Barackface

Monday, August 07, 2006

Cross Cultural Interactions In A Diverse City

Usually this particular post would qualify for another of my blogs - Relativity: On Relationships - but I think in a diverse city like New York talk of interpersonal relations might qualify for political gear. And I kind of like the diagram I just drew. See above.

The Collective, The Individual, The Particular
Race, Gender And Relationships
If You Have To
Interracial Connections
Communication Is Key
The Love Teachings Of Kama Sutra
What's Out There

The diagram has been named sss: Social Segregation Shit.

I like to say this city is the Amazon forest. There are as many kinds of human life forms. The tall buildings are trees, humans are nesting.

Press Conference
Man, Women Are Weird
The Crowd
Fishjump
Ying Yang
Osmosis
Two Storey Building
The Icecream Machine, The Movies
Two Points Of Connection
White Flight
Quaint

Because this is a big city, there are a lot of people around. Most people you meet, you meet them for about three minutes, and you never see them again. It is like they left the city. Some of them probably did.

The city is racially charged. I compare race relations to geological formations. A million years from now, the Rockies will look different. But today they are what they are. Similarly people's attitudes look like they stay like rock layers. That is one way to look.

"You are so nice. You must not be from New York City." I think it is about that three minute rule. People are looking for space, probably feeling claustrophobic. And they make their barb comments.

And money talk. What do you do? Where do you live? Those can be curiosities. Or someone trying to x-ray you. How much do you make?

"Only one person between you and me is going to be a millionaire. It is not going to be you. You don't have the looks." (Lamont: The Iraq War Ferment In The Democratic Party, The Thing About Racist Comments, Cloud, Pyramid, Glass)

Funny, but I am rediscovering the Mini Nepal in the city after the April Revolution. Some of these Nepalis are capable of the ugliest anti-black stories and stereotypes. But blacks earned their voting rights half a century ago. These Nepalis have not yet.

April Convention: Creating A Glowing Core

$35 per ticket and 6,000 convention goers gives a budget of over $200,000. What is instead you get 10,000 people to show? Political work can be a money maker. It is called a market solution to a burning political, social problem.

And the idea of Desi fast food. How would you like a $2 lunch?

And getting to ride around the city in my cheap car with the richest Nepali on earth, a guy worth hundreds of millions.

ANA Convention: Reflections

Leila Noor tried to sell me a ticket. (August 16) Must be the hardest ticket she ever sold, if she ends up selling it. I think I might show up just because I cost her so much time. But then the 16th is so far away.

On The Web

Racial segregation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Segregation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Segregation in America
CensusScope -- Racial Segregation Statistics for Cities and ...
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. A Century of Segregation | PBS
Jefferson - Enlightenment: Brown v. Board of Education - Racial ...
Martin Luther King, Jr., NHS Jim Crow Laws
Remember Segregation
The Cost of Segregation
Housing Patterns - Home
African American Odyssey: The Civil Rights Era (Part 1)
[PDF] The Interface Segregation Principle
NetLogo Models Library: Segregation
Racial Residential Segregation Project
Segregation in the United States - MSN Encarta
Visualizing Segregation
Cutler/Glaeser/Vigdor Segregation Data
Photographs of Racial Segregation Signs
Segregation
An End to Student Segregation:
An Economist in Paradise » Blog Archive » Segregation
MLB.com - Negro Leagues
Implementation of Segregation
File Segregation: New ID Is a Bad IDea
Department of Political Science, University of Michigan
Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide - Table of Contents
Mendelian Genetics: Principle of Segregation VBS Home page,VBS ...
Chemical Segregation
EconLog, Segregation Equilibrium, Arnold Kling: Library of ...
Housing Patterns - Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation in ...
Racial Residential Segregation Measurement Project
VBHA - African-American Richmond: Educational Segregation ...
Handbook of Texas Online:
Jim Crow and Segregation
The Schelling Segregation Demo Home Page
[PDF] Why Segregation Matters: Poverty and Educational Inequality
"No Negroes Allowed": Segregation at the Front in World War I
Segregation and Desegregation Information:
PLoS Computational Biology: Segregation of the Brain into Gray and ...
Early Civil Rights Struggles: Brown v. Board of Education
National Center for Public Policy Research: Brown v. Board of ...
Neighborhood Schools, Busing, and the Struggle for Equality - Vol ...
RESIDENTIAL RACIAL SEGREGATION
From Segregation to Integration: The Donald Murray Case, 1935-1937 ...
Definition of segregation - Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Wage Inequality and Segregation by Skill
Cost Segregation Applied
Photographic Evidence of Racial Segregation

