Empires destroy cities and temples, write history, steal the sacred scriptures of their subjects, confiscate the gold while issuing funny money at will, practice slavery, invent and promote cults, co-opt local elites, and collect taxes oppressively, sometimes up to the point of rebellion.
Rome wasn't the first. They just did it better than everyone else. The many empires that came later, like the Islamic empires and the British empire were also very successful at using such stratagems.
Like the Romans they understood, by following an ancient playbook of empire building, that taking cities was half the battle. After the destruction must come the new creation. After the military conquest must come the pacification of hearts and minds. After the slaughter must come reconciliation.
Fifty years ago America was just about done dropping bombs on Vietnam. Today both countries are in a strategic partnership with each other.
Will Israel ever be able to achieve a similar feat with its Arab and Muslim foes? Or is it only capable of waging war and nothing else?
To make peace one has to be strong and wise. And that has always been the problem with Israel as a state. It isn't strong enough to win its wars completely or wise enough to make peace and look towards the future rationally.
The war in Gaza is unique in human history because the aggressor is not an empire, but its actions are fully endorsed and enabled by one. It is tough to gauge what potential political outcomes it will be satisfied with because it is operating with two brains.
There is also the religious element which is clearly motivating the Israeli elite to clear Gaza of its current inhabitants and fulfill their dream of total control of the biblical lands of Israel.
But what serious country follows a foreign policy based on the Bible, the Torah, or the Koran? It would be like Iceland basing its foreign policy on the Norse sagas.
The pragmatic and rational forces in Israel, the United States, and the Muslim world have to find a way to drive out the crazies from public office. Unfortunately, the crazies took over power decades ago and are not willing to give it up.
The religious right in Washington, like their counterparts in Jerusalem and Tehran, will sacrifice the lives of millions if it means the fulfillment of biblical prophecies.
But what are these prophecies and why must the children of Gaza die for them?
Why should innocents be slaughtered for lies written down centuries ago?
The problem that Christianity and Islam both have is that modern scholarship proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that their prophets cannot be historically located in either historical writing or archaeological evidence.
Joseph Atwill has shared his theory that Jesus Christ is based on the emperor Titus and his triumphant military campaign in Jerusalem in the 1st century. It sounds far fetched, but at least he provides names and dates.
Critical researchers into the origins of Islam say the religious movement really began with the conquest of Jerusalem by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in the late 7th century. This was originally a Christian Arab movement that was apparently in league with a Jewish movement that wanted to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem, but there was a falling out at the conclusion of their conquest.
Abd al-Malik then built the Dome of the Rock on Jewish grounds, dedicating it to a Christian Unitarian conception of God, but it was later transformed into a Muslim temple to legitimize the new religion.
It's all about the ancient temples with these guys.
We have to remember that Hamas was not driven to rebellion by the daily humiliations and acts of tyranny perpetrated against the citizens of Gaza by the Israeli state, but by the intrusion into the Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist Israeli settlers during their holiday festivities. This is what ticked them off.
And it is this religious dynamic that will make it impossible for Israel to survive as a state long-term. They have no one to blame but themselves because they introduced this crazy element by empowering Hamas in Gaza for all these years. And they inflamed the situation by allowing extremist groups to invade Muslim religious sites.
Maybe they were itching for a fight.
