yeah, very good points-- the russians have LONG and horrible history in chechnya. but they are reverting to tyranny and they are strong country but do they have the respect of the world. but bosnia however required UN troops to pacify... and then serbia was bombed over kossovo, remember?
the syrians might yet get their comeuppance-- they are finally out of lebanon but still exerting too much influence-- let's see what comes out of the hariri trials.
israel however is a democracy, and as such it is held to higher standards than dictatorships and fiefdoms. don't compare israel to those places, because in israel you have the rule of law, human rights, etc.
and you're right about israeli soldiers being better than most. israeli citizen-soldiers tend to be highly educated, and more realistic about war before actually going into conflict, which is not what you find in the u.s. armed forces for example (except for the officers).
but the problem is that the occupation is not good for israel. it keeps causing problems and puts you in the position of being an opressor. some have argued that israel must be an opressor in order to survive, but at this point, a palestinian state would not be any kind of threat to israel. sure, hamas launches rockets from gaza, and hezbollah from lebanon, but then you have the right to self-defense.
now if the palestinians choose to shoot themselves in the ass by living under the rule of hamas, and inviting attacks, that should be
their problem (when they start launching rockets you should have the right to retaliate). however you regain the moral high ground when you let them determine their own fate.
if it weren't for a) the settlements, and b) the religious claims for a greater israel, the west bank could have been returned to the palestinians long ago and the whole moral grey area of the occupation been avoided.
but maybe i'm talking out of my ass
