Canadian deaths in Lebanon do not change Ottawa's view of Mideast crisis

[CHIMO]

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (CP) - The deaths of seven Canadians - including an entire family with three preschoolers - during Israel's bombing of Lebanon have not changed Prime Minister Stephen Harper's position on the crisis in the Middle East.

The return of Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Arab extremists, not an immediate ceasefire, is the key to ending the current conflict, Harper said Monday as the G8 conference concluded.

"We are not going to give in to the temptation of some to single out Israel, which was the victim of the initial attack," Harper told an abbreviated closing news conference.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=8d789173-4648-4908-b3ef-c4e148f0559d&k=27164

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Noam Chomsky: U.S.-Backed Israeli Policies Pursuing "End of Palestine"; Hezbollah Capture of Israeli Soldiers "Very Irresponsible Act" That Could Lead To "Extreme Disaster"

NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, of course, I have no inside information, other than what's available to you and listeners. What's happening in Gaza, to start with that -- well, basically the current stage of what's going on -- there's a lot more -- begins with the Hamas election, back the end of January. Israel and the United States at once announced that they were going to punish the people of Palestine for voting the wrong way in a free election. And the punishment has been severe.

At the same time, it's partly in Gaza, and sort of hidden in a way, but even more extreme in the West Bank, where Olmert announced his annexation program, what’s euphemistically called “convergence” and described here often as a “withdrawal,” but in fact it’s a formalization of the program of annexing the valuable lands, most of the resources, including water, of the West Bank and cantonizing the rest and imprisoning it, since he also announced that Israel would take over the Jordan Valley. Well, that proceeds without extreme violence or nothing much said about it.

Gaza, itself, the latest phase, began on June 24. It was when Israel abducted two Gaza civilians, a doctor and his brother. We don't know their names. You don’t know the names of victims. They were taken to Israel, presumably, and nobody knows their fate. The next day, something happened, which we do know about, a lot. Militants in Gaza, probably Islamic Jihad, abducted an Israeli soldier across the border. That’s Corporal Gilad Shalit. And that's well known; first abduction is not. Then followed the escalation of Israeli attacks on Gaza, which I don’t have to repeat. It’s reported on adequately.

The next stage was Hezbollah's abduction of two Israeli soldiers, they say on the border. Their official reason for this is that they are aiming for prisoner release. There are a few, nobody knows how many. Officially, there are three Lebanese prisoners in Israel. There's allegedly a couple hundred people missing. Who knows where they are?

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/14/146258


Our Clown Stevie.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1153001409880

[tuvor]

1. So...Harper has the key to ending the current conflict.

Even if he were right, big fucking deal. It's only the current conflict--one of innumerable previous conflicts.

A significant part of the world appears to be imploding before our eyes after decades of shit from all participants that I don't pretend to understand. But I do understand that it runs very deep and very long.

The patient is bleeding to death, but Stephen knows which brand of band-aid to apply to a nasty paper cut.

Get. Off. The. Stage.

[daleo]

2. Harper is an idiot

When your citizens are killed, you have to object forcefully to it. You just can't ignore your own citizens being killed.

[tuvor]

3. Stephen's more concerned with the two Israeli soldiers.

That's the way it looks, anyway.

[daleo]

4. To you, me, and lots of other Canadians

If I was a Conservative handler, I would be telling Harper you have to show some spine here, even if you do think Israeli soldiers are more important than Canadian citizens, because Canadians will not support you on this.