Gaza

[dipshit]

North Vietnam won the war, Tibet - China won and is overwhelming the locals with Han immigration, the Balkans - only quietened down when the Americans got fed up with European dithering and acted, Falklands - Britain won, South Africa - ANC won, Georgia - Transnistria - Russia won, etc etc.

Communism and the Berlin Wall fell in Europe because people got sick of it... not from military action.

The IRA disarmed because people got sick of it... not from military action.

The fighting in Bosnia stopped when people got sick of it... not from the intervening military action.

More often than not military action hardens people's resolve.

[wbks]

Maybe people will get sick of Hamas causing the death's of civilians by hiding in schools, and kick Hamas out. Seems like they are just looking for a quick fix to stop the Hamas missiles and mortars for the time being, though.

[Wally Simmonds]

Communism and the Berlin Wall fell in Europe because people got sick of it... not from military action.

To be fair, I'd say the reason why Communism fell was because they ran out of money largely due to certain wars in Afghanistan (generalising I know...)

I suspect this conflict will be ended the same way - because one side can't continue supplying weapons anymore.

What will run out first? Palistinian birth rate and Ak's, or the US treasury?

[Swoop]

The IRA disarmed because people got sick of it... not from military action.

Rubbish.
It all stopped because the American funding dried up after 9/11, when terrorist organisations became illegal to fund.

[Swoop]

So the Israelis have done absolutely nothing to provoke PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING?

No walls to prevent terrorists from strolling across the border with their semtex undergarments.
No settlement rights granted for palestinians to live in an area of their own.
No checkpoints to search for not-very-smart-bombs in the waistcoat.

Corrections made, just for you.


Also "No detention without trial."?
Is this like when hamas terrorists capture uniformed troops, torture them and then execute them?
Perhaps being detained by the Israelis is better than being "detained" by terrorists.

[James Deuce]

Blimey!

Still going.

I wondered why the smell of piss lay heavily upon the evening wind.

[Street Gerbil]

Would Germany be such a prosperous and peaceful place today if allies would have kept signing temporary truce agreements with Hitler, allowing him to rearm and regroup, instead of bombing Nazi Germany into unconditional surrender?
Would there be a World War II if not for the infamous "land for peace" deal?

[Hitcher]

Would Germany be such a prosperous and peaceful place today if allies would have kept signing temporary truce agreements with Hitler, allowing him to rearm and regroup, instead of bombing Nazi Germany into unconditional surrender?
Would there be a World War II if not for the infamous "land for peace" deal?

One could construct a highly entertaining counterfactual around such a proposition. There are others worthy of consideration as well: What if the conspiring generals had successfully topped their fuhrer in 1944? What if Hitler had pressed westwards after taking France, instead of committing his forces to a war on an eastern front as well? What if America had entered the war in Europe earlier? What if the Japanese hadn't attacked Pearl Harbour? What if the British had declared war before Germany invaded Poland?

[James Deuce]

One could construct a highly entertaining counterfactual around such a proposition. There are others worthy of consideration as well: What if the conspiring generals had successfully topped their fuhrer in 1944? What if Hitler had pressed westwards after taking France, instead of committing his forces to a war on an eastern front as well? What if America had entered the war in Europe earlier? What if the Japanese hadn't attacked Pearl Harbour? What if the British had declared war before Germany invaded Poland?

Bear in mind that the US would most likely have shook Hitler by the hand and invaded Canada if the Sceptred Isles had fallen.

NZ declared war on Germany in her own right, mere hours after the UK did.

What a spanking we were in for if Hitler had ignored Russia and finished the UK.

[Winston001]

One could construct a highly entertaining counterfactual around such a proposition. There are others worthy of consideration as well:

What if the conspiring generals had successfully topped their fuhrer in 1944?

What if Hitler had pressed westwards after taking France, instead of committing his forces to a war on an eastern front as well?

What if America had entered the war in Europe earlier?

What if the Japanese hadn't attacked Pearl Harbour?

What if the British had declared war before Germany invaded Poland?

Just for fun I'll have a crack:

July Plot win - armistice but a bloody tough one, possibly a different Iron Curtain shape

West? What? Conquer the Atlantic?? Not while Britain, Switzerland, Sweden and Spain still needed to be brought into the Thousand Year Reich. Besides, Stalin would have attacked anyway, and Germany needed the oil resources through to the Caspian.

America much earlier? That would have been interesting and much more likely for Hitler to survive and end in armistice. Germany was bloody strong militarily and with no Russian Front, could have held the Allies to a draw.

No Pearl Harbour - would that mean Japan abandoning its aggression on the Pacific Rim? Nope so the Philipines or someone would have drawn America into action to stop Japan. America had cut off economic contact with Japan by 1939.

Germany swallowed Austria under the Anschluss on 12 March 1938, invaded Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939, and attacked Poland on 1 September 1939. Britain could have declared war before then but it only had a treaty to support Poland, and Czeckoslovakia didn't scream for help. I sincerely doubt Hitler would have been worried - he had contempt for Chamberlain and wanted the industrial heart of Poland.

[Street Gerbil]

This is what's wrong with radical left governments everywhere and especially in Israel.
Olmert is having his own "Mission accomplished" moment. All the goals of the operation "Cast Lead" have been accomplished, and victorious Israel declares unilateral ceasefire. Let's see:
* Gilad Shalit? Check.
* Missiles and mortars from Gaza? Check.
* Hamas toppled? Check.
Mission accomplished, indeed.

Instead of finishing this once and for all, Israeli government has applied its favorite bandaid treatment to a festering wound and live Hamas to rearm and regroup for another government to deal with.
And to those of you applauding this decision for the sake of innocent palestinian civilians, here is something to think about: when you go through a tooth extraction, would you rather have it pulled in two seconds or in a dozen of weekly sessions two hours each? If Israel is guilty of any crimes against palestinians, this is it - not ridding them of Hamastanian thugocracy when they had the chance. All those palestinian civilian human shields, and all Israeli soldiers putting themselves in harm's way to minimize casualties to aforementioned civilians have died for nothing. It is abominable. Not that I expected radical left Israeli government and its moron-in-chief to do any better. Oh well, let's see if Nataniahu will handle matters any better.