Protein Wisdom

Michelle Malkin addresses the problems that Jeff has been having with a whackjob stalker freak. It's been going on for way too long. Give him a hand if you can.

Something Fishy

The loss of life in Qana is heartbreaking but there is something fishy going on there. Confederateyankee has a good rundown concerning the delay in that building falling.
And from the Jerusalem Post:

Hours before the air force's press conference, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Gillerman told NBC's Meet the Press program that he suspected the building collapse was orchestrated by Hizbullah because it was in their interests.

He said Hizbullah also might have prevented the civilians from leaving the collapsed structure "in a cynical and brutal way."

Israeli officials noted that the Lebanese rescue teams did not start evacuating the building until hours after the collapse and only when the camera crews came. The rescue team then took out the bodies of children slowly for the camera crews.

And like I said yesterday, "most of these children" were handicapped.

Michael Totten quotes Ali from Hezbollah today.

And even when the battle with the Israelis is over, he adds menacingly, Hizbullah will have other battles to fight. "The real battle is after the end of this war. We will have to settle score with the Lebanese politicians. We also have the best security and intelligence apparatus in this country, and we can reach any of those people who are speaking against us now. Let's finish with the Israelis and then we will settle scores later."

Qana is fishy and I suspect Hezbollah over Israel. Terrorists fully realize the importance of the media in today's warfare.

Awesome writing out there

Victor Davis Hanson.
Claudia Rossett
Wretchard
Transterrestrial Musings (ht Bidinotto)
Captain Uri Lavie
(via Blackfive)

Hezbollah

In light of the bombing in Qana last night keep in mind that Hezbollah hides in and amongst civilians.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets from the village since Day 1 hiding behind innocent people’s places and even CHURCHES. No one is allowed to argue with the Hezbollah gunmen who wont hesitate to shoot you and i ve heard about more than one shooting incident including young men from the village and Hezbollah.

Urgent appeals have been done through phone calls from terrified people who wouldnt give out their name fearing Hezbollah might harm or even eliminate them.

Here are some pictures of Hezbollah hanging around an apt building with their automatic weapons and a cannon on a truck. As a side note, these photos had to be smuggled out.

On more odd thing. In the story out of CNN we learn that 1/2 of the victims are women and children. Also:

Red Cross worker Sami Yazbak, who was helping to pull bodies from the building, said many of the children who were sleeping inside were handicapped.

What exactly happened after the IDF called and dropped leaflets in the area warning people to leave?
Did Hezbollah round up handicapped kids because a) they were deemed expendable and b) their killing is especially disheartening? Hezbollah is especially dispicable if this is the case. Ordering mothers and their children to stay put.
Or were these kids unable to move due to their circumstances so they were stuck staying in a place their mother's knew was going to be bombed?
This story calls for bigtime followup.

A "Deal" for the Middle East

Powerline gives the lowdown.
On the good news front, the Lebanese Govt is acting like a govt. Now on to the next step.

The deal apparently contemplates that Hezbollah would disarm. But who would see to it that Hezbollah disarms and stay disarmed? The answer is the U.N. peacekeeping force and the Lebanese army. But the U.N. force has already proved unable and unwilling to do this -- it stood by while Hezbollah developed the capacity to bomb Haifa and Israeli towns evern further south. And it's far from clear that the Lebanese army is a match for Hezbollah in the south or that it has any desire to serve as the protector of Israel. During the current war, the Lebanese government pledged that its army will join forces with Hezbollah if Israel mounts a serious invasion.

Chavez

Hugo Chavez is going to meet Ahmadinejad in Tehran sometime this weekend for a meeting of the "minds". It will be interesting to see how it goes since Ahmadijinad has banned, yes, banned the use of foreign words.
LOL
Step one to making a fool out of yourself. Change the names of common things. ie French fries to Freedom fries.. now in Iran its Pizza to Elastic Loaf. LOL

The presidential decree, issued earlier this week, orders all governmental agencies, newspapers and publications to use words deemed more appropriate by the official language watchdog, the Farhangestan Zaban e Farsi, or Persian Academy, the Irna official news agency reported.

Do you suppose Mr. Chavez will have anything to say about this? I am certain he would if President Bush did the same. Rolled bread vs Burrito. Animal sport vs Rodeo.

A call for unity

From Iraq the Model. After hearing Zawahiri, Omar notes

And if Zawahiri, Nesrallah, Ahmedinejad and Sadr are calling upon extremists whether, Sunni or Shia, from all over the world to put aside their differences and unite in this war against the free world and to establish the Empire of terror from "Afghanistan to Andalus" then this is more than enough reason for you in the free world and for us who are struggling for our freedom to put aside our differences and disagreements and unite, from Sydney to Mumbai to Baghdad to Paris and London all the way till California, all must stand against this evil that is trying to destroy our world.

Journalists and Hezbollah

I believe it was Michael J. Totten (new link today) that first let me know about the direct intimidation by Hezbollah. Today Tim Blair notes another journalist threatened by these terrorists.

The Party of God has a copy of every journalist’s passport, and they’ve already hassled a number of us and threatened one."

Fun. For all the grief we give them when it's deserved it should be noted that their job when out there and not just copying ap stories is a tricky and sometimes dangerous one.

Friday Links

Steyn
.......................
John Bolton in the Senate yesterday. I do like him. Just a taste.

The Security Council is also actively seized of the matter. We are working closely with other Members of the Council to ensure that appropriate, I stress appropriate, action is taken by the Council. It would be a disservice and only bring increased hardship to the peoples of Israel and Lebanon if the Security Council adopted stopgap measures, which would do nothing to address the root causes of the violence. It was with this in mind that the United States felt it necessary to veto a lopsided Resolution two weeks ago on this matter, the first time we had to do so in almost two years.

..........................
North Korea is talking about walking out on security talks at the ASEAN forum in Malasia unless the group agrees not to denounce them for their missile tests. And it won't meet with the "group of six" to discuss their nuclear ambitions unless the US drops it's financial sanctions.
In the meantime, 2 days ago China
froze North Korean accounts.
Hmmmmm

Kyoto

By not signing we sealed the fate of the world. To be cleaner?

U.S. manufacturing facilities cut their releases of toxics by 21 per cent between 1998 and 2003, while Canadian manufacturers cut releases by 10 per cent.

(via The Environmental Republican)

Today

Michael J. Totten is back and writing about Lebanon.

Here (there's a photo)a Christian mob smashes a car in Beirut for displaying a Hezbollah logo. My friend Carine says the atomosphere reeks of impending sectarian conflict like never before. Another Lebanese blogger quotes a radical Christian war criminal from the bad old days who says the civil war will resume a month after Israel cools its guns: "Christians, Sunnis and Druze will fight the 'fucker Shia', with arms from the US and France."

..................................
In the meantime Israel decides not to expand offensive.
and
Al-Qaeda wants in now too.

It is a Jihad for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails ... from Spain to Iraq," al-Zawahri said. "We will attack everywhere." Spain was controlled by Arab Muslims until they were driven from power at the turn of the 16th century.

...................................
These are to be filed under "it's a new odd world":
The IDF is calling Palestinians and warning them out of places they (the IDF) are going to bomb.
AND
Someone is text messaging Israeli's with odd threats or is it a warning?

