UNESCO/Palestine/Australia

[Kremmen]

If someone tried to punch me, I'd break their arm to ensure that it is some time that they could give it another crack, and the memory of that pain and the likelyhood of it happening again would give them second thoughts. Same principle.

except that the person whos arm you broke will try and ambush you next time with freinds backing him up so you don't win.

asking why he wanted to hit you would possibly be the wiser option.

[Bronze_D]

when it comes to countries politic though, usually both sides KNEW very well why each does what they do.

and unlike individual feud, countries don't ambush another suddenly with no warning because unlike individuals countries need time to prepare for war...

time in which the process can be observed by another country to an extent (you can't hide it completely) so it's almost never the case that a country catch another completely unaware, typically the countries involved already know that there is a potential of an attack prior to it happening. (whether they actually take that risk seriously and prepare well enough for it or not though is a different story and depends very much on their intelligence department capability as well).

unlike feud between individuals or even families, countries and states feud also tend to get mixed with a whole lot of can of politics...

[Kremmen]

when it comes to countries politic though, usually both sides KNEW very well why each does what they do.

and unlike individual feud, countries don't ambush another suddenly with no warning because unlike individuals countries need time to prepare for war...

That is how an ambush works
The aggressor prepares and the victim is not aware or has a little idea that something is afoot.

The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001
Are you saying that the US had plans to invade Afghanistan well before september 11?
september 11 was an ambush attack unless of course you are into conspiracies.
less than 1 month passed before the retaliation.

[Jez]

If someone tried to punch me, I'd break their arm to ensure that it is some time that they could give it another crack, and the memory of that pain and the likelyhood of it happening again would give them second thoughts. Same principle.

That's a really stupid analogy.

Why does the US back Israel so blindly ?

The best solution is for Israel to withdraw, stop their expansion of settlements and make peace with their neighbours.

There's a large and effective pro-Israel lobby in the US that has kept congressional support for Israel very high, last I read it's one of the largest and most powerful cohesive lobby groups in the US.

I've also read that there's a disturbing thought among some US Christians that Israel needs to be restored to its former biblical glory before a second coming, so there's that.

[Bronze_D]

when it comes to countries politic though, usually both sides KNEW very well why each does what they do.

and unlike individual feud, countries don't ambush another suddenly with no warning because unlike individuals countries need time to prepare for war...

That is how an ambush works
The aggressor prepares and the victim is not aware or has a little idea that something is afoot.

The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001
Are you saying that the US had plans to invade Afghanistan well before september 11?
september 11 was an ambush attack unless of course you are into conspiracies.
less than 1 month passed before the retaliation.

The major countries have one thing no other countries have in those regard, a large powerful standing army, the US being one of the largest.

most other countries however do NOT posses such standing army, they have to instead mobilize their army this is particularly true for conscripted army or countries where a large percentage of their army is usually in reserve.

it is also relevant to consider each of the countries strength, if the second country being invaded is significantly smaller than the aggressor then the aggressor does not exactly need to actually exert any real effort to do it. That's not so much an ambush or sneak attack since they would've rolled over the opposition anyhow.

and does afghanistan knew they were going to be invaded? Taliban most certainly knew such potential, they may not know if the US will do it for sure, and to what extent... but they most certainly knew the potential.

[Kremmen]

[Nekosan]

There's a large and effective pro-Israel lobby in the US that has kept congressional support for Israel very high, last I read it's one of the largest and most powerful cohesive lobby groups in the US.

I've also read that there's a disturbing thought among some US Christians that Israel needs to be restored to its former biblical glory before a second coming, so there's that.

This^, the United States could stop this **** any time they want and they continually fail to do so, apparently we're not meant to notice because they occasionally set up "peace talks".

[Jez]

There's a large and effective pro-Israel lobby in the US that has kept congressional support for Israel very high, last I read it's one of the largest and most powerful cohesive lobby groups in the US.

I've also read that there's a disturbing thought among some US Christians that Israel needs to be restored to its former biblical glory before a second coming, so there's that.

This^, the United States could stop this **** any time they want and they continually fail to do so, apparently we're not meant to notice because they occasionally set up "peace talks".

Israel is just one small part of how the US has been interfering and **** things up in the Middle East for decade. It's hard to see the US support of Israel as having much of a positive impact for US national security if any, they spend billions annually giving to Israel, and all it seems to do is aid Islamic terrorists in their propaganda war against the US.

