GCarty
24-05-2005, 09:27 AM
In 1939, the Soviet Union launched an unprovoked invasion of the democratic nation of Finland. Hawks in Britain and France clamoured for military assistance to help Finland - some French right-wingers were more eager to fight Stalin than they were to fight Hitler (remember that pre-WWII Poland was a military dictatorship).
Fortunately, the hawks did not prevail - just as well as it turned out that the Nazis alone were to crush France in a matter of weeks. Without the Soviets as allies, even the might of the United States would likely have been insufficient to defeat Hitler (unless the Americans just waited until 1945, then systematically nuked Nazi Europe into oblivion).
Now, let's fast-forward to today's Middle East situation. Neocons argue that the United States - indeed the whole West - must support Israel to the hilt, because Israel is 'the only democracy in the Middle East' (this is of course highly disputable, but let's stick with it for now) which has suffered an unprovoked attack (like Finland in 1939). However (as I understand it) anti-Zionism is something non-negotiable for most Muslims - like the desire to remilitarize the Rhineland in inter-war Germany, or to get rid of the Berlin Wall in post-WWII West Germany.
Does the rank and file Westerner really believe that it is worth waging war against all 1.5 billion Muslims, for the sake of safeguarding Israel? I doubt it. Better to get moderate Muslims on the side of the West against the extremists - and if that means abandoning Israel, so be it...
Fortunately, the hawks did not prevail - just as well as it turned out that the Nazis alone were to crush France in a matter of weeks. Without the Soviets as allies, even the might of the United States would likely have been insufficient to defeat Hitler (unless the Americans just waited until 1945, then systematically nuked Nazi Europe into oblivion).
Now, let's fast-forward to today's Middle East situation. Neocons argue that the United States - indeed the whole West - must support Israel to the hilt, because Israel is 'the only democracy in the Middle East' (this is of course highly disputable, but let's stick with it for now) which has suffered an unprovoked attack (like Finland in 1939). However (as I understand it) anti-Zionism is something non-negotiable for most Muslims - like the desire to remilitarize the Rhineland in inter-war Germany, or to get rid of the Berlin Wall in post-WWII West Germany.
Does the rank and file Westerner really believe that it is worth waging war against all 1.5 billion Muslims, for the sake of safeguarding Israel? I doubt it. Better to get moderate Muslims on the side of the West against the extremists - and if that means abandoning Israel, so be it...