Middle East

[Beer Snob]

Does anyone know someone in the middle of that mess? I do. Hey there is something seriously wrong with you when you decide to take your family on a vacation to Israel. Hoping he comes back in one piece so I can kill him myself.

 

[BrewProject]

my sister and her family went a few years ago. i thought she was nuts then, but now, that's just certifiably insane....

who do you know there? family?

 

[Beer Snob]

No. Not family. He has been a friend for years. Just decided to go to Isreal. Deeply nuts.

 

[BrewProject]

No. Not family. He has been a friend for years. Just decided to go to Isreal. Deeply nuts.

well here's to him coming home safely, so you can kick his ass or talk some sense into him...

 

[Ize]

My brother-in-law's oldest daughter is a medical student in Israel. She just happens to be home right now. I'm assuming for the duration but you never know with 20-somethings...

Her longtime boyfriend however is NOT. He's still in Beer-Shiva (real name, make your own joke here______) My brother-in-law talked to him last night, apparently, other than high flying jets, according to him, you wouldn't know anything was going on... Minimal news coverage... Make of that what you want when it comes to information distribution....

I'm sorry, but anytime anything blows up (no pun intended) in that neck of the planet I tend to get uptight...


Ize

 

[todd_k]

when American's do stupid things like this I just call it Natural Selection. 25k US citizens are in Lebanon? Doing WHAT?

 

[Truble]

I would assume that many are like some people that I work with. They are 1st or 2nd generation US citizens that have moved back to Lebanon to either get in touch with their roots, or have become wealthy and moved back to live in their country of lineage. I know people from both sides of the fence in this one.

Funny enough, I know of some Syrian and Lebanese nationals who work with, and are vey close friends with, a number of Israeli Nationals. We have many Middle Eastern folks working at my company. Seems that many that embrace American culture, values, and freedoms, seem to be able to get over the religious gap and respect others.

 

[Fatabbot]

when American's do stupid things like this I just call it Natural Selection. 25k US citizens are in Lebanon? Doing WHAT?

20K of those are people who hold dual US/Lebanese citizenship. So it's not like it's Joe Blow here in the U.S. that decided to go to Lebanon.

 

[user 574]

I had a friend and her husband who was over there from July 1st - 14th. She said they were safe where they were (apparently not Northern). Ditto smacks to her but it was only Gaza when she arrived.

 

[Catfish]

When ever I go home to the states people warn me about what a dangerous country it is. You really need to play it safe in countries like that.

 

[Fatabbot]

When ever I go home to the states people warn me about what a dangerous country it is. You really need to play it safe in countries like that.

haha, I've heard the same thing about the U.S.

People around the world think we all run around scared of gun violence and all the poor people who might mug us

 

[Cheesefood]

Does anyone else get the feeling that a world war is imminent? I'm usually not the type to blow war out of proportion, but things are getting tense these days:

1. Israel and Hezbollah
2. Israel and Palestine
3. Israel and Iran
4. Iran and US
5. N. Korea and A LOT of countries
6. Iraq
7. Syriah

Now, the U.S. is supposedly "Police of the World" but we simply don't have enough water to cool all those fires. Other countries are going to have to step in, which means that other countries enemies are going to get involved.

This could get REALLY nasty if they don't figure things out. Makes me glad I'm in Chicago. No missiles are likely to hit us here. We're on the opposite side of most of the world.

 

[Fatabbot]

Yeah, a bigger showdown could loom.....

The real danger isn't a protracted war between Israel and it's immediate neighbors, or even Iran. It's that one second that Israel decides that it's very existence is now in question (i.e. chemical terrorist attack, Tehran's first nuclear test, etc.). Tehran will be the world's largest mass of glass.....

These actions we've seen lately are child's play compared to what could happen in a few different scenarios.

However, this conflict will be short lived, most likely, and we'll go back to the status quo.

Israel AND Iran have way too much to lose by having direct warfare between themselves. That will be the only thing keeping things from going totally ape****.

 

[homebrewer_99]

20K of those are people who hold dual US/Lebanese citizenship. So it's not like it's Joe Blow here in the U.S. that decided to go to Lebanon.

I'm not certain you're right. I know other countries allow dual-citizenship, but the US does not allow it for US citizens. For you and me (born here) we'd have to give up our citizenship to become a citizen of another country.

 

[Fatabbot]

I'm not certain you're right. I know other countries allow dual-citizenship, but the US does not allow it for US citizens. For you and me (born here) we'd have to give up our citizenship to become a citizen of another country.

Well, just did a 2 second news search:

The US state department estimates about 25,000 US citizens, including people with dual citizenship, live in Lebanon, although holiday visits could mean many more are there.

http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=10364

Also heard the deputy Sec of State say just this morning that 20K or so of those with U.S. citizenship in Lebanon are dual-nationals.

Besides, not many people are born here and choose to migrate to Lebanon, as would apply in your argument above. Most of those are people born in Lebanon, moved to the U.S. during the mass exodus during the Lebanese Civil War, and then moved back to Lebanon.

 

[the_bird]

Yeah, but I'm almost positive the reverse is not true. If you "start out" as a citizen of another country, I'm pretty sure you can then become an American citizen as well without giving up your original citizenship. You may be right about the reverse; if you are born an American citizen and want to become a citizen of another country, you give up your U.S. citizenship. That sounds right, but I'm not sure, never paid too much attention to it.

 

[Truble]

You can have dual citizenship, it is just that the U.S. does not recognize other citizenships from a legal perspective. For instance, I am a citizen in both Ireland and the United States. My Irish citizenship is non-existant to the US since I am a US citizen and live here. It does afford me the ability to work in the E.U. if I so chose, and I can own land in Ireland, though recently they started allowing non-citizens to own land.

 

[the_bird]

There are some good FAQs on dual citizenship here, if anyone wants to get into detail:

http://www.richw.org/dualcit/#Overview

 

[Beer Snob]

Just read that Isreal could decide to send in ground troops. You know i really have no idea where I stand in this issue. I suppose I'm glad that Isreal is finally doing what it takes to solve the problem as they see it. In the past I suppose I have seen thier reactions as pressures from other countries. The only reason Bush is not saying anything is that he waged his own "war on terror" and Isreal happens to be helping his point of view.

 

[Fatabbot]

In the past I suppose I have seen thier reactions as pressures from other countries.

What countries? While the U.S. has given tacit support to Israel in their actions, the Israelis could really give two sh*ts what the world thinks.

I've always been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, but I have to agree with what Israel's doing now. Hezbollah is the easily the most powerful, well organized, well funded, well supplied terrorist organization in the world. Any half reaction or tit-for-tat attacks would just ensure that our kids would be hearing the same daily reports of Israeli shelling of Southern Lebanon or Hezbollah rockets landing in northern Israel. Wars are stopped for two reasons: All sides giving ground or the use of disproportionate force. It's obvious that Hezbollah (and their Syrian and Iranian supporters) find no comfort in peace. If a stability would find a long-term anchor in Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East, groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad or Hezbollah would become irrelevant.

So out of the two paths to peace, which one do you think Israel has to follow?

You don't defeat an enemy by fighting "fair". You defeat them by being superior. A lesson that our leaders in this country could learn. Despite what I think of our war in Iraq, I realize we could win it if any politician or leader could grow a pair and decide that we'll fight to win. Most powerful military the world's ever known, but restrained by an American political system and public that can't realize what it takes to win. Hearts and minds have never been the final objective of war.....