American opinion supports Israel, so far

Good.  I'm still a contrarian.  How long before Netanyahu is compared to Assad?  1,000 dead? 5,000?  10,000?  

CNN poll: Most Americans support Israel's Gaza campaignSupport for Israel has ebbed since February, but is still three times higher than support for the Palestinian Authority

A majority of Americans are sympathetic to Israel's position in the Gaza conflict, CNN found in a poll of adults conducted Friday, July 18 through Sunday, July 20 – but the network also found that support has been waning since earlier this year. It also found a clear divide by party, with Republicans approving of Israel's actions against Hamas by an overwhelming majority, while less than half of Democrats approve.
Whatever their political bent, opinions seem quite clear, with few undecided. The CNN/ORC International poll, released Monday, found that 57% of respondents said Israel's actions in Operation Protective Edge are justified, while over a third said they were unjustified, CNN reports.
While 43 percent found Israel to be using the "right" amount of force in the struggle with Hamas, nearly 40 percent thought it is using too much.
CNN polling chief Keating Holland notes that support in the United States for Israel is firm: A 2012 poll found the same 57 percent supporting Israel's actions in the last struggle with Hamas, Operation Cast Lead.
Republicans are clearer supporters of Israel, with 73 percent approving of Israel's actions in Gaza, compared with 45 percent of Democrats and 56 percent among independents.
The figures could still change: On Monday, Democratic icon Hillary Clinton spoke out in Israel's favor, repeatedly stressing during a Q&A session at Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco that Israel was "provoked" by Hamas into the current conflict, Politico reports.
As for the waning support, a February poll found that 72 percent of Americans support Israel. That figure has dropped to 60 percent – but that's still three times the support for the Palestinian Authority, of which only 20 percent of Americans have a positive view.
Meanwhile, demonstrations for and against Israel's actions in Gaza have been spreading, most lately to Australia and Japan, where 500 people held a silent demonstration. Some protests have taken a violent turn, notably in London, and in Paris – where synagogues and Jewish stores were attacked, looted and burned. Other violent protests erupted in Turkey and elsewhere. There have also been numerous demonstrations in solidarity with Israel, notably in the United States and in London.

Images from the past 24 hours follows.

  

One view of India's stance on the Israel-Gaza War.

One view of India's stance on the Israel-Gaza War.  The Diplomat is based in Tokyo.  

Images of the War zone follow.

