Thank you board!

[MindfulCoug]

I just wanted to officially express my gratitude of masterfully ignoring the current catastrophe happening in Gaza strip .Despite the fact that almost all main media have been reporting the crisis for more than one week,there has been No single post dropped by any of the board members in order to not to spoil the fun atmosphere governing in here .

Please enjoy more of the massive food ,football ,fun environment generously provided by administrators and executive committee.

Sorry for the interruption ............

[UtahDan]

I just wanted to officially express my gratitude of masterfully ignoring the current catastrophe happening in Gaza strip .Despite the fact that almost all main media have been reporting the crisis for more than one week,there has been No single post dropped by any of the board members in order to not to spoil the fun atmosphere governing in here .

Please enjoy more of the massive food ,football ,fun environment generously provided by administrators and executive committee.

Sorry for the interruption ............

I listened to an interesting interview today on BCC radio with an Egyptian official. They, as you know, have been unsuccessfully attempting to broker a cease fire for some time.

His comments were telling. On the one hand he said that this is a problem that cannot be fixed militarily. On the other he said that Hamas very clearly wants this conflict to continue and for that reason walked away from the cease-fire bargaining table for absurd reasons. The reason, said he, is that Hamas takes its orders from Tehran and Damascus and that when, not if, but when Washington reaches an accommodation with them that this is a bargaining chip that they want to have. The more violent and intractable Hamas is, the more Tehran and Damascus can extract in a negotiation for guarantees to reign Hamas in. This is an Egyptian government official saying this. He unequivocally condemned Israel's reaction, but said that it is Tehran that is to blame in the end.

So it sounds to me like the strings are being pulled in Persia. Or maybe the evil Israeli's just woke up one day wanting to slaughter innocent Palestinians.

[Coach McGuirk]

I just wanted to officially express my gratitude of masterfully ignoring the current catastrophe happening in Gaza strip .Despite the fact that almost all main media have been reporting the crisis for more than one week,there has been No single post dropped by any of the board members in order to not to spoil the fun atmosphere governing in here .

Please enjoy more of the massive food ,football ,fun environment generously provided by administrators and executive committee.

Sorry for the interruption ............

Do people want us meddling in foreign affairs or staying out of them. I am choosing to sit this one out. Quite frankly, I am sick of talking about this conflict. It has been going on my entire life and I am ready for it to be settled, one way or the other.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Quite frankly, I am sick of talking about this conflict. It has been going on my entire life and I am ready for it to be settled, one way or the other.

I hope you don't really mean that.

[RobinFinderson]

I had noticed that too. Mind you, I haven't been at a computer much the last week+, or I might have posted something.

Like the economic crisis, this crisis in the Gaza Strip seems so incredibly beyond the scope of we armchair pundits that it is hard to even know where to begin. Traditional views, whether liberal or conservative, just fall apart at the feet of this intractable suffering.

My two cents: Hamas has SOMETHING coming (wtf? launching rockets indiscriminately into Israel?), but Israel's response has been so incredibly disproportionate that I have lost just about every bit of sympathy I might otherwise muster for them.

Not all Palestinians are in love with Hamas, yet all Palestinians are prisoners of Israel. More than 400 dead so far. Lots of fathers, mothers and babies who just wanted to go about their daily business, but instead got blown to bits in the world's biggest clusterfuck. In the last week, more Palestinians have been turned into dog food than all of the murdered Israelis from the last 20 years of indiscriminate Hamas rocket firing. The disproportionate nature of these death tolls is shameful.

[UtahDan]

Do people want us meddling in foreign affairs or staying out of them. I am choosing to sit this one out. Quite frankly, I am sick of talking about this conflict. It has been going on my entire life and I am ready for it to be settled, one way or the other.

That is just it, neither side of the conflict wants to end it or even really to win it. The political capital that it gives the Mullahs and other jihadists as well as the ultra-conservatives in the Israeli government cannot be underestimated. If the conflict ended, they would be like Churchill at the end of WWII. None of them want that. They want to hang on to power.

[ERCougar]

I just wanted to officially express my gratitude of masterfully ignoring the current catastrophe happening in Gaza strip .Despite the fact that almost all main media have been reporting the crisis for more than one week,there has been No single post dropped by any of the board members in order to not to spoil the fun atmosphere governing in here .

Please enjoy more of the massive food ,football ,fun environment generously provided by administrators and executive committee.

Sorry for the interruption ............

I think, as others have pointed out, that no one has any idea what to say. The loss of human life is tragic and I wish I knew a way to make it stop. I just really doubt that we have a way of making that happen. I had the distinct impression as I was listening to people discuss this on the radio on the way home from work this morning that maybe everyone would be better off if we could somehow just stop meddling and let the situation work itself out (or not). Maybe that's dropping the ball as a global power, maybe it's irresponsible, but what exactly would you propose?

