Category: News

What We Won’t Talk About in the Israel-Lebanon Conflict

What We Won’t Talk About in the Israel-Lebanon Conflict — New York Magazine
Richard Cohen wrote in his Washington Post column last week,

“Israel itself is a mistake . . . an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable [but which] has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now.”

Sixty years on, there can be no revising or reversing that mistake—and when the choice is Israel versus unaccommodating Islamist fanatics, we must be for Israel. Is there any more inconvenient truth?

So it was no surprise that as Israel waged its retaliatory war against Hezbollah and Hamas (zealots, Fascists, nihilists, pawns of Iran and Syria, all of the above), the blogospheric liberals, usually promiscuous with opinions, were averting their eyes, changing the subject, punting—like Republicans are inclined to do about global warming. Continue reading “What We Won’t Talk About in the Israel-Lebanon Conflict”

Another Man’s Honor, Or Why MidEast Peace Will be Difficult

Project Alberta :: View topic – Another Man’s Honor, Or Why MidEast Peace Will be Difficult
In the West we’ve redefined “honorable” as being virtuous, fair, truthful and sincere, but that’s not the traditional meaning. Honor meant simply the respect of the local “honor group” — the family, the extended clan, the tribe, the religious sect. It meant maintaining a reputation for courage and loyalty, not being charitable to enemy civilians. Telling the truth was secondary to saving face.

This “tyranny of the face” continually frustrates Westerners trying to understand the Middle East. When I interviewed villagers in Iraq, I discovered we usually had separate agendas: I wanted the facts, but the villager wanted to avoid embarrassing either of us. So he would tactfully search for the answer that would both please me and not dishonor his family.

When American tanks rolled into Baghdad, Western television viewers were astonished at the sight of the Iraqi information minister steadfastly denying that anything was going wrong. But it made sense from a traditional honor system. The only thing worse than being defeated is the shame of admitting defeat. Continue reading “Another Man’s Honor, Or Why MidEast Peace Will be Difficult”

Hill fries free to be French again

Hill fries free to be French again — The Washington Times
The fries on Capitol Hill are French again.
So is the breakfast toast in the congressional cafeterias, with both fries and toast having been liberated from the appellation “freedom.”
Three years after House Republicans trumpeted the new names to get back at the French for snubbing the coalition of the willing in Iraq, congressmen don’t even want to talk about french fries, which are actually native to Belgium, and toast.

Why the French Foreign Minister is in Tehran, not Damascus

Across the Bay
And there’s something else that people who think the solution lies in Damascus should bear in mind. The relationship between the son and Hezbollah is different to the relationship that existed between the father and Hezbollah. For Hafez al-Assad, Hezbollah was a tool in his hand to remind Israel that if they didn’t negotiate the return of the Golan Heights, he could hurt them in Lebanon. And he used that—it was like a tap that he could turn on and off.

The relationship between Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah is very different. He is dependent on Hezbollah to maintain Syrian influence in Lebanon because he no longer has the troop presence that gave him control of Lebanon. He is dependent on Hezbollah to defend against an Israeli ground attack through Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley into Syria. And therefore, his ability to curb Hezbollah is much more limited, if it’s there at all.

Translation by ThreatWatch from Le Figaro from the French Foriegn Minister after his trip to Tehran:

“..the French respond that it is preferable to address the issue with the true decision-maker, more so than its Syrian vassal.”

…the hostility of Tehran to the deployment of troops with the objective of neutralizing Hizballah along the border with Israel. This Iranian veto would be in any case negotiable, in exchange for Western concessions in regard to the nuclear issue. Tehran has made no secret in practice of its intention to relate the crisis in Lebanon to that arising from its nuclear ambitions…

Hostage to Hezbollah

Gamblers cash in on Caesars casino error

Gamblers cash in on Caesars casino error
Caesars and Indiana Gaming Commission officials say the machine — named Extra Money — paid out $487,000 over the July 21 weekend before an honest gambler from Louisville brought the problem to their attention.

It turned out that the machine was one of a bank of eight slots in which new software had been installed on July 21, according to a gaming commission incident report.

The other seven machines checked out fine. But the one Ford was using had a switch set in a position for use in the Philippines instead of the United States, and it instructed the machine to multiply credits by 10, the report states. (Thanks to Chip Welfeld for this one)

Miami seen as highest disaster risk city

SustainLane | U.S. Cities in Harm’s Way
Based on these criteria, the cities with the greatest natural disaster risk are Miami (#50), which is sited on a peninsula between two prolific hurricane zones; New Orleans (#49); Oakland (#48), which straddles the Hayward Earthquake Fault; San Francisco (#47), on the San Andreas Fault and at risk for tsunamis; Honolulu (#46), subject to hurricanes, storm surge flooding, and tsunamis; and San Jose (#45), which is also near the San Andreas Fault.Click on the link to see the full list of 50 cities and the criteria.

Bill Maher: The World IS Mel Gibson

The Blog | Bill Maher: The World IS Mel Gibson | The Huffington Post
As I watch so much of the world ask Israel for restraint in a way no other country would (Can you imagine what Bush would do if a terrorist organization took over Canada and was lobbing missiles into Montana, Maine and Illinois?) – and, by the way, does anyone ever ask Hezbollah for restraint. you know, like, please stop firing your rockets aimed PURPOSEFULLY at civilians? – it strikes me that the world IS Mel Gibson. Continue reading “Bill Maher: The World IS Mel Gibson”

Peter Hitchens on Israel

Mail online – Peter Hitchens

In this post to his British newspaper blog Hitchens delineates a history of what he calls “Judophobia”; concluding with this point-counterpoint –

As for the conventional wisdom of the commentators, let me take it piece by piece: “Israel needs to make concessions to the Palestinians if it wants to live in peace. These concessions should take the form of land.” Continue reading “Peter Hitchens on Israel”