Jim Carroll. I didn't start this thread. I agree that the theme of the thread is closely linked to the thread on the Gaza flotilla. It is a reaction, I think, to the lack of proportion that some people show (you among them, in my opinion) when they deal with Israel, an attitude that I consider an indication of a cognitive trouble. This thread, I think, asks to examine what else wouldn't work in the world if Israel wouldn't exist: Ok, says this thread, we have different ideas on Israel. Let's see if we agree on what are the other problems. And the result is some of you don't even participate to the game: you replied to my post containing the Freedom House's list of the worst states in the world regarding human rights asking me a sort of password before going on (do you believe that other countries carrying out atrocities excuses those by Israel - otherwise, what's your point?), while CarolC, to name a new friend I've met in these political threads, states that every other problem in the world is a minor one ("The United States is the biggest problem. Israel is second"). To focus only on the Western Countries could have been Ok in the past, now we are in a brave new world, we must keep criticizing our societies, but be careful not to join out voices with the worst of the rest of the world, that is every day more prominent, starting with China, and where most battles for democracy, freedom, woman condition, haven't started yet.

I've never posted anything in the lower section of the Mudcat before these two threads. The result of this experience is I've lost time and peace and exposed to risk acquaintances I hold in esteem. Before the next quarrel, our attitudes being so far-off, thanks a lot for Carolyne Hughes' Barbara Allen.