The Diplomat

Why Is India Silent on the Israeli Operation in Gaza?India has grown closer to Israel in recent years and is thus less willing to make moral pronouncements on Palestine.
By Sanjay KumarJuly 18, 2014
For the last few days, there have been some protests across India against the current Israeli operation in Palestine. The capital, New Delhi, witnessed a solidarity march, which included students and civil rights activists. Police, however, prevented the demonstrators from reaching the Israeli Embassy, leading to complaints of heavy-handedness as some of the protestors were injured. Many of those protesting against Israel, in addition to criticizing its operation in Gaza, are upset about India’s silence over the issue. According to Kavita Krishnan, the secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association, “the Palestinian cause is not only about the people of Palestine but is also about the spirit of India which shares a similar anti-colonial history and has been a leader of the third world.”
The Palestinian issue has taken a back seat in the Indian consciousness. This is partly due to the fact that the media is not reporting much on the issue. However, the Palestinian issue used to be more important for India in the past. Thus, it is strange that the current crisis in the Middle East has failed to generate any debate in a majority of television channels and major newspapers in India.
It is possible that the media’s position reflects the changing attitude the government in New Delhi has towards Israel and Palestine. The government does not see the Palestinian issue as meriting much comment. Since the crisis in Gaza began, the Indian government has released only one statement on the conflict. The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that “India is deeply concerned at the steep escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine, particularly [the] heavy air strikes on Gaza resulting in [the] tragic loss of civilian lives and heavy damage to property. At the same time, India is alarmed at the cross border provocations resulting from rocket attacks against targets in parts of Israel. India calls upon both sides to exercise maximum restraint and avoid taking actions that may further exacerbate the situation and threaten the peace and security of the region.”
Some international affairs experts call India’s position a balancing act and a sign of maturity. According to these individuals, India is showing pragmatism by not holding to the pro-Palestinian foreign policy that some previous governments maintained. Many early prominent nationalist leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru openly supported the Palestinian cause and since 1947, most governments of an independent India supported the creation of a Palestinian homeland. However, after the Cold War ended, India established ties with Israel in 1992 and has moved closer to it in recent years. Subsequently, India has been less supportive of Palestine.
Nonetheless, there are also some who view India’s present stand as an abdication of its international responsibilities and as a sign of shortsightedness.
“If India wants to be recognized as a regional power and a major international player it should  be taking a clear moral position on this issue and we cannot shirk our historical role by forwarding the argument of pragmatism,” says Sujata Aishwarya Cheema, a professor at the Center for West Asian Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. Cheema also blamed the role of the Indian media in failing to highlight the issue and mitigate public outrage over Israel. Cheema argued that the “mainstream media is hand in glove with the Indian government and toes the MEA line by not highlighting an issue which has been agitating large sections of Indian society. The majority of them are not doing independent reporting and this is really not good for a vibrant democracy like India.”
Additionally, the English daily The Hindu published an editorial on the ongoing conflict noting that “the studied avoidance of taking clear moral positions on the Palestinian issue hardly augurs well for a country with global aspirations, as evidenced by New Delhi’s advocacy for membership in the United Nations Security Council. Pragmatism also demands that India weighs in strongly on the unresolved Israel-Palestinian issue, a region that is vital for India’s economy and energy security. Fears of a blowback from Israel … may be exaggerated, given the relationship of deep interdependence that New Delhi and Tel Aviv have developed over the years.”
This Tuesday, opposition political parties tried to raise the issue of Palestine in India’s Parliament but the government refused to take a stand or condemn the killings of innocent civilians in Gaza. It is unlikely that India will say anything more regarding this issue. Today, Israel is one of the biggest suppliers of arms to India and closer ties between the United States, Israel, and India have changed India’s foreign policy calculus.
However, a changed strategic situation is not always reason enough to alter a policy that has placed India at the side of all those who struggle against oppression. A struggle against colonialism has shaped our history and traditional foreign policy consensus. Can we claim our rightful place in the world by bypassing our own history?

There have been one Israeli civilian death; 550 Palestinian deaths, most of them children.  I don't know why a distinction is drawn between civilian and military deaths: dead is dead and those left behind grieve as deeply for a soldier as for a civilian.

Google images of the Gaza War from the past 24 hours:

  

  

Turkish oil wrestling ( yağlı güreş): newly found post

A 2012 MAKEDO.RU blog, with images from the 2012 Kirkpinar, appeared in a 2014 google search for oil wrestling competitors.  Here are some images from this excellent post:

Группа молодых последователей борцов наблюдает за поединком в стороне, лёжа на траве

Контактное состязание Kirkpinar

Борьба продолжается и на земле

Попытка захвата, но на самом деле всё не так и просто

Борцы ждут своего выхода и наблюдают за конкурентами со стороны

Победивший борец лежит на траве

[The winning wrestler lying on the grass]

Jews, Arabs, an Tuvans: it is better to be free of besotting, conflicting religions that to be subject to it, and you may not have a choice.

The Russian Republic of Tuva has no standing army; no image of its small police force appears on Google; it has no wealth lusted after by any nation;  its religions seek no converts and no one seeks to convert its people; it is at peace.

 This 2013 story -- pretty interesting -- is the latest and most awful news story of violence in Tuva.    Would that Gazans could say he same.

In case of murder of the Tuva athlete Chechen oola Mongush new person involved: the former deputy of parliament of Tuva is detained Investigators of the Tuva SK suspect the former deputy of the Supreme Hural of "Parliament" of Tuva Roman Mongush of murder of athlete Chechen oola Mongush which body was found in forest area on June 18.

