Dear Bernie: Will You Stand With Us Against Endless War in Ukraine?
You rightfully pleaded with Biden in February 2022 to seek a diplomatic solution and we urgently need you to do that again.
Thanks much, Jean!
https://nypost.com/2023/10/13/dozens-demanding-us-end-israel-aid-arrested-outside-schumers-nyc-home/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_for_an_eye
"An eye for an eye" (Biblical Hebrew: עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן, ʿayīn taḥaṯ ʿayīn)[a] is a commandment found in the Book of Exodus 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure. The earliest known use of the principle appears in the Code of Hammurabi, which predates the Hebrew Bible.[1]
The law of exact retaliation (Latin: lex talionis)[2], or reciprocal justice, bears the same principle that a person who has injured another person is to be penalized to a similar degree by the injured party. In softer interpretations, it means the victim receives the [estimated] value of the injury in compensation.[3] The intent behind the principle was to restrict compensation to the value of the loss.[2]
++++++++++++++
The Truth About “an Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth” (Is it Meant to be Taken Literally Within Jewish Law?)
In practice we only sentence with a monetary retribution because a bodily punishment would be too barbaric according to Jewish thought. However, the deeper lesson here is that a monetary retribution is only sufficient if the perpetrator internalizes the severity of his crime – something that no one should be ignorant about.
++++++++++
from the heart of jerusalem
Eye for an eye? Literally, it’s not the Jewish way
https://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/eye-for-an-eye-literally-its-not-the-jewish-way,15073
+++++++++++
https://www.britannica.com/topic/talion
talion, Latin lex talionis, principle developed in early Babylonian law and present in both biblical and early Roman law that criminals should receive as punishment precisely those injuries and damages they had inflicted upon their victims. Many early societies applied this “eye-for-an-eye” principle literally.
In ancient Palestine, injury and bodily mutilation, as well as theft, were considered private wrongs. As such, the matter was settled not by the state but between the person who inflicted the injury and the one injured, an attitude that also prevailed in early Rome. Talion was the ultimate satisfaction a plaintiff might demand but was not mandatory; the injured person could obtain satisfaction with money if he wished.
On the principle that two different persons could not have exactly the same bodily members, the Palestinian sages enacted a law by which the injured party could not demand an eye from the person who caused the loss of his eye but could demand the value of his eye. This led to the abolition of talion in Palestine. By the 5th century bc in Rome, fines known as delicts had begun to replace talion in many instances, though the concept of talion did reemerge in medieval Germany and in some areas of Scandinavia in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Horrific events in Israel and Gaza are turning the world upside down.
Consider the following comments, which were part of a statement posted by Sen. Bernie Sanders on his official Senate webpage, on Oct. 11 of this week:
“Right now, the international community must focus on reducing humanitarian suffering and protecting innocent people on both sides of this conflict. The targeting of civilians is a war crime, no matter who does it. Israel’s blanket denial of food, water, and other necessities to Gaza is a serious violation of international law and will do nothing but harm innocent civilians.”
Bernie Sanders is a Jew. Yet, by the measure of his policy positions held in the light of values articulated by Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospels, I find him to be the most Christian member of Congress. He is also one of the most courageous and insightful.
Sanders sees through the fog of war, convinced that reactive violence brings only more and greater violence, and that there is a difference between security and retribution, between justice and vengeance.
WELLLLLL ~ I DON'T KNOW WHO THAT GUEST WRITER IS, BUT... I DO KNOW THAT I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH HIS OPINION OF BERNIE SANDERS. LOL 'NUFF SAID.
I read ya, Jean!
Maybe that was a bad example from a big hypocrite on the Ukraine war, who flipped his position and violated his own ethics purely for politics.
Tue 8 Feb 2022 14.10 EST
"I’m concerned when I hear familiar drumbeats in Washington demanding we ‘show strength’, when we’re faced with what could be the worst European war in 75 years"
++++++++++++
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/bernie-sanders-ukraine/
++++++++++++++
https://jacobin.com/2022/07/bernie-sanders-joe-biden-ukraine-russia-putin
++++++++++
metmike: HUGE Flip-a-roo and hypocrisy for political reasons by Sanders and the Progressives!!!
Last week, thirty members of Congress issued, updated, and retracted a letter calling for more direct diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine. What happened?