"Now Now Now...Go out from your home Hizballah willing shelling of the area, Israel Government Cheating you And refuse recognition Defeat.”

....................................
In the NY Times there is an article on the call for a ceasefire. I find it very interesting that in all these calls for ceasefires, they are talking about Israel. Are they negotiating with Nasrallah too? Has he agreed to put down arms?

“We demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities, and the majority of the other parties insisted on our line,” the French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said in a telephone interview from Rome, but the Americans disagreed.

We demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities but the Americans disagreed. Does that mean that we said,
"Keep up the bombing." to Hezbollah?
I doubt that. Does that mean that the majority of parties agreed that everyone should stop bombing or only that Israel should stop bombing.
Mr. Foreign minister isn't clear.
...............................
Moving on.
Dr. Demarche has some remarks on the "surprise" Israel reaction. Which reminded me that I wanted to do a direct link to Claudia Rosett's column in regards to the UN and Hezbollah. In regards to the UN, be sure to read about the report on the email from the Canadian UN peacekeeper who died. Earlier he had forwarded information that Hezbollah was using them as shields.

Maliki's visit: Interesting and Confusing

Democrats in Congress are upset that Maliki is going to be allowed to speak before them simply because he agrees with a lot of the world that Israel is using "disproportionate" force. Does this mean that Democrats have no respect for a free and independantly elected government in Iraq? Maliki isn't al-Qaeda, or Hezbollah, or even Hamas. He's not suggesting that he will join the fight on the side of Hezbollah. He's just basically agreeing with Kofi Annan. Does Nancy Pelosi want an actual life sized puppet? Is that why she thinks the Bush policy in Iraq sucks, because he hasn't produced strong enough puppet strings? I am confused.

The prime minister's views and inflammatory statements by other Iraqi officials — including a parliamentary resolution branding the Israeli attacks "criminal aggression" — prompted 20 congressional Democrats to call for the cancellation of Maliki's invitation to address a joint session of Congress today.

Republican leaders refused, but also expressed concern about Maliki's statements.

The Democratic leadership in the House and Senate condemned the prime minister's comments.

"Maliki's criticism of Israel's right to defend itself is unacceptable," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). "Unless Mr. Maliki disavows his critical comments of Israel and condemns terrorism, it is inappropriate to honor him with a joint meeting of Congress."

Some Democrats were weighing a boycott of the speech, but Democratic leaders were expected to attend and were not encouraging absences

WMD

The Paradigm.

The problem for liberals is that once that basic fact is admitted, and the discussion becomes more nuanced--e.g., old WMDs versus new WMDs--then the discussion also has to include addional facts: that Saddam remained committed to building more WMDs at the earliest opportunity; that he had at his command ample staff and other resources to carry out that command; and that Iraq was moving successfully toward ending the corrupt U.N. sanctions regime, at which point WMD production would have resumed.

The UN at Work

"We call for another resolution in order to enforce the other resolution that we passed and then worked to make certain that 1/2 of the parties participated. But before that can happen we'll need to pass a different resolution enshrining those that will be enforcing the first by the second resolution. " I am not kidding.

The force's powers would have to be internationally agreed and enshrined in a new Security Council resolution. That resolution would also call for an Israeli withdrawal.

And why oh why would any sane country allow UN forces in?

UNITED Nations peacekeepers have abandoned at least 20 babies fathered with poverty-stricken Timorese women.

A UN investigation has also uncovered a culture of cover-up, in which babies born to peacekeepers and sex crimes committed by UN staff in the past seven years have been kept secret because of a "fear of shame and embarrassment' in the deeply religious country.

Scott has more. And may I recommend a book. Emergency Sex and other Desparate Measures An account of three peacekeepers times in the UN.

War

Read the Nasrallah interview. It's interesting and rather amazing. He started this war without really thinking this through.

"I Told Them [Lebanese Political Leaders] That We Must Resolve the Issue of the Prisoners, and That the Only Way to Resolve it is by Abducting Israeli Soldiers"

Interviewer: "Did you inform them that you were about to abduct Israeli soldiers?"

Hassan Nasrallah: "I told them that we must resolve the issue of the prisoners, and that the only way to resolve it is by abducting Israeli soldiers."

Interviewer: "Did you say this clearly?"

Hassan Nasrallah: "Yes, and nobody said to me: 'No, you are not allowed to abduct Israeli soldiers.' Even if they had told me not to... I'm not defending myself here. I said that we would abduct Israeli soldiers, in meetings with some of the main political leaders in the country. I don't want to mention names now, but when the time comes to settle accounts, I will. They asked: 'If this happens, will the issue of the prisoners be over and done with?' I said that it was logical that it would. And I'm telling you, our estimation was not mistaken. I'm not exaggerating. Anywhere in the world - show me a country, show me an army, show me a war, in which two soldiers, or even civilian hostages, were abducted, and a war was waged against a country - and all for two soldiers. This has never happened throughout history, and even Israel has never done such a thing."

Show me a country, any country, throughout history who has opted to use kidnapping as a means to have their citizen prisoners returned to them. That is a path of terrorists or outcasts, not governments. Read the whole thing, it's not that long. It's a bit hard to follow and again makes you want to be the interviewer so you can say "Say what?" after hearing something like

If you examine the rhetoric of Hizbullah... Maybe the rhetoric of our Palestinian brothers is different, and this is their right, because their circumstances are much harsher than ours. They always attack, accuse, and denounce the regimes and the rulers. This is not part of our rhetoric or writings. Why? Because we have forgotten about them. There is no need for it. If you assume someone exists, you can attack him, but if you feel that he does not exist, by attacking him, you would be aggravating yourself for nothing.

In the meantime can someone tell me why a difference of opinion leads so many to believe that our President has no plan at all and is just a dummy? Eugene Robinson has a piece about "disproportionate" use of force by Israel. Ok, whatever, I disagree. But others do agree with him. Sounds like a difference in opinion, right? Do you use equal amounts of force so fewer civilians get killed, or do you use extra force so that you clearly win? I say, go with the extra. Eugene wants to keep civilians alive at all costs.

I felt better when I thought the Decider didn't have a worldview, just a set of instincts about freedom and democracy. But even if you set aside the president's embarrassing open-mike performance at the Group of Eight summit, which is hard to do, events of the past week show that this administration actually thinks it knows what it's doing. Bush and his folks haven't just blundered around and created this dangerous mess, they've done it on purpose. And they intend to make it worse.

Bush's endorsement of the violence that Israel is inflicting on Lebanon -- a sustained bombing campaign that has killed hundreds of civilians and can only be seen as collective punishment -- is truly astonishing.

So because Bush disagrees with Robinson, he (Bush) is a blunderer and an idiot. I guess that makes a lot of people blunderers and idiots and hind sight will be the tell all. May we all be around in 10 years to discuss this rationally.

IDF News

Hezbollah is running out of missiles and recruits. From Captain Ed.