"Indications of the man raised doubts as the victim perfectly knew wrestling and self-defense receptions (It was the master of sports of the International class on free-style wrestling, from 14 years was engaged in wrestling - a comment of Sibnovosti). Thanks to competently held investigative and operational search events the new proofs testifying to commission of crime by a group of persons" were got - is spoken in the message.
Now on suspicion in murder of the athlete one more person involved Roman Mongush, the former deputy of the Supreme Hural of the Republic of Tuva is detained, transfers the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on RT.
Both suspects are detained now. 

Let's remind, on June 9 40-year-old Chechen ool Mongush entered into a judiciary board on tournament on national wrestling Huresh. After competitions home didn't return.
On this fact of SU of SKR across Tuva brought criminal case according to p.1 Art. 105 of the criminal code of Russian Federation (murder). On June 18 on suspicion in murder of the athlete the 23-year-old inhabitant of the village Seserlig of the Pius-Hemsky region of Tuva, working as a tabunshchik was detained. It gave evidences that between it and the athlete who, according to him, was in an alcohol intoxication, there was a conflict; as a result the suspect strangled Mongush a switch then took out a body to the wood.

 

Here's the champion wrestler who was strangled to death by a whip, and the village he came from:

Here are some current images of Tuva:

Cursed is the land 

besotted by conflicting religions: 

 especially if  the religions each traces its origin

 to the murderous, mad Prophet Abraham.

Here are images from Gaza posted in the last 24 hours:

What is it about the madness engendered by being attacked

that Israeli and Gazans don't understand?

9/ll -- proportionately a tiny injury to the U.S. body politic -- whipped Americans into a murderous frenzy from which they are only now recovering.  Should anyone expect better from Gazans or Israeli?

Here is an article posted by The Guardian yesterday:

The people of Gaza are facing the bloody consequences of Israel's dramatic escalation of the 10-day conflict and Hamas's intransigence in the face of mounting calls for a ceasefire. As Israel pressed ahead with a ground offensive in Gaza on Saturday morning, the death toll of Palestinians rose above 300, many of them children.

Here is an article posted by Liberté Algérie yesterday:

Plus belliqueux que jamais, plus provocant qu’il ne l’a été jusqu’ici, Benyamin Netanyahu multiplie ostensiblement les préparatifs pour une opération terrestre de grande envergure contre les deux millions de Palestiniens emmurés dans l’enclave de Gaza, soumis depuis sept jours à des frappes incessantes et de plus en plus meurtrières. [Google translation:  More belligerent than ever, more challenging than it has been so far, Benjamin Netanyahu multiplies ostensibly preparations for a ground operation against the large two million Palestinians in the walled enclave of Gaza, subjected for seven days to incessant strikes and increasingly deadly.

Jeremiah 8:11

"Therefore I will give their wives to others, Their fields to new owners; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is greedy for gain; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices deceit. 11"They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, 'Peace, peace,' But there is no peace. 12"Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, And they did not know how to blush; Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time of their punishment they shall be brought down," Says the LORD.…

Chant by Cambodians in the Pol Pot Killing Fields, friends and relatives murdered on all sides of them:

Hatred never ceases by hatred,

but by love alone is healed;

This is a great and eternal law. 

America is a warrior country.  A founding Father:

Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Many a Palestinian and many an Israeli seem, from here, to share Patrick Henry's passionate preference for death to submission.


 I want from me the Cambodian chant, if ever I am attacked; and I don't expect, yet, to be able to deliver it.  Hard lesson to learn, even on a far-off Island in the Middle of the Pacific Ocean.

I will know why we human animals, alone amongst all the animals in the world, slaughter one another with a passion unsurpassed.  

Elephants don't do it; whales don't do it, panthers don't do it. Mice, overcrowded, don't do it.

 Do we kill unstintingly only because we can?  Only because we know we'll produce more of us than we kill?  Because of our great passion for producing more and more of us?   

 I will know why we do what we do by my 90th birthday.  If you know already, please tell.