Growing up, my parents frequently used a particular technique when my sister and I got into a dispute. They would talk to each of us separately about the incident and ask what we had done wrong. If you protested that it was all the other person’s fault, or that they had done such-and-such, the parent assigned to your case would reply, “I don’t care about what they did. We’re talking about what you did.” Consequently resistance was futile and it was best to just examine your actions and confess any mistakes, no matter how tiny, as soon as possible.
Boy I wish we had some way of doing the same thing with countries. Specifically, I’d like to get Syria/Iran/Hezbollah in one room, Lebanon in another, and Israel in a third and go at them untel they each are ready to repent and confess the misteps that lead to the current war. I feel like the U.S. probably has sufficient pull with Israel to pull that of; we’re just too spineless to get tough on Israel. I’m not sure anyone has sufficient pull with Iran, since they’re rolling in the oil money. The same money that funds Hezbollah.
And so violence begets violence and the Middle East continues to deteriorate.
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