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine “has to be resisted,” and that the Congressional Progressive Caucus was right to withdraw a letter that urged President Biden to negotiate an end to the war with Russian President Vladimir Putin
++++++++++
You rightfully pleaded with Biden in February 2022 to seek a diplomatic solution and we urgently need you to do that again.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/bernie-sanders-on-the-ukrain-war
+++++++++++++
https://vtdigger.org/2023/10/04/antiwar-demonstrators-urge-sanders-to-seek-diplomacy-in-ukraine/
October 4, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. EDT
MY GOODNESS!! HOW CAN THEY STAND BEIN' AROUND THEMSELVES????!!!
LET'S NOT FORGET... BERNIE SPENT SOME TIME IN RUSSIA, BEFORE HE GOT A JOB IN THE GOVT.!!
Thanks much, Jean!
Always enjoy listening to Victor.
One of the most eloquent speakers in the world!
THAT WAS THE MOST RILED, I'VE EVER SEEN HIM!
ISRAEL IS GIVING RIFLES TO THEI NON-FELON CITIZENS, SO THEY CAN DEFEND THEMSELVES, IF NEED BE.
No Escape! Israeli Special Forces BROKE THROUGH HAMAS DEFENCES & Entered the Secret Gaza tunnels!
MY, OH MY!!! SOME IN AUSTRALIA ARE REALLY P.O. 'D CAN'T SAY THAT I BLAME THEM!!
'Disgusting' reporting scrutinised following Hamas attack on Israel
Thanks much, Jean!
This is almost impossible to keep up with unless one is spending hours a day on it )-:
Many on both sides were already impossibly divided and each side is taking the same powerful set of events and interpreting them to bolster only their side's position and justify condemning the other side.
Regardless of the volatile history, what Hamas did a week ago can NEVER be justified.
In my chess coaching, I always tell students that the most important move of the game is what their opponent did last. That is often true in many realms of life, including here.
1. What did Hamas do last?
2. What is Israel doing now/last?
Regardless of the decades of battles and extraordinarily bad blood/hatred history. What those 2 entities are doing last/now is most important.
Both sides are JUSTIFYING their last move based on what the other side did/has done with THEIR good causes but that still doesn't negate the end result of THEIR LAST MOVE in an absolute, rather than relative sense.
Outside of the justifications as being a response to the other side's injustice, are actions that clearly will contribute to ESCALATION the best in the long run?
They clearly will make it worse in the long run. Authentic justification or not, the last moves by both parties have and will continue to makes things MUCH worse in the long run with no limits on how much worse.
There is no objective, independent, non emotional entity that can step in and act as a referee.
Instead, many outside countries appear more to feel the need to take sides, rather than be a mediator, like Jimmy Carter was(if that were possible today). And the people in those countries that feel their government is taking the wrong side have protestors.
Nothing can justify what Hamas did last. Which gives Israel solid justification for it's last very extreme move.
I admit bias towards Israel but with attempts to see the big picture.
++++++++++
This reminds me of a marriage between 2 people that are opposites and with different abilities to give and take.
We always hear/read that marriage is a 50-50 proposition. NO IT'S NOT! Not literally, just figuratively. In most marriages that work, there is 1 person that gives MORE than the other, usually because they are capable of giving more.
Marriages where both partners are always concerned that the other person is not giving their 50% never work. The ones that work, always feature at least 1 partner willing to give far more than 50% because making the marriage work is the top priority, not keeping score or finding faults in their partner. They LOVE unconditionally and use that as motivation to have a good marriage. Regardless of what is required, they will do it to make up for flaws in their partner.
We are NOT talking about relationships where one partner is continually abusive. Those are toxic and should end if that partner can't change.
If just 1 partner is motivated by unconditional love, a non abusive relationship can still be a wonderful marriage, DESPITE the other partner giving far less than 50%.
I watched the master do it myself. https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/45623/#45730
Mom was mentally ill(because of losing both parents as a young child) and Dad probably gave 90% to getting10%. He never complained 1 time(even though he was constantly abused but still taught us to respect our mentally ill mother). All because he was totally committed to making the best of the marriage, especially FOR THE KIDS SAKE, even though he was getting ripped off as a husband.
But it had a great ending because he healed our mom better than all the psychiatrists that she went to! It took 3 decades but (before her stroke) her last 20 years were the happiest by far and those years were a great marriage for both of them.
Dad is 98 now and has been able to look back at his enormously successful life that includes being proud of always doing the right thing for other people and never concerned about himself. Jimmy Carter will be 99 shortly and he was the same way. That mentality gives wonderful peace of mind to those that can obtain it.
The connection here between Israel and it's enemies is the diametrically opposed opposite of my parents marriage.
They hate each others guts and will interpret actions from the other as reason to hate them more and NOT overlook anything. A dysfunctional relationship like that has no hope. Especially with regards to the way many children are being raised in the Middle East. To hate their neighbor.
