I implied this because you quite explicitly claimed that Iran is a rational actor, and that instead of worrying about Iran that all should worry about Israeli "atrocities" as if the Iranians are not committing "atrocities" at this very moment as well.

And for your citation

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2013/11/06/In-Assads-Syria-Iranians-are-calling-the-shots/UPI-80771383760409/

Except Iran doesn't execute "homosexuals". They executed two teenagers for rape. But why let facts get in the way of your demonization campaign?

And I like how you;'re once again pretending like you give a fig about gay people.

Conservatives love gay people if it means it can make them feel better about carpet bombing a country.

"much more powerful than the near-figurehead president has to be a cleric"

A near figure-head? Then why was Ahmadinejad the west's pin cushion for 8 years, if he was supposedly powerless? Why was such a big deal made about the supposedly 'rigged' elections? You don't know what you're talking about.

The President controls the cabinet ministries, the national security council, submits the budget, signs laws, can declare war, implement martial law, issues executive orders, etc. This is not a figure-head position. The Faqih largely stays in the background, except on certain matters of national security. For example I believe Khamanei and Ahmadinejad had a conflict over the director of intelligence.

You are misinformed about the Guardian Council. Half the members are not clerics, and are approved by the elected parliament. The council is essentially a constitutional court. Indeed it is appointed much the same way as the US Supreme Court. They determine whether laws are compatible with the constitution. This isn't very different than many other western democracies.

And furthermore their decisions are not final, they can be overriden by the expediency council. Another institution which is comprised of numerous non-clerics.

"I relish how silly you look even writing such an anachronistic term of abuse"

There is no better term for your servile enthusiasm for American aggression.

Don't feel bad Mendax. Santa has a habit of insinuating anybody who criticizes Israel is an anti-Semite. He doesn't necessarily care about what is going on in Syria, or if he's siding with Saudi supported jihadists and cannibals in his effort to attack Iran, or if Iran is defending a secular and progressive country that is defending ethnic minorities from racist Islamists, or if Israel is backing these same jihadists, he just wants everybody to shut up about Israel.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Peres-throws-his-weight-behind-US-plan-to-arm-Syria-rebels-316898

Never insinuated mendax is anti Semitic. I want an explanation for his clear hypocrisy.

Do I think there is an unspoken, unrealized anti semitism inherent in the fact that while a brutal war is raging where tens of thousands are dying, Israel remains the darling whipping boy of the world. Yes.

Do I think that those who adhere to the "forget about everything else, blame vilify Israel" strain of foreign policy commentary are anti Semitic. No.

I do believe that when one makes a statement like mendax it is hypocritical.

"Never insinuated mendax is anti Semitic. "

Give it a post or two.

"unrealized anti semitism inherent in the fact that while a brutal war is raging where tens of thousands are dying, Israel remains the darling whipping boy of the world. Yes"

But the fact that Iraq was annihilated twice-over for having a weapons program, Syria is having jihadists unleashed on them for the same reason, and Iran is being sanctioned to death for having a peaceful nuclear program while Israel sits happily with nukes isn't hypocrisy at all, right?

No, must be the world is anti-semitic.

Funny what the syrian civil war and the Russian propaganda machine can do to putins view of Israel. I guess legitimizing russia's brutal crackdown in Chechnya has taken a back seat to supporting Assad and Russia's lone Mediterranean port. I can't wait to see the tap dance Putin puts on when authoritarian Egypt enters the Russian camp.

"Funny what the syrian civil war "

Yeah the unholy alliance between Saudi jihadists and Tel Aviv will do that.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.558512

"I can't wait to see the tap dance Putin puts on when authoritarian Egypt enters the Russian camp."

Not nearly as entertaining as your willingness to look the other way as Israel aids Saudi Arabia in destroying secular progressivism throughout the Middle East and replacing it with Wahhabi client states.

Oh but you criticize Likud, that should be enough. That excuses your endorsement of the destruction of Libya (hey buddy did you notice Libya is on the verge of another civil war? I bet you still sleep like a baby though).

http://www.arabnews.com/news/480086

Putin the puppet

But I notice you completely dodged the issue of double-standards when it comes to Israel and everybody else's WMDs. It's anti-semitism if meaningless resolutions are passed condemning Israel for this or the other, but the destruction of whole countries doesn't faze register on your hypocrisy-meter.

