What changed? Easy – the victim won. That means he wasn't really a victim. Anyone who successfully resists aggression must immediately be reclassified as an aggressor.
Mitch | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 6:15 am | #

Plus the Palestinians PR job
and since then much of the Left has grown to love terrorists as the underdogs,ie they must have grievances if they are willing to blow themselves up, plus the U.S suports Israel, that puts them down for immediate Rogue State status.
Stephen Reeves | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 12:02 pm | #

Plus the left went from believing that the working class was the agent of revolution (which put the focus on advanced industrial countries) to its present third-worldism, which involved supporting any anti-western movement or regime, without enquiring too much about its actual beliefs - even if it was massacring the leftists in its own country (e.g. Baathist Iraq).
Plus the increasing influence of post-modernist and 'critical' theories which put 'democracy' and 'freedom' in scare quotes, and denounced all democratic rights as a sham - which, incidentally, implies that 200 years of struggles by the labour movement, feminists, civil rights activists etc. were a complete waste of time. After all, if you believe that those movements achieved some gains, then it seems logical that those gains are worth defending.
In the early days, leftists tended to support Israel because it was a western-style liberal democracy with an active and strong labour movement. Nowadays, they tend to oppose Israel because it's a western style etc. etc...
Harry Goldstein | 16.07.06 - 12:50 pm | #

Here's a good essay that deals with the evolution (degeneration) of the Trotskyist 'movement'.

http://www.wernercohn.com/Trotsky.html
Will | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 2:20 pm | #

At least 16 died in the city of Tyre, while strikes on a border village killed at least seven, including five with Canadian and Lebanese citizenship.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world...ast/ 5185624.stm

Canadian citezens have been killed as a result of Israel incursions into Lebanon. Is this an act of war? How ought the Canadian government repsond?
Jim Buck | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 8:17 pm | #

>How ought the Canadian government repsond?

That should have been:How ought the Canadian government respond?
Jim Buck | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 8:35 pm | #

>How ought the Canadian government repsond?


Unless they are spineless cowards, they ought to, at least, bomb Israeli infrastructure.
Jim Buck | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 9:26 pm | #

Do you not think that Israel should excersise some proportionality?
Adele | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 9:43 pm | #

Like firing missiles randomly into built up areas?
Eric | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 9:47 pm | #

>Like firing missiles randomly into built up areas?

The party of God--like any sensible militia-- appear to prefer military targets when the intelligence is available.

http://news.independent.co.uk/ wo...icle1180160.ece
http://news.independent.co.uk/ wo...icle1180160.ece
Jim Buck | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 9:56 pm | #

Canada should support the side of representative democracy, where political parties do not have armed militias, that does not intentionally target civilians, that respects and honours the rights of religious minorities, where gay people serve in the armed forces... and I could go on and on but it would be pointless. Some folks have always enjoyed cheering for the fascists and against the Jews. I suspect it is a psycho-sexual problem.
Flea | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 10:04 pm | #

>Some folks have always enjoyed cheering for the fascists and against the Jews.

Which folk do you mean? Please be specific. We are not talking Jews here but Israelis--who include: Muslims; Christians; and atheists.
How did you establish the sexuality of the people killed by Israeli bombing? How can you be certain that none of them were gay?

> I suspect it is a psycho-sexual problem.

If that is what you suspect then you need to describe the mechanism--otherwise you leave an explanatory gap into which your apologetic sinks.
Jim Buck | Homepage | 16.07.06 - 10:47 pm | #

No, not firing missiles into random areas.

Like not cutting off Gaza's power supply and creating a humanitarian crisis.
Adele | Homepage | 17.07.06 - 3:00 pm | #

>How ought the Canadian government respond?

Expel Hezbollah and Hamas fundraisers from their Canadian offices.
The Sanity Inspector | Homepage | 17.07.06 - 3:51 pm | #

>We are not talking Jews here but Israelis...

You know, I disapprove of a lot of things about Van Halen. I think the way that Van Halen have hired and fired singers with no notice is classless in the extreme. I think Eddie is personally to blame for his unique whammied-up guitar style becoming such an Eighties cliche. I think Van Halen are a bloated, strife-ridden corporate entity, whose contract squabbles are at least as interesting as their music. I think Van Halen fans are uniformly and irredeemably obnoxious, in their triumphalist mockery of predecessors like The Who and Led Zeppelin. I think Van Halen in no way deserve to headline any bill, or even to be able to book most venues. I think Van Halen’s continued existence stifles the emergence and growth of newer, fresher bands. Indeed, it could not be construed as much of a loss if Van Halen and its fans were to disappear altogether, in some non-violent way.

But that doesn't make me anti-Van Halenist.
The Sanity Inspector | Homepage | 17.07.06 - 3:56 pm | #

>But that doesn't make me anti-Van Halenist.

Just because I do not like every record that Van Halen produces does not mean I have never liked their music-- nor that I shall never buy their records again. Nothing would please me more than to hear that Van Halen have forged ahead into a brand new creative direction. In short: I am not anti-Van Halenist. I just refuse to call bad music good.
Jim Buck | Homepage | 17.07.06 - 5:31 pm | #

I wrote a long post two or three years back on changes in left attitudes since 1967, "when a few months on a kibbutz was almost compulsory for a young leftie".

http://ukcommentators.blogspot.c...i- semitism.html
Laban | Homepage | 17.07.06 - 10:28 pm | #

I'll have a look at that the morra Laban (always liked your take on things, makes me think) but for now...Jim and SI ...will you two shut the fuck up. What a load of fucking crap.
Will | Homepage | 17.07.06 - 11:09 pm | #

I just read your post Laban and very good it is too.
Will | Homepage | 17.07.06 - 11:16 pm | #

>What a load of fucking crap.

Spot on.
Jim Buck | Homepage | 17.07.06 - 11:26 pm | #

Good man.

You being ironic? Can't tell these days.
Will | Homepage | 17.07.06 - 11:40 pm | #

>You being ironic? Can't tell these days.

I really don't know, either, Will.
Jim Buck | Homepage | 18.07.06 - 9:24 am | #

Someone wrote: "..should support the side of representative democracy, where political parties do not have armed militias, that does not intentionally target civilians, that respects and honours the rights of religious minorities, where gay people serve in the armed forces.."

Erm, anyone been to Ulster in the last thirty years?
Scouse Matt | 18.07.06 - 12:59 pm | #

"Canadian citezens have been killed as a result of Israel incursions into Lebanon. Is this an act of war? How ought the Canadian government repsond?"
No ought implies a could.
Mark Steyn deals with this question on his site.
http://www.marksteyn.com/
Gordon | 18.07.06 - 6:53 pm | #

>No ought implies a could.

Liy-livered bollocks! If Mrs Thatcher had adopted that attitude we would never have regained the Falklands. The Canadians could get together a task-force; they could punish the Israelis (a little bit) for murdering Canadian citizens; any decent country would do that and fuck the logistics--the Israelis would!
Jim Buck | Homepage | 18.07.06 - 10:40 pm | #