Weekend Warriors

It now seems that the mythical ceasefire is set to come into effect on Monday morning. Meanwhile, Israel is massing its troops in southern Lebanon for the last few hours it has left to kill, maim and destroy. Only hours left to commit a few more war crimes under the guise of national security. (I don't want to hear from idiots saying they are not war crimes - bombing Red Cross ambulances, aid trucks, a few convoys of civilians trying to get to safety and a building or ten packed with civilians are all war crimes, go look it up.)
Only hours left for them to get their demented jollies.

If the whole tragedy of the past month is going to end like this, with Hezbollah agreeing to move further north towards Beirut and allowing the Lebanese army to deploy across the whole of the south, what was it all for? What was gained? If they were so concerned about Lebanon and the Lebanese and about abiding by the Lebanese government's wishes, why didn't they do it when UNSCR 1559 was first floated?
What tremendous benefits did we gain by Hezbollah dragging us, kicking and screaming, into this unnecessary and particularly violent conflict? What do all the apologists for Hezbollah have to say?
Sovereignty? Yes, thanks a lot, now we have half the Israeli army encamped in half the country.

Honour? Again, kudos....we have half the Israeli army.....well, you know.

Dignity? I'm sure everyone who lost loved ones, homes and businesses will be honoured to know that at least they did so with dignity.

Freedom from oppression? Oh, give me a break.

We sure taught them Israelis a lesson or two.


Now comes more difficulty. What of our government and Hezbollah's part in it? Who can take the government seriously (as if that was the case before) after all this?
Beirut has become synonymous once again with violence, death and destruction. Fifteen years of rebuilding and rebranding our image abroad has been pointless. Fifteen years of rebuilding an economy have been worthless. Almost a generation spent trying to make use of Lebanon's manpower and brainpower has been an exercise in futility. And we as a nation have gained absolutely nothing except more dead citizens, more piles of rubble and scorn for letting Hezbollah run amok.

Pundits say that the unanimous government decision to accept the resolution was done for the sake of political unity. We've never had it before, why should it matter now? How about accepting it because this madness needs to end, to hell with your "political unity".
Maybe we could get a UN resolution passed that would give us a government that knows what it's doing, how to do it and the cojones to do it.

Either way, the resolution is flawed. It gives Israel the right to attack whenever they deem it's in the interests of national security (the interpretation of national security is left up to them) and Hezbollah said it would keep on fighting until the last Israeli leaves Lebanese territory (or maybe until we have no territory left). Back to the whole Shebaa Farms debacle, then?


More madness in England. How these terrorists (mostly British-born of Pakistani descent) must hate the terrible hardships involved in living there, although I can understand it - cold weather, rain, social security, national health (ok, not the best system in the world but it exists), freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of worship.
It could drive anyone to strike out at the injustice of it all....if they were to actually live in the kind of regime they advocate, they would find that none of the above would exist there. Maybe that proves the inherent flaw in real democracies, that precisely because of those freedoms dissent is allowed and murderers can get away with planning atrocities.

The lawyer representing a couple of the would-be murderers went on the news to decry how badly her clients were being treated in prison. Apparently, they weren't given anything to eat or drink for 23 hours and that she had to send them warm clothing as they were cold.
I'll bet not half as cold as all those passengers would have been had they succeeded in their attacks.

Worst thing is that if they turned their ingenuity in committing murder towards a cure for AIDS or cancer, they'd probably find it.


On a more personal note, my lovely Chelsea play their first serious game of the season against LiverPoo on Sunday for the Community Shield.
2-0 for Chelsea
And here's me without their new strip.


Be safe.