More at: http://www.cleveland.com/religion/index.ss...


and the saga continues...this guy is not making any friends amongst the Greater Cleveland Catholic population.

Angola, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Cambodia.....

What do they all have in common??

Recent wars with control of natural resources as the underlying cause.

Whether the resource is oil, water, timber, diamonds or minerals, the end result is the same.

Religion, ideology or nationalism all play a role but natural resource control is a the basis.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natre...

As climate change irrevocably alters the environment, resource control will become even more important to nations and non-nation entities.

China has the world's fastest growing economy, an depends on oil as much, or even more, than the United States.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natre...

The neo-cons are aware of the situation worldwide with regards to natural resources. What we have been witnessing in terms of the foreign policy of the US since 2001 has been laying the groundwork.

Afghanistan and Iraq are resource wars. Israel's actions are less about terrorism than water.

Excuses will be publicized, spin will implemented. The facts are not debatable.

COntrol of natural resource is THE driving factor in modern warfare.

Settle in and buckle up....it's gonna be a wild ride.

Alot of posters forget that innocent civilians are dying in this madness. Hezbollah is wrong, the Israeli gov't is wrong.

I don't care who started what, that is completely irrelevant.

The more civilians who get killed the more the hatred is strengthened. The mideast is in a death spiral that no-one seems to be able to arrest.

If it were only Israeli soldiers or Hezbollah fighters that were dying that would be in and of itself be tragic, but the civilian deaths, of which BOTH sides are culpable, make this an atrocity beyond measure.

The wanton destruction of homes, farms, and other civilian infrastructure is nothing less than a crime against every compassionate human being.

Will it stop?

Unfortunately I do not see that possibility as long as the people with the power continue to act like barbarians.

My heart goes out to the innocent Israeli, Lebanese, and Palestinian civilians who want nothing more than to live their lives out in peace.

A peace which they have been denied through no fault of their own.

One final thought. On the responsibility that the United States has in all this.

My tax dollars support ideals which I do not. The selling of armaments to Pakistan, to Israel, to untold other countries. I sincerely wish the UN were a strong enough organization to ban ALL arms transfers between countries. Dealing in death is not my idea of how the US should be.


Monies spent on medical assistance, infrastructure repair, food, etc are great and noble causes but the selling of one bullet is one bullet too many.

I have, for the past few days, been reading (and posting) in various threads concerning the events in the mideast. The situation is degrading daily with threats and counter threats by all the players involved as well as actions that are completely reprehensible.

Posters here run the course from detached objectivity to rabid subjectivity.


My personal feelings regarding what is happening have crystallized to the point where I must vent a bit.

In my opinion ALL the powers that be in the region, the various governments; Palestinian, Israeli, Iranian, Syrian, Lebanese; the US government; the various terrorist organizations (on all sides);
none of these groups is truly interested in peace.

They are all complicit in the deaths of innocents. They all forget (or choose to ignore) the fact that there are normal people in the region, trying to exist as best they can. They are born, they grow up, fall in love, get married, have kids, etc. At least they would if the governments in the region would cease and desist the mindless and wanton destruction of those unfortunate to live on the other side of some imaginary line that was put in place by colonial powers many years ago.

I highly doubt that the average Israeli, or Lebanese, or Palestinian, or Syrian, or Iranian, or Iraqi, or American want to see their homes leveled, their loved ones killed, their means of support destroyed. All because some leader in power wants to control natural resources, or claims a divine right to inflict harm, or simply is a pawn of the corporate desire for obscene profit.

It is the ordinary citizens, many of whom harbor no ill will towards those from other countries or religions, that suffer the most.

It is the ordinary citizen, forced to bury a child, forced to make do without basic necessities, forced to live in fear, that arouses my sympathy. I do not care what religion they may be an adherent of, of what country they claim citizenship of.

I reserve my anger for those who are "in charge", the governments (in and out) of the region that consider citizens "collateral damage". It is the concept of "false patriotism" that I disdain, it is the lack of humanity that I hate.

Who cries for the Palestinian daughter, the Israeli mother, the Lebanese father, the Iraqi son?

Who notices the homes flattened, the roads cratered, the farms ablaze?



"They deserved it."

"They are defending themselves"

"They attacked first."

"They are terrorists."

"They are theocratic."

"They threaten our existence."

"They believe we have no right to exist."

"They hate our freedom."

"Their stated goal is ________."

"They took over our land."

"They are infidels."



And so on, and so on, and so on.

Again, who mourns for the innocent? The vast majority of people who do not have, nor want, anything to do with political figureheads who can order destruction at a moments notice?

Is any death or suffering really worth it in the end? Do you feel better when an Iraqi family, or Palestinian family, or Israeli family, or Lebanese family, or American family suffers? Or potentially any Syrian family, any Iranian family?

Was any goal served by that suffering?

If you answered "no" then you can see my point.

If you persist in assigning blame to any specific party while ignoring the culpability of other parties then I pity you, for you have lost sight of your humanity, your compassion, your empathy.

End of rant