Mahatma Gandhi Quotes
If we had the atom bomb, we would have used it against the British.
It was the beginning of the Zulu War.
A very passionate minority of India’s Muslims demanded a separate Islamic State (what would become Pakistan) but Hindu’s and Muslims were mixed throughout India and many Indians and British were concerned that there would be a bloodbath if the plans for independence went forward. Gandhi desperately tried to avoid violence but thought that independence was so important that the sectarian violence should not be an excuse for continued British rule. Unfortunately, millions of Indians were killed in the riots and ethnic cleansing and revenge that followed independence. Since then there has been much second guessing on how else the situation might have been handled.
See {613496} for the origin of the “thrashing a cannibal” phrase.
The concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) has inhibited the use of atomic weapons since WWII. If one nuclear nation attacked another, the attacked nation would still have time to retaliate and both countries would be destroyed. However, Iran by their own statements and past history might not be inhibited by large losses and death in retaliation. Iran, a theocracy, has a religion that believes that any Muslim who is killed in defense of Islam will immediately go to heaven. They have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of their citizens in their war with Iraq. Iran is a much larger country than Israel where a single nuclear bomb would destroy the whole nation. One retaliatory bomb would do terrible damage to Iran but much more of the country and its people would survive. The Iran fanatics might make such a tradeoff as a religious obligation. This is why, most of the world is doing much to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon at all. Rafsanjani’s logic however assumes that if Iran fired one bomb, Israel would retaliate with one bomb. However, Israel has the capability of carpeting all of Iran with a nuclear muti-warhead retaliation so Iran would also be completely destroyed. However Israeli policy has been to never discuss anything about nuclear weapons and their policies. Some ultra-fanatical Muslims have argued that even of all of Iran and its people were destroyed, this would be a worthwhile “martyrdom” so that the remainder of the Muslim world would be free of Israel. This is illustrative of how difficult it is negotiating with religious fundamentalists who control a nation.
the new nation of South Sudan The President was under indictment as a war criminal by the international Court in the Hague. He had difficulty understanding any other language that of the gun.
This quotation was very important to the issue of Freedom of the Press in America in the early 21st century. Al Jazeera was an independent Qatar News Network founded in 1996 and was heavily viewed throughout the Middle East. They then started an English Language Channel. Despite some very innovative News Reporting and access that other news networks were not able to get, there were many areas and cable networks in the United States (and other countries) that would not broadcast Al Jazeera. Their reason was twofold: First, that the English version was generally very moderate and responsibly designed to create a favorable opinion of the Arab World in the Middle East. However, for the Arabic, original channel, the broadcasts are extremely inflammatory with regard to Islam and the West and the Israeli-Arab Conflict. Second, that key Al Jazeera officials were supporters of terrorism and subtly were advocating terrorism in their broadcasts in English, and overtly in Arabic. These quotations by the Chief Editor, established that he had a strong political point of view and justified and advocated Palestinian terrorism. Most news network chief editors, have political opinions of one kind or another but are careful to keep them private. The fact that Sheikh did not, and supported the deliberate. Intentional killing of innocent women and children caused most American and many other networks to refuse to carry Al Jazeera despite the excellent journalism they had in other areas. Al Jazeera in its Arab version has never reported that the number of Palestinians killed by Israelis is far fewer than other historical occupations of similar length. For terrorist acts, even murder, Israel does not have capital punishment. Over the years, the Jordanians and Syrians have killed many more Palestinians than Israel has in all the occupation. Likewise the PLO, Hamas and other Palestinian organizations have deliberately murdered more Palestinians than the Israelis have inflicted casualties over the years. After the Arabs refused to accept the United Nations 1949 decision to partition Palestine, the Arab nations attacked the Jews with over a dozen Arab Armies. Over the years, Israel has negotiated a peace treaty with Egypt and Jordan, but the Palestinians have always refused to even sit down and negotiate an overall treaty.
Sometimes it may be BOTH parties who are guilty of injustice.
Writing about the threat of nuclear war…
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and in turn inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "great-souled", "venerable"), first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world.