40,000 dead in the Sri Lankan Civil War, and we barely noticed. Because they have no diaspora here, and little economic impact. I keep reminding myself to try to take a long historical view, because I can't stop the horror, so I just remind myself this is one of MANY horrors in my world, and I accepted the others, like Sri Lanka and Cong…
40,000 dead in the Sri Lankan Civil War, and we barely noticed. Because they have no diaspora here, and little economic impact. I keep reminding myself to try to take a long historical view, because I can't stop the horror, so I just remind myself this is one of MANY horrors in my world, and I accepted the others, like Sri Lanka and Congo, without going mad. (I also wonder what it was like for Canadians to watch genocidal fascists bomb 40,000 people to death in LONDON, while America continued to keep her hands in her pockets until personally attacked...no anti-American demonstrations over that? Somehow we kept up our relationship...)
With a little luck and vegetables, I'll make it another 10-12 years until a few things will happen in the same decade:
1) "The Middle East Doesn't Matter, Except for Oil" (Gwynne Dyer's cry) will become "The Middle East Doesn't Matter". economically. In mindshare, they will be in the same boat as Sri Lanka.
2) Shifting demographics will make it possible to piss off Israel's strongest defenders in North America and still win an election. "Defenders" does not elide an ethnic reference. Some of the strongest defenders are Christian fundamentalists, who, ironically, are North America's worst anti-semites. But they are also in demographic decline because their kids don't agree.
When those turnovers happen, Israel will find itself in the same historical situation, as those in many previous attempts to colonize a land that broadly opposes you. Nobody has summarized THAT better than journalist Gabriel Rotello, in 2008. It's not good.
40,000 dead in the Sri Lankan Civil War, and we barely noticed. Because they have no diaspora here, and little economic impact. I keep reminding myself to try to take a long historical view, because I can't stop the horror, so I just remind myself this is one of MANY horrors in my world, and I accepted the others, like Sri Lanka and Congo, without going mad. (I also wonder what it was like for Canadians to watch genocidal fascists bomb 40,000 people to death in LONDON, while America continued to keep her hands in her pockets until personally attacked...no anti-American demonstrations over that? Somehow we kept up our relationship...)
With a little luck and vegetables, I'll make it another 10-12 years until a few things will happen in the same decade:
1) "The Middle East Doesn't Matter, Except for Oil" (Gwynne Dyer's cry) will become "The Middle East Doesn't Matter". economically. In mindshare, they will be in the same boat as Sri Lanka.
2) Shifting demographics will make it possible to piss off Israel's strongest defenders in North America and still win an election. "Defenders" does not elide an ethnic reference. Some of the strongest defenders are Christian fundamentalists, who, ironically, are North America's worst anti-semites. But they are also in demographic decline because their kids don't agree.
When those turnovers happen, Israel will find itself in the same historical situation, as those in many previous attempts to colonize a land that broadly opposes you. Nobody has summarized THAT better than journalist Gabriel Rotello, in 2008. It's not good.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/israel-the-next-60-years_b_102693