And this shows why Israel has reacted with overwhelming force, and why cries about Lebanon's infrastructure make no sense. Critics have excoriated Israel for setting Lebanon back twenty years by bombings roads, bridges, and communications assets. Some have called it "collective punishment", an odd term to use for the response when at least a portion of a government commits an act of war against its neighbor. It has been clear from the start of the IDF operation that Israel targeted these assets because they consider themselves at war, not as some police force on steroids, and that the first assets one attacks in war are command, control, and communications of the enemy.

The roads and bridges, as well as the airports, would have allowed Syria to resupply Hezbollah.

Thank you. I thought it was strategic myself.

As another note on the situation there, Rice made a surprise visit to Beruit visiting Prime Minister Saniora. She had this to say, - which I agree with:

Yet Rice said any cease fire agreement would have to be signed by Lebanon, not Hezbollah.

"If there is a cessation of hostilities, the government of Lebanon is going to have to be the party," she said. "Let's treat the government of Lebanon as the sovereign government that it is."

If you don't treat Lebanon as sovereign (while noting that they can use some help) then this situation will never get better. Ignore the bullies (or kill them) and they'll go away as an issue as democracy becomes the norm. Captain Ed notes how this all fits in with Bush policy.

The "I have a plan, plan"

Kerry can fix the Middle East!

Hugo Chavez and reading too many novels

via FoxNews during his trip to Belarus.
He's having fun again.

Chavez's older brother Adan last month visited Minsk and proposed forming a common front against the U.S. as well as holding an international conference to set up a court to try U.S. President George W. Bush. Adan Chavez, Venezuela's ambassador to Cuba, described the United States as a "common enemy."
................
Chavez flew to Belarus from Argentina, where he participated in a South American trade summit. He and Cuban leader Fidel Castro rallied thousands of leftist sympathizers, railing against U.S.-backed free market policies they blame for many of Latin America's woes.
..............
Lukashenko's spokesman Pavel Liogky told The Associated Press that Venezuela was a "strategic partner" for Belarus.
...............
"In particular we share the view that the world shouldn't be unipolar," he said, referring to U.S. global dominance.

I'm curious why these people don't just ignore us. I'm not at all certain why we're the "enemy" of Belarus but I'm certain if Hugo would just sell oil we'd never mention his name. And if he didn't want to sell us his oil, then he should find other buyers. How hard is all of this?
Oops, am I being naive again? Would some secret Bush program then go and have him whacked or something? Maybe that's what this is all about. Ooh - maybe he has an army general or some brother or other sidekick that wants him dead. So this sidekick person pushes Hugo into all these confrontational speeches. Then they get him whacked in secret, blame Bush, the world goes crazy and they step in. Hmmmmm

File under "I wish we could ask further questions"

Ahmadinjinad says that Israel is doomed.

Ahmadinejad didn't elaborate, but suggested Islamic nations and others could somehow isolate Israel and its main backers led by the United States. On Saturday, the chairman of Iran's armed forced joint chiefs, Maj.-Gen. Sayyed Hassan Firuzabadi, said Iran would never join the current Middle East fighting

So because Israel has attacked Lebanon, somehow, someway, the Arab countries, but not the Persian ones are going to magically rise up and rid the Middle East of the scourge that is Israel. Yet so far, not even the Lebanese army has involved itself. Rich.

In the meantime, this was an interesting article talking with Israeli forces about the "toughness" of Hezbollah.

Sidorenko said he saw Hezbollah fighters firing from behind Lebanese civilians.

"That's why our soldiers are getting killed," he said.

and

To avoid more deaths, Israel has decided to limit its ground incursions to pinpoint operations near the border - a policy that military analysts say may well be insufficient to achieve Israel's goal of pushing Hezbollah back and destroying its ability to attack Israel.

and

Others wondered why Hezbollah had not yet attacked the nearly two-dozen army vehicles and hundreds of troops camped out in easy striking range below the hill on which Maroun al-Ras sits.

Most believed the guerrillas would rather aim their rockets at major Israeli population centers such as Haifa.

Disproportionate use of strength. Remember that.

Husseins' hunger strike

Um, does it count when you are

"voluntarily receiving nutrition through a feeding tube."

Give up because you can't win!

We try to be healthy and do the right things. We heard that deforestation was caused by McDonalds ranching, but now.....

Brazil is currently taking a stand against illegal logging and the destruction of the rainforest for ranching and growing soya beans.

Soya beans are used to feed chickens. Once the healthy alternative. And since Cargill is contracting out for the planting, soya may well be part of their studies for healthier oils that we are all opting for. The news story titled, A disaster to take everyone's breath away
concerns what happens when the Amazon basin goes away. This is the second year of a horrible drought there, and it isn't pretty.

Hilarious

Anyone thinking that we aren't available to re-supply Israel with whatever it needs right now is loony. So get this quote from the NYTimes today in regards to our rapid shipments at Israel's request....and try not to giggle when you read it....

Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah.

I realize this is not a secret 'find the terrorists moving money banking disclosure that really isn't secret because "everyone" knows we're following the money, so it's ok to disclose this',
but listen to their glee....

"It's disclosure threatens to anger Arab govts....."....lol

Can't you just hear them in the back room?
"Let's put this story on A1 because by disclosing this, we can anger the Arabs against the Bush Administration." Sorry dudes, this is too hilarious to whip up any indignation over it.

To read Later

Time to get this day going but I want to read these later. (Does anyone else do this?)
Opinion Journal has this:

Hostage to Hezbollah
Lesson for Nasrallah: "The violence done to Lebanon shall overwhelm you."

BY FOUAD AJAMI
Friday, July 21, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

Victor Davis Hanson has this:

July 21, 2006
A Strange War
Israel is at last being given an opportunity to unload on jihadists.
by Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online

Mark Steyn has this:

Before the white man came? War

We've deluded ourselves into believing in the myth of the noble and peaceful primitive

MARK STEYN

Very interesting

Spinella spent two years on the most comprehensive study to date – dubbed "Dust to Dust" -- collecting data on the energy necessary to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a car from the initial conception to scrappage. He even included in the study such minutia as plant-to-dealer fuel costs of each vehicle, employee driving distances, and electricity usage per pound of material. All this data was then boiled down to an "energy cost per mile" figure for each car (see here and here).

Comparing this data, the study concludes that overall hybrids cost more in terms of overall energy consumed than comparable non-hybrid vehicles. But even more surprising, smaller hybrids' energy costs are greater than many large, non-hybrid SUVs.

I'm sure this will change in time but still......ROFL.

Iraq the Model

Well, Omar is not looking very chipper today. After reading this though, I have to say that I am glad the US is in Iraq right now during the goings on with Iran/Syria/Israel/Lebanon.

It is true that religion had always been playing a central role in the numerous chapters of the conflict between the Muslims and the West but this time there's a totally different theological belief that is being used by Iran to provoke and direct this war; I think the best way to say it is that we are about to see Iran launch the mullahs' version of an 'Armageddon'.
I know this may sound absurd and maybe some of you are thinking no one could possibly be thinking that way but remember, I am telling you what extremist theocrats seem to be planning for and logic has very little space in the mullahs' way of thinking.

