re: #120 Bob Levin

So you and I have to argue what the author meant by moderate. Did the author even address the point of view that some feel that comitting murder disqualifies one from being called a moderate? That would be our discussion, right? It shouldn’t. The author should have taken the time to define it more clearly. Which was my original point.

He should have simply used different terminology that people wouldn’t try to dispute. But your original point wasn’t just that he didn’t use what you thought was proper terminology, but also that the point of the article was refuted because of that. I can’t agree with that. The term was clear enough in the context of the article. If you can replace the single term with something like “less extreme factions” and the whole point of the article remains the same then an indistinct term isn’t enough to refute it.

Then you do agree that there were talks. That was also my original point. It seems as though the author wasn’t so clear on that. After all, the issue in the article wasn’t about how well the US conducted diplomacy.

Okay, but with regards to how well we conducted diplomacy it was very poor during the period described by the author. During that period we conducted some secret talks, while publicly condemning them and refusing official contact. That sort of puts a damper on the idea that these talks were serious.

re: #121 researchok

That the Palestinian economy is a failed enterprise is not the issue. That the leadership (as is most of the Arab world and Iran) are example of spectacular dysfunction is.

They are in power, they have access to huge sums of money and they use their power and money to pursue their stated racist, bigoted band genocidal goals. That cannot be swept away.

I’m trying to discuss ways that we could reduce the power of such an organization but you say that isn’t the point. Except that the economy is one of the major factors aggravating this whole mess. So if the point isn’t to negotiate with or diplomatically weaken the authority then what is the point? To paint them as totally intractable and that a military solution is the only option?