege to serve with (I was United States Air Force, but I served alongside Marines at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba). I also just met a Marine this past Saturday at Great Escape Games... a talented miniatures painter named Vlad. Here's a link to a Marine that is aware of the situation that both Israel and the greater world is in:

http://briefurl.com/USMC-Letter

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I don't feel that all Arabs are bad, evil or anything of the sort. In fact, I feel that the Arab world has an imense potential that hasn't been met due to the tyrannies they live under. I don't ignore the US role in some of those tyrannic governments, but at the same time I can also acknowledge the role of the former USSR and even the Arab (...and Persian for that matter) countries' responsibilities for the horrible state that they're in.

Playing the blame game doesn't solve problems, it exasperates them. It's time to do something about them. Terrorism is a plague; I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

If I could wish one thing for the Arabs, it would for the average Arab Joe (...or I guess, Muhammed) to be able to live in peace, raise his or her children with liberty & freedom, and enjoy the many privileges that citizens in the West can under more progressive governments and the mantle of Western civilization. I would also wish justice upon the men that behead their fellow countrymen, coreligionists, foreign journalists, foreign aid workers, the Red Cross, and others.

And, make no mistake, the current conflict isn't just between Israel & Hezbollah or Israel & Hamas, it is a war of memes, that is to say of ideas and cultures. The true war is between tyranny and freedom as symbolized by Jihadi Islam and Western democracies. In the choice between those competing ideas, I know which one I would choose any day of the week.

I truly hope that this conflict will end soon, and with minimal damage to the beautiful country of Lebanon... but not without seeing justice done.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).