Condolezza brings condolences - maybe more

Would Condi be doing Condolences?

One can only begin to wonder what Condolezza Rice would be attempting to achieve when she gets to the Middle-East today.

There is no argument that Israel does have the right to defend itself and it should be done vigorously, however, the manner and strategy at play does leave one wondering what they intend on achieving.

I am still of the view that focus has shifted – if that was ever the focus - from dealing with Hamas and Hezbollah militarily to the point that it is looking like the economic obliteration of those societies and psychological propaganda with the hope that wanton destruction of all types of infrastructure would make people withdraw support from those organisations.

Whose terrorists are they anyway?

Until we move from the view of looking at those organisations through the blinkered view of terrorists, because only Israel, America and Europe labels elements of Hamas and Hizbollah as terrorist – we would fail to realise that these groups also represent the aspirations of people who have been deprived and wronged on the one hand, they are also the least corrupt of the leaderships emanating from their peoples.

There is no doubt that Europe and America are very well at variance on the matter in the Middle-East, it was evident in the eavesdrop between Bush and Blair – where Bush thought Syria held the keys to stopping the shit and Blair saw a bigger issue.

Arms away

To now hear that in the midst of the outrageous abuse of military might Israel is acquiring new precision weapons from America leaves one completely gob smacked – America is helping to add fire to an untenable situation which might now go on for another few weeks.

The Arabs would take good note of that and hopefully would give a Condi a stern view of this atrocious development.

I could be that it is American weaponry that is used to cause suffering, pain and loss in the Middle-East, the availability of which feeds Israeli bravado to the drunken swagger of believing there is a military solution to this conflict.

I think NOT.

Peace born of negotiation

Like it or not, Israel would have to negotiate with these “terrorists”, if they do succeed to eliminating military threat of Hezbollah by bombing television stations amongst other things, they had better be ready for guerrilla warfare.

Taking a foothold in Lebanon might bring in a less desirable grouping of terrorists – Al Qaeda in Lebanon on the border of Israel would be the least acceptable conclusion to this military escapade.

I have my doubts any of the proponents can achieve the objective of peace with this indiscriminate bombing and the possibility of new arms from a seemingly rotten cause.

An opportunity to make friends - with Syria

Syria, the pummelled

Syria for a while had become the poster child for what is wrong and unsettling about the Middle-East from the American perspective.

Having been implicated in the gruesome and explosive assassination of the ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri leading to the reluctant but coerced withdrawal of Syria from Lebanon, then their support for Hezbollah and the brick bats they received with Iran regarding Hezbollah’s attack of Israel, they have every right to be indifferent about American issues.

Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General visited Syria recently and extracted a cooperation where Syria would impose an arms embargo on its Hezbollah ally and even allow troops to patrol their border with Lebanon – my point – it is good to talk.

Syria, the brave

So, some cack-handed terrorists poorly executed a plan to bomb the US Embassy in Damascus – Yes, the US is accorded diplomatic recognition in Syria though with no one at ambassadorial level, despite what they have to endure from America – the Syrian security personnel spirited foiled the attack in which one of their number was killed.

Ironically, this “supporter of terrorism”, be it the insurgency in Iraq or the Hezbollah in Lebanon is a fighter of terrorism on its own land even if it pertains to the endangerment of life and property of it chief accuser, America.

America could not but acknowledge with grudging gratitude Syria’s efforts through Condoleezza Rice though that was soured with another comment from the White House that Syria should play a more constructive role in the war against terrorism – take a deep breath of despair.

To Teheran with love

Then switch to Teheran and it is Assyrian/Persian hugs and kisses between Ahmadinejad and Al-Maliki, the Iranian President and the Iraqi Prime Minister respectively.

The Great Satan (America) would be completed miffed with this visit to a possible abode of three – Iran in the Axis-of-Evil.

Despite all the American views about Iran stirring up the Shiite insurgency in Iraq, Iran has offered to cooperate in ensuring Iraq security and stability along with other extensive cooperation deals on oil exploration and export.

