'Austere Challenge'

The clock is ticking... Iran with nuclear weapons... US and Zionists working on joint strategy... 'Drill' scheduled to take place in May 2012, and will simulate Israel's ballistic missile defense in action, the Israel Hayom Daily reported on Monday... 

"It will be the largest and most significant joint exercise in the allies' history," Andrew Shapiro, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, said Saturday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

He said that joint exercises allowed the U.S. "to learn from Israel's experience in urban warfare and counter-terrorism."

URBAN WARFARE AND COUNTER-TERRORISM???

Why, pray tell, do we need to learn from Israel's 'experience' in urban warfare and counter-terrorism? 

Are we expecting urban warfare in the United States?

Who are the 'terrorists' that the military plans to 'counter'?

When you think of Israel's 'experience' some ugly shit comes to mind... Ask the Palestinians.

Israeli Repression

Israel responded to Palestinian violence at the beginning of the Oslo process by limiting the flow of Palestinian workers to Israel to prevent infiltration of terrorists, and by strict checks at border checkpoints. The border closing drastically reduced the Palestinian standard of living. Palestinians who did come to work were often subjected to humiliating searches and very long waits at checkpoints. Following terror attacks at the checkpoints, nervous IDF (Israel Defense Forces - the Israeli Army) soldiers sometimes were too quick to open fire on suspicious vehicles, killing innocent civilians. Checkpoints around Jerusalem made it difficult for Palestinians to get to work in Jerusalem and to travel between Palestinian towns.

After September 2000, Israeli reprisals for Palestinian terror raids became increasingly severe,  including assassinations of wanted terrorists that Palestinians refused to arrest. Following a series of deadly suicide bombings in March of 2002, Israel launched operation Defensive Wall in the West Bank and has since reoccupied most of the territories ceded to to the Palestinians in the West Bank. The IDF set up additional checkpoints and has kept towns under virtual siege with extended periods of curfew, disrupting work, education and daily life. Ditches surround towns, preventing people from leaving. The IDF has killed over 3,500 Palestinians, demolished houses and uprooted olive groves. After a recent IDF study showed that the demolitions do not deter suicide bombings, demolitions of the houses of suicide bombers were discontinued, but houses are still demolished for other reasons.

In addition to measures taken to ensure security, Israeli extremist settlers have harassed Palestinians, destroyed property, uprooted olive trees and killed several Palestinians in doubtful circumstances. The perpetrators are rarely identified and almost never prosecuted.  

Do we really want to turn the United States into the 'occupied territories'?

Next question: Has our government gone completely mad?

Is America's association with paranoid Zionists some kind of contagion?

Reading the right-wing reaction to the Occupy Wall Street movement, I have begun to realize that there are lots of people out there who do not bother to think things through. They do not grasp the ramifications of their solutions to problems that do not actually exist (yet). And, if and when their 'solutions' become a reality all of those things that they are afraid of will be created by them... Self-destruction... by making your nightmares everyday reality... OMG, you can't be so evil or so stupid that you would bring the world to ruin - just because you are afraid of what might happen.

Granted, the world population must be reduced. But at what cost? Surely, not at the cost of liberty. Haven't you learned anything from history? Once things spiral out of control they go rapidly from bad to worse... More than likely, you will wind up being 'hoisted with your own petard' - Injured by the device that you intended to use to injure others.

Genghis Kahn said, "A man can throw a stone into a pond, but he cannot prevent that stone from causing ripples." In other words, everything that you do will come back to you... You are generating your own karma... "As you sow, so shall you reap." "Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind."

Are you with me? Stay awake and think things through...

Russia and China have already warned the United States, in effect: "You fuck with Iran and World War III is on."

Go ahead, talk tough. "Screw Russia and China. Screw the Arabs. Screw the world."

Does that make you feel better?

The problem is, it is going to be your fat ass that's out there on the front lines, while your family gets pulverized at home... Not a very happy scenario. Not for you, your family, or the country... So, wait a minute, let's think things through... The whole thing is a set-up. Israel gets what it wants. China and Russia get what they want. And, Corporate Capitalism gets what it wants. The only one who gets screwed is America...

If you come back from such a war you won't even recognize your home land... By the time we emerge victorious, the whole country will be one giant concentration camp. Ask yourself, "Will such a war be worth it?"

Of course not!

Stop being afraid of 'what might be'. Whatever comes we will deal with it together. We're not going to run and hide from adversity. That's the coward's way. The way to survive and emerge victorious - in any situation - is through UNITY. All these doomsday scenarios, where you run away and hide in your 'retreat', are bullshit. Put them out of your mind. We are not going to concede anything. Let the politicians and the rich and famous run and hide. This is our land. This is our life. And, we refuse to be manipulated by fear.

'Austere Challenge' indeed... We say, "No thanks" to your stupid wars....