I don't seem to remember that Israel destroyed any countries with their wmds.

No, they mostly just cheered from the sidelines or whined whenever the west didn't bomb who they wanted them to bomb.

You missed the point of course. You make a big stink because of empty condemnations but don't care at all that Israel's neighbors all get blown up while Israel gets away with doing the same thing.

Because resolutions, obviously, hurt worse than bombs.

Don't quite get the point you are making. 1 nation got blown up for wmds, and I was not too happy with that war.

You whine that Israel is the world's whipping boy when Iraq was invaded twice and sanctioned with crippling inhumane sanctions in between those wars; when Iran is being economically suffocated even though there the US's own intelligence estimates say they aren't pursuing nukes; and when Syria is being threatened with war for having chemical weapons and nobody does anything when Syria lodged a complaint about rebel chemical weapons attacks ages ago.

When looking at all of what is going on in the Middle East, you want to make that case that Israel is the one being unfairly targeted, the one being held to a higher standard. Israel, the country that has nuclear weapons and chemical weapons and nobody has done a thing about it. They are unfairly targeted because of toothless resolutions in the UN.

Get real.

Fair point. I guess ill say this board's whipping boy.

Although of course, we were speaking of human rights violations not wmds

Is this the same Putin33 who was arguing that the settlements in the West Bank aren't illegal under international law? And who had no problem with how Israel carries out the occupation in general?

How flexible a mind a party-line-toeing communist must have.

Flexible? I oppose jihad, period. Whereas you're willing to support it where it supports American interests, and the Israelis are willing to support it where it aids theirs, I'm not willing to support it anywhere. Not in Palestine, not in Syria, not in Libya, nowhere.

I prefer Jewish occupation to sharia law. I prefer Assad's rule to Wahhabism. Sorry if you don't agree.

If the Israelis kept to their own devices and managed the PLO problem, I'd be fine with them.

Give me any Proof Israelis are aiding ISIS et al

I support Jihad where it means a personal struggle to find God... is that in US interests?

Here I disagree with Putin - I am resolutely against settlements over the 1967 borders.

lol.....I just realized that what others have said is quite true -- this place is *hillarious* with Putin muted. Santa - you look downright insane! You should mute the old boy and then read this thread

You may oppose them but they're not illegal.

If every country pushed their expansion to the legal limit, we'd be on World War XVII by now.

There are few territories which do not belong to a sovereign state. The West Bank and Gaza do not. They are disputed territories taken from another power that never had title to them.

As is the whole of Israel if you want to return to 1948. At some point you've got to throw that out the window as far as I'm concerned and recognize that the Palestinian people are just as oppressed as, say, the South African black community was in the time of Mandela's uprising. They might not be on the level of the Ukrainians under Stalin or the Syrians under Assad today but you can't use that as an excuse to let them be persecuted. I'm Jewish, know countless Israeli citizens, am considering school and/or citizenship in Israel, and I'm still open to saying it. Netanyahu is pretty much the only one that's denying it at this point.

There are a number of potential solutions that work for both sides. That one hasn't been found yet is the fault of the leaders of both camps holding grudges against the other side for sins of the past rather than working toward a safer, peaceful future for both. The Arab world in general is doing the same thing. The whole thing is really pathetic.

I don't think you can equate the Palestinian and Israeli leadership in this way. For a start, the IDF can do, and have done, far more damage and caused far more civilian casualties than the rockets from Palestine. Also, in the vast majority of cases it's been the Israelis that have broken the cease fire agreements between the two.

No, Israel is a recognized state. It has title to the territory within the Armistice borders. The West Bank and Gaza belong to nobody, as far as the law is concerned. It is like any disputed territory. The settlements aren't illegal because they're voluntary. Nobody is forcing anybody to go, which is what is prohibited.

Israel isn't going to give up the territories because that would mean a total lack of strategic depth. Without the West Bank Israel is too narrow to defend itself. The only solution to safeguard Palestinian rights and Israeli security is Palestinian autonomy within an Israeli state - something like Tibet's status within China. In this way Palestinians could have self-rule while not jeopardizing the demographics of Israel, while Israel could have full control of the security and foreign policy of the country.

Whether that solution is acceptable to the Palestinians, is doubtful. But they aren't going to win the war of attrition. The Israelis aren't going anywhere.