Willravel

Okay, so I wrote a post that made sense, but upon rereading it I think that co-dependant is the wrong label for the situation. If we're to delve into the parallels between the bahavior of indivituals and nation-states, I have to get my terms right. Apologies.

Let's do a breif overview of the situation. We all know about WWII and how millions of Jewish people were displaced, harassed, beaten, or killed. It was a horrible time. In the wake of WWII, the League of Nations passed a Congretional resolution to create a Jewish state. We, the members of the League, decided to give them the lands occupied and owned by Palestinians, who had formerly been under the Ottoman Empire. The US was actually the first nation to recognize the country of Israel. The first veto that the US made in the UN was to block the Syrian and Lebanese complaint against Israel. As a matter of fact, MOST of the US activity in the UN between 1967 and 1972, be it supporting or abstaining resolutions, were in support of Israel. The US was the first country to leave the weapons embargo, when in 1962, we sold the Israelis the HAWK anti-aircraft missile. The US was involved in helping Israel in the Yom Kippur War. We resupplied them against Egypt. After the conflict, the US multiplied it's aid to Israel by a factor of 4, and we became Israel's leading arms supplier, replacing France (they're still mad about it). We continue to this day to give military and economic aid, cumulatively giving over $70 trillion, and essentially making Israel the 5th most powerful military power on Earth.

Okay, so the US bassically does everything it can to help Israel in every way, we back them when they're right, we back them when they're wrong. Israel really doesn't give the US anything in return. We've never seen stability in the region change because of actions taken by Israel. If anything, conflicts like that between the Hezbollah and Israel a few months back illustrate that Israel has often enflamed the situiation in the Middle East, on occasion to the point of all out war. Israel is continually condemned for their continued human rights violations against Arabs, particularly agains the Palestinians that they displaced (not unlike the Native Americans that were displaced by Eurpoeans). They builldoze homes, they build walls around Palestinain slums, and because of that they see terrorist suicide bombings carried out by the desperate Palestinians. They live in a constant state of violence begitting violence that shows no sign of slowing.

So what does this all have to do with my point? A few things. Sympathy was the inital reason for US support. Nothing wrong with that, they went through something truely horrific and needed help. The US also figured that a stratigic ally in the Middle East would be benifical. The problem is that it wasn't just sympathy and strategic allignment, it was guilt. Not only that, but when anyone over the past 50 years has suggested that Israel was making a mistake, they were instantly labelled an anti-Semite. Let's face it, no one wants to be labelled an anti-Semite. Moving beyond that, there must be a reason beyond name calling or generations-old guilt that the US is satisfied being at the beck and call of Israel. The Senate never stops the massive aid. The president always backs them publicly.



Let's say we have two people. Let's call one Shlomo and one Steve. Shlomo was treated like garbage as a kid, and so Steve always stuck up for him. Steve thought it was unfair how people treated Shlomo, espically Adolf, and that Schlomo obviously needed a defender. Shlomo was pleased and went about his business. Shlomo was moved into an apartment with Muhammed, who had been living alone for quite some time. Muhammed didn't really get along with Shlomo, and neither did their neighbors. Ra, the downstairs neighbor got pissed and tried to kick Shlomo out of the building. Steve helped out Shlomo. Since then, Shlomo has turned the apartment with Muhammed into a virtual prison. All of Muhammed's actions are monitored and Muhammed will occasionally lash out at Shlomo. Shlomo, because of Steve's help, has become really powerful. Muhammed doesn't really have the strength to stand against Shlomo anymore, and routinely get's a beating. Everyone else is really pissed that Shlomo is being so cruel to Muhammed, but Steve is always there to defend Shlomo no matter what. Recently, Shlomo attacked Sayyed, his upstairs neighbor. Sayyed tripped Shlomo in the hall, and then Shlomo gave Sayyed a beating so bad that Sayyed landed in the hospital. Everyone condemned the act as savage and overkill as a response to being tripped. Steve still stands by defending Shlomo.

Breaking that all down, it's clear that Shlomo has gone from the recipient of bullying to being the bully, and Steve is satisfied to support the bully. Neither Steve nor Shlomo are even considering counseling, as they are in what they believe is a symbiotic relationship. If they were on my couch, I'd guess there was some sort of buy-in for Steve besides guilt. It's not that simple. What does Steve get out of this relationship? There has to be some power in the alignment with Shlomo that Steve believes that he is benifiting from. My thought is that Steve is a passive manipulator of Shlomo, and that Shlomo has become a puppet for Steve. The buy in is that Steve never gets blamed for the actions of Shlomo. Shlomo gets power, Steve gets away with manipulating people without being heald responsible for it. Steve is just considered to be too loyal if anything. It's clear that Steve doesn't really care when Sayyed or Muhammed are in trouble. Steve is apathetic and passive aggressive, empowering Shlomo to do damage. Steve has created a relationship of dependance. Meinwhile, Shlomo is a possibly a victim of or a whitness of domestic violence and now he's taking on the characteristics of the abusors including the belief system that he has the right to have power and control over others. This suggests low self esteem, and they are compensating with a sense of entitlement. How would one treat this? The patterns have to change. The hatred, violence, power, control patterns have to be addressed. Basically, there needs to be an intervention. It would take a co-op (mulitlateral involvement) with parties that actually have some level of power and influence. The problem is finding parties that have that power....moving back to reality...economic sanctions against Israel AND the US. That's what it would take. Steve and Shlomo are so strong that they can ignore everyone.