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August 01, 2006
Snapshots from the Israel-Iran/Syria-proxy war
Warblogging is a bit light today because I'm working on two series of posts which will go up tomorrow:
1) Tomorrow is the first anniversay of the murder of journalist Steven Vincent in Basra, Iraq. I am coordinating a blogburst to mark his death, and about 10 bloggers have contributed posts. This will go up late tonight.
2) Tomorrow evening begins the most depressing holy day in the Jewish calendar, Tisha B'Av. Several bloggers have been calling this war the War of Dire Straits and the Tammuz War. Beginning tomorrow evening, I will explain those references in the course of a series of posts about Tisha B'Av.
So for now, here are some items about the war I've collected over the past few days, beginning with a few laughs:
Jonah Goldberg:
Thanks for all the nice notes about my column last week on the UN. Lots of folks in particular liked this formulation: "If religion is the opiate of the masses, then the United Nations is the opiate of the elites." For the record, my first instinct was to go with "If religion is the opiate of the masses, then the UN is the opiate of the asses."
The Hizbullah video dating service:
Soccer Dad fisks the Washington Post ombudswoman.
Omri Ceren fisks the SF Chronicle's primer on the Middle East conflict here and here.
Tony Blair defends Israel to the House of Commons, with his usual eloqence.
David Pryce-Jones on the increased bias at the BBC.
Video of Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman talking about working at the UN.
Rich Lowrytalked to an unnamed Israel official:
I asked him whether the temporary bombing pause would really be just temporary. He responded, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." He went on to explain that the purpose of the pause was to get by the moment when the Qana tragedy risked creating irresistable pressure toward an immediate, conditionless ceasefire that would be a victory for Hezbollah. The Israelis believe that the tactic is working and the conversation will soon return to hammering out the conditions that will make a ceasefire sustainable. On the Lebanese political situation, he said the Israelis believe there is a natural rally-around-Hezbollah effect that will fade over time. Finally, on the military campaign he says perhaps those disappointed in how it has been going had "unrealistic expectations." Hezbollah is "extremely well dug in and there is no quick fix." It's "a guerilla war, a war of attrition, and there's going to be no knock-out blow." He says the fighting is all about creating the best possible military conditions on the ground in advance of ceasefire with the right conditions. For what it's worth...
Map of Beirut showing areas bombed by Israel:
Judith | 08/01/06 at 07:42 AM | Categories: - The War of Dire Straits
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Comments
Maybe someone should fisk Pat Buchanan, who apparently doesn't buy that Syria has anything to do with Hezbollah's activities, but does believe that Israel is looking to use the US to attack Syria and Iran.
Lynne | August 2, 2006 12:19 PM
Pat Buchanan is such a has been, intellectually speaking, does anyone really need to fisk him anymore?
Although recently, when speaking to a liberal New Yorker, I was informed that Pat Buchanan's form of conservativism was the "authentic" kind.
I pointed out the anti-semitism, but that didn't seem to stop his rush of enthusiasm. He found it far more prefereable to Bush.
Alcibiades | August 4, 2006 11:15 AM
