The Olympics of Crocodile Tears and the Middle East.
Measuring grievances and victimhoods is the exercise in frustration.
Sure enough team A has grievances against team B. And visa versa. Sure enough there are people who take Team A grievances more seriously. While others are bending over backwards to understand the suffering of Team B.
One have to be very skeptical of these discourses. Were we not forced to witness the endless establishment discourse about genocidal Putin and his innocent victims -- democracy-oriented Ukrainians. Didn't we just witness the endless establishment discourse about evil antivaxxers and the trail of tears that they have left behind. Why shouldn’t one be skeptical about the discourse promoted by British or American liberal establishment, and the holier-than-thou liberal Jews, who denounced Russia, Israel, Trump and everything else right of Bernie, with the vehemency of a madman stepping on the same rakes and getting angrier and angrier in the process. I sure am skeptical of this discourse, simply because I've witnessed this self-righteous discourse about evil Russians, Serbs, Iraqis or Iranians a for too many times.
If one decides to look beyond this tear-Olympics, a rather different picture emerges. That of gladiators butchering each other in order to entertain Roman Empire. Yes, there are cruel Romans --neocons--who enjoy seeing blood and demand its constant flow. And there are sensitive Romans--neolibs-- who love to shed their crocodile tears over losing gladiators and despise the brutal ones, while attending the coliseums with the same sick fascination as their neocon opponents.
I hope this analogy is clear. If not, let me spell it out for you. Western/NATO Empire loves to see its victims butchering each other. The process used to be called “divide and conquer.” And yes, there is a liberal wing of western empire, which has this spasmodic desire for virtue signaling. Let me call the first group, the Team of Crocodiles, and another the Team of Crocodile Tears. It is this group which now sheds tears for poor Ukrainians, poor Palestinian children and so on. That's the extend of it. Being rather sentimental, I understand the impulse, behind the Team of Crocodile Tears, but knowing a bit of history, I take my distance from it. As I said, I've been fooled before.
And what does the history teach us? A simple story. It is the West (Brits, Spaniards, Americans, French, Dutch, Belgians and so on) which did all they could to enslave the rest of the world, and turn some of those slaves into gladiators. Exactly like Romans did. And yes, Jews, those who survived, that is, proved to be extremely successful fighters. Having been expelled if not exterminated from England, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Poland, Ukraine and Germany, those survivors proved rather powerful opponents. Clearly not a match to Arabs living in Middle East, and subject to all sorts of more lenient empires, like Ottomans. Such lenience didn't prepare them for the blood sport.
And now the denizens of the West, having divided themselves into Teams of Crocodiles and Crocodile Tears watch with interest the gladiator fights, some cheering for stronger, others for weaker. Frankly, I find it degrading to join any team of spectators. And yes, as it happened before, one of these days, the gladiators will find new Spartacus, new leader, who would not care, who you are, Jew, Greek or Palestinian, and would unite the victims of Empire, and lead the slaves against it; against this very empire, which subjected them to cruel sport to begin with. And history does know such Spartacus, who didn't care who you are remembering only that we were all children of God.
In the meantime, those of my friends, who think that the Team of Crocodile Tears, led by Caitlyn Johnstone, Aron Mate, Norman Finkelstein, and other witting or unwitting servants of the Empire who decided that a successful gladiator is no longer a gladiator and a slave, but equal to Roman Emperors only because one of those royals decided to take one of those gladiators for a lover, feel free to join them in shedding their tears and expressing their outrage or misguided sense of justice.
A much better way to solve this thorny problem in the middle east is to give parts of Germany, Spain, Portugal, England, and so on to Israelis. Two state solution, if you wish. Let there be EU, and Jewish EU. But until the west actually does that, I suggest those Westerners from the Team Crocodile Tears to be a bit more modest. It is sort of vulgar to kick people from their land, lock them up on a tiny island, and watch them fight for survival, cheering now for the strong, now for the weak.