I'm not going to claim I know exactly what Hizbollah's or Hamas's hidden motives are because I don't live there but I know about those of the regime in Iran and its arm in Iraq; both Ahmedinejad and Sadr are devout believers in the 'Savior Imam' of Shia Islam who is the 12th grandson of prophet Mohammed, also known by the name 'Imam Mehdi' hence the name of Sadr's militias 'the Mehdi Army'.
I must point out though that some factions of Sunni Islam also believe in the rise of the Imam but they have their own different version of the story.

Like you weren't already thinking in the back of your mind that.................................nevermind.

India

See if this makes sense..... This is not "Freedom of Speech".

India's Internet regulators have started blocking several Web sites in a move that borrows a page from China, where government censors heavily restrict the flow of online information.

(ht The Jawa Report. One of the banned websites.)

And this is "Freedom of Speech".

CSNY's anti-Bush `Freedom of Speech' tour stops at ACC

and

It isn't only Young, however, whose right to speak out has been challenged. For as long as musicians have been writing protest songs, critics have questioned their authority to do so. Last month on CNN, Bruce Springsteen defended musical activism by insisting he had just as much right to a public political opinion as, say, outspoken conservative pundit Ann Coulter — a view shared by Stills.

That always cracks me up when they can't figure out the difference between the fact that someone is taking away their "Freedom of Speech" vs someone that "Disagrees with their Speech".

LOL
Jawa - take it as a complement for now!

One more week given to Israel

If, and I do mean if (the article never quotes anyone exactly on this) this is true and

The US is giving Israel a window of a week to inflict maximum damage on Hizbullah before weighing in behind international calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, according to British, European and Israeli sources.

, then I'd have to say that, folks, Mr. Murtha has gotten his "timetable" out of Bush!

This piece is hilarious, though sadly perhaps it's true too, if the above is correct.

If we ever want to have peace in the Middle East, we need even more people to do the brave thing and condemn Israel. Only that will send a clear message that violence - when committed by Jews - is wrong.

(ht Environmental Republican)

ps Captain Ed has the story on the Turks wanting to enter Iraq to cut off Kurdish invasions. Hmmmmm - we don't want them to. All of which is an example of "power".

We get to say "no Turkish people, do not enter Iraq, no matter what reason you have. "
And we get to say "go gettem Israel".
And Israel gets to say, "you declared war, but we're going to fight and win it".
In the meantime Hezbollah clearly shows their lack of power by saying "No fair! Why do we have to quit now when Israel has killed >100 of our people and we've only killed 20 of their's?"

Ok, they didn't exactly say that, but a Lebanese Sunni did say this.

They come here and urge Hezbollah to free the prisoners and then stop firing rockets against Israel, with only about 30 killed so far, and then ask the Israelis to stop their attacks when they have already killed more than 200.

War

I was reading Tim Blair's post this morning and connected to the link in the Sydney Morning Herald where it makes war sound like "you kill 3 people so I only get to kill 3 people, then I'll wait until you kill 10 of my people and then I'll kill 10 of your people. Oh - and I'll be sure to split them between soldiers and civilians based upon how you kill our people." Huh?

After four days of retaliation, the Israeli Government's tally stood at: a member of the Hezbollah militia, which started the whole business with its border raid last Wednesday, a bunch of Hezbollah offices and homes and more than 100 innocent men, women and children.

This was a reply to the deaths in action of 12 Israeli military personnel and four civilians, including a eight-year-old boy, killed by Hezbollah in subsequent exchanges of long-range fire.

Yesterday morning Hezbollah struck again, killing nine Israelis in a missile attack on Haifa in retaliation for attacks on Lebanese civilians and infrastructure.

Lebanon is paying a terrible price other than killings and terror.

Diplomacy

Can I hear an Amen!? Sebastian Mallaby write on essentially international groups that expect others to carry their weight.

Why should the Russians expect the benefits of international trade if they won't contribute to the security that underpins it?

Steyn

Because I always link to Steyn.

OPFOR

Looks at the ground and trieds to see ahead in Lebanon.

Democrats in the ME

Powerline takes a look at the newest "we're gonna win in November" plan.

In an obscene attempt to obtain political mileage, the Democrats are claiming that President Bush is responsible for the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Howard Dean claims that the war would not have occurred if the Democrats had been in power because the Dems would have worked the past six years to prevent it.

Not only rude, but laughable too.

Strategies

Captain Ed is very smart. In regards to a press conference of Nasrallah.

If the Israelis want to psyche out Nasrallah, it appears that they have succeeded. First he declares that his terrorist group can beat Israel in an all-out war, including an invasion by tanks, for which he boasted that his troops were prepared to stop with their deaths, a deal that Israel would probably accept. In the very next breath, he called upon other Arab nations to stop sitting on the sidelines and rescue Hezbollah from its own folly.

That plea will fall on deaf ears. If Nasrallah has proven himself incapable of reading a map, the rest of the Arab world will not jump to correct his incompetence. Nasrallah has no lines of communication open, except from Syria. Syria has no lines of communication open, unless Jordan decides to support Hezbollah, which would be about as likely as snow in Mecca next week. Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey surround Syria, and the West controls the Mediterranean Sea. Even Saudi Arabia has no direct way to resupply Syria, which means that Syria has no way to keep Nasrallah supplied.

Once again, we see the strategic importance of holding Iraq in this phase of the war on terror.

NYTimes

the NYTimes has a photographer embed with the enemy and calls him courageous. Just who do they think would be working to save his sorry ass if the Mahdi Army changed their mind? ptooi

UPDATE: Remember this?

Michael Totten again.
He's turned off the comments and I don't blame him. People here are sooo priviledged. We have no idea what it would be like to live in that mess. May this all be over soon.
I really believe that with the Lebanese govt. 'trying' to make an effort to control Hezbollah, the Israeli's will stay focused on Hezbollah strongholds.

the Truth Laid Bear has links.

More

Dinocrat posts about Lebanon's responsibility in regards to Hezbollah's party.

Imagine the Democrats or Republicans with their own private armies to carry out private foreign policies and to kill off particularly dangerous members of the opposition. Imagine the Green Party, from fortified strongholds in Berkeley and San Francisco, firing missiles into Alberta to protest that government’s protection of clergymen who refuse to perform same-sex marriages.

Absurd, you say. Ridiculous. No country could or would ever stand for that. A political party has to get power by winning elections. It can’t have a separate and private foreign policy that it carries out by force of arms. Yet that’s exactly what Lebanon has.

Imaginings are always dangerous and Lebanon is newly independant and therefore fragile. I suspect it wouldn't take more than a "try" to get Israel to back off a bit. But with no "try" at all, Israel has to go for it.

Breitbart has some hopeful news.

Trying to defuse the crisis, Lebanon's prime minister indicated he might send his army to take control of southern Lebanon from Hezbollah _ a move that might risk civil war. In a more ominous sign that the struggle could spread, Israel accused Iran of helping fire a missile that damaged an Israeli warship, a charge denied by Iran.

I suspect he'd get help if that happened.

Strategies from the American Future.

Michael J. Totten

Posts on Israel.

The Middle East Goings on in Lebanon/Gaza

President Putin thinks that while Israel's concerns are legitimate,

"recourse to force must be balanced and it must be stopped as soon as possible".

