who, my friend, has the right to defend themselves?

and by the way, since when did the right to defend yourself become code for the right to offend others? yeah, that's right; since we started using the phrase in that very way. so, obama tells us that israel has the right to defend itself. it apparently does this by offending others. and yet, these others do not have the same right to defend themselves, or to offend israel. this line of reasoning is the peak of hypocrisy; it elevates israeli suffering, while ignoring the far greater suffering of gaza. but of course, hypocrisy is endemic to the american power structure. it is naive of us to think this hypocrisy would get up and run away simply because a democrat has taken power, tan though he may be. so, "democracies" have the right to defend themselves, but wasn't hamas democratically elected? better to not think of that for too long. and is it only democracies that have "the right to defend themselves?" what of colonized people? for example, on november 9th, 1981, a vote passed in the un by the count of 126 to 1. the only nation that voted against it was the u.s. i presume israel voted fot it, unless they abstained. the resolution gives "the right of every state to choose its economic and social system in accord with the will of the people, without outside interference in whatever form it takes." i would like to look obama in the eye and ask him if he feels israel has allowed these freedoms to the palestinian people. and, if they have not, at what point would the palestinians gain the "right to defend themselves?"

in our upside down world, it is those who have the greatest military arsenals, who get to lecture the rest of us about peace. they get to tell us who can defend themselves and who can't. and, best of all, we all get to go along and pretend that the entire thing represents progress and change