Crack of Dawn?
Hezbollah’s renewed war on Lebanon flicks on a light for a lefty scribbler, who has the passing thought the world may be an evil place. No kidding. There’s a whole axis of the stuff. Hop, skip and a jump from there to … you know. Maybe this Leb thing could be a(nother) big learning moment.
About that Hezbo war, Michael Totten notes there is no peace in Lebanon while Hezbollah exists. He and his guestbloggers with some running commentary here.
Totten steers us to this on-the-ground Lebblogging by his friend Charles Malik at Lebanese Political Journal.
You’ll want to check in with Blacksmiths of Lebanon, loaded up with art and commentary.
Related, not really so different, Kondracke advocates a big missile shield for Israel as a preventative for war with Iran. Why anyone would want to avoid war with Iran is beyond me. Iran’s already engaged. But these paragraphs suggest Kondracke hasn’t figured that out yet:
Separate from the nuclear issue, several Mideast experts I trust - moderates, not super-hawks - also think that the chances of a U.S.-Iran war are greater if Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) gets elected than Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) or John McCain (R-Ariz.) because Iran may judge him a “weak” president on the model of Jimmy Carter, “test” him more aggressively and miscalculate his resolve.
Possible Iranian “tests” include inspiring a Shiite militia takeover of the Iraqi government, attacks designed to humiliate the United States as its troops withdraw, an attempt by Iran-aided Hezbollah to topple the government of Lebanon or joint Hezbollah-Hamas attacks on Israel.
First prize to the commenter who can explain in which manner those five things (to include the U.S.-Iran war) are not already happening without sounding too ridiculous. Honorable mention to the commentator who can explain how a missile shield for Israel derails Iran’s plans for regional domination.
We engaged in a cold war with the Soviet Union because a hot one would have destroyed the world. Iran is not in a position to do that, though leaving Iran to fester could dramatically increase Iran’s destructive power, Israeli missile defense or no missile defense. The other thing about cold wars is, they never actually are. Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Angola, Afghanistan, etc. Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, etc. How many hot … or if you prefer, simmering to boiling over … wars is Iran now fighting? Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, Afghanistan.
Welcome Ace righties, LGM lefties, etal. Come on in, all are welcome. It’s important to know thy enemy. Like this guy who was “just turning his life around.” Whaddaya think are the chances this woman will turn her life around? Ye of little faith, don’t you know about the eye gouging?
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:17 am on Friday, May 9, 2008
3 Responses to “Crack of Dawn?”
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May 9th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Certainly, we should give Israel anti-missile and missile detection technology. Then we should help them to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. I see no reason why these two goals should be mutually exclusive.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Hmmm. So could it be, while our troop-”supporting” Congress hand wrings over how thin our military is stretched, Iran’s capabilities are also stretched thin? And that there has never been a better time to break them?
May 9th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Well if the Obama administration ends up in a war with Iran, you can bet the NYT will portray it as The. Most. Progressive. Idea. Ever.
Take out Iran now. The drive by’s will go ape (Bush is gonna get bad press anyhow), and then they will forget about it as soon as the next outrage (cuts to school lunches for ADHD children of single mothers on crack or something) comes to light.