I wonder what it must be balanced with? Do you suppose if say Finland declared war on Russia kidnapping soldiers, lobbing missiles into their territory that Putin would balance his response to the level of warfare that Finland can handle?

President Chirac wonders if Israel is trying to destroy Lebanon.

"One can ask oneself whether there isn't a sort of desire to destroy Lebanon," French President Jacques Chirac said of Israeli attacks that have killed 66 people, almost all civilians. "I find, honestly, like most Europeans, that the reactions are completely disproportionate.

Well - he would find that to be true. I am guessing that if the Basques decided to start lobbing missiles into France or kidnapping French soldiers, Chirac would give them whatever they ask. Maybe they should think about that. French countryside is as nice comparated to Spanish countryside.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

described Israeli action as a measured response.

Thank you Mr. Harper!

UN Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said

those who had seized Israeli soldiers and fired rockets into Israel from both Gaza and southern Lebanon bore their share of the blame. "They don't seem to care the slightest bit that it is the children and the women and the civilians who bear the brunt of all of this,"

Pretty good, pretty good....oops, wait. There's more.

Israel says Hizbollah has launched 130 missiles in the last 48 hours, killing two Israeli civilians and wounding over 100. Residents in northern Israel have taken to bomb shelters.

Egeland called Israeli targeting of civilian infrastructure a violation of international law and of common sense. "You are supposed to do something with the armed troops, you are not supposed to hurt the children and people who had nothing to do with all of this."

-So basically Hizbollah, who is part of the Lebanese govt, who the rest of the Lebanese govt is afraid of, declares war. (ok - maybe not offiically, but they cross the Israeli border, bomb things, and kidnap soldiers. Sounds like declaring war to me.)
-Israel says "give them back, rein in Hizbollah, or we'll take you back 20 years."
-Hizbollah sends in more rounds.
-Israel drops leaflets telling people to get out of the way. They bomb roads, they bomb airport runways and they bomb Hizbollah leader's house.
-Hizbollah bombs Haifa.
-Israel drops more leaflets in S. Beirut and then bombs it. It sounds to me like Israel IS doing "something to the armed troops." a)They bomb roads to keep them from moving. b)They bomb airport runways, not to ruin the expensive to fix airport but to ruin the runways so that arms can not be imported. c)They bomb Nasrallah's house, etc, etc. I think it's terribly sad for Lebanon, but Israel is doing what it has to do here.

Here's the Pope.

“One thing is defense, which is legitimate, and another is a counteroffensive of widespread attack,” Zapatero told Punto Radio. “It won’t bring anything other than an escalation of violence.” The Vatican, the seat of the Roman Catholic church, echoed that remark – and the fear of a widening conflict. “In fact, the right to defense on the part of a country does not exempt it from respecting norms of international law above all for that which concerns the safety of the civilian population,” said a statement by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s No 2 official.

So because civilians die, that means they were targeted? I don't get it. International law has concerns for civilian populations. So that means that because the people in Israel who have bomb shelters and know how to hide from incoming don't die and yet the people in Lebanon who have been warned to stay away from Hizbollah because Hizbollah is going down have died, that one is "targeted" and other is not? I wish reporters would follow up with decent questions.

And I realize this is Iran's doing. This, in Lebanon and in Gaza, was probably planned right in Iran and/or Syria. But I think that Israel is doing the right thing to not escalate this yet. Treat Lebanon like the grown up country it wants to be and treat the Palestinian people with the respect they want. If you allow terrorists to become part of your govt, expect some repercussions when terrorists act like terrorists.

This has been a long post, however, let me remark on one other thing. I started listening to Air America the other day because it's always good to know what the other side is thinking and Kos and company are way too over the top for me. Air American seems to have reasonable conversations anyway. No yelling.

However, in this last week while the Middle East has been erupting, their talks shows have concerned, Torture, Gitmo, Plame, the Lieberman election and Bush hanging out in an elementary school during the attack on 911. I have been astounded. I get that they think these coming elections are the most important thing in history but surely during week one of Middle Eastern War they could have devoted a little tiny bit of time.
Mark Steyn was on Hugh Hewitt yesterday and had this to say about this same phenomenon happening in their blogs.

HH: I've got to ask you to switch to the domestic political left. I'm looking at the Huffington Post right now. Let me read you the latest. Novak caught lying about Murray Waas. The Jones boy. Dramatic stress. The headbut felt around the world. Violence in India. What kind of man is George Bush. Concern over gun crime. The most important investigation - voting machines. Whistleblower suit filed against voting machine company. They're...the most...the central point of history right now is in the Middle East, and on Kos and on the Huffington Post, there's nothing.

MS: No, because they've got nothing to say about this. So your colleague, Dennis Prager, put it right. He said in 20 years time, they'll ask us what we were doing in the year 2006. Some of us were worried about radical Islam, and some of us were worried about Al Gore's global warming, and the voting machines, and Dick Cheney. And one of us will be right, and the other will be wrong. And the reality of this situation is it's nothing to do with Bush and Cheney. It's happening in India. It's happening in Israel. It's happening in Bali. It's happening in Russia. It's a planetary-wide problem, and it's nothing to do with Bush and Cheney stealing chads, or any of this other rubbish they go on about.

HH: So Mark Steyn, do you think the American political electorate is watching this, and understanding again what we talk about a lot. There's a serious party in the United States. It might not be always right. It isn't always right. It makes mistakes. But there's also a fundamentally feckless and silly party, and it's the Democratic Party, and it's the political left.

MS: Yeah, well, you know, a Canadian blogger, Kathy Shaidle, who I like tremendously, her website. She said you know, Alan Colmes has said he's agnostic on the matter of whether 9/11 was an inside job. Now let's take him at his word. If these people, high up in the Democratic Party, seriously thought the president of the United States had committed, deliberately killed thousands of Americans...you know, Kathy said if that happened in her country, in Canada, she wouldn't want to live in that country anymore. She'd get her passport, she'd get her stuff together, and she'd get out of there. And the fact that you can sort of say Bush killed thousands of Americans, and then sit out on your cafe in San Francisco, sipping your venti latte, as if that's just something normal...I mean, this is pathetic. There's a disease in the Democratic Party that they've got to cure, because it's not good for the political system.

HH: No, it's not. We need two parties, but two serious parties. Mark Steyn, always a pleasure. Steynonline.com, America.

I'm with them folks. Give me a serious Democratic party. They are going to be surprised in November I suspect.

Middle East Bloggers

Lebanese Political Journal

Arabian dissent

Rantings of a Sand Monkey

Find a blogroll and follow it. This is the beauty of the blogosphere.

OPFOR has his recommendations too.

I think we should not that Syria is calling for Hezbollah to cease fire and Saudi Arabia accuses Hezbollah for causing this.

Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's political heavyweight and economic powerhouse, also caught international attention by accusing Hizbullah guerrillas - without naming them - of "uncalculated adventures" that could precipitate a new Middle East crisis.

A Saudi official quoted by the state Saudi Press Agency said the Lebanese Hizbullah's brazen capture of two Israeli soldiers was not legitimate.

The kingdom "clearly announces that there has to be a differentiation between legitimate resistance (to Israel) and uncalculated adventures."

Fun with Plame

Captain Ed a nonlawyer sorts it out.

