Last King of Israel Dies at 85.

[TheIronRuler]

Last King of Israel, Hero and Leader dies at 85; Ariel Sharon, may he rest in peace.

Ariel Sharon died today, the eleventh of January 2014, after eight years of struggling to survive in a coma. He was the Hero who fought and commanded in all of Israel's wars in his life. He created the legendary 101 unit - now a part of the paratroopers which liberated the old city of Jerusalem and the wailing wall in 1967. He was a prominent right-wing leader whose actions and their fallout stay with us to this day. Sharon was called the last king of Israel by his enemies, a man who led the nation in Israel's darkest hour and brought it to the light. A lion who championed both war and peace, and at the end of his life reached out an open hand to end the conflict which engulfed us from the beginning.

May he rest in peace and his memory live on for generations to come.

The last king of Israel is no more.

(Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25696601 )

 

[Zhukov]

Huh? I wasn't aware that Israel had...

Oh.

RIght.

I wasn't aware that Ariel Sharon was still alive. Thought he died a couple years back.

Now, I shall have to excuse myself. My prejudice is twitching something awful.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Just saw an article about his condition worsening on the newspaper only a couple of days ago. Wasn't expecting him to kick the bucket so soon though.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm not saying I'm glad he passed away but I wouldn't mind seeing the monarchic system as a whole torn down for good from the face of the Earth. Saying he was the "last" are you implying there won't be any more kings and queens?

 

[Eamar]

I'm not saying I'm glad he passed away but I wouldn't mind seeing the monarchic system as a whole torn down for good from the face of the Earth. Saying he was the "last" are you implying there won't be any more kings and queens?

He wasn't actually a king, OP says it was something his enemies called him. Israel doesn't have a monarchy.

OT: I was really surprised when I heard his condition was worsening - I honestly thought he'd died years ago :/

 

[Vegosiux]

I'm not saying I'm glad he's dead, but after 8 years in a coma, I see this as pretty much non-news to be completely honest; I mean, nothing practical has changed by this event. He's had no effect on the developments in the Middle East for the last 8 years that he won't continue having even now; basically, yes, he might be seen as an icon, but that's not been changed now.

(and yes I'd be saying something similar if it was a person that was otherwise close to me, I'm just a cynical pragmatist like that sometimes)

 

[TheIronRuler]

I'm not saying I'm glad he's dead, but after 8 years in a coma, I see this as pretty much non-news to be completely honest; I mean, nothing practical has changed by this event. He's had no effect on the developments in the Middle East for the last 8 years that he won't continue having even now; basically, yes, he might be seen as an icon, but that's not been changed now.

(and yes I'd be saying something similar if it was a person that was otherwise close to me, I'm just a cynical pragmatist like that sometimes)

.
I've gotten tired of making middle east updates even though the current events are titillating with Lebanon aflame, Iran getting into devastating trade agreement with Russia that will null the sanctions' effects and new Sunni state forming in the badlands between Baghdad and Damascus... then again, I would get the same silence from the crowds since people really don't care that much about the region. They prefer to talk about women in gaming, atheism, feminism and the EU. Did anyone here follow the spilled over violence in CAR that had been going on for more than half a year? The war that is savaging western Africa and the loose private militias that roam the plains of the dark continent? Legalization of marijuana in Uruguay? Rising Tensions in east Asia as China, Japan, Taiwan and S. Korea step up their rhetoric and defense budgets?

I wanted to make a thread honoring a man I respected, and his passing means an end of an era in my eyes. He was a great man. His actions defined him. They still shape my country and this fucked up reality today.

 

[Vegosiux]

I wanted to make a thread honoring a man I respected, and his passing means an end of an era in my eyes. He was a great man. His actions defined him. They still shape my country and this fucked up reality today.

I understand that. And I mean no disrespect. I merely offered my thoughts on it - that his actions will still shape shaping the image of the region, despite him not being involved for the last 8 years, his death doesn't change that. I might have phrased it poorly though; I'm not denying his impact. It's just that, well, when someone dies after being in a coma for 8 years, I don't see it as a "big" event, I suppose. More something that was to be expected, since chances of people waking up from such a long period are really slim.

So yes, apologies if it hit you the wrong way. I did not mean to offend or belittle Sharon's contributions.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well, he'd been in a coma for like 8 years, it's not like he was ever gonna wake up.

It's actually quite amazing his body held out as long as it did. He wasn't in the best physical condition when he suffered that stroke.

 

[Barbas]

Ariel Sharon...Ariel Sharon...the name is familiar, but I feel a strange of guilt for not knowing more about his life and the effects he had on global politics. I shall begin rectifying that momentarily.

Despite his age, after an astonishing eight years in a coma, I do not doubt hopes were steadily rising for the return of the King. Minister of Defence is not an easy position to hold in such a country. He held it for a long time.

 

[Xeorm]

I'm not saying I'm glad he's dead, but after 8 years in a coma, I see this as pretty much non-news to be completely honest; I mean, nothing practical has changed by this event. He's had no effect on the developments in the Middle East for the last 8 years that he won't continue having even now; basically, yes, he might be seen as an icon, but that's not been changed now.