In The News

Manatee Spotted Off Shores Of New York City Post Chronicle
Yes, That’sa Manatee in the River New York Times
New York City: Introduction Gay.com, CA
New York City's Heat Wave Death Toll Rises To 24 WCBS-TV New York, NY
New York City: What to See and Do Gay.com
Athletics: Yamauchi To Run ING New York City Marathon RunnersWeb, Canada
New York City Debt Debacle The Empire Page, NY
Tokion Magazine's Creativity Now Conference, New York City Core77.com, NY
New York City Deli and Mealbay Shanghaiist, China
Celebrity Jeopardy! Coming to New York City this October 7Online.com, NY
The Top Ten Symbols of New York City: Who Does it Better? SOHH, Jersey City
The supermen of New York City: ’World Trade Center’ looks at ... MetroWest Daily News, MA
New York City transplant finds a bit of grit in Charlotte Charlotte Observer, NC
City of New York Awards AT&T Major Services and Networking ... WebWire (press release), GA
Joel Harrison Live at Joe's Pub - New York City - September All About Jazz, PA
Heron to be honoured by city of New York Jamaica Observer, Jamaica
Rising Gas Prices Cripple New York Taxi Drivers LongIslandPress.com, NY
Notes on New York’s Celebrity Infestation New York Magazine, USA
Looking for Any Edge on Streets of New York New York Times, United States
New York's property taxes are too high. Albany and localities are ... The Empire Page, NY
Things Fall Apart: New York City has Lost Its Way SOHH, Jersey City
New York's rent-to-own legislative troubles continue RTO Headquarters, TX
New York City Ballet Announces a New Approach to Programming New York Times, United States
New York City strikes landmark gun sales deal Reuters
New York City declares heat emergency Xinhua, China
New York City economy improves in July-NY-NAPM Reuters
Boy George to Pick Up New York City Trash People Magazine

Friday, August 04, 2006

Lamont: The Iraq War Ferment In The Democratic Party

Iraq was a wrong war, no doubt. Bush is the name of a mad cow disease. You spread violence with violence, as we see happening.

The need to spread democracy in the Arab world is acute. I have been arguing consistently at this blog that spreading democracy the progressive way, not the neocon way is the way to win the Long War.

Lieberman has supported Bush blindly. And he has been paying the price. If he loses the primary, he should not run as an independent.

Bush misused the Congressional authorization on Iraq. No Democrat voted for the war that Bush jumped into. He was supposed to exhaust all political possibilities.

You can't just leave tomorrow. But the Democrats do have to compete with each other to come up with plans that get the US troops out as soon as possible. That is healthy competition. And that is in sharp contrast with the neocons. They want to stay there forever.

Progressive peace can not be about isolationism. It has to be about spreading democracy the progressive way. I don't see any of the anti war activists getting this point. You don't counter wrong foreign policy with no foreign policy.