I'm not saying that the US should cut all military aid to Israel or that we should somehow relocate the millions of Jews now living in Israel, but clearly the Palestinians need to be recognised as a legitimate people with a legitimate claim to some territory in the region.

[Bronze_D]

that's most likely why the US agreed with the sales agreement with Egypt, and Jordan.. along with the financial aid to develop their military capability.

in case ppl didn't know, Egypt have a large size of modern armored force now... supplied by... yep you guessed it, US of A.

it was one of the thing that made the US and Israel relationship nervous during those period as for the first time in years Egypt actually then possessed technologically equivalent armor to Israel, although the tension has long subsided and returned to more amiable level.

Similarly with Jordan military purchases, which technically started WAYYYY back but only increases even more in the past decades.

Essentially, quite a few state or country deemed as western friendly in the area by the US have received some sort of arms deal in one form or another in US bid to increase their influence there... some naturally did not turn out too well for them when the country turned around and became hostile, like Iran... but Israel is not actually the only one, Israel is however one of the largest recipient and one of the most stable.

[Kremmen]

Essentially, quite a few state or country deemed as western friendly in the area by the US have received some sort of arms deal in one form or another in US bid to increase their influence there... some naturally did not turn out too well for them when the country turned around and became hostile, like Iran... but Israel is not actually the only one, Israel is however one of the largest recipient and one of the most stable.

Back up a little there, The US and UK had meddled in Iran well before recent events.
Operation Ajax, the 1953 Iranian coup d'état.

even while there where hostilities you have the Iran contra affair in the mid 80's

So you cant just make a statement that Iran became hostile, there was a little more to it like an embassy in Iran doubled as a CIA rats nest.

even today you have Iranian scientists being assasinated on foreign soil by un named groups and US black ops operating since the bush years
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -Iran.html.

countries do not suddenly just turn hostile

[FryzieDelta]

asking why he wanted to hit you would possibly be the wiser option.

Comment was based on the assumption that it's hard to ask someone questions while they're trying to punch you in the face.

That's a really stupid analogy.

I've never been good at these things.

That is how an ambush works
The aggressor prepares and the victim is not aware or has a little idea that something is afoot.

The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001
Are you saying that the US had plans to invade Afghanistan well before september 11?
september 11 was an ambush attack unless of course you are into conspiracies.
less than 1 month passed before the retaliation.

The US can deploy a force larger than the entire ADF on a countries doorstep in less than a week. Every rule has exceptions, and we all know how the US feels about rules...

[Bronze_D]

Essentially, quite a few state or country deemed as western friendly in the area by the US have received some sort of arms deal in one form or another in US bid to increase their influence there... some naturally did not turn out too well for them when the country turned around and became hostile, like Iran... but Israel is not actually the only one, Israel is however one of the largest recipient and one of the most stable.

Back up a little there, The US and UK had meddled in Iran well before recent events.
Operation Ajax, the 1953 Iranian coup d'état.

even while there where hostilities you have the Iran contra affair in the mid 80's

So you cant just make a statement that Iran became hostile, there was a little more to it like an embassy in Iran doubled as a CIA rats nest.

even today you have Iranian scientists being assasinated on foreign soil by un named groups and US black ops operating since the bush years
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -Iran.html.

countries do not suddenly just turn hostile

That's true, but from the point of view of their sale it's effectively overnight... one moment it was the pro US regime in charge, the next moment it's the islamic clerical who is the exact opposite.

They nearly authorized another arms deal for Iran when the old monarch regime collapsed and Iran turned into their current state.

Granted though that the timeline is quite long before they transitioned to it in our perception, but given weapon arms deal can take place in time frame of years the change was quite sudden.

Incidentally, on the subject you mentioned... who are these scientists being assassinated on foreign soil? i know 2 killed in tehran and 1 wounded but not heard of them killed on foreign soil (because even Mossad is unlikely to do that these days depending on which country he is given the backlash after their previous work)

[Kremmen]

Incidentally, on the subject you mentioned... who are these scientists being assassinated on foreign soil? i know 2 killed in tehran and 1 wounded but not heard of them killed on foreign soil (because even Mossad is unlikely to do that these days depending on which country he is given the backlash after their previous work)

I appologize,I had that incident and the forged Aussie passports to take out Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai mixed.

[Kremmen]

unrelated so deleted post