Subj : Is Israel becomming a failed state? To : ALL From : BOB KLAHN Date : Sun Jul 10 2011 16:35:04 Isreal is all of what American conservatives dispise, and only one thing conservatives like. Isreal is a religious state, which conservatives like, but the wrong religion for American conservatives. Many on the religious right in this country support Israel because they believe the support of Isreal will lead to the end of the Jewish faith. In the end times, which the religious right is hoping for, and the re-establishment if Israel is supposed to preceed, the Jew are supposed to convert or die. Nice when your supporters are hoping for the end of what you believe in, isn't it? Israel is also heavily socialist, involved in social engineering, and universal health care. Isreal is also very multicultural. All of which the right in America dispises. Oh, and they are big on immigration, but the right accepts that since they are trying to consolidate all the world's Jews in one place. Israel is also a democracy, but that is in the balance in the current events. How democratic a nation is when the military is embedded in almost all of national life is arguable. How long it can continue as a democracy when the press is allegedly free, but subject to military censorship, is truely questionable. Which leads to the title question, is Israel becomming a failed state, and if so, just why and what are the indicators. What are the indicators of a failed state? Dependence on international aid? Expansion of poverty? Widespread crime, extending into the government? Oppressive government? Those who pay attention to Israeli news, from Israeli sources, may be aware that poverty is a problem in Israel. Now that is not supposed to be, as Israel offers so much to immigrants. However, having listened to The Voice of Israel (Kol Israel) for years, and reading online Israeli newspapers, it comes out that poverty is a continuing problem in Israel. Which is not really suprising in a country that has focused on it's military for all of it's existance. Clearly Israel is dependent on foreign assistance for it's very survival. The US provides Israel with more foreign aid than it does to any other country. Much of that is military aid, if not most. However, if the US did not provide that aid then Israel would have to divert more of it's economy to make that up. To those who pay attention crime in Israel is pretty well known, but even a short search turns up more than I knew before. Organized crime in Israel is well established, but has grown drastically since the fall of the Soviet Union. In the last decade such crime has reached to the level of cabinet ministers, and assignation attempts between gangs. At least one bombing in Isreal was originally believed to be of Palestinian origin, but proved out to be an attempt to kill a gang leader by a rival gang. The attacks have included anti-tank rockets and bombs. Israeli organized crime is inherently international, due to the ease of travel. The surge of immigration from Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union included many criminals, and world wide immigration to Israel opens up outward travel by those holding passports from other countries. Israeli crime families have tentacles into Eastern and Western Europe, and the United States. International criminal activity by Israeli mobs include drug dealing especially, but also money laundering, gambling, trafficing in women, and murder which goes with all the above. One possible reason for the extent of Israeli infiltration of international organized crime is the restrictive Israeli extradition laws. While Israel can extradite Jews to other countries for trial, that is only allowed if the accused will be sent to Israel to serve any sentence. Israeli prisons are more 'humane', or soft if you prefer, than many other countries, including the US. One of the Israeli organized crime figures murdered in the feuds had escaped from prison by the simple expedient of walking away from a weekend pass, and moving to England, where he was killed. In January of this year Israel shipped 5 accused crime figures to the US for trial, but, if convicted, they will be sent back to Israel to serve their sentences. Those men, described by an Israeli police spokesman as the "Lords of Organized Crime", were wanted for murder, drug dealing, money laundering and possible RICO prosecution. Yet all of this, while indicating a breakdown in Israeli society, do not necessarily indicate a failing state. What may, though, it how many citizens want to, or are preparing to, leave the country. Recently I discovered that emigration is a problem for Israel, but the potential for more immigration is huge. Aproximately 50% of Israeli youth said they would rather live somewhere else if it were possible, in a survey on the subject. Over 60% of Israelis either already hold foreign passports, or have applied for them, and indicated they are considering leaving. Around 3/4 million Israelis either have US passports or have applied for them. There has long been a worry that Islamic reproduction exceeds Jewish reproduction to such an extent that Israel may no longer be a Jewish state. An unmentioned addition to this concern is the emigration/immigration imbalance in Israel. Israelis who leave the country typically do not return. They are twice as likely to be college educated as the average Israeli, and, more important, they are young. The immigrants to Israel tend to be older, the emmegrants tend to be younger. The immigrants are much less likely to have children than the emmigrants. That too will add to the reproduction imbalance. All in all, if over half the population of a country are considering leaving, and half the youth have said they would prefer to leave, that just might suggest the nation is on it's way to being a failed state. BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn .... All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy. --- Via Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg] * Origin: Since 1991 And Were Still Here! DOCSPLACE.TZO.COM (1:123/140) .