(and yes I'd be saying something similar if it was a person that was otherwise close to me, I'm just a cynical pragmatist like that sometimes)

.
I've gotten tired of making middle east updates even though the current events are titillating with Lebanon aflame, Iran getting into devastating trade agreement with Russia that will null the sanctions' effects and new Sunni state forming in the badlands between Baghdad and Damascus... then again, I would get the same silence from the crowds since people really don't care that much about the region. They prefer to talk about women in gaming, atheism, feminism and the EU. Did anyone here follow the spilled over violence in CAR that had been going on for more than half a year? The war that is savaging western Africa and the loose private militias that roam the plains of the dark continent? Legalization of marijuana in Uruguay? Rising Tensions in east Asia as China, Japan, Taiwan and S. Korea step up their rhetoric and defense budgets?

I wanted to make a thread honoring a man I respected, and his passing means an end of an era in my eyes. He was a great man. His actions defined him. They still shape my country and this fucked up reality today.

I know I've been following those events, amusingly enough in another gaming forum that seems a bit more mature than this one as regards politics.

Tis a sad day though. Even though he's been out of it in a coma for so many years, it's always sad to see someone who's done so much die. RIP

 

[beastro]

I'll miss him, though I've considered him dead the moment he entered that coma, his bodies just taken its good time catching up to things.

He knew the ways of the world and that's something sorely lacking in many Western leaders these days.

 

[skywolfblue]

There is a lot of very complicated controversy surrounding him.

I don't know if he's villain or hero, but may his soul rest in peace either way.

 

[Azahul]

A lot of my family blame him for Sabra and Shatila, so... my opinions are exceptionally mixed. The dude seemed to swing back and forth between Hitler and Gandhi during his life. Weird guy. Ultimately though, most of his good stuff was just him failing to make up for the bad things he'd done in the past. Can't say I feel too much at word of his death though, as others have said he's been out of the game for quite a while now.

 

[Aximili]

Isreal has such a bad human rights reputation that I can't see this as an entirely bad thing.

 

[TheIronRuler]

A lot of my family blame him for Sabra and Shatila, so... my opinions are exceptionally mixed. The dude seemed to swing back and forth between Hitler and Gandhi during his life. Weird guy. Ultimately though, most of his good stuff was just him failing to make up for the bad things he'd done in the past. Can't say I feel too much at word of his death though, as others have said he's been out of the game for quite a while now.

.
The Butcher of Beirut as they liked to call him in the Arab world, I believe, had been blamed solely for the reason to have a Jewish Zionist evil as the perpetrator of the massacre in the Lebanese war, so the spotlight will be moved away from sectarian fighting of Muslim versus Christian and Arab against Arab and again turn Jews into devils. The sheer balls the Arab states had to call the act a genocide - and blame Israel for it - are something I haven't seen done in diplomacy since. The Phalange are to blame, not the minister of defense of Israel that at the time didn't have the right intelligence or the sixth sense to see the disaster coming. It didn't stop it from the Israeli government from taking him down as a scapegoat to appease inside and outside criticism.

 

[beastro]

Isreal has such a bad human rights reputation that I can't see this as an entirely bad thing.

Don't see a mans death as a bad thing because of his nationality? You don't even touch on his personal conduct and actions but only because he's Israeli?

Please.

It didn't stop it from the Israeli government from taking him down as a scapegoat to appease inside and outside criticism.

Shhhh, Israel is evil, therefore it doesn't matter. /sarcasm

 

[Azahul]

.
The Butcher of Beirut as they liked to call him in the Arab world, I believe, had been blamed solely for the reason to have a Jewish Zionist evil as the perpetrator of the massacre in the Lebanese war, so the spotlight will be moved away from sectarian fighting of Muslim versus Christian and Arab against Arab and again turn Jews into devils. The sheer balls the Arab states had to call the act a genocide - and blame Israel for it - are something I haven't seen done in diplomacy since. The Phalange are to blame, not the minister of defense of Israel that at the time didn't have the right intelligence or the sixth sense to see the disaster coming. It didn't stop it from the Israeli government from taking him down as a scapegoat to appease inside and outside criticism.

The Phalange did the act. They're first and foremost to blame, naturally, and nothing about Sharon adds or detracts from that blame. It is hard though to avoid some resentment towards the guys that opened the camps up to them, provided them with transport there, and then sat around watching for hours as reports came in of the massacre and did nothing. Especially given that the Phalange had been champing at the bit for weeks to get revenge on Palestinians. You didn't need a sixth sense to see the massacres coming, just half a brain.

Frankly, in a world where it's rare enough to see justice in politics anywhere, and especially in a region like the Middle East, I see the findings of the Kahan Commission as a rare example of a government reaction nailing the appropriate response. Kicking Sharon out of politics forever would have been the best reaction to those findings that I can imagine. Gross negligence on that scale (and that's as generous as I'm going to call it) should scupper any chance of a future career in that field.