Thursday, July 31, 2014

Must Read: VDH "Winning A Lose/Lose War"

Outstanding essay. 

Thanks to "G" for letting me know about it.

"Timidity explains much of the Europeans’ easy damnation of Israel. Putin escapes the disdain accorded to Netanyahu, because Netanyahu governs a small nation and is predictably reasonable; Putin governs a large one and is predictably unreasonable. Trashing Putin might involve some risk; trashing Netanyahu brings psychological relief. If Israel were large and Netanyahu demonic, and if Russia were small and Putin Westernized and reasonable, then our cheap scorn would be leveled at Russia and not Israel."

"There is no cultural downside in championing Hamas. The multicultural romance of the Other trumps even the endemic misogyny, homophobia, and religious bigotry of this particular Other. Seeing ourselves in Israel and not liking what we see outweighs the fact that Israel is tolerant, transparent, and free."

"Anti-Semitism still matters. The growing crowds of Middle Easterners in Europe are now channeling the Nazis of the 1930s; they chant slogans not heard since the Third Reich. Europe, where the Holocaust gestated, is not outraged; apparently, in some sick way, Europeans are aware that Arabs are saying things in their streets that they cannot say but may increasingly wish to."