With all the American lives being lost in Iraq, the government does have to chart its own way and they are showing that regional cooperation matters regardless of who America counts as friend or foe.

As far as the Middle-East is concerned, Iran and Syria after the Hezbollah skirmish in Israel are the new brokers for regional hegemony in that region with Israel now being exposed as more vulnerable than they thought they were.

Talk and communicate

It is really time to start talking rather that flinging hateful words and vitriol from the White House and State Department like intercontinental precision ballistic missiles.

It is time to try and become friends and talk though your differences, this whole idea of the guarded self-importance of the President of America precluding him from meeting with other people just in case he offers them clout, recognition or legitimacy is self-conceited to the extreme.

It would do well to engage in high-level talks according each other a modicum of respect and courtesy; that said, it is not a team that should include John Bolton even under sedation.

The American-Israeli tinderbox that Hezbollah lit up

Surely, this cannot be true

This reads like a conspiratorial plot out of a Tom Clancy novel and if there is any truth in this, I would have to find my voice to condemn this without reservation.

The man who exposed the embarrassing Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the Vietnam My Lai massacre has a new scoop that would rock the diplomatic world to its foundations. Thank you – Seymour Hersh.

I have only had to listen to Mr Bush’s slant about the suffering of Lebanese being brought on by Hezbollah, Syria and Iran – well I have another view, it was Israel attacks with American bombs that wrecked Lebanon over the last month.

Prearranged and executed as planned

Now, it transpires that Israel had been planning the attack Lebanon with American knowledge and support long before the June 12^th kidnap by Hezbollah presented coincidental opportunity for Israel to carry forward and carry out their pre-conceived plans.

It might also explain why there was an urgency to deliver bombs from America as the war began because there should be no need for those kinds of sophisticated weapons if there was no plan to use them somewhere.

The more sinister twist to this tale is that America thought they could do the following:

· Turn the Lebanese against Hezbollah using the loss of Lebanese life and property to create a backlash against that movement. – Failed.

· Get to completely disarm Hezbollah such that when America attacks the nuclear infrastructure of Iran; Hezbollah would not be able to retaliate against Israel. – Failed.

· Strengthen the democratic forces in Lebanon, especially giving the government the ability to control the South of Lebanon. – Failed.

Probably some truth to this

It may be that Seymour Hersh is reading too much into this contact between Israel and America where they sought the support of Dick Cheney and gained the support of the US President and UN Secretary of State.

However, with what has transpired, I am wont to see more to what Mr Hersh has to say because it all seems to add up in trying to understand why Israel had such unstinting support from America in that bombing campaign.

The losers in this battle are mainly Lebanon in terms of the sacrifices, Amir Peretz, the Israeli Defence Minister in underestimating the possible resistance and United States for their conniving, colluding and conspiring gamble – Hezbollah has in some ways won and the Israeli soldiers are still bargaining chips in what would be become a diplomatic situation where America has no clout.

America has lost authority and respect

If there is anyone who can command the respect and authority to see progress on the Middle-East issues I raised in my last blog, it is probably Bill Clinton, failing him, Nelson Mandela.

I do not think it is in the power of the people in today’s American government to sufficiently redeem themselves enough to earn the epithet of arbiter to the Middle-East crisis.

Mr Blair unfortunately has eliminated the United Kingdom from a role where we could have really shown ourselves as power worthy of the status we hold on the UN Security Council and it in the world at large.

Destabilising legitimate governments

The quest to continue to support dissident and liberal groups in governments that are not friendly to the United States in order to foment civil unrest to destabilise legitimate governments is patently unacceptable if Iran and Cuba get special funding but similar authoritarian governments in Egypt and Saudi Arabia get no mention.

Like it or not, despite the theocratic organisation of the Iranian government, it has a better working democracy than that of either Afghanistan or Iraq, they are hardly the kind of examples of freedom we are told they are with all the bloodshed and insecurity that underpins their terrible lives.

