Well, anyone who thinks Craig is rude about Israeli politics should read what some Israelis write.
The veteran journalist Uri Avnery (veteran as in old enough to have been a refugee in 1933) wrote a typically perceptive article a few weeks ago about a little-noticed aspect of this whole saga: the ambivalent position of the Egyptians.
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1199602046
On the one hand, Egyptians presumably are horrified by what they see happening in Gaza. On the other hand, they are under tremendous pressure to keep the border sealed, and anyway Egypt is poor and cannot contemplate the prospect of 1.5 million refugees. Though an exodus into Egypt could be exactly what the Israeli right wants.

The news heavy-weight Sky is more concerned about an Australian´s, who died in the USA, funeral arrangements.
First for breaking news!

The economic/political/military elite that rules/owns Eygypt doesn't give a damn about the Palestinians in Gaza or anywhere else. They have abandoned and betrayed them. In contrast, the overwhelming majority of ordinary Eygyptians, like most people in the Middle East, feel an extraordinary level of solidarity with the plight of the Palestinians. It's this growing conflict between the attitudes of the pro-Western elite, who've surrendered to the Israelis, and the rest of the population, that is a potentially volatile and explosive mix.

Craig's second point about the slide towards authoritarianism is also valid. I believe the so-called 'terrorist threat' is lie designed to convince us that our cherished civil liberties are 'expendible' in the 'war on terror'. What's striking is how few of us are killed by terrorists compared to how many we slaughter in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia... Of course any unecessary deaths are tragic, but we need to reflect and get a sense of proportion, and look at the 'terrorist threat' rationally and soberly. Something the government and most of the mass media don't want us to do. They is way too much power and money to be made by blowing the terrorist threat out of all proportion.

Compare the numbers killed and severely injured on the roads all over Europe, year after year. The figure is around 100,000, a massive figure, yet no one talks about this a threat to our way of life and our values. The 'war on terror' is such con, with huge benefits for the State, the security services and the growing security industry, that one almost begins to think that our government must be behind the terror threat themselves!

Gordon Browne's resent remarks about the need to reform the UN and other leading international organizations are also interesting. What he seems to want is to weaken the security councils ability to delay or hinder or vote against pre-emptive war against rogue states and at the same time make it easier for the 'colonial' occupation to succeed when the wars are over.

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