Tis those that suffer the most and not those who inflict the most who have conquered’

Back around 1933 when Hitler was terrorising the Austrian govt with threats, bombs and assassinations and the rest of it he demanded that a member of the local fledgling nazi party be made minister for justice. Ever since this has been the playbook of would be dictators and autocrats even when in the minority parties around the world. They always demand the justice ministry which usually includes the communications and media. This they feel allows them to control the message and to spin things to cast themselves in a favourable light. These vague musings came to me as I heard about the Israelis demolishing the media centre on Gaza claiming (without evidence that Hamas were inside. They have form in this regard from previous conflicts. On this occasion however and to their consternation they didn’t get away with it and it’s proved to be an own goal. It’s fair to say in the words of the Lord Mayor of cork Thomas Macswiney who died in Brixton prison on hunger strike in 1920 that its ‘those that suffer the most and not those who inflict the most who have conquered’. So what’s different this time? The main change is of course in the USA where a media which disgraced itself in the so called war on terror is much more suspicious of the motivations of the politicians. There is an awareness at long last that the senate in particular does not accurately reflect mainstream opinion. The barmy right is way over represented in this body as a result of the crazy ‘two senators per state’ rule. Thus we have Wyoming with its half a million population on the same number as California which has 45 million people. Representative democracy in action it isn’t. Also, Americans like a fair fight (except when they’re the ones doing the fighting) and the lopsided nature of this dispute goes against the grain. They are also beginning to tire of the deranged rantings of the evangelicals and their apologists in congress such as the trumpistas and the unbalanced media. Overall you would have to say that Israel for all its capacity and willingness to inflict terror may have won the war but they most assuredly have lost the peace.