Like I said in my introduction, if there is any truth in this allegation, the forked tongues I talked about over a month ago belong to slithering deceitful snakes that are up to one thing but proclaiming something else.

Seymour Hersh is in some ways a security risk if people in government have been up to no good.

References

Steppingstone to War - House passes 'Iran Freedom Support Act'

Israel, Defeated - Round one: Lebanon, 1 – Israel, 0

Bush blames Hezbollah for Lebanon fighting

Israel, U.S. are biggest losers in this war

A large body count with no ease as war ceases

The seeds of war

Just over a month ago when hostilities started with some Hamas faction seizing an Israeli soldier killing two others and the Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers killing eight, we now have a body count for the number that have perish in this senseless war. Does anyone remember Gilad Shalit? No, he has become an irrelevance in the whole scheme of things.

Gilad Shalit - refreshing your memory.

First of all, ostracising a duly and popularly elected Hamas by denying them funding when we all know that Palestine has no other means of income generation, in order to either force Hamas to abdicate the platform on which they were elected or create unrest to topple that government was definitely not the smartest thing to come out of the West.

Occupation is the problem

There are reasons why Israel finds little legitimacy in the Middle East, much of which stems from the occupation of Arab lands and the lack of progress towards the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine – that would remain the sticking point till a kind of grand solution is proffered that is acceptable to all – it would not be far from the 1967 lines and anything different would continue to fuel the extremism that seeks the destruction of Israel.

As the Palestinians seemingly crumbled under the onslaught of Israeli belligerence, Hezbollah launched their own raid which resulted in a large scale destruction of Lebanese infrastructure as well as the loss of innocent life.

This situation could have been arrested, but there is not politician presently in the world of the stature that can really bring the kinds of ideas that would command the respect of all affected parties.

The sad thing is, this war turned into a proxy war where America supplied sophisticated weaponry to Israel and Iran offered some weaponry and even men to Hezbollah turning Lebanon into the grass trampled on as a result of two elephants fighting.

The solution is not military

If there is any lesson to be learnt about this reckless gamble with human life in the quest for a military solution to a political and diplomatic puzzle, it is that guns might kill people but they cannot kill the aspirations of a people.

Hezbollah has been called every unprintable terrorist-linked name under the sun, they are however, victors in the eyes of their people, and they now garner a lot more support amongst Arabs than they ever did – they might have been curtailed but definitely not subdued.

Lumping Hezbollah together with the elements of Al-Qaeda is disingenuous at best and really a scandalous propaganda which should heap derision on America because their involvement in this war has earned them no plaudits from either Arabia or a good deal of the non-religiously biased world view of Israel’s status.

New occupations is not the answer

We now have a ceasefire or sorts, but we are still with the selfsame problem that has bugged the Middle-East for close to two generations – Israeli occupation of land that is not theirs.

The guns have stopped but Israel is in Lebanon up to the Litani River, this peace just cannot hold, neither would it hold if the Israelis are replaced with a UN peacekeeping force. The way forward is the legitimate return of lands to their proper owners, this affects Palestine – Gaza and the West Bank in its entirety; Syria with the Golan Heights and Lebanon with the Shebaa Farms.

The occupations must stop, if Israel then wants to build walls, the walls must only be built within the confines of the legitimate state of Israel.

The Middle-East in a nutshell

The Economist of August the 5^th, sums up the Middle-East problem in these topics – The bomb in Iran; the future of Iraq; the isolation of Syria; the Hezbollah state within Lebanon and the unrequited cause of the Palestinians – the amazing thing about these situations is that all this is linked up with the resolution of the Israeli-Palestine question.

This does even begin to address the issue of authoritarian religious governments, absolute monarchies with democratic trimmings and dictatorships.

The Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 was a counter-reaction to American influence in the corrupt monarch of the Shah of Iran as well as the non resolution of the Palestinian cause. The Iran “bomb” which only really exists as an American suspicion rather than a North Korean reality takes up more diplomatic energy than more pressing issues of greater importance.

America backed Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war; however, Iraq went on to support Palestinian causes in supporting families of suicide bombers – hence, the ability for American government to link Iraq with terrorism.

