Vrubel

I see a trend in the Middle East where minority groups generally seem to be more successful than the majority. For example, when Lebanon was predominantly Christian they were very prosperous. Christian Lebanese in the diaspora also tend to be successful, not forming an underbelly like many Muslim immigrants do for example. The Druze have a specific strategy where they are loyal to the main power because as a minority they want to make themselves useful and keep detrimental instability at bay. The Kurds also seemed to organize themselves pretty decent. And Assad is from the small Alawite minority. May I ask what group you belong to and what your vision is for Syria? For Example, should it split up/come together and what should be its attitude to the West and its neighbors?

I agree with a lot of your points. Though Multiculturalism in the West is Post-nationalist while in the Middle East, it's pre-nationalistic. The diversity in the Middle East is also much more vulnerable to all kinds of tensions and wars. Being a minority group in the Middle East is definitely not easy. Even though people can live friendly on a day-to-day basis, you can't do away with all the political differences of these groups, and when it comes down to it and tensions erupt they will be more loyal to their subgroup than to the larger country. That's one of the reasons Arab dictators tried so hard to unite their lands by demonizing and blaming everything on Israel. United by common hatred if you will. Of course, this doesn't work because it takes love to unite. Arabs talk all the time about being brothers but in reality, it's all extremely superficial. An Alawite must feel a real meaningful connection with a Kurd and Sunnis and Shia must care for each other as if they belong to the same people. You don't see this happening in reality and that's why they have no qualms about brutally killing each other in civil wars. So for now the Middle East definitely needs some more stage blue nationalistic uniting. Also, I want to make the point Israel might be literally without exaggeration the most diverse country on Earth. The Nakba happened because Jews needed to have their own land. Period. Why should they accept living with Arabs as a minority, when they treat each other so badly. Furthermore, even before Israel there were massacres of Jews, like the one in Hebron where a "native" Jewish community was attacked in their homes.

After Israel took over those territories it was open to exchange them for peace and recognition. But the Arabs famously proclaimed the three no's of Khartoum, including no to peace.

@Nabd I think you'll find it interesting to know that many Palestinians considered themselves Syrians before Israel, and referred to themselves as such. 'Palestinian' as a distinct national identity was only formed in reaction to the Jews settling the land. The reason Israel was established and not Palestine is because the Israelis had a clear identity and were very energetic about their goals. The Palestinians still had to figure out who they were in a sense. Before 1967, Arabs had full sovereignty on the West Bank and Gaza and yet there was no Palestine. Nor did the Palestinians demand sovereignty from the Egyptians and Jordanians. Jordan was basically a Palestinian state with a big Palestinian majority, they were just not the ruling elite.

The expulsion of Jews from the Middle East is yet another example of how Arabs shoot themselves in the foot. The expulsion ended up being extremely beneficial for Israel as Middle Eastern Jews make up more than half of the population of Israel.

@Leo Gura Why not actually travel? I recommend going to Suriname, I went there last winter. It's a diverse, severely underdeveloped, and obscure country (certainly from the American POV) but it's also very small population-wise so you can get quickly a good feel for how the society and economy are structured. The Nature there is stunning and as wild as it gets. I would say Stage Red is very prominent there but still relatively safe because of its small size and open friendly people. But if you're a woman, simply walking the streets there is out of the question.

People here are so childish and unintelligent. I can only respect reasonable arguments, not whatever I am seeing here. Militarily, Israel is conducting this war brilliantly. The monster needs to be fought for the sake of everyone even if it's hiding beneath hospitals it will get no immunity that is how it should be. Godspeed IDF!

They are just pro-Palestine, even pro-Hamas. They are in total denial of 0f 7/10. Their commentators and analysts were extremely gleeful when it happened.

I think what people fail to understand is that Israelis view this as a war against Hamas, and that's exactly what it is. Much of the world kinda seems to dismiss it and conveniently leave Hamas out of the equation when talking about the suffering in Gaza.

Hamas is responsible for this war, they choose this. They throw their own civilians under the bus because they are dogs that think, live and die like dogs. I don't have a "Western" attitude in this regard, I am more like: you started this, you will be crushed without mercy and hesitation. Guess that's my Russian part. And boy are the Palestinians lucky Israelis are not Russians.

@Nabd Moshe Dayan spoke incredibly wise words about the tragedy of the situation or the destiny if you will of the two peoples, he warned against harboring hate against Arabs and how Jews have no choice but to live on their land always armed with a rifle. Btw something unrelated but I can't help but share: I just heard of the case of a small girl's hands being cut of and left all alone to bleed out for hours. Israeli paramedics came in but they only could witness her last breath and looking so scared.

Don't compare the Warsaw Ghetto with Gaza. If Nazis put the Jews in Gaza (like conditions), it would be a Singapore and the Jews there would thrive.

There were anti-Semitic riots in South America after Israel kidnapped a Nazi war criminal from Argentina, People are going to hate Jews no matter what, this is a very deep point. Anti-Semitism has always been the shadow of the Jews. That's the whole reason Israel cannot not exist. Even with all the terror and wars it is better that Jews have a country than be at the mercy of antisemitism in for example Russia.

haha thanks, I agree. I don't think Jews are "superior" to anyone in any fundamental way. But in many things we stand out, that's all, you can make of it what you want.

I always considered myself very lucky to be born Jewish, from all the races of the world I was born into this tiny nation which happens to be the most intelligent and energetic in the world, We stand out in every field we choose People hate us because they ain't us

@Nabd There is no conspiracy between Assad and Israel other than a tacit understanding of power dynamics.

Syria is not working for Israel, on their own they are too weak to do anything but Syria is actively fighting Israel as a part of the Iran axis. Like providing airports for weapon transport etc.

@Nabd Sensible Arab leaders care for stability above all. Fighting the IDF is bad for stability. Israel (and America) take Jordan's stability very seriously because they share a long border, they don't want some radicals or Iran there. It's a mutually beneficial relationship albeit a very unpopular one with the Arab masses.

@Nabd That's how power works, Assad is not fighting Israel because he is not suicidal.

They are keeping up the pressure to a maximum. But you already have reports of Israel turning the water back on and allowing more aid. American pressure also plays a big role here. If Hezbollah Joins, the war will take on a new dimension but it will also be an opportunity to cleanse Israel's border to no longer have savages on its border who can strike and massacre any moment

@Leo Gura That's utterly ridiculous. Yes, this war is brutal but there is also an understanding of why and who started it. Arab leadership also hates Hamas and wants them gone. The risk for escalation from Iran and Lebanon is really high, they are already fighting in low intensity. But Arab countries can't do shit and don't want to do shit. Their biggest weapon is breaking down relations, which they probably will start up again after the war.

@zazen The nature of Hamas and the environment of Gaza makes this war exceptionally brutal. Terrorism is blowing up a police station or a bus. What Hamas did goes way beyond that.

@Karmadhi I bet your people also kicked some other peoples out A lot of people didn't flee and became Arab Israelis. The Arabs were vicious and genocidal against Jews don't overlook that.

@Karmadhi so petty and dumb, why won't you move to another country?

The original European Zionist settlers were secular often left-leaning, liberal and idealistic, at least for the time. The bottom line is that Jews needed to have a state where they could defend themselves.