The Thing About Racist Comments
Cloud, Pyramid, Glass
Hillary's Formula For 2006
Right Wingers In Power In Israel And America

Lieberman, Lamont
The Israeli Offensive
America: Number One
Mumbai Train Blasts
August 16

Three Pillars, Draft 2
Immigration, Duh
Race, A Few Different Angles

April Convention: Creating A Glowing Core

In The News

Lautenberg: Lieberman won't go independent USA Today
In Connecticut, Lieberman is on the brink MSNBC
Senator Pins Lieberman Hope on PrimaryForbes
Lieberman Keeps Getting Classier Huffington Post
Nader Welcomes Lieberman to Life in the Third-Party Lane Freezerbox
Hadassah Lieberman stumps for her husband in West Hartford Farmington Valley Post
Nader rips Lieberman in New Haven appearance Connecticut Post
Nader slams Lieberman over US Chamber of Commerce endorsement WTNH
Poll: More Republicans like Lieberman than Democrats Raw Story, MA
Gallup: Sen. Lieberman Now More Popular With Republicans Than ... Editor & Publisher
Lieberman drops in Bristol Press, United States
More Evidence of Lieberman’s Republican Nature – His Support ... The People's Voice, TN
The Next Lieberman New York Sun, NY
Why the Left Has Good Reason to Oppose Sen. Lieberman TPMCafe
Joe Lieberman For Senate In Connecticut; John Bolton For The UN Jewish Press
Bloggers on a maligned Joseph Lieberman. Slate
All the News That Fits… Civil War and Its Discontents, Lamont ... Rolling Stone
Senator predicts Lieberman would abandon independent run if he ... KOTV, OK
DeLay, Coulter, Kristol Defend Lieberman The Nation., NY
Senator thinks Lieberman will abandon independent run if he loses ... KVOA.com, AZ

Lamont leads in Conn. Senate poll Monsters and Critics.com, UK
Primary Colors: Area Democrats Rally for Lamont Greenwich Citizen
Lieberman vs. Lamont: The bloggers' campaign Blogcritics.org
Lamont's Hometown Paper Backs Lieberman Forward
Sen. Joe on Lamont's Stock National Review Online Blogs, NY
My Generation Gap on Lamont TPMCafe, NY
The Observer: Why Joe Must Go Hartford Advocate
Why the Media Believe in Hillary Accuracy In Media, DC
Lamont's Lie and the Flyer That Started It All Yahoo! News
Lamont faces fallout over country club membership Greenwich Time
Lieberman Uses Rival’s Wealth as Issue in RaceNew York Times

Hillary Clinton calls for Rumsfeld's resignation CBC News, Canada
Top US generals offer bleak assessment of Iraq war Austin American-Statesman (subscription)
Generals warn Senate that Iraq could descend into civil war San Jose Mercury News
Hillary Clinton Calls for Rumsfield to Resign KXTV, CA
Hillary tells Rumsfeld to resign The Age
Hillary calls for Rumsfeld resignation Bahrain News Agency
Sen. Clinton Says Rumsfeld Should Resign ABC News
Harry Reid May Ask Senator Clinton to Preempt Presidential ... Huffington Post, NY
Hillary Clinton is interested in politics? RedState, VA
Hillary Clinton’s Downsized American Dream Bay Area Indymedia, CA

