Monday, December 29, 2008

Israel's War to the "Bitter End"

Israel's defence Minister says this is "war to the bitter end".

The "bitter end" is a nautical term, and refers to what happens if you chuck the anchor over the side without first making sure that the anchor chain is attached to the boat. It refers to the nasty feeling that you get as the end of the anchor chain disappears into the water, leaving the boat without the expected benefit of said anchor.

Is there a Freudian slip here? Does the "Defence" Minister realise subconsciously that this latest act of unbalanced revenge is going to leave Israel without an anchor in world opinion?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why does Israel exercise the minds of the middle class chinless wonder dinner party intelligentsia set so much? Self loathing?, middle class guilt?

I really can't work it out.

When sexist, homophobic people blinded by religion, want to wipe you off the face of the planet, you tend to have to look out for yourself. War is unspeakably horrible. But the alternatives can ultimately be a lot worse. Yes, Isreal has faults but compared to the values of some of their adversaries, I know who I'd choose. And so do you if you're honest.

DocRichard said...

Pejoratives removed: "middle class chinless wonder dinner party intelligentsia ... Self loathing..middle class guilt..sexist, homophobic people blinded by religion,
...[implication of dishonesty if anyone disagrees]


Argument:
War is unspeakably horrible. But the alternatives can ultimately be a lot worse.

The alternative to war is negotiation. Negotiation can be boring, tedious, and hard work, but for the life of me I cannot see that negotiation can be a "lot worse than" blowing people and smithereens. Please explain your line of reasoning in a bit more detail, TMKF.


Israel has faults but compared to the values of some of their adversaries, I know who I'd choose.

This proposition needs reframing. We the bystanders do not need to choose which side to back - Israel or Hamas. We need to choose peace over war, and this means not choosing which side to back, but advocacy of policies that will benefit all the people of the region. This means political negotiation and a whole lot of other complex arrangements, such as demilitarisation, legislation on who has the right to live where, and most importantly, we need to choose to invest EU funds in building a resilient ecological infrastructure in the Middle East, primarily through water conservation, water management, agriculture and reafforestation.

Anonymous said...

Dear mr middle class chinless wonder fascist killer ... you sound very familiar. Have you considered joining the Libertarian Party [sic]? I hear that slapping "green toffs" is a fun new sport, especially if you can get in a big group.