For the Record: Hippies Corner

 

Left to right, Tommy Smothers, John Lennon, Timothy Leary, and Yoko Ono, at a 1969 Bed-In, via Wikipedia.

Some thoughts on civilian casualties in World War II lead, improbably, to a wan little glimmer of hope.

Re Gaza,there are lots of people with very bad moral sensibilities who are just on the wrong side for very stupid reasons. But there are some who acknowledge that Israel is on the "right" side, but just have a fantasy that there is some way of beating a determined, immoral enemy…

— David Bernstein (@ProfDBernstein) November 12, 2023

But I’m not talking about fire, bombing cities, or intentionally targeting civilians, these were just people who died in the course of urban warfare, or the Normandy invasion. Maybe more care could’ve reduced civilian casualties somewhat, but only that

— David Bernstein (@ProfDBernstein) November 12, 2023

Well, if you only want to talk about trivial matters that's your lookout. Poland lost some 6 million civilians, USSR between 4.5 million and 10 million, Germany from 1.5 million to 3 million, Japan and Korea well over a million. Not counting starvation and disease.

— Yas We Can @yastreblyansky.bsky.social (@Yastreblyansky) November 13, 2023

I guess improved legal control over air forces establishing norms of what constitutes a legitimate target and acceptable level of "collateral damage" to limit bombing. Those were the main areas of focus for people trying to change things after the war. https://t.co/ePlELcjgYx ...

— Yas We Can @yastreblyansky.bsky.social (@Yastreblyansky) November 13, 2023

The worst thing that emerges from the report linked above is the dishonesty of commanders claiming a particular action is strategically necessary when it isn't. The worst example is the struggle in the Korean War between bomb-happy generals like MacArthur and civilian control...

— Yas We Can @yastreblyansky.bsky.social (@Yastreblyansky) November 13, 2023

to allies like Saudi Arabia in Yemen or Israel in Gaza. The arguments we hear from Israeli spokespeople explaining why some target had to be hit are eerily similar to the ones American forces used in 70 years ago in Korea. It's very depressing.

— Yas We Can @yastreblyansky.bsky.social (@Yastreblyansky) November 13, 2023

In the typical 21st-century war, though, one party could be enough, because these are so radically asymmetrical--the party with all the conventional power could rigorously adhere to it, and it could confer an advantage (making it easier for the enemy to negotiate).

— Yas We Can @yastreblyansky.bsky.social (@Yastreblyansky) November 13, 2023

What Rabin referred to as "the peace of the brave" was always going to take exceptional courage.

— Yas We Can @yastreblyansky.bsky.social (@Yastreblyansky) November 13, 2023

Hamas and Likud always opposed them, and still do, along with Likud's religious-fanatic allies. Netanyahu explicitly supported Hamas until a month ago for this reason, allowing them to receive funding from Qatar. https://t.co/qWXn6MOgwU

— Yas We Can @yastreblyansky.bsky.social (@Yastreblyansky) November 13, 2023

The peace process, Oslo in particular, belonged to Israeli and Palestinian left, but both of these have been almost destroyed by the Sharon and Netanyahu governments. Netanyahu's colossal failures over last year, especially October 7, plus his criminality, could change that.

— Yas We Can @yastreblyansky.bsky.social (@Yastreblyansky) November 13, 2023

Now in Tel Aviv Israeli left wing activists call to end the war and for ceasefire outside the ministry of defense headquarters pic.twitter.com/mygrkLaUfS

— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) November 11, 2023

All year, the Israeli left has been working to stop Netanyahu's effort to remake the justice system (and not incidentally keep himself out of prison), but been mostly unable to bring itself to reference the Palestinian cause. That's changed now.