That's easy - they're defending themselves from criticism.

I'm sure Israel is searching Lebanon for the Internet backbone connection so they can sever that soon since too many pictures of bombed out apartment buildings and dead Lebanese children are showing up on the Net.

Someone pointed out that the Lebanese aren't the Palestinians or the Iraqis - they've had Net access and are cosmopolitan enough to use it to get the word out as to what is going on.

What is that "embedded" media the US loves so much? I guess Israel can't count on that in Lebanon, can they?

Posted at July 22, 2006 8:49 AM in response to Lebanon--The Rut Becomes A Grave

I see that the White House is now trying to turn out Jewish organizations to support the renomination of Bolton.

According to the article I saw, some 24-year-old guy connected to some White House operation is sending messages to the major Jewish organizations pointing out that because of the current ME situation, Bolton must be renominated and reappointed, and asking explicitly what level of support the White House can expect to get.

I'd say this bodes ill for the Democrats, as every time they criticize Bolton, they'll be subject to being told they are "soft on Hizballah terrorism" and AIPAC will be telling them they can forget about getting any campaign contributions this year.

I'm sure the Dems could make some election year hay out of Bolton if they tried, but the odds of any success in preventing him from going back to the UN are in my view absolutely nil. They're up against Dick Cheney, and so far the Dems have lost every time, as the current ME situation proves.

Posted at July 22, 2006 7:47 AM in response to Stop Bolton v2.0

By all acounts, Hizballah has not done any serious rocket firing for a year or so, except when Israel violated the Lebanese border with their aircraft, which they do frequently.

News reports today indicate military analysts have pretty much concluded that Israel has been planning this operation for a year, and Hizballah has been planning for the Israeli invasion for the last six years.

In other words, this appears to be a continuation of the events that created Hizballah in the first place.

The only difference is the timing - that appears to be based either on Israel's perception that time for continued support of its program is running out, OR that Israel or the US sees an opportunity to roll up all its enemies by starting a war with Syria and Iran - depending on which analyst you read.

Nasrallah told Israel five months ago that if Israel didn't release Lebanese hostages that Hibzallah would take an Israeli soldier hostage in order to arrange a swap.

So Israel knew this was coming for at least five months - and did nothing to prevent it or open negotiations.

Posted at July 22, 2006 7:40 AM in response to The Trucker Threat

Last night I couldn't post at all.

I assumed Josh had lowered the boom. but apparently not as the account is functioning this morning or I wouldn't be posting this.

This morning I had to revalidate the account.

Some of my posts in various threads appear to have disappeared - or at least they were last night, I should recheck this morning.

Larry's article ended up linked at HuffPo, but nobody could access it from that end either.

Weird.

Posted at July 22, 2006 7:26 AM in response to Foreign Policy Starts Well Before The Water's Edge

I was unable to post last night at all.

At one point, I got a red message at the top that said, "You are not authorized to post messages" or some such.

I assumed Josh had lowered the boom on me because of something I said.

I'm still not sure what went on. Some posts of mine appear to have disappeared from other threads, as have some posts of others that were responding to mine. Because of the ridiculous ability to disappear low-rated messages, I can't tell if they were deleted or merely disappeared or if there was a technical glitch.

Larry's article was linked at HuffPo but nobody could access it from that end initially.

Be nice if somebody would tell us what the hell is going on.

I'll give Josh the benefit of the doubt for the moment, but last night it sure looked like the "new rules" were being ruthlessly enforced.

Posted at July 22, 2006 7:22 AM in response to Lebanon--The Rut Becomes A Grave

Yes, according to reports today, the Iraqi government is seriously considering partitioning Beirut into a "left side" and a "right side" based on religious affiliation.

This is de facto proof that Iraq is now officially in a civil war.

The question now is how long will it be before BOTH sides start shooting at US troops because they feel the presence of those troops prevents them from "getting the job done" in their part of the civil war.

By the way, Ayatollah Sistani has condemned the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the strongest terms.

Posted at July 21, 2006 8:01 PM in response to Meanwhile, In Iraq

Well, people who genuinely think they can transform the world for the better don't usually start out by following Leo Strauss who claims the best way to govern is to lie to the citizens.

"Utopianism" doesn't mean they aren't operating for their own benefit, and against the true interests of the US people, which was my point. In fact, since "utopians" ALWAYS feel they are in the "right", ANYTHING they do is operating for their own benefit - since they want to live in their "utopia" - and usually as the ones in charge of it, assuming anyone is - which certainly applies in the neocon case, otherwise they wouldn't all be working for the government.

I'm aware of the Trotskyite backgrounds of some of the neocons. Justin Raimondo has made a point of it for some time.

Besides, as I've said, "By their actions ye shall know them." And the actions of the neocons are clear - even after the debacle of Iraq (debacle by our terms), they advocate the exact same thing for Iran.

What else does one need to know? Claiming that they are just "enthusiastic" and are ignoring the principles that produced the consequences of Iraq simply won't wash - nobody with that level of education is that stupid.

No, their intentions are deliberate. And their results are accepted by them no matter how deplorable from our point of view.

This is in fact the general mode of operation of all statists, whether "liberal", "conservative", "neocon", "Zionist", "fascist", "socialist" or any other form.

Again, the genius of the Wachovsky Brothers is in Chancellor Sutler summing the essence of the state in one sentence:

"I want EVERYONE to remember WHY THEY NEED US!"

Posted at July 21, 2006 7:56 PM in response to Green Lantern in the Levant

"According to CNN large parts of the not Shiia parts of Lebanon are going untouched."

Right - any place that's uninhabited.

Meanwhile, Israel has hit two CHRISTIAN CHURCHES and two hospitals, clearly marked Red Cross ambulances, and random vehicles including cars and trucks parked in Christian Lebanese neighborhoods.

They've flattened small Lebanese Shia villages completely.

The civilian death toll is at least 300.

That's not "untouched".

With Lebanese bloggers and the media filling the Net and media with photos of block after block of apartment buildings brought down in Beirut, saying "untouched" is disingenuous to say the least.

Posted at July 21, 2006 7:34 PM in response to Silence on the Homefront

I agree the evidence isn't complete yet.

I saw a piece by Kurt Nimo indicating that some expended Israeli shells picked up in Southern Lebanon have been identified as chemical shells, however. Reports of some sort of vomiting gas being used are coming out of some of the Southern Lebanese villages.

Stay tuned. If chemical weapons are being used, sooner or later it will be established. The US isn't there to control the press as it is in Iraq.

My only experience with chemical weapons occurred during basic training back in 1967 - the usual exposure to tear gas and other riot control agents. I could smell that stuff in my nose years later when I even remembered it.

Posted at July 21, 2006 7:28 PM in response to Silence on the Homefront

"And, I keep wondering if all of this is part of a scheme, a very loose one, to involve the US in a never ending war to try to keep Republicans in power."

I agree, except I include the Democrats in the "conspiracy".

They get money from the oil companies and the military-industrial complex and have the same basic motivations as any other statists including the Republicans. Politicians are politicians - Obi Wan was correct when he counseled Anakin about believing any of them including little Natalie. :-)

Also, the Israeli Zionists are statists as well - they see never-ending conflict as their justification for existence, too. Don't even get me started on the IDF.

Posted at July 21, 2006 7:21 PM in response to Silence on the Homefront