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Being a Liberal Progressivist has some interesting and quagmiric issues associated with it. By nature, I am extremely passivist and calmist in my diplomatic and foreign relations mindsets. It allows me to have the optimism that there are virtually no conflicts that cannot be settled in a more humane and peaceful way than the traditional standard way of conflict resolution. It allows me to separate my intellect from the spiritual while maintaining a relativist view of religious conflict and disagreements. My secular way of looking at spiritualism, generally, does not get in the way of my own ideology.

Now, to be fair, most of the above statement is filled with useless and obvious "ismatic nomenclature" for the sake of proving a point. It is filled with "ological" terms and " ality" adjectives that help to not explain my point at all, especially considering that some of those words were completely made up. If you read that and are shaking your head in disbelief, bravo. If you find yourself agreeing with my sentiments, please try not to take your own political ideas so seriously, they will get you into trouble.

Now, to translate the above (above above actually) paragraph into a little bit more English:

Being a Progressive has some basic yet problematic issues associated with it. By nature, I am anti-war and believe in the human spirit. It allows me to have the positive outlook in that there are virtually no conflicts that cannot be settled in a more humane and peaceful way than the traditional standard way of conflict resolution. I do my best to not let my own spirituality get in the way of my judgement while trying to take in to consideration the religious views of the specified region. I feel that the value I put on human life and the standards of life should be fairly universal and there is no reason to withhold these from people.

I bring this up because of the quandary of the Israeli-Palestinian War going on right now. There are two sides that seem to be easily understand. Falling down on one or the other seems to be causing me a problem.

Israel: OK, I understand that you have been consistently attacked on all sides for the last 69 years and that everyone in the region wants you dead. You are sent rockets, and not in a good way, on a daily basis from an area that you deliberately left so that the region would stabilize. I understand that you are sick of it all. But, come on man, you are killing innocent people and using the old "human" shield excuse. You are bombing schools and hospitals because you think that is where weapons are being fired from and where they are stored. However, you are basically making the rest of the world think you are brutal and are turning the region irrevocably against you. It might be time to tone it down and perhaps find a different resolution.

Palestinians: OK, I know that you want a state of your own. I know that you have never had one and its not fair that you were forced off of land that you believe was yours simply because your people were nomadic in nature and had not set actual borders around the desert you lived in part of the year. I understand that most of your people are now in Jordan and that you want to be all together. I understand that you have a lot to bitch about. But, come on guys, get control of Hamas so that they quit shooting rockets into Israel. They are poking a bear with a stick and there is no cage separating you from the potential mauling. Now, the pokers have somehow managed to escape the primary mauling by thrusting you in front of them. This sucks, I know. They are not representative of all of your opinions and need to be reigned in.

Hamas: I know that you guys are doing what you think is right. And I understand the idea of martyrdom and how it can be so religiously addictive. However, the people who are being martyred are a little tired of it. The idea of an Israeli State is supported by the Western World and will remain regardless of what you do. And Exterminating the Jews will not end well for you, take my word for it. Take a step back, stop firing rockets, and sit back for a minute and enjoy the silence of not being attacked and see how it feels. If it is unsettling to not have mortar and gunfire surrounding you, then we can talk about that some other time.

United States: Stay the hell out of this one. The unilateral support of all Israeli actions is making us look bad and beginning to divide the country on an issue that was pretty steadfast for years. The ridiculous antisemitism and racism that underlies small minded Americans is only briefly held in check but will be coming out to play if you drag us into this conflict. Support Israel, but let them do their dirty work and remember, its okay to publicly say that you want them to not bomb schools.

Iran: Stay out of this, the right wingers still in the US government would not need much of a push to start getting a "attack Iran" campaign going. You would not want that.

Hezbollah: Stay out of this. . .

Lebanon: Stay out of this, but keep Hezbollah in check if its not too much trouble.

Tony Blair / Egypt: Sounds weird to say this, but stay out of this. Not because you are not doing good work, but because it is viewed as interference. There are efforts to settle this peacefully between FATAH and the Israeli government and it will get done. Just give it a little time and things will work out.

I know I put many more than 2 sides in this conflict, but there are. I wanted to show something else in this conflict. It has gone on too long and a solution is simple in my opinion: Do nothing. This will sort itself out in the next couple of years, simply because it has to. There will be more than one nuclear power in the Middle East soon and that will actually mitigate all conflicts in the region and install a little bit of stability. I know it sounds crazy and I could be dangerously wrong, but this is how I see it. Vigilance and preparation is a much more obvious stance to take than aggression. If you back one of these countries into a corner and put them in real danger, there will be problems. I do not think that is what anyone wants. People say that A-Man in Iran will wipe Israel off the map, but I think not. Self-Preservation will keep him from doing that and cooler heads will prevail.