America's interest in Syria is Israel
If Syria falls apart, our life will change - in the short run of course. That's why the United States is in no hurry to intervene. It is not interested in Syria's future, nor in the ancient European hypocrisy.
By Yitzhak Laor | Jun.12, 2012 | 3:16 AM | 2
Like the joke about the feudal land owners - "you beat my Jew and I'll beat yours" - a bloody war between Iran and Saudi Arabia and Qatar is being waged in Syria, while we remain horrified by the scenes (which are apparently abridged; Arab media, the chief source of the horrific images, do not show the massacres in the Alawite regions. )
If Saudi Arabia and Qatar lose, or if the media continue to show acts of carnage, the West might intervene, although clearly it does not want to reach that stage. Syria, unlike Iraq and Libya, does not have large amounts of oil. Nor is it a strategic objective like Iraq, which served as a buffer between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and African immigrants don't flow from its shores to Europe, as they have from Libya. Syria's bleeding hurts the West less than its disintegration would.
In the long run, the events in Syria are part of the Israeli success story. This region is changing rapidly. Egypt's decline into a conflict between the secular and fundamentalists appears to be the epitome of that story. The modern Arab nations are drowning in religion, tribalism and despair. For years Israel has tried to prove to the West that it is the West's rock of salvation, the only one in a region where everything solid melts into thin air, and that it has a role even after the fall of Communism. This is why the Golan must not be taken from it (if the wheel of history could only be turned back - some strategists must be mumbling - then we could have kept Sinai, too ).
As for the occupied territories - the canton system, something the Oslo politicians merely planned, is being realized in practice in the "Arab Spring." Israeli colonialism, which for years was based on the assumption that the West would ultimately gain from Israel's strength, is now scoring its great victory. Bibi did not appear on Time magazine's cover because of any ability of his. He is a sort of Baldwin, the Crusader king of Jerusalem in the Middle East's new phase.
However, the long run is the scope of those far away from here, who have strategies and utopias. Washington is very far off; no missile will hit it from any part of disintegrating Syria.
The pro-Israel zeal of AIPAC and the evangelists is a work plan from a long distance. The settlers in Beit El and Yitzhar are waiting for the messiah and to them every bloodletting appears to be part of the agonies of redemption, becoming proof of the visions in the sacred texts, for example that "war is also the beginning of redemption."
But our real time is Western time, the present, foreign investments, tourism, shopping malls, end-of-season sales, apartment highrises, flights abroad. This sweet life is a condition for the government's political survival, left or right. The short run is the scope of life at home, and a home bombarded at length is abandoned.
Presumably, Syria's disintegration - like Iraq's - will not only bring about the destruction of the ancient mosaic of religions, sects and cultures. Not only museums will go up in flames. It will bring bands of savages. Just like it did in Iraq. But in Iraq's case, their barrels did not reach the petrochemical plants in Haifa Bay.
Against whom exactly will Israel retaliate for missiles from Syria? Against those who in any case will lay bombs in the neighborhoods of Damascus? Or will it again expand its borders "to move the cannons further away?"
If Syria falls apart, our life will change - in the short run of course. That's why the United States is in no hurry to intervene. It is not interested in Syria's future, nor in the ancient European hypocrisy. Rather, it is concerned for the Israeli fortress' fate. It's looking for an effective dictatorship. Not another "Iraqi democracy." Meanwhile, let them bleed.
Well well whilst Arab Leaders kill Muslims. Israel and west seem happy
If Syria falls apart, our life will change - in the short run of course. That's why the United States is in no hurry to intervene. It is not interested in Syria's future, nor in the ancient European hypocrisy.
By Yitzhak Laor | Jun.12, 2012 | 3:16 AM | 2
Like the joke about the feudal land owners - "you beat my Jew and I'll beat yours" - a bloody war between Iran and Saudi Arabia and Qatar is being waged in Syria, while we remain horrified by the scenes (which are apparently abridged; Arab media, the chief source of the horrific images, do not show the massacres in the Alawite regions. )
If Saudi Arabia and Qatar lose, or if the media continue to show acts of carnage, the West might intervene, although clearly it does not want to reach that stage. Syria, unlike Iraq and Libya, does not have large amounts of oil. Nor is it a strategic objective like Iraq, which served as a buffer between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and African immigrants don't flow from its shores to Europe, as they have from Libya. Syria's bleeding hurts the West less than its disintegration would.
In the long run, the events in Syria are part of the Israeli success story. This region is changing rapidly. Egypt's decline into a conflict between the secular and fundamentalists appears to be the epitome of that story. The modern Arab nations are drowning in religion, tribalism and despair. For years Israel has tried to prove to the West that it is the West's rock of salvation, the only one in a region where everything solid melts into thin air, and that it has a role even after the fall of Communism. This is why the Golan must not be taken from it (if the wheel of history could only be turned back - some strategists must be mumbling - then we could have kept Sinai, too ).
As for the occupied territories - the canton system, something the Oslo politicians merely planned, is being realized in practice in the "Arab Spring." Israeli colonialism, which for years was based on the assumption that the West would ultimately gain from Israel's strength, is now scoring its great victory. Bibi did not appear on Time magazine's cover because of any ability of his. He is a sort of Baldwin, the Crusader king of Jerusalem in the Middle East's new phase.
However, the long run is the scope of those far away from here, who have strategies and utopias. Washington is very far off; no missile will hit it from any part of disintegrating Syria.
The pro-Israel zeal of AIPAC and the evangelists is a work plan from a long distance. The settlers in Beit El and Yitzhar are waiting for the messiah and to them every bloodletting appears to be part of the agonies of redemption, becoming proof of the visions in the sacred texts, for example that "war is also the beginning of redemption."
But our real time is Western time, the present, foreign investments, tourism, shopping malls, end-of-season sales, apartment highrises, flights abroad. This sweet life is a condition for the government's political survival, left or right. The short run is the scope of life at home, and a home bombarded at length is abandoned.
Presumably, Syria's disintegration - like Iraq's - will not only bring about the destruction of the ancient mosaic of religions, sects and cultures. Not only museums will go up in flames. It will bring bands of savages. Just like it did in Iraq. But in Iraq's case, their barrels did not reach the petrochemical plants in Haifa Bay.
Against whom exactly will Israel retaliate for missiles from Syria? Against those who in any case will lay bombs in the neighborhoods of Damascus? Or will it again expand its borders "to move the cannons further away?"
If Syria falls apart, our life will change - in the short run of course. That's why the United States is in no hurry to intervene. It is not interested in Syria's future, nor in the ancient European hypocrisy. Rather, it is concerned for the Israeli fortress' fate. It's looking for an effective dictatorship. Not another "Iraqi democracy." Meanwhile, let them bleed.
Well well whilst Arab Leaders kill Muslims. Israel and west seem happy