Varifrank is going to sue the Wilson-Plames for

wasting my time.

(ps - he has a Middle East rundown before that, go see his post)

And Jumping the Shark.

Links: the Middle East

Powerline has some good analysis set up for simple people like me.

Captain Ed notes that Egypt is blaming Syria for the escalation.

Michelle Malkin give us this link to Arab thoughts on the goings on.

The Jawa Report notes the plan to keep Hezbollah from re-arming.

OPFOR has a great cartoon.

The Boston Globe notes the timing while the Washington Post is saying the US has limited options.

All of which I'd like to address more fully, but am late - again. Suffice it to say that it looks to me like Iran is pushing this thing for reasons that Powerline has probably hit upon. Along with the fact that blustering is what they do over there.
We are close by in Iraq. The Iraqi's are doing better all the time. And we are still strong. I think we have plenty of options. It's just a matter of choosing courses. From the WaPo:

The Bush administration has few ways of directly pressuring Iran on any of the three fronts. "They have sanctioned themselves out of leverage on Iran," Malley said. "They have cornered themselves out of a lack of influence on any of the parties that are driving this -- Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iran. Counseling restraint or condemning actions is pretty meager when you think of the influence the United States should be wielding."

The United States reached out to Arab allies -- Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- to weigh in with Syria and, through Damascus, to Iran. In Paris for talks on Iran's nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on all sides to "act with restraint." She also talked to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

But the U.S. options stand in stark contrast to the U.S.-brokered cease-fires in 1993 and 1996 between Israel and Hezbollah, via Syria.

Looking to the Group of Eight to start with sounds smart to me. Part of being able to influence Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iran back in the day was paying them off in some fashion or another. Which is part (emphasis PART) of why "the street" hates us now. We keep supporting whackjobs. Now that we're done with that (sorry - trying not to be totally naive here) I think our options are even greater.
Up to and including pushing the truth of Iran's involvement enought to where there is a worldwide excuse for striking their nuclear facilities. Austin Bay has some analysis of recent events. We got options....

Links: the good news

Awesome news from Iraq. The Province of Muthanna is now completely in Iraqi hands!

Paralyzed man moves computer cursor through thought Cool in sooo many way!

Longmont's Paper

Is apparently turning left. Todays big story from Robert Novak where he never reveals to us his original source but tells of his confirming sources.

However, on Jan. 12, two days before my meeting with Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor informed Hamilton that he would be bringing to the Swidler Berlin offices only two waivers. One was by my principal source in the Valerie Wilson column, a source whose name has not yet been revealed. The other was by presidential adviser Karl Rove, whom I interpret as confirming my primary source's information. In other words, the special prosecutor knew the names of my sources.

When Fitzgerald arrived, he had a third waiver in hand -- from Bill Harlow, the CIA public information officer who was my CIA source for the column confirming Mrs. Wilson's identity. I answered questions using the names of Rove, Harlow and my primary source.

Along with Who's Who:

In my sworn testimony, I said what I have contended in my columns and on television: Joe Wilson's wife's role in instituting her husband's mission was revealed to me in the middle of a long interview with an official who I have previously said was not a political gunslinger. After the federal investigation was announced, he told me through a third party that the disclosure was inadvertent on his part.

Following my interview with the primary source, I sought out the second administration official and the CIA spokesman for confirmation. I learned Valerie Plame's name from Joe Wilson's entry in "Who's Who in America."

I considered his wife's role in initiating Wilson's mission, later confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, to be a previously undisclosed part of an important news story. I reported it on that basis.

Today's Longmont Time's-Call and adjusted the headline of Pete Yost's AP story titled.
Novak: Rove was a source in outing Plame
to
Novak: Rove was source in outing Plame

Amazing.

Lebanon

The Environmental Republican has what's going on there along with his prediction.

Just so we're all clear. Hizbullah launched a major attack against a sovereign nation and kidnapped two soldiers. They are now holding at least one of those who is alive. They will not adhere to the Geneva Convention protocols while holding this soldier. The UN will not condemn this act but will instead blame Israel.

Remember the Michael J. Totten piece about that border?
The Lebanese govt is too afraid of Hizbullah to do much about them in the south, so tension has been building there for awhile.

According to Channel 2, anti-Hizbullah parliamentarians in Lebanon have already condemned the guerilla group for "dragging Lebanon into a military adventure against Israel."

The Jerusalem Post is saying that they suspect that the 2 kidnapped soldiers by Hizbullah have been moved deeper into Lebanon.
What a mess.
Things to keep track of: Afghanistan, Iraq, N. Korea, Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, lets not forget Syria, Sudan, Uganda, Somalia, Venezuela. Not to mention never taking our eyes off of Russia and China. Who cares about prescription drug programs or marriage amendments again?

ps, if this is an example of the power vaccum that occurs when we've lost our super power status because of people who think we've "lost", then it's especially sad and we need more Vandenburgs. Imagine how quickly things could be over if we actually had 95% faith in what we're doing in regards the WoT?

Cue the Violins

Palestinians had the world's pity. They lost all their wars with Israel, they became refugees and they make certain that the world feels badly towards them. They still want all their land back and who could blame them? So now, what tactics should be used?
Courts of law? nah.
Constant requests to the UN? nah.
Assimilation into other Arab countries so that life can go on? nah.
Negotiations with the war winner for self govt? nah.
Constant war with that winner, a clearly stronger opponent? Yes, lets do that!

Ismael Haniyeh is in the Washington Post today complaining about what Israel is currently doing in Gaza.

The current Gaza invasion is only the latest effort to destroy the results of fair and free elections held early this year. It is the explosive follow-up to a five-month campaign of economic and diplomatic warfare directed by the United States and Israel. The stated intention of that strategy was to force the average Palestinian to "reconsider" her vote when faced with deepening hardship;

Actually, all those economic/diplomatic warfares things were not to force the avg Palestinian to "reconsider" her vote, but to point out to the avg Palestinian that there are consequences for actions. If you want to have terrorists in charge, that's fine. However, we don't deal with terrorists....
I love this paragraph:

Israel's unilateral movements of the past year will not lead to peace. These acts -- the temporary withdrawal of forces from Gaza, the walling off of the West Bank -- are not strides toward resolution but empty, symbolic acts that fail to address the underlying conflict. Israel's nearly complete control over the lives of Palestinians is never in doubt, as confirmed by the humanitarian and economic suffering of the Palestinians since the January elections. Israel's ongoing policies of expansion, military control and assassination mock any notion of sovereignty or bilateralism. Its "separation barrier," running across our land, is hardly a good-faith gesture toward future coexistence.

Not one mention of why these things are in place. Why is there a "separation barrier"? Hmmmmmm. Could it possibly be to keep bombers away from restaurants? And the policy of expansion? Israel actually withdrew from places last year. Does that not get even a mention here?

