Gaza

I am not a big fan of the way Israel was created in 1946. It has lead to additional violence in an unsettled part of the world that nobody needs.

That being said; it was almost 70 years ago; at some point you need get on with your life. But not, I guess in a part of the world known for long memories.

Does Israel have a right to exist? As much as any other country. They also have a right to defend themselves and to support from their allies.

Which, more or less, brings us to recent events.

I'll not claim any special insight into the region or its actors; I only know what the media and history tell me. So, given those caveats...

The one good thing Jimmy Carter did was the Camp David accords, which ushered in 30 years of peace between Egypt and Israel; a period of peace broken by Obama allowing Egypt to become an ally of Al-Qaeda. And then the dominoes began to fall; Syria; Libya; Mali. For all of the Obama Administration's admonitions that Al-Qaeda was dead, I see an awful lot of life in that corpse.

The leadership of Iran has publicly declared that Israel does not have a right to exist and their intentions to wipe them off of the map. With Iran approaching the ability to become a nuclear power, Israel is in a bad position. Trying to maintain the security of its borders and people, and facing the possibility that Iran would one day be able to drop a nuke on the Dome of Rock.

So, while Israel is trying to figure out how to strike at Iran's nuke program, the Palestinians in Gaza decide it's time to start lobbing rockets into Israel. Where did they get the rockets? Looks like it was Iran.

The attacks are the result of Israel assassinating a Hamas leader, Ahmed al-Jabari. But the tension has been building for months; most likely as a result of the Arab Spring.

Militant Moslems are a minority we are told, but apparently a powerful one. They seem to be able to have themselves voted into power on a regular basis. Without Egypt as a stabilizing force for peace, who knows where the violence will end.

I'm on Israel's side. They, as a country and a people have a right to exist- a right their neighbors seem unwilling to accede.

They also have a well trained, well armed and competent military force that has several times in the past successfully defended their borders. It's hard to fight a tank with a rock or a suicide bomber.

But in the past they have had the United States squarely in their corner, something that may or may not now be the case. Elections have consequences.

Israel and Gaza are about to start a land war. Will Egypt join in? Who else will join them to help wipe the hated Jew off of the map? Who will join on Israel's side? No country will send troops, and I doubt any would be accepted, but they will need arms and ammunition; who will resupply them?

How will it affect world oil supplies? How will it affect our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan? Our relations with Saudi Arabia and Turkey?

These are the questions I don't have answers to. But I'm not expected to; I'm some Kentucky Redneck.

But Obama and his team are expected to have these answers.

I just don't have any faith that they do.