Syria is isolated for its involvement in Lebanon, however, they were also instrumental in getting Israel out of Lebanon, and their support for Hezbollah is mutual, in the sense that Israel still occupies Syrian and Lebanese land whilst the unanimously adopted UN Resolution to return those lands languishes in the dormant basket.

Hezbollah has always justified its existence on the basis of the occupation of the Shebaa Farms, their legitimate purpose for bearing arms would be diffused if that land is returned as they are also already part of the political and democratic process in Lebanon.

No one dares take bold decisions

Land for peace would be the core requirement for peace in Israel, it would involve removing settlements in the West Bank regardless how they read their religious tomes, the world order should be a secular acceptance of the civilisation of man and the dispensing of justice for the good of all including that contentious division of the Mandate of Palestine into the state of Israel and the state of Palestine.

America must come in for sound criticism and condemnation for letting this war carry on for so long and for literally goading Israel into doing their dirty work of hopefully eliminating Hezbollah – we now know the better of this wishing thinking and drunken gamble.

The devaluation of human life

After the loss of about 4,000 lives in the World Trade Centre, America has become a blood-thirsty marauder that has have done much to foment war and done little to sue for peace. The value of human life has depreciated to basic collateral damage, we see much for damaged buildings than for loss of innocent life.

America has lost so many soldiers in Iraq we have literally stopped counting, this war on terror is prosecuted in a way that terrifies all and brings little in gains to preserve our freedoms and way of life, it would appear world leaders could not really care less for how humanity suffers in the quest for their radical and unconscionable goals.

We do need strong leadership but not of the kamikaze sort which is what we experienced in this Israeli-Lebanon pseudo-war.

Blood on many hands

And there was no man to bring us the grand solution to the Middle-East problems, the life blood of terrorism as we are taught to know it. Great is the tribulation we suffer because they would rule are soaked in blood and like King David of old, that blood, even if shed in legitimate caused prevented him from building a temple for the Lord.

If no one values human life, thankfully, God up there does count human blood for something, good guy and bad guy alike. The religious guys had better listen up; you cannot fully participate in honouring God if you are complicit in shedding blood.

The body count – Israel 163, UN 4, Canada 8, Lebanon 1,000 and Nigeria 2 for 3 living Israeli soldiers and 10 dead ones. ‘Nuff said.

References

Hamas Isolation on Israeli recognition

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701

Lebanon's middle class is disillusioned with America

Hezbollah leader a hero to many Arabs

To King David – You are not to build a house for me

Israeli-Lebanon Body Count

The Red Cross marks the missile target - Updated

Surgical precision targetting

The madness portrayed as strategy by the axis of Israel and American continues adrift as the number of causalities progressively advances to unimaginable figures.

Two events especially make this whole situation dangerously precarious and unsustainable.

As I watched the news yesterday, we were shown patients bandaged up in hospital, having been wounded by some attack whilst they went about their duties.

These patients were ambulance men who at the time of attack were moving other wounded persons to hospital.

Many Israeli propagandists with a spokesperson tag for the army or some other function of government have stressed to distraction that they have been making their strikes as surgical as possible.

It makes one wonder how the crosses on two ambulances ended up becoming the bulls-eye for Israeli missiles. Two separate vehicles, with the internationally recognised Red Cross targeted and destroyed - with precision.

Courtesy of WhatReallyHappened.com

UN endangered in every place

Then, the UN Secretary General in the person of Kofi Annan lamented the killing of 4 UN observers, who can blame him? Hardly 3 years ago, he lost one of the best diplomatic brains in Iraq in the person of Sérgio Vieira de Mello, as the UN looked for ways to help the Iraqi War move towards probable solutions of democracy and peace.

If the belligerent parties cannot provide adequate protection for UN officials or observers, then they should not resort to the UN to help legitimise their activities.

In the advent of these killings, I would surmise Israel has already lost the battle for the hearts of many in the international community and it is unlike that they would do any better with the battle of the minds.

