The Nation & World: Hezbollah flexes its muscle...

[bridgit]

'Seattle Times BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hezbollah has long been described as a "state within a state," a Shiite mini-government boasting close ties to Iran and Syria, the country's largest political party and its most potent armed force. But Wednesday's move across the border to capture two Israeli soldiers went a step further: Hezbollah acted as the state itself, threatening to drag Lebanon into a war. The country's elected government was still in meetings Wednesday, arguing over what to say in public, when Hezbollah chief Sayed Hassan Nasrallah stood before television cameras with a pointed threat for the ruling elite. "Today is a time for solidarity and cooperation, and we can have discussions later. I warn you against committing any error. This is a national responsibility," said the turbaned Shiite cleric.'

http://article.wn.com/view/2006/07/13/The_Nation_World_Hezbollah_flexes_its_muscle

Seattle Times article http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003123599_lebanon13.html

[bemildred]

1. "the country's largest political party and its most potent armed force"

Sounds like he's making his move. With his good friends now in power in Iraq, Iran, and Syria, he may be right.

[bridgit]

2. i think to be right, Israel has been relatively quiet during our own...

fiasco & folly in Iraq; after we were drawn into the region that is...

but with the election of Hamas in Gaza, and a few choice & still idiotic moves on the parts of arab leaders i.e. current events - Hezbollah kidnapping soldiers in the north (come on, they had to know after some 7,000 of tit-for-tat what would happen, can't they understand anything for more than 15min at a time) and all parties on all sides are burst into deadly, rabid & repetitious activity

[bemildred]

3. Bit by bit ...

While there were some loons in Israeli politics that favored George's plunge into Iraq, I agree that there were plenty that were sensible enough to see if for the folly that it was, and that it would not be good for Israel; and I don't agree with the notion that Israel goaded George into doing it. I do hold the neocons and pnacers, many of whom are Jews, responsible, but that just means those fellows are guilty fools, and says nothing about Jews or Israelis in general or in particular, otherwise.

There is no question in my mind that Hiz'bullah deliberately picked this fight. To my mind that is all the more reason to keep a cool head and not overreact. Wiser heads might well ask why Hiz'bullah decided to start a war now? The current IDF offensives are foolish and violent, and Israel will regret the day it elected that fuckwit Olmert and allowed Halutz and his friends to run amok like this. Uncle Sugar is tied down in two other wars already and everybody else is pissed off and unsympathetic, which makes it not a good time to start a regional war.

[bridgit]

4. that is correct, i tried making that point some time back over in GD...

round the time the influence vis-a-vis the Israeli Lobby had hit the fan; and was roundly pulled out onto the tiles by what can arguably be described as the preeminent du mod...still & while the exchanges were civil, even applauded as such; the question was never answered but rather obfuscated. i still see, in my mind's eye: Richard Perle, eating with a great & studied delicacy his apricot crepes in a posh downtown French restaurant in the knowledge that it all worked according to plan

all sides have all the blame; each & every side...each & every conceivable blame in my opinion. there are no innocents in the region. not jews. not arabs. not you per se, bemildred, but where others will point to the innocence of the region's children? the obvious will not be stated

i had put forward the image of an ancient/antique, dirty/dusty switch-box filled with squeaky, gritty sand filled buttons the pushing of which cause very specific & predictable results...

the middle east

[bemildred]

5. Copacetic.

I don't find blame to be a very useful notion, we are all to blame, or none of us. Same goes for the endless blather about who is or is not "justified" in committing this or that atrocity. The proper question is what is the right thing to do(*), what will make things better and not worse. We are all in it together, whether we like it or not. It's not enough to be justified or blameless, you have to be smart and subtle and think in generations.

And let's hear it for the children, all of them, they deserve to have someone better than us running the show. When will we decide not to pass the evil on to the next generation?

(*) - Credit to the Magistrate for that formulation.