Will this increase or decrease the likelihood of terrorist actions in America, Europe and the rest of the world?

If you were a member of a family murdered in this conflict, would you be seeking revenge?

Should Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert, be tried for war crimes if or when this conflict comes to an end?

What will the price of oil be in 4 weeks time?

What price a Sartrean hell of haycrapper, fred, fahel and clubman all trapped together in one another's company for eternity in Huis Clos.....with occasional guest appearances from cynic.

ITLOTB
You seem to be getting slightly out of control. Try taking some water with it.

You have no poetry in your soul, only poison. Try taking some waterboarding with it.

that's a very erudite posting of yours itlob ..... for myself, i'ld have thought a guest appearance in 'Allo 'Allo might be more apposite

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i am the boss, so please don't kick me!

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Whilst not ignoring the fanatics in Israel and Hamas, in my rather ignorant opinion the main problem in resolving this issue is the support to both from 'outside'; in the case of Israel - US, Hamas - Iran. Take away the influence of both and I suspect a peaceful resolution would eventually be found. But this is a third party war between Iran and the US (the West?) and I suspect it won't be long before it's no longer at arms length

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m

Take Iran out of the equation and there is a much better chance of a resolution, assuming that Israel are not allowed to steam roller Gaza in the process. Iran is the biggest destabilising influence in the ME and take every opportunity to wage war by proxy against the West. As evidenced by the most recent Iranian elections the moderates are becoming sick of being the World's pariah, given time I suspect they would come to the fore, but probably not before it's too late.

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Take the US out of the equation and that would stop arms going to Israel. There would be a resolution, but it wouldn't be to Israel's liking.

There is no will to solve this. Israel doesn't really want any agreement. They are just stalling so they can build more settlements.

The current possible talks are pointless as they would be between the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas , which has no legal basis, being an interim body that stopped being legitimate years ago and Israel. The other Palestinian representatives such as Hamas do not recognise these talks. Any agreements will be ignored. For a proper settlement of the issues, Israel has to move back to pre 1948 borders. The Palestinians will accept no less.

Currently the PA are working with the Israel Occupation Forces in the West Bank in rounding Hamas supporters. This is making Hamas even more popular in the West Bank. A similar thing happened in Gaza and resulted in Hamas being elected as the government. Fatah are siding with the PA and as a result they are losing support amongst the population. There were supposed to have been elections in June/July in the West Bank, but they were cancelled by the PA as they were concerned at the possible result.

Regarding NI, I think that the 'troubles' will start again in some manner. The Republicans at some stage will realise the the joint Dublin/Belfast government agreement for NI gives them nothing and does not move them closer to a united Ireland. It is a fudge and like all compromises over territory, it will fester and turn into a boil that will erupt again.

m

I do not agree that all Iran are engaged in is 'sabre rattling' such is for public consumption and yes I would agree to appease the masses. Their proxy war(s) against the West are of a much greater threat.

For once I agree with haystack, violence in NI goes through cycles, generally the populace will eventually not tolerate the terrorists and peace inevitably breaks out. The next generation (now) have not been exposed to the atrocities of the 70s/80s and will have much greater forbearance for the violence yet to come. Incidentally, its already started.

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The majority of small babies go to sleep, when they have full stomachs, warmth and comfort.

The problem is they wake up, look around and see what others are doing and feel dissatisfied.

The Middle East and Northern Island are a bit like that.

Iran isn't a scapegoat m. I can only guess you don't want to understand their foreign policy or you really don't have any idea how Iran manages its affairs. I can only think it's the latter, you're obviously a very educated chap (chapess?) capable of meaningful research if you so wished.

Part of the probelm, is that the West regards Iran as an Arab country, which it is not. They are not members of the Arab League and do not speak Arabic. The majority of Iranians are Shiite Muslims while most Arabs are Sunni Muslims.

They have a different view of the Middle East to Arabs. The Persians of Iran have more in common with Afghanistan where a version of Persian is spoken and is one of the two official langauages. The Iranians are more sympathetic to Afghanistan than other Arab countries and consequently more anti-US. They are Shiite Muslims while most Arabs are Sunni Muslims. In the seventh century Arabs conquered most of North Africa and east to Asia. Persia was also conquered, but it was the only country to keep its identity, culture and language, which is why they are not in the Arab League with Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinians, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Haystack, your opening argument is fundamentally flawed; yes, the majority of Iranians are Shia and the Taliban Sunni. So why should iran be sympathetic towards the Taliban (who they help train)? It has nothing to do with language but quite simply anti-West and especially anti-US. there is no reason to search for historical precedence, the answer is very simple.

My argument was not why Iran is the way it is, but why the West and the US don't understand them.