Israel cuts Lebanon's last major tie to Syria as militants fire ... Canada.com, Canada
Israel Warplanes Destroy Lebanon Bridges ABC News
Air raid kills 33 civilians in Lebanon Mail & Guardian Online
Israel severs Lebanon road link to Syria Houston Chronicle
French-US cooperation on Lebanon a long way from Iraq war tensions Hindu, India
French stand sparks a renaissance for Chirac The Australian
Chirac returns to the world stage and makes the fur fly Times Online
Lebanon needs big force: France Peninsula On-line
Israeli air raids kill 40 civilians in Lebanon ABC Online, Australia
UN Resolution on Lebanon Said to be Near Voice of America
Solve underlying problems to get rid of Hezbollah: Lebanon PM Khaleej Times The Shia militia Hezbollah will only disappear when the problems that sparked its creation have been resolved, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said in a newspaper interview on Friday. .... “Let’s confront the question of land usurped by others that belongs to Lebanon,” he said, in an apparent reference to the disputed Shebaa Farms border area occupied by Israel... Hezbollah has vowed to pry the Shebaa Farms area from Israel, which seized it from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The 25 square kilometre (10 square mile) area at the junction of the borders of the three countries is now claimed by Lebanon, with Syria’s backing..... When asked directly about the Shebaa Farms area, Siniora said that “for decades we have claimed the land which belongs to us. Begin restitution and you will see tensions diminish.” .... “Hezbollah has had an important role, it has defended borders which have been repeatedly violated, it has confronted the invasion of a sovereign state. Eliminate these causes and you will eliminate the effects,” said the Lebanese leader.
Hezbollah rockets reach further into Israel USA Today
Israeli air raids kill 40 civilians in Lebanon Reuters.uk, UK
Israeli strike kills 20 people in east Lebanon Reuters AlertNet
Israeli air strike kills 27 farm workers in Lebanon Reuters AlertNet
Blair sets focus on Lebanon International Herald Tribune, France
Blair admits split over Lebanon Telegraph.co.uk Tony Blair appeared increasingly isolated over his handling of the Middle East crisis last night after admitting for the first time that there were divisions in the Cabinet and among senior officials over his policy on Lebanon. ...... Blair said he hoped a resolution to bring about "an immediate ceasefire" in Lebanon and pave the way for agreement on deployment of an international force ...... collective Cabinet responsibility is close to breaking down over his backing for Israel and the United States...... forced further on the defensive by the leaking of a confidential memo from William Patey, Britain's outgoing ambassador in Baghdad, warning that civil war was likely in Iraq. ..... predicted the break-up of Iraq along ethnic lines. "The prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy" ........ claimed Mr Blair's "total identification'' with US policy had wrecked Britain's influence abroad and increased the likelihood of terrorism at home......... He pledged that Britain would "stay the course" in Iraq and confirmed his intention to go on holiday as planned
Arab-Israelis protest ‘Israeli aggression in Lebanon, Gaza Ynetnews, Israel Some 2,000 supporters of the Arab-Israeli National Democratic Assembly party held a rally Friday in Tira in protest of “the Israeli aggression in Lebanon and Gaza.” ...... “Civilians, Jew and Arabs alike, are the victims of the same policy,” Bishara said. “We said from the beginning ‘no to the war’ and ‘yes to negotiations’ for the sake of both nations. ..... Hadash party chairman MK Mohammad Barakeh said of the war in Lebanon “innocent people from both sides of the border are paying the ultimate price for this vile and crazy war.” ..... MK Zahalka said “we all know that eventually the sides will reach the negotiating table, and therefore this unnecessary spilling of blood must end.” He said that it is not Israel but the US that is calling the shots with regard to the Lebanon war.
Security is being stepped up around Israeli Arab lawmakers for ... Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Arab MK: Israel carrying out 'genocide' of Shiites Ynetnews Knesset Members from Arab parties hurl harsh comments from the Knesset stage and in organized demonstrations in Arab villages and in Tel Aviv, while other Knesset Members charge them with being traitors and a fifth column. Knesset Member Bishara often appears in many Arab television channels in states such as Syria, and in Lebanon, as well as Al-Jazeera, and he publicizes many comments in the Arab press. He is almost completely absent, however, from the Hebrew press in Israel. ..... the Arab capitals are directly threatened by Israel much more than the threat Israel faces from Hizbullah. In Lebanon they decided they will posses weapons of deterrence against Israel, but who brought about the situation they are used? ....... "Hizbullah won't be defeated," he said.
UN Convoys Unable to Deliver Aid in Lebanon Voice of America
Bridge bombing paralyses Lebanon aid pipeline Reuters AlertNet
Conflict Restricts Humanitarian Aid to Desperate Southern Lebanon Environment News Service
Relief group says airstrikes hinder ability to move supplies WWAY NewsChannel 3
Red Cross helpless in Lebanon Globe and Mail
Italy, Syria call for immediate Lebanon ceasefire Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
Italy sees Iraq-style risk for UN force in Lebanon Reuters AlertNet