People of all nations including Nigerians killed

Once again the bomb was a direct hit on the shelter of the observers - surgical - which was clearly marked, in all 12 UN employees have been killed or injured, with a closer to home tragedy of a Nigerian civilian employee of UNIFIL being killed in Tyre along with his wife.

Obviously, Mr Annan is close to being vilified for jumping to conclusions at obvious and blatant unwarranted attacks on places and vehicles that should in any civilised endeavour be protected from the ravages of war.

They can investigate all they can, but the lives have already been lost and the trigger-happy sharp shooters in F16 planes are probably planning another precision and surgical strike on another clearly marked out structure - churches, mosques and hospitals better beware.

The stupor of delusion

Beyond this point one really has to try and phantom the logic of continuing these exchanges and onslaughts be Israel and the militants labelled as terrorists. Like Robert Fisk suggests, it is a complete delusion to expect that the stated goal of weakening Hezbollah and humiliating Iran whilst taming Syria is achievable by any means and definitely not by parading the best weaponry on the market.

To quote the man more clearly - "The problem, surely, is that the United States sees this bloodbath as an 'opportunity' rather than a tragedy".

The world cannot abide a situation like this any longer.

References

Robert Fisk: Israeli missiles had clearly pierced the very centre of the red cross on the roof of each ambulance

Annan accuses Israel over attack on UN post

Israeli bomb kills UN observers

Pay up or get bombed up

More to the evacuation deal

When I wrote Peace Eludes Our Time with Appeasement exactly a week ago, I received feedback about my oversimplification of rather complex issues.

I can only apologise for getting carried away with the tide of questioning the rationale of events that lead to the evacuation of citizens of Western democracies from Lebanon.

My concern was that this evacuation was looking like a carte blanche raze-and-destroy license to Israel; as the departure of foreign citizens might excite military adventures that would make the then attacks with impunity child's play making current events too unbearable for countenance.

Sue the pants off this lot

Well, a federal suit has now been filed in the United Stated by an Arab-American civil rights group naming Condolezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld as part of the administration that has not worked to secure the safety ofUS citizens in Lebanon.

The beef is more about a less than efficient and effective evacuation, leaving people in great harms way, and it goes on to request that an injunction be placed on the delivery of US weaponry to Israel until US citizens have all been evacuated.

I suppose these points are quite valid.

Pay up or get bombed

The grating part of this whole debacle was the speed of evacuation was held up because the original policy was to demand that American citizens promise to pay up for their evacuation.

That, I would say is the face of the American Enterprise; they acquiesce to Israel's foray into Lebanon, offer to evacuate American citizens who would pay up, whilst they ready a delivery of weapons to Israel which might end up blowing up their poorer citizens, all to get rid Hezbollah.

Sickening beyond vomit

This terrorism elimination prime objective is really looking like an untreated case of rampaging, stark-raving rabid madness. Talk less of foaming from all orifices.

It really makes me sick to my core.

You might call these people ungrateful, my heart goes out to people who cannot expect a better duty of care in times like these from their great country.

Condolezza condoles with aid

Another American security quagmire

Having paid generous if not effusive and concerned lip service to the protection and support for the fragile and fledgling Lebanese democracy, which was still trying to garner the benefits of Syrian withdrawal and a new coalition government; America put its money far from where its mouth is yesterday.

There are only two other places where American dignitaries use Star Trek teleportation to make unannounced appearances to media excitement. Baghdad and Kabul, we can now add to that Beirut.

Having, in all those places allowed security to deteriorate to the state that a pre-notification might endanger the chief of the entourage and their retinue, surprise is the only strategy they have in pretending to becalm the storm they have nurtured.

Take more pain and have some pills

So, as Condolezza Rice make a surprise call on Beirut and the Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, all she could offer was deep concern, no ceasefire, more pain for now and the balm of American aid.

Many might think that was a deft diplomatic hand, hardly, it was a complete sell-out of an almost defenceless people against an onslaught carrying out a scheme that America hopes would weaken Hezbollah and humiliate both Syria and Iran.

