Another comment on the Middle East

An article in the Guardian by Seamus Milne about the Palestine situation after the recent leaks ended on a miserable capitulatory note.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/26/authentic-leaders-middle-east-peace
I wrote the following comment:

Milne details one humiliation and betrayal after another, and the violence from Israel's and the PS's side accompanying these acts of brutal oppression. He makes it clear without saying as much that the whole setup involves the National Question to a very high degree. Good reasons for war and regime change - "at the very least".
But the usual litany of "democratic overhaul", representation and respectable unity is then churned out as a solution for "anyone who cares for the Palestinian cause", with the usual pre-emptive weeping and wailing. The only sane reason for such an argument I can think of is to avoid being smashed to pieces and final-solutioned by the Israelis. In which case the choice offered seems to be between the peace of a real graveyard and the peace of a virtual graveyard.
Real sanity will not accept such a choice.
JFK once said (mirabile dictu) that "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." His words ring truer than ever today in the Middle East and the Maghreb, and make Milne's whining Jeremiad into an utterly useless piece of writing "for those who care about the Palestinian cause".

This was deleted by a moderator, so I posted this instead:

Hm... deleted for being too inflammatory no doubt.
So let's just say that there isn't the slightest possibility of any "peaceful" solution in Palestine (or indeed the Middle East in general) and that any claim that there is a pure illusion.
Palestine (especially Gaza) is both a real and a virtual graveyard. Rousseau said that "peace" under the wrong conditions just meant the peace of the graveyard. This kind of "peace" might be imposed temporarily, but (as events in Tunisia etc and many other places at many other times show) it won't last.
JFK once stated the obvious:
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable."
This is what we're witnessing on an escalating scale in the world today. Palestine is no exception.

A comment on the Middle East

Someone in Israel complained about the Hizbollah take-over of Lebanon in a discussion group. I made the following comment:

"No country is an island..." and certainly not in the Middle East (and North Africa). 

The only key to understanding the tortuous shifts and tempestuous hostilities there is imperialist interference to grab and safeguard strategic fuel supplies (and profits). First the British and French, now overwhelmingly the US (plus Nato and the EU as bit players). 

It's not just a question of Israel or Syria or Iran (or the bogey-de-jour) in themselves. It's the whole antagonistic system. The reactionary Zionist state of Israel is a bloodthirsty US surrogate, enclave, bridgehead, thug and assassin. A Frankenstein's monster composed of body parts sewn together and galvanized into movement - only Mary Shelley's monster was gentle and cultured. Its corrupt oppressive neighbours are either imperialist creations themselves (like Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and now Iraq) or non-imperialist states based on anti-US(-French-British) popular hatred and surviving because of this (Iran, Syria, Libya, Algeria).

Democracy etc is as irrelevant to the Middle Eastern setup as God, Jehova and Allah are to humanity. And as irrelevant as human rights violations against the Jews, Gypsies, Socialists, Communists, and homosexuals in Nazi Europe. 

The only hope for a resolution of this toxic world-historical tangle is political organization and work to remove foreign and local oppression. Until then chopping individual heads off the hydra will only make things worse. Passive residents of the Middle East are at the mercy of the violence sloshing about, whether they take part in it or not. The more they support the various killers (whether "official" as in the Israeli armed forces, or unofficial, as in Mossad) the less involuntary and arbitrary is their fate. Supporting the killers but pretending the violence is only perpetrated by the Other is acting like an ostrich with its head in the sand waiting for its heads and legs to be scythed off.

If Israelis want to blame anybody for their insecurity and anxiety and guilty consciences they should blame the US and Britain. But they won't so the insecurity and anxiety and guilt will continue until the Zionist utopia is blown away (by the hurricanes of history).

(NB Zionists (and of course Zionists are not all ruthless bloodthirsty reactionaries, although you'd hardly think so these days) may be Jews, but Jews aren't necessarily Zionists.)

So if you live in Israel, or the Middle East in general, you're living in a very turbulent and violent part of the world. Inventing scapegoats and pointing fingers won't help. The class war going on worldwide is open and deadly, and needs to be resolved deep down.

Pro-terror control laws in Britain

Some superficial pie-in-the-sky whining in the Guardian about undemocratic control orders in Britain. No call for action, no call for a system that won't spawn this kind of repression, no attempt to look at the brutal reality of the interests the politicians are defending.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/02/control-orders-human-rights-coalition-review

My comment:

Everyone seems to think that there is some scientifically based justification for the orders. But just look at the war on terror itself. The only logical justification for it has nothing to do with children's debates about principles of human rights or defending democracy or international law.
It's pure self-interest on the part of the ruling bourgeoisie mediated through its lackeys in the official political bodies of the state.
Now how can such apparently bone-headed irrationality serve the interests of a state? Well, if it's an imperialist state it has to keep its power to coerce its enemies, most visibly hostile rival states but fundamentally including the national and international working class. And how does it keep its power? First of all by arming its military and police to the teeth and using them to kill, break, cripple and intimidate to the greatest possible extent. And second by using a strategy of divide and rule.
The arming is proceeding (let's focus on the US and Britain) full tilt flying in the face of democratic values and natural justice. Police are used as militias and trained to be as brutal as possible to increase the intimidation. If the police fail, the army is called in. If the army fails, a fascist regime is brought in for some no holds barred defence of the state. Bugger the regime (democracy etc), it's the state that matters.
Overt murder, breaking and material destruction is a US speciality. It deters rivals and enemies from confrontation. It wins no hearts and minds, but it's not intended to. Deeds are what matter, not words.
Divide and rule is a British speciality. Weaker than the States in material terms it's way ahead in diplomacy and strategy. It knows it's fighting a rearguard war on a road to nowhere, so it aims to survive as long as possible. Hence it balkanizes everywhere it loses direct control. Nation against nation, "race" against "race", cultures and religions against each other. It's good at making the victims of its policies do it's dirty work and making them look like ruthless aggressors out to slaughter innocent bystanders.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka; Nigeria; Cyprus; Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi; Malaysia, Singapore; Yeman, Aden; the whole Middle East with Israel as the jewel in the crown (Balfour was British); white colonists vs Indians vs various black ethnicities; Christians vs Muslims vs Hindus; etc etc.
And that's just the old colonies.
Ireland is the gold standard of British strategy. 90 years of divide and rule since nominal independence, and still going strong. Who cares about mayhem and national prostration - Ireland is crippled and fettered still.
Foreign policy is the same - throw spanners into the works every chance you get - France vs Germany is the big one there, updated into sabotaging the EU (as if that was needed!).
And the war on terror? Scare the shit out of people with a scape-goat bogeyman - the Mau-Mau de jour - and fill the media with one-sided tales of demons and dragons. Kettle public opinion. Be as over-the-top as you like - surround Heathrow with half the army!
So, there's no way these creatures of the capitalist class dictatorship will ever be converted or even enlightened. They must be removed and their state replaced with one backing and protecting the working majority of the people. Till then we'll live in chains and so will our kids and their kids to the 10th generation.
A good start is getting up off our knees and saying a resounding NO.