I used to like Slate, but with people like Applebaum, Hitchens, and Saletan becoming more and more prominent, there’s been a steady decrease of readable stuff there. Today I read a piece titled Why Israel Will Bomb Iran. The rational argument for an attack.
It’s one of those (unfortunately rather common) things where states are subjected to amateur psychoanalysis as if they were individuals. Anyway, this one para caught my attention:
The idea of a mass public outcry against Israel [if it attacks Iran] in the Muslim world is probably also a fiction—given the public backing of the Gulf states and Egypt for Israel’s wars against Hezbollah and Hamas. As the only army in the region able to take on Iran and its clients, Israel has effectively become the hired army of the Sunni Arab states tasked by Washington with the job of protecting America’s favorite Middle Eastern tipple—oil.
Public backing in the Gulf states and Egypt for Israel’s wars? The idea of a mass public outcry against Israel in the Muslim world is probably a fiction? WTF? And needless to say, the link in the quote says absolutely nothing about Israel becoming “the hired army of the Sunni Arab states”.
Think about it. Someone (his name is David Samuels) wrote something this absurd and disingenuous. This guy obviously has zero respect for common sense, truth, and decency – and that’s all right, some people are like that, you’ll find all kinds of stuff on the internet.
Right. But Slate is owned by the Washington Post, it’s supposed to be a reputable online publication. It is supposed to have editors, managements, – the shareholders for chrissake. I mean, how do they allow this stuff to be published? This is probably why Mr. Samuels doesn’t believe in public outcry.