Israel

Terrorism cannont exist in a society where people are generally content. It isn't possible. Don't mistake me, you'll never please everyone and there will always be madmen, but for the most part terrorism needs a demographic that feels wholly disenfranchised to operate

Courtesy of Billmon:

Ghassan Farran, a doctor and head of a local cultural organization, gazes in disbelief at the pile of smoking ruins which was once his home. Minutes earlier, an Israeli jet dropped two guided missiles into the six-story apartment block in the centre of Tyre.

"Look what America gives us, bombs and missiles," says this educated, middle-class professional. "I was never a political person and never with Hizbullah but now after this I am with Hizbullah.

Now, it doesn't matter if every other inhabitant of that building was a Hezbollah ringleader, because you just created One cultural leader who is pro-Hezbollah.

You see how this works?

< ahref="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/middleeast/28arabs.html?hp&ex=1154145600&en=00302b87a267fb0d&ei=5094&partner=homepage">Another Article pointing out why this is just helping Hezbollah AND Al Queda together.

“It is an advantage that Iraq is near Palestine,” he said. “Muslims should support its holy warriors until an Islamic emirate dedicated to jihad is established there, which could then transfer the jihad to the borders of Palestine.”

Mr. Zawahri also adopted some of the language of Hezbollah and Shiite Muslims in general. That was rather ironic, since previously in Iraq, Al Qaeda has labeled Shiites Muslim as infidels and claimed responsibility for some of the bloodier assaults on Shiite neighborhoods there.

Its not ironic. It's to be expected. I think it was a Roman saying (correct me if I'm wrong). "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".

It points out rather well that the tactics being observed today have absolutely no chance of bringing about the purported goals.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5222154.stm

A lot of people are saying this is the start of WWIII and I'm not sure I disagree. This in from Al Jazeera via the BBC

Al-Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has said in a video the militant network will respond to attacks on Muslims in Lebanon and Gaza.

The video was broadcast by Arabic television station al-Jazeera.

Al-Qaeda could not remain silent in the face of a "Crusader war" and now saw "all the world as a battlefield open in front of us", he said.

Events in Lebanon and Gaza showed the importance of the battle in Afghanistan and Iraq, he added.

"The war with Israel is not about a treaty, a ceasefire agreement... It is rather a jihad for the sake of God until the religion of God is established. It is jihad for the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine, as well as every land that was a home for Islam, from Andalusia to Iraq," he said.

"As they attack us everywhere, we will attack them everywhere. As they have joined forces to fight us, our nation will unite to fight them.

"The shells and rockets which are tearing the bodies of Muslims in Gaza and Lebanon are not purely Israeli. They are produced and financed by all the countries of the Crusader alliance.

I have to admit I've never wanted to look too closely at Mid-East polotics, but in the light of recent events I've been making a concerted effort to realy site down and figure some of this stuff out. What is the nature of the various conflicts, and how is the US involved in them?

This morning I came across this line:

Israel is one of the largest customers for US armaments.

It [Israel] also receives several billion dollars a year in direct and indirect aid from Washington.

That isn't taken out of context and those two sentences actually followed one another. here. A few days ago I found an article regarding us "rushing" the next shipment of precision bombs to Israel.

Now, two points, firstly, as I mentioned I'm an amateur at this, it seems to me that a lot of people want this bombing to stop. Kofi Annan has called for an immediate ceasefire. Experts worldwide generally accept that this tactic can't possibly stop Hezbollah and will most likely strengthen grassroots support for them.

Also seems to me that you need to have the precision bombs in order to be dropping them. So, why are we giving arms to anyone in the Middle East - especially the ones who are bombing the hell out of another country? How can this possibly lead to the bombing ending sooner.