Israel in Focus

WWI and WWII has taught us lessons that can never be forgotten. Both in terms of the deadly cost of war, and the way to treat a nation when war seems possible. Casualty estimates for WWI are 15-22 million, with around another 23 million injured. For WWII, the casualty estimate is between 60 to 75 million across the world. The high-end total is 100 million deaths, higher than the population of 90% of the countries that currently exist. No one can deny the importance of this lesson. War is deadly, and the price of war is high.

The other lesson we can learn is how to treat a nation in the buildup to a war. For WWI, the general agreement among experts is that the reaction by Germany was not imperialistic. Yes, Britain, France, and Germany were imperialistic countries, especially in Africa, yet the assassination of Franz Ferdinand created a legitimate response, which was not imperialistic. Yet, Britain and France responded with immense force as if they were dealing with an imperialistic entity. This developed into the war we now know about, and it’s ending with the Treaty of Versailles. The buildup to WWII is famous for the Munich Agreement. Neville Chamberlain famously declared he had brought “peace in our time,” yet resigned when he realised he had failed. The Munich Agreement is the perfect example of what not to do when dealing with an imperialistic entity. Do not give it what it wants. Do not try to appease it. When facing an imperialistic entity, you need to take a stand, united, and show it that it will not succeed and that it should back down from its demands and hopes.

These are the two lessons we learn from the world wars, yet Europe chose to learn the wrong one. Europe learnt the first lesson and decided it meant we do not fight, as we don’t want to die. Which makes sense until you realise they actually are not willing to fight, even when they are going to be killed. The ISIS coalition was the last time that Europe showed its willingness to fight, which was correct and still is. Yet the more subtle imperialism that exists in the world is ignored by Europe, and they do not fight it. This is both cultural imperialism, hence the Western push for multiculturalism, and countries that hide their imperialistic nature. Multiculturalism is very good and useful when there is mutual respect between the cultures. However, religious and secular multiculturalism is nearly impossible unless you are dealing with very moderate groups on both sides. Look at the Western world, you will see moderate religious groups have lived there for a very long time peacefully and respectfully. Look at it now, and you see the extremist religious groups increasing, which is causing the cultural divide in the West. It triggered a backlash by the secular groups, which have also shifted more extreme and less tolerant of even moderate religious groups. This is one of the fights of the modern world. Culture War.

The other fight is conventional warfare. A fight for territory, either physically taking over the territory or establishing a friendly ruling power. Europe is trying so hard to avoid the cost of war that it is going to cause a war even more costly. One can argue that what is going on in Ukraine is actually good for Europe. Russia is significantly weakened and stuck in a forever war with Ukraine, enabling Europe to prepare for war with Russia at its own pace without casualties. Potentially even preventing war with Russia by sacrificing Ukraine, but not in the way they did in 1938 with Czechoslovakia by handing it over to Germany. Instead, they are letting them fight while supporting Ukraine enough to keep the fight going. However, the way Europe treats Iran seems completely illogical. Europe doesn’t treat Iran as an imperialistic entity when it clearly is. The Islamic Regime has continually stated its desire to destroy Israel and the USA, as well as to establish the world caliphate according to Islam and sharia law. Textbook imperialism.

Trump has taken the correct action in this situation. Just like Europe is taking the correct action with Russia.

Trump’s actions on Russia seem to be confusing unless he believes Russia is not imperialistic, and then it makes sense.

Israel is perceived as imperialistic by a large portion of the world, yet it clearly isn’t. Israel, at best, wants the territory taken after 1967, apart from the Sinai Desert. Any other territory it takes is purely from a defensive position due to the desire of its neighbouring countries to destroy it.