chicot

What exactly is "zombietime"? Is it an unbiased organisation? I looked for an "about us" link but couldn't find one.

This has been posted a few times here. It's authenticity is somewhat dubious. Urban myths

Actually, the ceasefire is holding quite well. To expect it to be 100% effective immediately is not realistic.

BBC link No, I don't think Israel's intent is sport. I believe there is some logic behind this, albeit a flawed logic. The idea is to punish the Lebanese people for their failure to control Hizbollah and, in this way, to get them to blame Hizbollah and turn on them. However, it seems to be having precisely the opposite effect: Christian support for Hizbollah "Basheer’s words were corroborated by a survey published on July 29 in the Daily Star, Beirut’s only English language newspaper. The paper printed a survey conducted by the Beirut Centre for Research and Information which reveals that 86.9 per cent of Lebanese support Hizbollah’s resistance against Israel. Hizbollah’s actions have the support of 96.3 per cent of Shias, 79.5 per cent of Druze, 80.3 per cent of Christians and 88.9 per cent of Sunnis. On the question of Hizbollah capturing two Israeli soldiers, 96.3 per cent of Shias supported the move, while 40 per cent of Druze, 54 per cent Christians, and 73.1 per cent of Sunnis approved. "

I'm not saying that they can avoid attacking any of Lebanon's infrastructure at all, but the fact is that they have purposely been attacking Lebanon's infrastructure as a matter of policy, even when they are not going after Hizbollah, as an act of collective punishment. Israel basically admitted as much - I think the quote was that they would put Lebanon back by 20 years.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. The US could make it's backing dependent on them withdrawing fully from all occupied territories and implementing all the UN resolutions they've ignored. If I remember rightly, Bush the 1st got them to suspend building settlements in the West Bank by threatening to withhold US loans.

The problem was you chose a pretty bad example to make your point. Where would we be without drunken sluts? I don't know how stupidity should be "controlled" or "dealt with". If laws are broken, then obviously the people involved should be prosecuted. If not, what are you going to do? I'm not sure that you can or should somehow pass legislation to deal with stupidity.

Of course, the actions of others within the community has an effect on other members of the community. I fail to see, however, how whether or not someone chooses to bring up his daughter as a "drunken slut" is related to the murder rate.

There's also the fact that most of the rank and file members of the army are shiite muslims and are unlikely to want to fight Hizbollah.

That's one of the realities of asymmetric warfare. When you are massively outgunned you don't stand around in a field and wait to be bombed.

Not in the sense that they could ever invade or conquer Israel but there are plenty of conceivable scenarios in which Hizbollah could claim a victory of sorts.

I'm not so sure that Hizbollah is getting their balls blown off. I think most of those killed in Lebanon have been civilians rather than Hizbollah fighters. Most of the media reports I've read (including some from the Israeli and US media) are suprised at the resilience of Hizbollah and quite a few have been critical of the performance of the IDF.

That's a fair point. I agree that this sort of stuff should be stamped out. Apart from being morally repugnant (as are all forms of racism), it also serves as a distraction from legitimate questions about Israel's policy and does the Arab cause no favours whatsoever. Having said that, the racism is not entirely on one side alone. If you study the quotes of former Israeli leaders you'll find quite a few examples of anti-Arab racism. From memory, Yitshak Shamir once described the Palestinians as "grasshoppers" and Ehud Barak made the claim that Arabs are genetically incapable of telling the truth.

I'm not backing any side. If Israel had confined itself to attacking Hizbollah alone rather than blowing up the infrastructure of Lebanon in an act of collective punishment, I would have agreed that it was legitimate self-defence. As for Nasrallah's comments, yes, they are stupid and I certainly don't condone them. However, I wouldn't judge every single Arab on the basis of what he said, as you appear to be doing.

No, it's not Europe circa 1200 because Europeans were not displaced to make way for a Jewish state. You are correct to say that there are many problems in the Arab (and Islamic) world that are nothing to do with Israel. You are right that people should be more indignant about what is happening in Sudan. None of this however changes that fact that the creation of Israel was a disaster for the Palestinian people. That has still not been resolved. You can't wish it away. You can't pretend that because there are other injustices this one should be ignored. In the long run it is in Israel's best interests to come to a lasting settlement on this issue and that means giving up all of the land it is illegally occupying, not a slice here or a slice there, and allowing the creation of a viable Palestinian state.

You seem to be making less and less sense. The "Death to Israel" chants are a reality but they have nothing to do with the Kashmir dispute, what's happening in Sudan or anything else on your original list.

? What is this trend for making things up? No one is saying any of those things.

Hmmm.... I seem to remember a certain US president using not too dissimilar rhetoric. Does the phrase "bring them on" ring any bells?

?! You expect pro-US protests while Lebanon is being blown up by US made and supplied bombs?

Nah, shredded wheat and very good it was too

Since you've dragged me into this, I'll attempt (probably unsuccessfully) to actually have some sort of debate with you. Yes, I have a very different viewpoint on the middle east than most other people on this board but that's hardly suprising as I have a very different background from most people here also. There are plenty of people here who completely disagree with what I say who nonetheless are civil, argue the issues and quite often make me think hard about my views. They have my respect. It is actually possible to disagree with someone and not resort to childish insults, a lesson that somehow seems to have passed you by. Quite frankly I find it difficult to recall any of your posts, not just those in reply to me, that make any sort of coherent point. Most of your posts seem to consist of pleas for acceptance of the me-too variety, cryptic exchanges in which you refuse to actually clarify what you're trying to say (this thread is a good example) or posts that have virtually no content apart from personal insults such as your recent exchange with me (you obviously consider it your finest hour since you feel the need to mention it once again). Oh, and to avoid you having to tax your brain trying to work out what my local time is, it's 9.25 am BST (British Summer Time) and I'm typing this while having my breakfast before going to work (since you're so very interested in my life).

Interesting. I'd never heard that term before.

Mountain Turks?

And 2) is very much related to 1). The fact remains that an independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq will create a powerful case for the same in eastern Turkey and for that reason Turkey will go to great lengths to prevent that from happening, probably even military action (Turkish troops have crossed the border on several occasions in the last few years).

Problem with that is that it will seriously piss off another valuable US ally in the region, namely Turkey. The Kurdish population of Turkey is far greater than that of Iraq - if a part of Iraq should be split off to make an independent Kurdistan, then why not part of Turkey as well (not to mention Iran and Syria)?