The wrecking of Lebanon would bring respite to no one, especially Israel where losses are beginning to mount in what is becoming a war where the victory would at best be Pyrrhic.

More to the terrorist and their aims

The cost to each side can now only be recouped through some negotiated settlement and this would be a test of Dr Rice's ability to really cool the tensions in the Middle-East.

The inordinate quest to get rid of the "terrorism" without resolving the underlying Israeli-Palestinian problem is a fallacy and the sooner that is realised, the earlier we can stem the flow of blood and begin to work on bandaging the wounds.

As for Lebanon, they might have a friend in America, but they are in need of better friends - the lesson here is, indeed America is no friend in the time of need, when Israel features in the matter.

We can all agree that the Lebanese have not been impressed.

Attaching the burden of history to the Middle-East

The Middle-East conflicts

I have been fielding comments on some of my write-ups about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the current events in Gaza and Lebanon.

I am concerned that most commentary fails to gather the sense of history in this conflict that dates back at least 58 years at the creation of the state of Israel, but has it roots in quite a number of earlier events in Europe from the first Aliyah (migration) around 1881 after extensive persecution of Jews around Europe.

Israel and the Jews have a longer history than the events of the last 130 years with biblical and historical commentary about their living in the Promised Land but never exclusively.

The conflict could even date back to the times of Abraham between mother-child Ishmael and mother-child Isaac – that is a completely different story for now.

I have written a series of blogs on the Israeli-Palestinian issue - it would be difficult to read the context of my views from that one blog or my most recent blogs.

The quest to annihilate Israel is as a result of a long-running scenario where Israel was carved out of the then Palestine without due consideration the displaced people.

New organizations for old problems

Hamas (1987), Hezbollah (1982) and Islamic Jihad (Used by different organisations since the 1980s) are relatively new organisations, which have developed as a result of no movement or inadequate leadership required to resolve that issue of the displaced people and the occupied areas.

Up till when Pope John Paul II visited those lands, I did not know that the largest refugee camp of internally displaced people was really in Palestine.

People have been living in camps in their own land since 1948, it is no wonder that Israel can never be at peace till some justice and movement is seen on the part of Israel.

That agenda unfortunately is mostly hijacked by religious interests that are usually not indigenous and political interests that are neither pragmatic nor diplomatic.

It is important that reviewers and commentators get a general overview of the whole historical context on this matter, fork-lifting current events out of that context provides a poor balance of perspective.

I am not claiming to be an historical expert on the conflicts, but my views, I hope, do attempt to review the whole picture for a perspective on today.

Regardless of the strong religious persuasions on the bless-Israel/curse-Israel divide, having a good critique of that situation from all perspectives is essential and it should not preclude seeking a fair and just resolution even if it does not favour the Jews.

References

The Nation of Israel

Palestine

Israel related blogs

Palestine related blogs

Forked-tongues fuelling the Middle-Eastern fires

Where is the Genesis of the Middle-East conflict?

I have just had my fill of the fork-tongued diatribe masquerading as diplomacy coming from all quarters regarding the situation in the Middle-East.

When the Hamas militants blew a hole in the wall bordering Gaza and Egypt to allow in Palestinians who had been stranded at the border for weeks the hapless but relieved people thanked Hezbollah for giving them the kind of reprieve that has given them respite.

Let us look at the issues on the ground, indeed militants including Hamas supported personnel have been firing rockets into Israel over the last few months, but all as a result of the occupied situation that the Palestinians find themselves in.

I am not trying to condone or support the struggle which gets conveniently branded as terrorism; there is a serious problem of land conflict in the Middle-East with Israelis and Palestinians in the middle of that muddle.

The fear of 1967 sees no end to this problem

If only we had leaders with conviction who addressed the matter head on and the see the results – Israel completely pulling back to the 1967 lines and Palestine a state within the bounds of what is left – this includes the Jerusalem question – that is the resolution of this conflict.

