I don't think Kadima endorses Security Council Resolution 242 calling for retreat to the 1967 borders. Until 242 is applied, I think it is fair to say that Israel is maintaining an imperial occupation of the West Bank. Respecting Resolution 242, http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/240/9...

On imperialism, I agree with you that the US is not yet in an openly imperial mode. Rather, I compare it to the Roman Republic in the period leading up to Empire, when the economic and political forces were in extreme tension between traditional republican institutions and emerging military dictato...

According to Secretary of State Clinton's press comments on Feb. 3, 2009, http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/02/115864.htm , the official policy of the U.S. respecting Israel and the Palestinians is "to try to help them make progress toward a negotiated agreement that would end the conflic...

in the UK, some lawmakers are actually considering allowing for Sharia Law in British courts. According to this article in The Times of London, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4749183.ece , and this article in The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/europe/...

Saffron: Thanks for this thread. I like the U.S. policy: Under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/pdf2002/019.pdf , controversial public speech is generally permitted, because we have a representative government in which most adult citizens elect repr...

Folks: Thanks for starting this thread. I agree with the Haass & Indyk approach. I think the U.S.'s interest is in a strong, independent, secure Israel, and an eventual two-state solution respecting Israel and the Palestinians, with Israel trading land for peace. In the short term, since impleme...

Thanks, DWill, for your comments about the traits of the oven bird. They add so much to my reading of the poem. I reread Ode to a Nightingale, and today I like to see The Oven Bird as Frost's attempt to write his version of Nightingale, a New England, early 20th century version. Instead of the expan...

Grim:

Thanks for your messages. Actually, there doesn't appear to be much interest, so I've decided not to pursue the discuss on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Israel, Palestine.

About "In the Home Stretch": Another poem that middle age lets me enjoy more. Tonight it came across to me as a chance to reexperience that strange sense of time that comes upon us when we move to a new home. Viewing objects from our past evokes memories, gets us to thinking about where we...

Grim: Thanks for your message. I am assuming a more historical look at the relationships within the holistic frame of current events, what is you perspective? My original idea was for discussion focused on the present, which is why I think the discussion would be manageable. Folks are free to discus...