Topic: Dear Mr. Arafat, (Read 4860 times)

xolik · « **on:** November 10, 2004, 11:47:42 PM »

Hot enough for you?

Sincerely,

Xolik

I can only imagine what kind of pretty font CNN would use if they were around for when Hitler died.

BizB · « **Reply #1 on:** November 11, 2004, 07:55:43 AM »

Last night, with about 2 minutes to go on CSI New York, when they were in the process of showing you how all of the pieces of evidence fit together so that you could believe that you had the crime solved moments before they did, CBS cut in with a "Special Report" to announce that Arafat was dead.

Tonight, just as they're about to announce the next cast member voted off of the Survivor Island, they'll bust in with a "Special Report" that the curse of the Bambino is over.

Then, at the same point in show CSI (The original), they'll interrupt with the announcement that Arafat is only sort-of-kind-of-a-little-bit-dead.

Bye, Yassir... we can make do without.

Law · « **Reply #2 on:** November 11, 2004, 11:38:58 AM »

*sigh*

My musings. They're a few days old, mind you.

It only gets worse from here.

xolik · « **Reply #3 on:** November 11, 2004, 01:41:38 PM »

Israel has a fine opportunity to start the peace process anew with the Palestinians. This is a very crucial point for all parties involved. It is either going to go very well or turn very ugly very quickly. I hope it's not like what my sig says....

ivan · « **Reply #4 on:** November 11, 2004, 02:38:43 PM »

If everyone in the world suddenly became an atheist, wouldn't that help?

BizB · « **Reply #5 on:** November 11, 2004, 02:47:27 PM »

Pepe help us all.

xolik · « **Reply #6 on:** November 11, 2004, 02:48:24 PM »

Oh, CSI will be re-broadcast again due to them cutting into it like that. I guess they got a TON of complaints.

BizB · « **Reply #7 on:** November 11, 2004, 02:59:21 PM »

Yeah, I just saw that on Drudge this afternoon.

So, if I choose to know who-dunnit, I have to sit through the first 58 minutes of the 60 minute show which I have already seen, or remember to switch over in the last 2 minutes thereby missing the last 2 minutes of some other show that I may be watching on a network that really cares about their viewers? I'll pass.

I think CBS should give up 2 minutes of every commercial break period to show just those lost minutes and they should do it for the next 3 days.

Arafat was Muslim, wasn't he? As such, shouldn't he be in the ground by nightfall the following day? What gives? Does this mean he won't get his virgins?

Law · « **Reply #8 on:** November 11, 2004, 03:12:30 PM »

There's a ceremony for him in Cairo first thing tomorrow morning and he'll be interred in Ramallah soon after. I think they're going for the technicality of dying on Thursday and being buried on Friday as opposed to the 24 hour thing.

And it's Ramadan. Nothing moves quickly during Ramadan.

pbsaurus · « **Reply #9 on:** November 11, 2004, 04:29:50 PM »

Quote from: ivan

If everyone in the world suddenly became an atheist, wouldn't that help?

Probably not. But if everyone became an apathist, now that wou.ld be something!

pbsaurus · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2004, 04:30:48 PM »

Oh and Law, nice piece. Very well written and diplomatic.

aoowt · « **Reply #11 on:** November 14, 2004, 02:30:56 AM »

Adios Yasser may you enjoy that big Pan Am flight in the sky.

Crystalmonkey · « **Reply #12 on:** December 08, 2004, 07:14:12 PM »

Did you write that Law? I was going to comment on how that makes a lot of sense and that I agree with the guy, but now I will only say well done, I'm glad someone isn't just shooting first and asking questions later. Why don't people realize the implications of events?

Edit: Two thumbs up!

Law · « **Reply #13 on:** December 08, 2004, 11:19:04 PM »

Yeah, I wrote it.

TerrorDronze · « **Reply #14 on:** December 09, 2004, 08:35:25 AM »

maybe israel can stall that next batch of "made in the USA" cruise missiles from wiping out another set of civilian targets in a political assassination attempt for another month or so.... there won't be any peace in that region until the israelis are out, the kurds are dead, and the sunnis and shiites have massacred each other. Besides, wouldn't you have reacted the same way yassir did if the israelis killed off your cabinet?

