Lebanon says will call for cease-fire

[cal04]

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said on Tuesday he would press for an immediate halt of Israeli hostilities in Lebanon during a conference discussing the crisis on Wednesday in Rome.

"We will go to Rome to explain Lebanon's position ... before the representatives of the world in the face of the barbaric attacks against the Lebanese people ... and to expose the Israeli war crimes," Siniora said before heading to the Italian capital.

"A cease-fire must be reached ... and there should be a comprehensive solution that liberates all Lebanese land," he said, referring to the border strip of Shebaa Farms that Lebanon claims but the U.N. considers Israeli-occupied Syrian land.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said the main objective of the meeting would be to secure a cease-fire, as well as getting humanitarian aid to civilian victims.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1080802006

[MasonJar]

1. Lebanon probably does not have the power to stop Hezbollah.

Even Israel with its seemingly endless munitions is not succeeding.

[w4rma]

3. And they have less power over Hezbollah after what Israel has done. (nt)

[Gully Foyle]

2. Messy

http://www.juancole.com/
"In a sign that the war is going badly for Israel, US Secretary of State Condi Rice made a surprise visit to Beirut on Monday. She came, however, not to be helpful, but to act as a courier, delivering Israel's ultimatum to Hizbullah. The message was that Hizbullah must turn over the two captured Israeli troops in its possession and withdraw its troops and weaponry some 15 miles from the Israeli border. (The vast majority of Hizbullah's katyusha rockets only have a range of 3 or 4 miles, so most would become useless in the struggle with Israel over the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms if Hizbullah did move them back that far.)

The meeting was reportedly tense. Rice proffered "support" to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, but not a ceasefire, which is what he really needs to keep his government from collapsing--and he testily told her so. She said she regretted the humanitarian situation (caused by America's ally with billions in American-supplied armaments), but the US is offering only $30 million in aid (billions of dollars of damage have been done to Lebanon by Israel, most of it unrelated to Hizbullah). She delivered her ultimatum to Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese parliament and a leading secular Shiite politician who has an alliance of convenience with Hizbullah. Berri angrily rejected her terms and riposted that no negotiations would happen without there first being a ceasefire. He was relaying to her Hizbullah's position.

Rice's visit showed how low American stock has fallen in the Middle East, since she came virtually empty-handed, merely as a go-fer on behalf of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, with little positive to offer. Berri thunderously rejected her ultimatums, or rather those of her political bosses. She came with nice words but Israeli bombs hit Beirut before and after her visit, according to my sources. Her professions of sympathy rang hollow, since her government was encouraging the bombing raids and blocking any UN or European move toward a cease-fire. She played no more exalted a role than Mafia enforcer, lifting her suit coat at the corner to display the loaded pistol as she discussed just how much the owner of the Lebanese restaurant would be paying per month for "protection" from certain of her "friends," or else, you know, something bad could happen to this nice restaurant of yours.

And, she was undermined by Washington's warmest ally in the Muslim Middle East, the government of American Iraq, who delivered a message the opposite of her own. He argued for an immediate ceasefire and warned that Israel's destruction of the infrastructure of a whole country will grow extremism. Al-Maliki is referring to the "boiling" Mahdi Army in Iraq and other such phenomena, which have him in their sites, and maybe American targets as well."

http://www.counterpunch.org/
Why Israel is Losing
"The world is witnessing what could be a critical turning point in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel is now engaged in a war that could permanently undermine the efficacy of its much-vaunted military apparatus.

Ironically, there are several reasons for believing that Israel’s destruction of southern Lebanon and southern Beirut will weaken its bargaining position relative to its adversaries, and will strengthen its adversaries’ hands.

First, Israel has no clearly defined tactical or strategic objective, and so the Israeli offensive fails the first test of military logic: there is no way that Israel's actions can improve its position relative to Hamas or Hizballah, much less Syria or Iran.

The logic of power politics also implies that a no-win situation for Israel is a definite loss, because Israel is the stronger party and thus has the most to lose. In an asymmetric war, the stronger party always has the most to lose, in terms of reputation and in terms of its ability to project its will through the instruments of force."

The COUNTERPUNCH article is very telling and sums up the EXACT problem the US is having worldwide.

[hadrons]

4. great work, Gully Foyle .....

I will read both

[Gully Foyle]

5. Kung Fu

What most people fail to understand was summed up by Caine on Kung Fu.
He said something like the attacker must win for victory but the defender must only survive.
That is what we are seeing in Afghanistan/Iraq/Israel/Lebanon.
How bad assed it to claim you took the other guys best shot and didn't go down for good?