So, we have a rapidly-escalating situation in an area of the world that is very unstable, even by it's own historical standards. There is a well-recommended, and well written piece by Assaf that provides good background on what the facts on the ground are and are not saying about what's happening in Jerusalem and Gaza, and suggests election-year politicking by Netanyahu as a driving force.
There's a smattering of other posts from people who know more about this than me - and InAntalya's ground reports from Syria are always worth a read. Today, this DKos diariest is discussing the formation of the Islamest State of Aleppo by A-Qaida related rebel groups in NW Syria.
Jilly W expressed concern about Israel's actions right now, leading to a few HR's for the statements that some interpreted as parroting anti-israel talking points.
If I could make a modest observation, none of this is within a ten-foot pole of the DKos front page. And most would-be diarists, except some brave/foolish people like myself, are steering clear as well, preferring talk of twinkies and how much closer Romney might be to 47.49%. However, as a progressive blog, isn't this whole issue something we SHOULD be talking more about?
Some food for thought below:
I get that the Israel/Palestine flame wars have left their mark around here, and that people on both sides are passionate about this. I get that any time you have two cultural groups of people who have heard members of the other group - leaders of the other group - discuss eliminating them from the face of the earth, it's not likely to lead to a lot of trust in a reasoned dialogue.
But, how much more or less do we get by not discussing it at all - by just avoiding the topic and kicking the can down the road because nobody can deal with it? There's no intelligent diary or comment someone can make on this whole issue that resolves the question or advances an easily-defended policy without raising several more questions and possibly a few witch hunts. And so - nobody talks about the problem. Nobody talks about major forces that are in motion right now that are likely to figure importantly into the calculus of the world order.
Obviously, President Obama is likely considering his own response to these very questions - what if Iran is supplying Hamas? What if Netanyahu is doing a George W Bush in 2002? What is the correct role for the US to take in this emerging crisis - or more accurately crises.
Well I for one think it would be helpful to start finding a narrative on the left for this and working through the difficult process of finding common ground. Absent our voices, others will fill the void and take the narrative in a direction that most, if not all, of us at Dkos would disagree with. This includes, but is not limited to, the American Enterprise Institute, who just today began setting their stake in the narrative:
So what’s going to happen next? Israel has called up tens of thousands of reserves; a ground incursion into Gaza looks likely. Many more Palestinians will perish. And the vanguard of the new Sunni order? They’re going to betray the Palestinians of Gaza, because they always do. Worse still, all those angry and impotent members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference are going to head for the United Nations and support Fatah’s foolhardy quest for recognition.
Cui bono? No one. And what of Barack Obama? That’s another story for later today.
What say us?
UPDATE:
I agree with the commentator who observed that this discussion has matured here.. this has so far been a donut-free I/P thread. I have a lot of hope that a community like Dkos can be part of the discussion for an intelligent and thoughtful path forward.