Law · « **Reply #15 on:** December 09, 2004, 09:49:32 AM »

Quote from: TerrorDronze

maybe israel can stall that next batch of "made in the USA" cruise missiles from wiping out another set of civilian targets in a political assassination attempt for another month or so...

Tired argument. Most Israeli weapons are Israeli made now. (And they tried this morning...)

Quote

there won't be any peace in that region until the israelis are out,

That's a hopeless (and wildly clueless to be honest) assessment. Israel is simply an excuse for most of the regional violence. Problem being that most of the Arab "nations" ("" used since before 1945 most of these countries didn't exist and are still arbitrary lines on an Anglo-French map) hate each other on principle. Take Syria and Iraq, ruled by the same Ba'ath political party, but have hated each other for decades. If Israel ceased to exist, the Arab states under their current regimes would find new reasons to invade each other. Enmity does not go away when one player leaves the field.

Quote

the kurds are dead,

The Kurds? I don't think their small independence movement is destabilizing the region. Iraq, Iran and Turkey are nervous about a future Kurdistan, but they are hardly causing widespread unrest.

Quote

and the sunnis and shiites have massacred each other.

What, all of us? It's true that there is enmity between Shi'a (don't use Shiite, it doesn't mean anything) and Sunni, but largely it is a religious difference that does not express itself in violence. Iraq is the exception, but that's mostly because 60-70% of the country has been ruled by a brutal military regime of 10% of the country for 40 years and the leader happened to be from a Sunni town (Saddam was not Muslim by any true definition and only used religious dogma to promote himself or his agenda). You'd be pissed to, wouldn't you? Iran has been a Shi'a state since it's creation and with the exception of the US, Britain, France, Russia and Iraq invading it has not been a source for regional violence. Iran hates almost all of the Arab states, but hasn't done anything about it in a long time.

Quote

Besides, wouldn't you have reacted the same way yassir did if the israelis killed off your cabinet?

Sure. Maybe. I might have tried to think about how my personal agenda was going to impact my people though, and while several billion dollars in the bank is nice, thousands of dead civilians is not. But, having spent time living in a refugee camp, and been held in an Israeli jail I understand the frustration perfectly, if only minutely in comparison. But having witnessed a public bus incinerate itself in Tel Aviv not 50 yards away from me, I am well aware that each side can forge a legitimate argument for its actions.

This is again a situation where hyper-generalization and hyperbole make everything worse.

TerrorDronze · « **Reply #16 on:** December 09, 2004, 10:05:52 AM »

as far as the israeli-PLO problems are concerned, a lot more violence flared up in the region as a result. in no way am i anti-semetic, trust me. the politics of the region made it a piss-poor area to begin with. i understand the religious bearing, but you don't displace a nation and fill it up with outsiders without pissing off quite a few people. maybe it's just me, but it seems like US involvement in all these other countries is getting us into more and more trouble. i don't know about the standing right now, but i know for a long time the israeli air force was largely, if not completely subsidised by the US (pardon any misspellings, i couldn't sleep last night, pulling a 2 day type deal.)
my only reason for even mentioning the kurds, the Shi'a (i was taught the Shiite spelling in my word influences class sophomre year, my appologies for sounding like a total brick-brained twit.), and the Sunni was for the simple fact that people have been slaughtering eachother for years in the region, and it will continue on from now until one day someone develops a big enough bomb to turn the whole place into a complete and total glass pit. By this point, i think the only way to solve most of the US terrorism problems is to just pull back or military presence, middle east, africa, europe, etc. keep the trade open, and tell the rest of the world to handle their own fucking problems, use the money from our damn-near-disbanded-by-that-point military to fix our own problems, and move on with life. fewer people pissed at us, and let the rest of them settle it. isn't that what the UN is for?

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Author Topic: Dear Mr. Arafat, (Read 4860 times)

ivan