We live in a chilling world where nobody really knows what exactly is going on or where we're going. Economically, militarily -- or personally. A dog cloned for $155,000. Secret operations, psyops, super-hacking, disruptions in the food chain. Post-traumatic stress syndrome, military suicides. Vaporized investments.
Full Spectrum Dominance: dominating a battlefield, a zone, a region, an occupied territory. Toy robots, Dark Star, remote-controlled Predator drones, Hellfire missile systems, Global Hawk. Even the names are chilling. And what country produced these infernal systems? The USA. Look at Israel's "operations" in Gaza, and wonder who's who.
What do enemies do? Hide in the rubble, hide among civilians. Why? Because they would be slaughtered in a conventional fight, like Iraqi soldiers on the Highway of Death in 1991. Counter with primitive means -- suicide bombers, an endless supply of individual kamikazes. Their most effective weapons over the long-term? Tenacity and economic attrition. Entropy. For the rest of our lives. Unless peace can be found with equal tenacity, plus a tinge of the miraculous -- as in Northern Ireland. Who would have thought those "Troubles" would ever end? So, too, it could happen in and around Israel and Palestine. If there's a will, there's a way.
The US needs to continue supporting Israel, but it must also use its support as leverage. As with Ireland, the US must play heavy to broker a negotiated settlement. Because Full Spectral Dominance may win in the short term, but it probably cannot in the long-term. Grinding attrition trumps technological edge, and demographics favor the now weak in the long run. Empires rise and empires fall. What is left is a rump state, or nothing at all but cultural diffusion, or a lingering spectral presence.
(Pictured at top: Rahul Mahajan, Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond (2003).
Today's Rune: Wholeness.
7 comments:
Israel is a Jewish state, created as a homeland for the Jewish people. United States financial aid to Israel is unconstitutional, for the Constitution says, "Congress shall make no law respecting religion...."--Imam Baba Ganoush
"The US needs to continue supporting Israel..."
I think the argument of Anon above specious at best but on the other hand to the referenced quote Erik I ask "Why?"
A large (75,000 troops) UN peacekeeping force deployed in both Israel and Gaza would go further in securing borders than the US dumping billions year after year into the rat hole called Palestine.
"Tenacity and economic attrition. Entropy. For the rest of our lives."
Scary thought. I wonder what the psychological function is of all the forwarded emails I get bearing video clips from sites like the old Ogrish.com (now LiveLeak.com). In conservative/law enforcement/military circles it's popular to forward video clips and photo series of incidents where insurgents in Iraq get blown to bits by superior US firepower. It seems to me I saw a significant increase in this type of thing only after the Iraq war dragged on into it's 3 or 4th year...
May you live in interesting times. It appears to be true.
Has the Holy Land ever been Holy. I think not. Insiders, outsiders fighting for turf from centuries ago to the present. It will not end until Love thy neighbor is valued more than Hate.
I read a study a few years back that found that the Palestinians and Israelis were the same people, genetically. For chrissakes, can't we all just get along? Don't answer that...I already know the unfortunate answer. <:(
it is quite apparent everything we touch - especially in the middle east - turns to shit.
we have the leverage to do something about the problems - but choose not to.
i wish i knew what could be done
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