One Little thing

OK, so they voted unanimously for the cease-fire. Israel wants to fight through Sabbath, but one hopes that they recognize the politically suicidal nature of a last-day retribution run. But I am worried about one little thing. The two sides are supposed to declare victory and go home. It makes sense. No more missiles, yay for Israel. No more powerlessness against air strikes, yay Lebanon. But wait. What is this I hear? And this?

It sounds like too many voices in Israel are reading the wrong script. They are reading the "Heznballah won" script. The script meant to enable the Lebanese and other Arabs to feel OK about the outcome. These voices are totally glossing over the main achivement that Israel legitimately scored: no more first moves by Hezballah. With the new troops in place, the whole "let's go kill some Jews" attitude will no longer find any expression. Only the strict application of the ultimate punishment richly deserved by any politician suspected of lying: hold him to his word. The leadership of Hezballah will now be held to its word of being a defensive resistance force, not the vanguard of a new Sunni empire. The very words that won Hezballah its place in Lebanese electoral politics. So, Israel, where's the celebration?

I hope someone wakes up and gets the right script in front of these bozos. Otherwise Israel will just keep fighting for the neo-conservative imperium even as US voters flush these same views down to the great big water-treatment plant of history.

Oh, one more thng I want to get off my chest. There was an article I linked to yesterday.
Here's the link again. Excerpts:

The situation is forcing young, professional, university-educated Lebanese to look elsewhere to live.

Tomorrow: Leaving Lebanon to Hezbollah

I just want to remind people who know better that there is a false correlation implied in the article, which is harmful to proper understanding of the dynamics of Lebanon. There are Lebanese who are educated and Lebanese who are at high-school level or lower. There are Lebanese who are able to emigrate and Lebaense who are not. And, there are Lebaense who support Hezballah in its present form, and Lebanese who want it reined in, and I daresay some Lebanese who wnat it to just go away. It is false to assume that, under the rules of family unification used in most countries to regulate imigration, an educated Lebanese is more likely to be able to leave Lebanon than an uneducated one. And it is equally wrong to assume that having family in Australia or having a PhD renders a person less likely to support some role for Hezballah. These simple stereotypes are the reason that hundreds of innocents are getting killed. Policies formed by polticians who either hold these stereotypoes, or or owe their electoral victories to people who believe these stereotypes, are the ones that insisted on delaying the cease-fire this long.
People are people. There!

The Funny Section

Again, thanks to my research department.

I personally liked the Klingon analogy better, but I never did any Photoshopping based on the idea.

For those of you into Science Fiction, I'm thinking of writing something about the similarities between this war and the war in "Dune" where Fremen were revealed to be better fighters than Sardaukar. Any takers? Please leave comments (I just lost my biggest commentator.)