[lbo-talk] Iran and the Left in a Moral Snare

[Nathan Newman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Now that's silly-- I visited Israel in 1999, the most "normal" election
>possible when everyone thought a peace deal was in the bag.  Yes, the
>country was politically divided in five different dimensions, but if
>anything many people feel that the global homogenization is flattening
>society.  Remove the polarization over foreign policy and many divisions
>would disappear.  In many ways, the success of Sharon's Kadima party was
>tapping into that desire.

-Hmm, Joel spent a lot of his early years in Israel, has family that
-was once high up in the government, and studies the regime as an
-academic and journalist. Does your visit 7 years ago trump his
-experience?

Not necessarily, but I still think it's silly hyperbole.  Israel has lots 
and lots of internal divisions, but they don't translate into chronic 
violence between groups, usually a precursor to countries that are 
threatening to break apart internally.

Where's the evidence that Israel (again) is such a special case that it 
can't handle the kinds of internal tensions that afflict many modern 
societies.    Everything about Israel has be described so hyperbolically. 
It's current politics are probably less polarized than in the past, so why 
the assertion of fundamental polarization?

Nathan Newman