That's ok, he has a fix:

But there is a remedy, and while it is not easy it is consistent with our long-held beliefs. Palestinian priorities include recognition of the core dispute over the land of historical Palestine and the rights of all its people; resolution of the refugee issue from 1948; reclaiming all lands occupied in 1967; and stopping Israeli attacks, assassinations and military expansion. Contrary to popular depictions of the crisis in the American media, the dispute is not only about Gaza and the West Bank; it is a wider national conflict that can be resolved only by addressing the full dimensions of Palestinian national rights in an integrated manner. This means statehood for the West Bank and Gaza, a capital in Arab East Jerusalem, and resolving the 1948 Palestinian refugee issue fairly, on the basis of international legitimacy and established law. Meaningful negotiations with a non-expansionist, law-abiding Israel can proceed only after this tremendous labor has begun.

Yeah, that will work. Israel will do all that negotiating with a group that refuses to remove in it's charter that it's one aim is to destroy Israel.

If Israel is prepared to negotiate seriously and fairly, and resolve the core 1948 issues, rather than the secondary ones from 1967, a fair and permanent peace is possible. Based on a hudna (comprehensive cessation of hostilities for an agreed time), the Holy Land still has an opportunity to be a peaceful and stable economic powerhouse for all the Semitic people of the region.

Until the core of current issues are solved and that means admitting that Israel is there and it's there to stay and you have no right to destroy it, I see no reason why Israel should be dealing with Palestinians at all, except in order to protect themselves.

The answer is simple: Admit that Israel is there, it exists and it won all it's wars with you. Give them back their soldier. Appeal to the UN concerning your prisoners. Appeal to the UN concerning any concern you have about anything. They are your lapdog. Use them. Stop the bombing of Israel. Get your own infrastructure. Get your own businesses going. Get your own sources of energy and money that have nothing to do with Israel. Quit raising your children to be suicide bombers. If you do all of that, each time that there is an act of unfairness, or agression or whatever by Israel you will be backed. If you don't do that, then I'll back Israel every time.

You guys have mucked up your sympathy so badly that you even have Iraqis becoming sympathetic to Israel. ie

"Hamas with their radical false-heroic speech opened the door for extremists in Gaza and Damascus to open a battlefront that will harm the innocent Palestinian citizen and destroy the peace process. Hamas has long been against the peace process and has long worked on halting it"
Ahmed Talib al-Taii: Baghdad/Iraq

Click on the link for more quotes and a great blog.

Give them back Shalit.

TSA vs Police vs FBI

And the potential bomber gets on the plane.

Houston police and the federal Transportation Security Administration disagree over who is responsible for allowing a man with what appeared to be bomb components board an aircraft at Hobby Airport last week.

Although the FBI eventually cleared the man of wrongdoing, police officials have transferred the officer involved and are investigating the incident while insisting that the TSA, not police, has the authority to keep a suspicious person from boarding a flight.

(via Michelle Malkin)

Bumper Stickers Vetted

What he said.
Now that is some awesome blogging.

Movie Review

I'm with Jason Villemez on the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

“Dead Man’s Chest” strips away everything delightful from “Curse of the Black Pearl,” leaving an empty 164-minute space which feels like more of a setup for the next film instead of an actual film in itself.

Wow

Well worth the read. Iraq the Model has posted a number of comments from Iraqis about the kidnapping of Gilad Shilat along with comments from other Arabs commenting on the Iraqi comments. From Omar:

But what really makes me feel optimistic about this new Iraqi way of thinking is that it shows how Iraqis are beginning to distinguish between terrorism and rightful acts of resistance not only in Iraq but also on a global level and are showing decreasing tolerance for extremism and this in my opinion is what builds peace in the region or any given region of this world.

Do a little dance.....

Steyn

On the Great American Anti-War Fast.

America's greatest living war hero and simultaneous anti-war hero, John Kerry, pledged his own passionate support for the crusade of his celebrity friends: ''I ordered the banana cream pie before I sent it back.''

ROFL

Other interesting links for today

Just linking here.

Captain Ed sees that the UN knew about Saddam's ambitions for germ warfare BEFORE the war.

Cardinal George Pell on Islam and the west.

Is Israel pulling back? (per the BBC) or
Is Israel pushing forward? (per CNN)

Active Sonar

Yesterday Michelle Malkin posted this arrogant and snarky piece on the active sonar testing that the Navy wants to do and the environmentalists want to stop.
We are the most powerful country in the world, but I don't really think it gives us the right to torture animals for the sake of testing active sonar when there are alternatives. The Navy has decided to agree.

Navy officials said the new measures could be easily accommodated into the war-game planning and the active sonar might be turned on as soon as today.

Thank you US Navy. Get a clue Michelle.

The easy way isn't always the best, most fair, honest way. And there is nothing wrong with being "environmentally correct". We all live in this world.

N. Korea: not that simple

Some people just have all the easy answers. From their typewriters.
In the Washington Post today Jon B. Wolfsthal is recommending deterrance.

Over the long run, how can Americans be sure that some future "test" missile won't be fitted with a nuclear weapon and targeted on a US city? The short answer is they can't. But through a straightforward policy of deterrence we can eliminate any thought in North Korean minds that they can attack the United States and survive. President Bush should declare that any offensive missile fired at the United States or its allies in the region from North Korea would be an act of war requiring a swift and massive response. Such a clear, strong statement would reassure our allies and remove the incentive for North Korea to pursue its missile programs. Moreover, attaching the same consequences to any sales of long-range missiles to hostile states would eliminate the profit motive for North Korea . This is what Kennedy did when Russia deployed missiles to Cuba, and what Truman, Eisenhower, and Reagan did during the height of the cold war. The result helped prevent the use of Soviet nuclear weapons during the cold war and deterred China from similar pursuits. But the current uneven and confused response by the United States has led to a weakening of deterrence in East Asia and has allowed the dangerous belief to take root in North Korean minds, that it can successfully pursue its aggressive strategy. Nothing could be more dangerous for stability in the region.

Number 1 - We're dealing with a loonier dude here than even Saddam. So why would North Korea just stop what they are doing based on a threat from us? Saddam didn't. Remember the No fly zone war? Continuing.

U.S. allies and adversaries alike have to know that Washington will not stand by and let hostile nations threaten global security.

Number 2 - That's all well and good, if you can get U.S. allies and adversaries alike to agree to this. Doh. That's exactly what the President is trying to do. 6 nation talks and all vs bilateral talks. Mr. Wolfsthal puts this out there, but doesn't let anyone know how he would accomplish this task.
In January 2004 Mr. Wolfsthal wrote an article for the Christian Science Monitor essentially saying that we had lost credibility in the world. Yet with that hanging over us, he now wants us not only to threaten, but to act on these threats immediately and alone and yet somehow with the world community behind us. I don't think it's that simple.

Varifrank puts out 10 questions regarding the "simple answers" to N. Korea.

Afghanidan

If you surf at all you've seen this new blog and his pictures. If not, please go to AfghaniDan now. They are awesome and the talk of the town.

North Korea

In another show of their great strength, North Korea is now demanding that Japan remove it's sanctions. Here's the story.

"Japan is translating its criticism against us into action," Kyodo news agency quoted Song Il-ho, North Korea's ambassador in charge of diplomatic normalisation talks with Japan, as telling Japanese reporters in Pyongyang.
"This may force us to take stronger physical actions," as a response, he said. Asked what the steps may be, he said, "I leave that to your imagination," Kyodo reported.