You can see the product of my dad raising us 6 kids to be the opposite of that:
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/82252/
My sister Patti:
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/96371/#96376
++++++++++++++
So the point is that we think this way because, in a big part we were raised to think this way.
People in the Middle East are raised completely the opposite of this. There is NOTHING the rest of us can do to offset this ingrained thinking that defines ideologies which incorporate hatred for their enemies into them. Nothing. They are indoctrinated.
+++++++++++++++
Hateful, inflammatory rhetoric intended to impress your base and get votes for self serving interests is always COUNTER productive!
As if this message will actually change Iran's plans 1 iota and help bring peace to the Middle East.
Guys like Graham, bought and paid for by the Military Industrial Political complex are peeing their pants with excitement over the potential for the US to get back in the fray in the Middle East.
The Military-Industrial Complex and its Impact on Politics
(Professor Douglas Nelson, Political Economy)
The military-industrial complex is the interaction between private national security
manufacturing companies, elected officials, and the bureaucracy. These relationships are
developed through lobbying efforts, campaign contributions, and the appointment of former
employees of these private companies to bureaucratic positions; this network of people in all
areas of government is utilized often to push for legislative and executive policy goals that benefit
the profit sectors of major domestic weapons manufacturers.
https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane%3A122353/datastream/PDF/view
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) received $100,558 from Lockheed Martin, $59,833
from Boeing, and $58,335 from Northrop Grumman in campaign contributions in his most recent
election cycle in 2020.
Conclusion
Overall, the military-industrial complex is still influencing, and benefitting from, the
current bureaucratic and political landscape in the United States. Through lobbying, campaign
contributions, and an integration of industry experts into the highest levels of government, major
firms in the military-industrial complex benefit from having the ear of major foreign policy
leaders or being those leaders themselves. By gaining both domestic and foreign arms contracts,
these firms guarantee future profits, allowing for current research and development. Because of
49
these guaranteed profits, these firms benefit the entire manufacturing sector and private
innovation; the implicit investment of the United States government in this research has led to
many productive and useful innovations that might not have been otherwise invested in. These
benefits arguably outweigh the costs of this complex, as argued by many prominent authors in the
field. However, the inefficiencies created in the political space cannot be ignored, and
fundamentally the way that private and public sectors are intertwined in bureaucracy creates
issues in creating policy and delineating contracts.
These domestic aspects of the military-industrial complex still exist, but the complex writ
large has begun to focus more and more on foreign arms sales as another avenue of profit. As
these companies dominate the international weapons market, they benefit from the multitude of
other international buyers with whom the United States cuts foreign policy deals in exchange for
these weapons. Although the traditional aspects of the military-industrial complex still exist, this
shifting landscape has increased the influence of these firms in a new realm of United States.
++++++++
China condemning Israel and not Hamas is REALLY bad news. They appear to be picking the Palestinians/Arab world over Israel.
If a major war breaks out, we could quickly have Russia, China, North Korea and much of the Middle East against us.
We're already tied up with our war against Russia that has drained some weapons stockpiles down in order to kill Russians, using Ukrainians on suicide missions.
China has already picked the other side in that war. Having them on the other side in another war at the same time is the recipe for really bad things to happen for us, especially with escalating tensions between us and China, yet a 3rd potential major military conflict between our 2 countries..........and they have several other countries who are aligning closer to THEM, thanks to our disastrous foreign policy the last 2 years.
It continues to escalate and we will get different spins about what's going on based on what side is telling it!
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/99623/#99637
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Basic_Principles_of_War_Propaganda
From Israel:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Aljazeera:
This really is sickening, Jean!
They had a guest on CNN late last night that was asked.
"What was Hamas thinking? They knew Israel would come after them and obliterate them in Gaza?"
The guest agreed and claimed that Hamas did this intentionally to PROVOKE Israel to do exactly what it's doing right now.
That Israel's OVER actions will unite the Muslim world against them.
The shockingly brutal attacks by Hamas deserve a powerful response from Israel. If I were granted just 1 wish for Hamas, it would be that every one of them be captured and slowly tortured to death for what they did to Israel earlier this month.
Back in the real world, we're going to be dealing with the reaction of Israel's enemies to their OVER reactions by Israel to Hamas, just as Hamas intended.
Some good points below:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/15/opinions/israel-misunderstood-hamas-kobi-michael-bergen/index.html
MIKE ~ GOOD INTERVIEW & SICKENING PICTURES. HOW SAD