2011-04-14, 22:54 | Link #13061 | |
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: somewhere on earth
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2011-04-14, 23:57 | Link #13062 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
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2011-04-15, 01:13 | Link #13063 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
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Protestants: reliable base of support for Republicans Catholics: reliable base of support for Democrats |
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2011-04-15, 02:04 | Link #13064 |
廉頗
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Massachusetts
Age: 34
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A bit of an oversimplification, though anecdotally I suppose I've noticed this as well. I wonder if there are any studies on the subject. Being an agnostic in both the theistic and political sense, I have no say on the matter.
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2011-04-15, 02:36 | Link #13065 | |
Pretentious moe scholar
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Age: 37
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Unforunately the current Conservative government decided it wanted to do sales tax cuts instead, even though they could have given low and average income Canadians a bigger tax cut by pumping the same amount of revenue into income tax cuts and sales tax rebates. Which may have in fact been the point, seems like its stock strategy for conservative politicians to gut maximize reduction in incoming revenue with their initial tax cuts so they can justify cuts and freezes to spending, I've noticed it in a few countries. (No points for guessing who I'm not voting for in May... I wish someone would actually point out how bad Harper's record on taxes actually is, but explaining the effects of tax structure seems to be beyond the average election campaign.)
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2011-04-15, 10:58 | Link #13067 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Israelis brace for major war with Hamas
"Israeli military chiefs say a large-scale conflict is inevitable despite a shaky cease-
fire since Monday in their current confrontation with Palestinian fundamentalists of Hamas in the Gaza Strip." See: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Isra...Hamas_999.html First all the Arab uprisings, now this. The whole area's even more of a powderkeg than usual these days. |
2011-04-15, 11:11 | Link #13068 | |
Um-Shmum
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: at GNR, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts
Age: 39
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I wonder if thats the reason for the two rocket attacks today despite the ceasefire. someone in Gaza trying to forcefully provoke a war ?
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2011-04-15, 12:20 | Link #13069 | |
Asuki-tan Kairin ↓
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Fürth (GER)
Age: 43
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Why is that? I can hardly imagine that - considering the current settlement policies and the hardliners in power on the three sides.
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2011-04-15, 12:30 | Link #13070 | |
Sensei, aishite imasu
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hong Kong Shatterdome
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How can anyone argue that it's not a major issue if it motivates one side to start shooting at the other? |
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2011-04-15, 12:32 | Link #13071 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 46
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Aren't the Palestinians working up to be declared a country by the United Nations this fall? The West Bank at least, can't say much about the Gaza Strip...We figured it was imposssible to keep that and the West Bank as a single country with Israel between them almost two decades ago...in high school.
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2011-04-15, 12:38 | Link #13072 | |
Um-Shmum
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: at GNR, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts
Age: 39
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1)wants to go to war 2)believes that they are in a position to win (by their standards of victory). one does not go to war when they know they have no chance of victory at all. In the case with Hamas, their primary weapon systems when it comes to attacking is launching rockets and morters at Israeli cities, because its the only weapon they have. they have no tanks, jets, ships, or anything else, just rockets with various degrees of range and power. In the last flair up last week, Israel introduced a system called Iron dome. Iron dome basically works by shooting down any rocket fired by Hamas if the system believes that it would land in a populated area. so far, Israel only has two batteries, which can protect 2 cities, but in the next few years, Israel plans to build up to a dozen additional batteries, which would cover every city and town within rocket range. which means, within a decade, Hamas's ONLY weapon is completely useless in battle. and if, like i mentioned, one side knows that they have no chance of victory, because their only weapon is completely ineffective, one does not go to war.
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2011-04-15, 15:20 | Link #13073 | |
Aria Company
Join Date: Nov 2003
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2011-04-15, 15:25 | Link #13074 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 46
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Perhaps, but it does make short term harrasment a non-viable means of warfare. Also if the Iron Dome works in numbers, the Israelis don't need to use their more well known form of relaliation...missles from the sky. Though they probably still can since I imagine the new systems will pinpoint the rocket launching site and send the intel to someone that would like to remove the source of the rockets.
That said, I still think the Gaza Strip needs to go.
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2011-04-15, 15:41 | Link #13075 | |
Um-Shmum
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: at GNR, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts
Age: 39
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do the basic math.
Hamas fires 100 rockets for every 10 that actually hit a target city. thats a 10% success rate. now have Iron dome take out 90% of the rockets that would end up hitting the city. so out of every 100 rockets, 1 will land in a city. now figure that over the last decade, over 8000 rocket attacks resulted in 28 deaths in Israel, and it means on average it takes almost 300 rockets to kill one person. and now it would take 3000 rockets. on the other hand, Iron dome also helps identify the source of the rocket launch, and help make it easier to take out the people who launched the rocket. over the last week, over 10 launch teams were hit in just 3 days. now Hamas decision makers are faced with a new reality. If things escalate into a full blown war, they would find themselves in fucked sandwich. on the one hand, they have no effective way to attack Israel at all. and Israel is capable of attacking them at will, with even greater ease. they would end up losing hundreds of men, and would barely even cause property damage. when THOSE are the conditions you face, you try your best to avoid escalating the situation. Quote:
intercepting 100 rockets would cost 4,000,000 $, which, from a defense budget prespective, its pretty negligible. and the cost to Hamas would not be simply the cost of the missiles launched, but also the cost of the things lost in the Israeli retaliation. I'm all for it, but whose going to take it ?
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2011-04-15, 15:53 | Link #13076 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 46
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What is there of value in the Strip? It is coastal. It is land. It is suited for crops, or just housing, industrial, or port type activities? I don't imagine any resources of note come from there.
It was part of Egypt a half century or so ago. If it could go back to them without as much risk to Israel, that would work. If it were to go to the UN as a nuetral land to keep UN forces based and supplied for use in the region, that might work. If it could go to Israel and be made fuctional, that might work. The hard question is, can it be an independant country (apart from the West Bank)? Does it have what it takes to be a country without simply inviting itself to be bulldozed by the Israeli Arny the moment it does somethig stupid that gets them a declared war?
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2011-04-15, 16:03 | Link #13077 |
Um-Shmum
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: at GNR, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts
Age: 39
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Gaza, simply put, is WAY too small to function effectively as a country.
I don't think i can stress out just how small it is. Its tiny. Israel, is the 151st country in the world in size, and if Israel was the size of a football, Gaza would be the size of a ping pong ball next to it. its also WAY too over populated (some claim, most crowded place on earth) and with an insane birth rate (5 kids per woman). it gets its fuel, gas, what, electricity and food directly from either Israel or Egypt, and is incapable of effectively sustaining its population on its own. it also has ZIP for natural resources, and no particular value of any other kind. independence is impossible, which means its going to have to go to someone. Neither Israel nor Egypt want it, and good luck getting the UN to take it as they have enough failed states to deal with. throw in the radical group controlling it, and the fact that there are many OTHER, even MORE radical groups in it, and you have a territory that no one wants really. Its a problem.
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2011-04-15, 16:11 | Link #13078 | |||
Aria Company
Join Date: Nov 2003
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2011-04-15, 16:20 | Link #13079 | |||
Um-Shmum
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: at GNR, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts
Age: 39
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right now, the use of rockets can effectively disturb the day to day lives of over 1 million Israeli civilians, which is the whole point. if thats gone, then they have nothing left. Quote:
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Hamas will sue for peace when hell freezes over. till then, the goal is to prevent them from being able to disrupt day to day life in Israel. thats the goal.
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current affairs, discussion, international |
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