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Posted 8:38 AM by magnu231
Israel

So, the Israel situation is getting pretty ridiculous. I really don't know what to think about it. I'm pretty much behind Israel in this fight, but this is getting quite complicated. I think the main thing is, that Israel has the right to attack Lebanon, especially Hizbollah bases in Lebanon, if Lebanon is consciously shielding people who are attacking Israel. But again, it's tough to know what to think. Things are escalating pretty quickly over there. Maybe Israel will be able to calm things down again by putting the fear of God back in some of the surrounding countries. We know organizations like the Hizbollah are hard to convince, but at least perhaps some leaders can be convinced to stop shielding the groups. Then again, maybe these actions just upset people so much that those who hate Israel have even more cannon fodder.

Update: James Lileks, one of my favorite humorists, has some thoughts on the matter, especially on some of the coverage of the whole affair. (It's near the bottom, after the somewhat too complete description of his weekend.) Good stuff.

1 comments

Comments:

I think it's good that Israel is going full force after their soldiers were killed/kidnapped...but I don't think it's good that they're targeting civilians. Hezbollah =| Lebanon, just as Al Qaida =| Iraq (or Afghanistan, for that matter), just as the KKK (or Army of God, or Timothy McVeigh's crowd, or that D.C. sniper) =| the U.S.

As far as war tactics go, I think the Sherman route was the most effective 200 years ago. Now, we are too global. Hitting civilians in order to make their lives miserable so that they'll force their governments to do something only works when the citizens have some form of power (say voting, or maybe labor, or...I don't know, sex/reproduction). In a weak legitimate government, the citizenry does not have the power. Targeting them is just slaughter.

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:40 PM