Arafat dead

[personman]

Let the insanity commence.  Here I mean... :p

[Ookii]

First post!  I mean...

PARIS Nov 4, 2004 — Yasser Arafat has lapsed into a coma in a French hospital, a senior Palestinian official said Thursday, a day after the Palestinian leader was rushed to intensive care following a sharp deterioration in his health.

He's almost there at least. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=226372

I wonder who would replace him, I mean this guy has old school hate, hopefully he doesn't get replaced by someone with that new unfounded "kill anything" hate that seems to be popular nowadays.

[personman]

Yeah there has been an eruption of counter claims.  Given the good-natured roasting Bush went on to give that reporter I get the impression he's a well-known detractor.  And probably just destroyed his career if he was wrong about Arafat.

[Flashman]

Good Riddance

[DarkDryad]

From what I have gleaned hes just been moved to another room as his condition has become more "complex". Ie... hes toast really soon. Maybe they will appoint someone who will accept the palastenian state idea Arafag turned down which is what they were asking for in the first place...

[SirBruce]

"I'm not dead yet!"

Still, should be only a matter of days now.  Looks like the Israelis secret poison or bio-engineered pathogen or whatever it was worked!

Bruce

[Roac]

This is really bad news for any hope of peace.  Whether Israel liked him or not, he helped bring a focus to all the hate that palestinians have.  Without a clear successor, I'm worried that his focus is going to die with him.  It should be clear from experience that the hate, however, will not.

[Riggswolfe]

From what I have gleaned hes just been moved to another room as his condition has become more "complex". Ie... hes toast really soon. Maybe they will appoint someone who will accept the palastenian state idea Arafag turned down which is what they were asking for in the first place...

Well, he turned it down because if he didn't he'd have lost power. Very complicated over there, but basically, Israel offered 90% of what he asked for. However, his followers said 100% or nothing. Oh..and destroy Israel while we're at it.

I won't miss the SOB when he's gone. I'm to the point where if Israel decided to turn Palestine into a giant plane of glass I'd just look the other way.

[sidereal]

This is really bad news for any hope of peace.

It really isn't.  If Arafat actually valued peace more than his own power, he wouldn't have shiv'd Abbas and he wouldn't be holding onto budgetary control with a death grip.  It looks like they will finally be able to get control of the PA out of his cold, dead hands.

[Rodent]

I wouldn't want to be in Jerusalem the day the Palestinians demand/storm the temple mound to bury him... It will be hell.

[HaemishM]

I wouldn't want to be in Jerusalem the day the Palestinians demand/storm the temple mound to bury him... It will be hell.

Whereas regular days are just considered Purgatory?

"Oh look, mommy, a tank!"

"That's nice, dear. Run along and play."

[jpark]

Good.

[TripleDES]

Some sites are now reporting that he has AIDS. Gotta love the rumor mill.

[Train Wreck]

The Isrealis claim that he is brain-dead.  I'm inclined to believe it.

[geldonyetich]

I wonder how much disruption that'll cause down there.

"Hey, Arafat just died."
"Hmm, bummer."
"Hey, you just lost another relative to a car bomb."
"Hmm, bummer."

It doesn't pass the monkey-sphere test of disruption.

[daveNYC]

I figure the thinking is somthing like "Thank G-d he's dead, I hope the next guy isn't worse."

Really sums up the whole middle-east situation.

[Biobanger]

I just know that the next guy will be some nobody that no one will care about. He'll let the country just keep on truckin'. Pretty much like the only record of him will be in a geography class's textbook.

[Righ]

Since the next guy didn't form the PLO, at least a few Israelis will take him seriously for a few months. At least a few Palestinians will not. The result will be more of the same, with dozens of Palestinians being killed in reprisal for every Jew killed, like an ironic reinterpretation of Nazi occupation of villages hiding their resistance.

[SirBruce]

So, today's news is that Arafat's coma deepened, he had a brain hemorrage, and he's expected to be removed from life support and die today.  The Palestinian Authority is now working on operating a post-Arafat government, whether he dies today or not.

Bruce

[Sky]

Those silly palestinians with stars upon thars.

[sidereal]

Is Arafat's wife a freak, or what?

I'd never seen her before, and I assumed she'd be some kind of dark, demure girl in a burkha.  But no, she's straight Hollywood with the frosted hair and leopard print scarf.

[personman]

She's always been Arafat's Yoko Ono.

It's all about the bennies, and I'd bet even money she's why Arafat was not pronounced dead until today so she'd have a chance to negotiate her parachute.

[Aslan]

Gots to spend all that blood-soaked cash before SHE shuffles off this mortal coil...

[SirBruce]

He's dead, Jim.

Next stop, a floppy-head in Hell on South Park.

Bruce

[The Hanged Man]

Rumor mill says his family now has millions in unmarked French and Swiss bank accounts skimmed off the top of money sent to help the Palestinians.

[Ganon]

He's dead, Jim.

Next stop, a floppy-head in Hell on South Park.

Bruce

I think him and Saddam could be good for each other.  They wouldn't get all emotionally invested and could just have no-strings attached sex.

P.S. South Park would never do this because they are liberals and liberals like Palestinians.  Even if you are as irreverent as Trey and Matt there are some liberal loyalty lines you don't cross.

[schild]

P.S. South Park would never do this because they are liberals and liberals like Palestinians.  Even if you are as irreverent as Trey and Matt there are some liberal loyalty lines you don't cross.

Like betraying Israel?

Edit: Or the Jews for that matter?

[SirBruce]

Trey and Matt are liberals?  Really?  Did you see Team America, which they say represents their true political opinion?

Bruce

[HaemishM]

I have no doubt that Trey Parker and Matt Stone would make fun of just about anybody, on any political side whatsoever, whether they agree with it or not. Whether Team America represents their true political leanings or not (and I'm somewhat in doubt), it managed to make fun of both the Bushite War Hawks and the Liberal Peaceniks.

'MATT DA-MON!'

[SirBruce]

The tone of their remarks you will find vary from interview to interview.  In some they'll try to make the point that their primary motivation was entertainment, and people shouldn't look to them or listen to them for political insight.  But they are very down on the Hollywood crowd for going on TV and whining about Iraq and the War on Terror, and in a couple of interviews they've expressed the fact that they are fine with America being dicks, because that means they aren't assholes (terrorists) or pussies (the liberal crowd).

Matt Stone also has a personal beef with Michael Moore because he feels that Michael Moore edited Fahrenheit 9/11 misleadingly to make it seem like he did the cartoon that immediately followed his interview.

Bruce

[HaemishM]

Matt Stone also has a personal beef with Michael Moore because he feels that Michael Moore edited Fahrenheit 9/11 misleadingly to make it seem like he did the cartoon that immediately followed his interview.

Michael Moore edit something in a misleading way? I'M SHOCKED, I tell you.

[Kenrick]

These people sure have fucked up ways of mourning.

[Big Gulp]

These people sure have fucked up ways of mourning.

That's nothing compared to what they did when Khomeini died in '89.  Literally tore the corpse apart so they could have "holy relics".

Say it with me, kids:  These are screwhead fucking savages.

[HaemishM]

I think my first clue of that was the whole "blowing oneself up in a crowded cafe to fight a war" thing they got going on.