However, this bizarre occupation where Israel has at will be able to maraud through Palestinian lands with impunity could only exact guerrilla and terrorism type activity where the opponent cannot match the aggressor bullet for bullet and man for man. It would be naïve to expect another situation.

So, the raid on Israel that left 2 soldiers dead and one captured was hardly the Genesis of this situation, the inability for the west to accept the democratic will of the Palestinians allowed Hamas to remain recalcitrant about the right for Israel to exist.

I would contend that if Israel existed within its legitimate pre-1967 borders, Hamas and all other opponents of Israel would have not foot to stand on with their rhetoric.

Recognition should precede calls for influence

Once the West refused to acknowledge democracy because it yielded as it were the “wrong” result, it meant that Hamas would be a weakened and ineffective governing machine unable to command the influence to contain rogue elements.

Then that beach bombing to which we cannot conclusive assign blame still leaves many thinking Israel was responsible – the impunity of Israel had reached a point that certain elements rose to show that Israel in all its might is vulnerable.

Israel’s response to the capture of its soldier-recruit has not only been overly disproportionate, it lacks purpose or the kind of objective that can guarantee the return of the soldier and the earlier someone laments that fact than acquiesce to the hope that reason would prevail on the part kidnappers the better for the poor soldier’s life.

Brothers joined up in arms

But Israel has been unrelenting, so who else would be touched by that intemperate overrun of Palestine but the brothers in arms of Hamas who could divert Israel’s attention – The Hezbollah.

Just as anyone would eventually act if in the presence of great an injustice none of those who can sue for justice actively play the part of arbiter.

So, Hezbollah which happens to be located in Lebanon entered Israel, killed a number of soldiers and captured two as hostage. Where a negotiated settlement might have yielded better results, Israel raced into Lebanon bombing every important structure they could find and killing many innocents.

So, Hezbollah with better weaponry – Katyusha rocket not matching Israel’s manpower however, better than the Qassam rockets has rained disruption but not yet carnage on Israel and the blockade on Lebanese waters has resulted in at least 4 Israeli Navy men being overboard.

A UN debacle and a hissing Bush

So, at the UN as calls for calm and restraint echoed from the chambers the Ambassador to the UN from Israel had the temerity, gall and effrontery to address his Lebanese counterpart in terms that suggested he should in honesty and truth support Israel in the attack on his country which would free Lebanon from the influence of Hezbollah. The is the most warped diplomatic logic I have ever heard from that esteemed chamber and it is amazing that Syria was refused the opportunity to comment on the floor.

So, when Mr Bush from St Petersburg insists that the escalation of violence is primarily due to Hezbollah’s activities; it shows that the warped logic is not only disingenuous; it is dishonest, disgraceful and disheartening. There can be not solution in sight.

Why should Syria care?

Then calls are being made to Syria to rein in Hezbollah – Fat Chance! – Why should Syria get involved no matter what influence they can peddle – Syria’s Golan Heights has been annexed by Israel since 1967 and nothing is being done to resolve that issue conclusive.

However, if Lebanon continues to suffer an onslaught from Israel with the increasing loss of life and the destruction of infrastructure, it would not be long before fraternal ties with Syria have them pitched against Israel.

That would create a domino effect of Iran moving up to support Syria and then the Arab World leading to the Muslim World – simply the makings of World War III.

With Iraq and Afghanistan being simmering cauldrons of violence, the ramifications of Israeli belligerence are far from fully appreciated by all concern and that is scary to say the least.

Israel will never be big in this matter

There are no simple solutions to this matter, but it would take the magnanimity of Israel to do something dovish and materially ground-breaking to bring an impasse this deteriorating situation, unfortunately, Israel does not have the maturity to bring about that quality of statesmanship.

If, those soldiers eventually get returned alive, what a hefty price would have been paid for that and if anything has been lost from all this is the perspective – a quality of far-sighted leadership.

References

The Summary of the Middle-East Conflicts

US and Russia differ on Middle-East

Israel hits Lebanese Ports

Terrorism was a part of the struggle