As you can see from the title, I'm going to express my opinion on what's been going on lately in the world. I base this from what I read in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, along with the evening news I watch on television every night. In writing this, I have no references beside me, and I will express my opinion from what my mind has gathered.
Lately, there are two things on my mind that I would like to spout: Israel/Palestine in Gaza, and the downing of flight 17 over Ukraine. I will be short and concise on both issues, so I will try not to make this essay too long.
First, Israel's attack on Gaza. The Israeli's are attacking Gaza to clean out tunnels full of weapons used to bomb Israel, and in retaliation for the rockets Hamas has been firing into Israel. How did all this start? (By "this" I mean the recent bombings.) When some Palestinian youth decided to kidnap three Jewish teenagers and kill them, execution style. This angered the Israelis, and in retaliation, some Israeli youths kidnapped a Palestinian youth and burned him alive. Then Hamas fired rockets into Israel. Then Israel invaded Gaza. You know the rest.
Much as the world does not want to admit this, the blame lays with the Palestinian youths who kidnapped the three teenagers and killed them. Other people are going to get mad, and with Israel, they will not take this lying down. They are going to retaliate in one form or another. If those Palestinians youths did not kidnap and kill the three teens, none of this would have happened, and the many people killed since then would still be alive. Gaza would still be intact.
So my message is simply this. Palestine: Quite killing Israelis, and quit firing rockets into Israel. Israel is going to beat the crap out of you each time, and you will lose more than you will gain. The Jews aren't going anywhere, and, as you very well know, they are not a people you want to mess with. If you don't want Israel to bomb your people, don't bomb, or kill them. It's as simple as that.
I won't leave Israel out, either. Israel: Make peace with the Palestinians, and find a way for them to have their own state. You can start by not building any more settlements on the West Bank. This angers the Palestinians. I know you want to push them out completely, but they are not going anywhere, so you better find a way to make peace and give them a state.
Now for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is a power hungry dictator who not only wants to have absolute rule over Russia for life, but also want to get back the Soviet Union, starting with Ukraine (and Georgia). He wants Ukraine in its orbit permanently, and has no regard for what the Ukrainians, or the Western Ukrainians, want. While Eastern Ukraine was to remain with Russia, Western Ukraine wants to be a part of the European Union. The only answer I see here is to let both side go the way they want. Western Ukraine may have to swallow their pride on this.
Putin needs to respect the will of the (western) Ukrainians and let them go their own merry way, whether he wants them to or not.
Look what happened. Malaysian Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine, with a Russian missile with everyone on board killed. Putin, and Russia know this, but they don't want to take the blame.
Putin, if you cannot face up to what the pro-Russian rebels has done, then you are a coward. Whenever anyone commits a major sin like that, they blame everyone but themselves. It's time for Putin and Russia to look at themselves in the mirror.
Besides, Russia is the biggest country in the world, has plenty and land and resources, and can become a prosperous country in its own right if it wanted to, but Putin is holding them back.
Russia, face up to the blame, admit what you did, and respect the will of the Ukrainian people. Most of all, get rid of Putin. He is not helping you, nor does he care about you. He only cares about himself.
Ukraine, try and find a peaceful solution. We want to have you in the E.U. and NATO, but find a way out of your civil war. If this means letting Eastern Ukraine go, then so be it. You will be better off without them.
So ends my ranting for today. I know this is simplistic, but it is also straight forward and with that, I hope you will all face up the the harsh realities of what really is, and try to take it from here.
Amen!
