The US is NOT Israel's lapdog

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  • yosi
    yosi NYC Posts: 3,167
    The relevancy of the discussion, briefly, is that Mearsheimer and Walt make the claim that Islamist anger at the US is largely due to the US's support of Israel. The reviewer in the piece I posted points out that Said Qutb (the intellectual grand-daddy of modern Islamists) was plenty angry at the US before 1967. Since before '67 the US wasn't backing Israel in any really meaningful way the reviewer concludes that insofar as US-Israel relations was a factor in Qutb's anger at the US it could only have been because the US had recognized Israel at its founding, which was at that point the extent of the relationship.

    As for now...I don't get the "lapdog" thing (and I'm actually a bit uncomfortable with it). The idea that Israel somehow controls the US government or US foreign policy ("lapdog" implies subservience) is absurd. The US is the far stronger power here. There's no way that Israel could dictate what the US does. Insofar as the US supports Israel it does so because it chooses to do so, not because it is made to.

    You could of course argue that Israel DOES actually secretly control the US government, but then you're getting into some ugly waters...
    you couldn't swing if you were hangin' from a palm tree in a hurricane

  • polaris_x
    polaris_x Posts: 13,559
    lapdog is obviously not a scientific term and can be open to interpretation as to the extent of its nature ...

    first and foremost - you must understand that the US gov't is a corporatized entity that is controlled largely by large corporations and various special interests groups ... the corrupt individuals that by and large represent the decision makers are beholden to the their "supporters" ... the jewish lobby in the US has an disproportionate amount of power ...

    why do you assertain that the US chooses to provide substantial foreign "aid" to Israel even tho they are a well-off country? ... why are they essentially vetoing any resolution pertaining to israel? ... why do they end up always publicly supporting israel in the world of public opinion?

    without even getting into the who's at fault in this conflict ... you have to be believe that israel is not inncoent of all accusations against it ... yet, without fail - the US is always supportive of israel ... sure, they may say a few things in the media but support is essentially unconditional ... dogs usually give unconditional love ...

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