Israel & Lebanon war-ish

[Michael Z]

Hopefully Hezbollah will finally reap what it has sown. And this is also exposing that the Lebanese government has been too afraid to face down Hezbollah...and now is paying a price for that. I think the Israelis have finally had it with the duplicity of some of their neighbors...

The trouble is that Hezbollah are extremely popular with the Lebanese people, so no government has had the guts to do anything about them, lest they risk getting obliterated at the ballot box.

On this note, Shimon Peres has made it very clear that this campaign is against Hezbollah (the group) and not Lebanon per se. Clearly, this is just rhetoric, but it's welcome rhetoric.

Anyway, I personally doubt this will escalate into an all-out war, as some people here are suggesting. But that's just a gut feeling I have.

[Michael Z]

Well, of course the crazy neocons would like to start World War 3.

Do you honestly expect Israel to stand back and allow Hezbollah to launch rocket attacks and incursions into her sovereign territory?

Surprising as it may seem, seldom, if at all, have Israel been the aggressor since its inception as a sovereign state in 1948

Dave

I have to admit that I find it quite interesting how Hamas and Hezbollah launching rocket attacks on Israel hardly made the news here, yet as soon as Israel retaliates it makes the front page.

[Michael Z]

The Israelis should knock out the Iranian nuclear facilities, facilities the Iranians claim are for industrial power, but which are clearly for military purposes.

I don't trust the maniacal Iranian regime anymore than I trust the murderous Hezbollah.   

Do you really want to start World War III?

We might have World War III whether we like it or not.  It's kind of like the people in the democracies of Europe who said, when Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland, "Don't do anything because it could lead to war." 

Well, they did nothing and got war anyway, only a much larger war with the balance of power having shifted very much against them.

If we don't do something those crazy subhuman mullahs in Iran who are behind all of this, we could face the same problem.  It may not be a question of whether to have a war, but when, and under what circumstances.

I'm inclined to agree, as much as I'm loath to. Any hopes I had of a diplomatic reconciliation with Iran evaporated the moment Ahmadinejad was elected President. While I'm fairly certain the election was rigged (AFAIK the majority of Iranians, especially young Iranians, are very liberal-minded), it was a clear middle finger from the mullahs to the rest of the world, specifically Israel.

[Michael Z]

While I'm fairly certain the election was rigged (AFAIK the majority of Iranians, especially young Iranians, are very liberal-minded), it was a clear middle finger from the mullahs to the rest of the world, specifically Israel.

If I'm not mistaken, his leftist economic policies were very popular among the poor. His nationalist rhetoric also struck a chord, given that the United States is occupying the country next door. Actually, I've seen it suggested that his reformist opponent would have won if not for the invasion of Iraq.

It is true that Iraq has turned a lot of people in the Middle East against the West. Bush and Blair have really shot themselves in the foot with that one, especially if their initial belief was that invading Iraq would somehow stem Islamic fundamentalism. If anything, it has galvanised it.

[Michael Z]

Yes, those are missiles earmarked for Lebanon.

What the f***?

[Michael Z]

Pretty cool, huh, Mike?

I don't get it. I suppose their teachers or parents or whoever told them the missiles are meant for the bad people who are bombing their homes. The fact that it's hitting factories, warehouses, roads, civilians, most of which have absolutely nothing to do with Hezbollah... nah, I think it's wrong to get kids involved in this sort of thing.

[Michael Z]

The background story on this picture:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2006/07/20/an_explosive_image_in_lebanon_conflict.html