In Gaza, the levers of power are controlled by Hamas. That's what's relevant here. I'm not saying Israel is blameless, particularly this asshole, but the constant implication that Israel does not share the right to self-defense enjoyed by all other countries is endlessly frustrating.

It's called a Winfield, and it makes him look Australian.

Is it weird that I respect Bachman more than GOB as a character? Bachman was a selfish, pretentious ass, but he was no coward, and if people in this country had a little more spine, it would be a better (and funnier) place.

Speaking as a child of desperation myself…this sounds nothing like that.

My God.

Except that the establishment of these areas were part of the Oslo Agreement, a path to peace that was sponsored by the international community. If Netanyahu finally leaves, and the PA is truly willing to negotiate peace, this process will continue.

But the original post presumes that retaliation by Israel is in itself a human rights violation. Israel is not in control of Gaza. Hamas is, and it holds its own people hostage. Israel recently lobbied the PA to pressure Hamas to come to the table, and it worked.

Hamas attacks Israel and that's Israel's fault?

I didn't realize that the Parisian suburbs fire rockets at France on a regular basis!

Their cities are not occupied and ruled over by the Israeli government. They are part of Area A, which is under full civil authority of the PA.

Someone who equates having children with having license to claim moral victory.

I always got more of a "his priest molested him and he refuses to deal with it" vibe.

Also, Roger Ailes is already dead, so…not the same.

I've read it rationalized as the world of Ice and Fire as having extremely rapid Milankovitch cycles.

I'm not sure that was what did it. The trouble for the Apartheid regime began because the Cold War was ending and the west no longer viewed South Africa as a necessary bulwark against Communism in the region. From there, true change in came from within, from the ANC to student activists to moderates within the…

1. Underdog fetishism.
2. Jews in the democratic west are historically in the unusual position of being an out-group without being marginalized, so there's a perception that these two middle-eastern ethnic groups are a white vs. brown colonialist enterprise, which itself feeds into ancient antisemitic canards of Jewish…

You do know Paul Kagame ended the genocide, right?

The countries that received the least from the Marshall Plan were the Eastern Bloc states that rejected it under Stalin's domination. How did that go for them?

Michael Oren once wrote that while the United States has only rarely acted altruistically in the world beyond its own self-interest, it is the only country that ever has.

Hindu nationalism is a problem, but I think it helps that Hinduism is not a terribly geographically widespread religion. Can't take over the rest of the world through the abuse of a religion nobody else has. I think they have great potential to be a heavily influential and promote general democracy on the world stage.