[MindfulCoug]

I listened to an interesting interview today on BCC radio with an Egyptian official. They, as you know, have been unsuccessfully attempting to broker a cease fire for some time.

His comments were telling. On the one hand he said that this is a problem that cannot be fixed militarily. On the other he said that Hamas very clearly wants this conflict to continue and for that reason walked away from the cease-fire bargaining table for absurd reasons. The reason, said he, is that Hamas takes its orders from Tehran and Damascus and that when, not if, but when Washington reaches an accommodation with them that this is a bargaining chip that they want to have. The more violent and intractable Hamas is, the more Tehran and Damascus can extract in a negotiation for guarantees to reign Hamas in. This is an Egyptian government official saying this. He unequivocally condemned Israel's reaction, but said that it is Tehran that is to blame in the end.

So it sounds to me like the strings are being pulled in Persia. Or maybe the evil Israeli's just woke up one day wanting to slaughter innocent Palestinians.

There are always some allegations out there which need to be addressed in the right place.However palestinians had been trusting the arab governments and the us for decades ,and you could see what they have been given in return.They are literally are getting wiped off the map .I suppose people who accuse Iran of meddling and sending wrong messages are just shy of blaming the palestinians who took an action and did participate in an election and chose people who actually can fight for their cause .

I wonder who do they blame of Iran revolution? who did arouse iranians at the first place ??

[Jeff Lebowski]

Mindful, there has been no stronger critic of Israel than me on this board (or CG). But I am just not sure what can be said about this latest chapter in the conflict. Yes, the reaction by Israel is too strong, but what does Hamas really expect will result from thousands of rockets launched from Gaza?

[MindfulCoug]

I think, as others have pointed out, that no one has any idea what to say. The loss of human life is tragic and I wish I knew a way to make it stop. I just really doubt that we have a way of making that happen. I had the distinct impression as I was listening to people discuss this on the radio on the way home from work this morning that maybe everyone would be better off if we could somehow just stop meddling and let the situation work itself out (or not). Maybe that's dropping the ball as a global power, maybe it's irresponsible, but what exactly would you propose?

Stop meddling ?? you probably dont mean stop sending the F-16 and super modern tanks provided by your taxs?

[Coach McGuirk]

I hope you don't really mean that.

I am not sure what you hope I don't mean, your dudeliness. I am ready for this conflict to be over. I would rather they be able to talk this out, but from what I can tell in my 36 years of life, they are not going to be able to settle this peacefully.

Let me just add, I know Israel does not have clean hands in this. No one does when it comes to war. Eventually this will turn to a full on war. I am not advocating this, I am predicting this.

[MindfulCoug]

Mindful, there has been no stronger critic of Israel than me on this board (or CG). But I am just not sure what can be said about this latest chapter in the conflict. Yes, the reaction by Israel is too strong, but what does Hamas really expect will result from thousands of rockets launched from Gaza?

Well you were my number one suspect to crash the fun party .and thanks god you didnot disappoint me .

Jeff..people have been denied food, fuel ,water and medicine since june 2007 . Does it make any sense to you ? The most concern is they have been literally isolated from the world .They need to be able to live in that area.
They no longer could live under those circumstances . So the first thing they are fighting for is to achieve a peace agreement in which they put a stop on the israeli blockade.

[UtahDan]

Mindful, there has been no stronger critic of Israel than me on this board (or CG). But I am just not sure what can be said about this latest chapter in the conflict. Yes, the reaction by Israel is too strong, but what does Hamas really expect will result from thousands of rockets launched from Gaza?

This is my point Jeff. The leaders of Hamas and their masters in Tehran aren't causing the rockets to be fired in spite of what Israel will do. They do it to provoke exactly this response. It is disgusting if you think about it. They do it to gain political capital internally so that credence continues to be given to their radical agenda and moderates like our friend mindful have no chance. they would love nothing more than to escalate the conflict into a war that draws in the entire region. It seems plain that this is what they are attempting to do. Every time Isreal reacts (overreacts) to them they call all Muslims to jihad.

This will never end. We can't do a think to stop it. The extreme leadership on both sides very literally want it to go on forever.

[UtahDan]

They no longer could live under those circumstances . So the first thing they are fighting for is to achieve a peace agreement in which they put a stop on the israeli blockade.

Mindful, do you really believe that the best and brightest Palestinian minds got together and concluded that the best way to end the blockade was to fire rockets from Gaza? That is silly. This is not a strategy that they remotely believe will do that. It is not the reason they are doing it. It is a strategy designed to escalate the conflict. Not even most of the Arab world has sympathy for Hamas.

[MindfulCoug]

I am not sure what you hope I don't mean, your dudeliness. I am ready for this conflict to be over. I would rather they be able to talk this out, but from what I can tell in my 36 years of life, they are not going to be able to settle this peacefully.

This are the people who are willing to solve this problem out too . Just See how different your approaches are .