So - in my imagination, N. Korea decides to lob a missile at Japan.
And in my imagination, Japan has one of those very cool antimissile missiles. Then what happens?
In my imagination, Song Il-Ho stomps his foot and says, "No fair!" and insists on unilateral talks with the US.
In my imagination, it's 2008 and Kerry won the presidency, so he says "blah, blah, I blah, my blah talks, diplomacy, blah, blah, blah I blah, blah, I blah, blah and with my, blah, blah..........." (You get the picture.)
Then Song Il says, "OK". And the next thing you know the whole game starts over again.

Did I say imagination? I meant in my nightmares.

Gaza and the UN

Here's to John Bolton!

In New York, the UN Security Council has debated a draft resolution demanding an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of detained Palestinian officials.

The draft was presented by Qatar on behalf of the UN's Arab Group, but appears doomed in view of opposition from the US, which has the power of veto.

The draft does not mention the Palestinian rocket attacks or Cpl Shalit's capture, and the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, said the document was "not balanced".

Looking for "man on the street" quotes, the BBC found this one.

Why do thousands of Palestinians have to suffer death, destruction, lack of water, and electricity for the fate of one Israeli soldier?
Omar, Washington DC

Me, me, pick me, I know.....
Because the Palestinians are the people who voted in the people who have kidnapped the one Israeli soldier. That was too easy. Ask another one.

Favorite news item today

Peace activist hit rocker in spat over girl, say UK police


Ok - so this guy who works for peace in Iraq, I assume because we should all just get along, puts someone in a coma over a pass at a girl!

Good news/Bad news

President Bush sounds like he's more willing to deal with an uncomprehensive immigration strategy than in the past.

Active Sonar testing in the ocean is suspended for a bit. I don't know much about this story but I have a feeling that if the army wanted to test some sort of sonar thing on land but we found it hurt the deer/elk/bunnies/etc, that this would be a bigger story. This may well be a useful tool, but we don't own the whole planet.

In Somalia people are getting killed for watching the World Cup. Apparently the alcohol advertising during the show is offensive to some people. Personally I find killing people for watching tv offensive myself.

Joe Stein is offended because he doesn't want to be seen as a flag waver.

Even though I've seen tons of neighborhoods that do this, I've never actually lived in one. I've also never lived in a neighborhood that had those flags reminding you of the holidays and seasons. In fact, I've always looked down on those places. If you need semaphore to inform each other that it's going to get hotter in the upcoming months, nobody is putting a magnet school in your community.

So the reason I didn't want to put a flag outside wasn't because I disapprove of our international policies. It was because I didn't want to associate myself with the other people who put them up, and with their unquestioning, tribal, us-versus-them, arrogant mentality. Though I love being American, I don't want to proclaim it as the sole basis of my identity.

Frankly, I think he's just an ass.

Gaza

Captain Ed keeps up.

North Korea

Bizarro. What do they hope to gain? 7th Missile test fired.
You would think that after the first 6 weren't that impressive, that they would hold off on number 7. Responses all over the world can be anything. What do you do with a loon?
Does he want attention? Respect? Proof of their abilities when selling weapons to other nations? Testing the White house to see if they mean what they say?
Do we take them at their word?:

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea, in an official media report, said on Wednesday it had invincible military might but made no mention of its test-firing of six missiles earlier in the day.

"We continue on our revolution in our own way, according to our conviction in this complicated and conflicting situation, as we have such invincible and revolutionary military power, even for the imperialist United States," its communist party newspaper said in a commentary.

Do they really believe this??

But get this from Strategy Page. The North Koreans have been stealing Chinese trains....?

Meanwhile, North Korean officials engage in even more bizarre behavior. For example, food and fuel supplies sent to North Korea have been halted, not to force North Korea to stop missile tests or participate in peace talks, but to return the Chinese trains the aid was carried in on. In the last few weeks, the North Koreans have just kept the trains, sending the Chinese crews back across the border.

I can't verify this story out of Strategy Page but they've been reliable in the past.
Interesting times.....

Buy this book

Chrenkoff has a book! via Barcepundit.

Night Trains

Happy Fourth of July!

Here are a couple of items you all might enjoy for the holiday. Mark Steyn re-posts his 2002 July 4th item. It still works.

But America is also an historical anomaly: the first non-imperial superpower. It has no colonies and no desire for any. For almost 60 years, it’s paid for the defence of the west virtually single-handed while creating and supporting structures – the UN, Nato, G8 – that exist only to allow its “allies” to pretend they’re on an equal footing. For “allies”, read dependencies: it’s because the US provides generous charity defence guarantees that the European governments have been free to fritter away their revenues on socialised health care and lavish welfare and all the other entitlements the Euro-progressives berate America for not providing for its own citizens.

and here is Peter Brooks with some thoughts (ok, a bit of a rant) of how things might look without us.
and here is The Jawa Report's love letter to this country.

I think his (Jawa Rpt) is my favorite. I love this country.

I do not love America in spite of its flaws. I like America's flaws the way a man appreciates his lover's quirks.

Without these flaws it would not be America, only a hollow ideal. Ideals are unattainable and are therefore phantoms of imagination.

I love America unconditionally. Like a good man loves his wife. Like a good son loves his mother. Like a good father loves his daughter.

I love America. Always have, always will.

I thank God that I am an American. I thank God for those who died to give it birth. I thank God for those who continue to fight and die for her imperfect glory.

God Bless America. Happy 4th of July.

(see his photo appreciation spread too)
E.J. Dionne Jr. has that impression, common, but whackjob, impression that those of us who love this country think that it is flawless and that in reality the patriotic are those who protest our wayward ways. Whatever.
(How often have you heard a leftie say that this administration thinks that those who protest are unpatriotic? And how often have you heard this administration say that they think those who protest are unpatriotic. Exactly.)

Anyway, what Mr. Dionne doesn't get is that of course we get that we're not perfect. We are great though!! I was lucky enough to be born here and I hope in some small way I help to keep this country great. There are those who really do - those who choose to work for this place vs directly for themselves. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Have a great Fourth of July!

Monday links

Steyn on Hamden.
and

Ginny on just about everything. One of my favorite Bush quotes is "it's hard. It's really hard." Simple, direct, true. Ginny's piece is very long. It notes the good done, the different thought processes, that fact that we need to finish and that "it's hard."

Yesterday's Rant

Powerline notes that the US said, through John Bolton of the UN, that the Palestinians need to give Gilad back.

The attack and hostage-taking by Hamas last week precipitated this crisis, and their refusal to release their hostage continues to place innocent Palestinians in harm's way. We further condemn the brutal murder of eighteen year-old Israeli citizen Eliyahu Asheri, and our condolences go out to his family.

Alan Dershowitz notes the hypocracy in regards to Israel.

According to the BBC article Rantissi Killing: World Reaction, "Russia has repeatedly stressed the unacceptability of extrajudicial settling of scores and 'targeted killings'."

Except, it seems, when its own citizens are murdered by terrorists -- then it is fine to do what it condemns Israel for doing.

And the main point comes to us via
OPFOR

The way I see it, there are two main views on terrorism.

........

If we are at war, terrorism can be defeated. If we aren’t, terrorism can be managed.