A COMMON CONCEIT

 Israel is accused of over-retaliating for the latest atrocity 7 months ago and they could counter with the view that no, they are countering the next 50 attacks. Outsiders always think there must be some common ground where peace and understanding can bloom and grow if given a chance, however remote. Their common mistake is their naive persistence in seeing both sides as human beings and they fail to comprehend that in this case neither side perceives the other as human. The world refuses to believe it when one side calls aloud for the extermination of the other. 

Give the Israelis credit for eternal optimism though since there is always a handful willing to believe that just this once everyone will see the light and find piece.

You ever notice how hard it is to sell weapons to people who believe so greatly in peace and goodness that they would never arm themselves or allow their friends and families to arm themselves either? I think we may have run out of those people for at least a little while. We are on the other hand well within the limits set by the troop of monkeys that believed that they could outlaw war and took the dramatic step of limiting the procuring of weapons to make sure that happened. You remember them? The Kellog-Briand Pact and the Washington and London Naval Conferences of the 1920s and all those true believers that thought that if we just didn't prepare for war anymore that it wouldn't happen again? Yep, that's about where we are now except I think the Anschluss is a little nearer than people think and the League of Nations had way more credibility than the United Nations right now.