Japanese FM vows to continue support for Iraq's reconstruction People's Daily Online
Report on US miltary suicides in Iraq due soon World Peace Herald
Newsview: US Interests on Line in Iraq Forbes
Generals paint bleak picture for Iraq San Francisco Chronicle
Gunbattles erupt in restive city in N. Iraq Reuters
At least 18 die in attacks in northern Iraq Canada.com
Alabama Guard to have biggest Iraq presence since '03 San Jose Mercury News, USA
Civil war looms for Iraq, say top brass The Australian, Australia
Iraq slipping into civil war ABC Online
Corruption Rivals Violence as Threat to Iraq ABC News
Editorial: Lack of communication plagues Iraq reconstruction Appleton Post Crescent
US Official Urges Contracting Reform Following Mistakes in Iraq Voice of America
Why US effort to rebuild Iraq came up short Christian Science Monitor Production levels for both oil and electricity have surpassed prewar numbers. "Electricity output nationwide now exceeds 5,000 megawatts, and oil production reached 2.5 million barrels per day" ..... Overall, the US has completed about 12,000 of the 14,600 projects originally planned, according to the Special Inspector General. About 2,000 projects are still in progress. ..... "Much of the budget you had allocated for Iraq's reconstruction ended up paying for security firms and foreign companies, whose operating costs were vast." ...... accomplishments such as projects that will increase liquefied petroleum gas production to 3,000 tons per day, equal to demand; an increase in potable water of 2.6 million cubic meters per day; and provision of sewage treatment for 20 percent of Iraq's people, despite the fact that prior to the invasion some major Iraqi cities have no sewage treatment at all.
US Military Deaths in Iraq Washington Post
Soldiers killed in 'quiet' province Daily Telegraph
Iraq Resistance Gains Steam Islam Online Iraqi resistance fighters have stepped up attacks against US occupation forces over the past weeks, with some security sources linking the momentum to the US-backed Israeli onslaught on Lebanon. ..... Some 2,579 US troops have been killed in Iraq since its invasion-turned-occupation ..... many American soldiers were growing increasingly disillusioned about the Iraq war and their ability to succeed against an elusive enemy. ..... Some observers had expected an increase in attacks against American troops in Iraq in view of American support for the Lebanon war. .... lives of more than 800 Lebanese civilians, many of them women and children. .... the blind backing to Israel in its war will turn the "new Middle East" into a quagmire for the US and drive up anti-Americanism to new heights.... the US military is investigating other cases of abuses -- including the killings of up to 24 unarmed civilians in the town of Haditha last year by US Marines.

Israeli Airstrikes Hit New Targets Voice of America
'The US is the kiss of death' in the Arab world Asia Times Online, Hong Kong
Clearly time for new approach Toronto Star, Canada An Israeli labourer recently put it succinctly — "they do not want land, they do not want peace — they want us dead." ..... Hezbollah recognizes that the loss of civilian life strikes at civilized society's Achilles heel — our humanity. France now says that it does not want to send peacekeepers until the fighting halts and the UN Security Council agrees to a "wider framework for lasting peace."
Israeli Arabs Helped by Economy, Suffer From Hezbollah Missiles Bloomberg
Rockets hitting Israeli cities started war, not kidnapping Dispatch Online, South Africa
Nonie Darwish: The Muslim Majority Must Break Its Silence Yahoo! News Despite initially blaming Hezbollah, the Arab street's sympathies have now shifted to Hezbollah. Terror groups count on that support. ....... People in the West do not understand why the silent Muslim majority stays silent. The reason can be found in the old Arab saying, "My brother and I against our cousin, but my cousin and I against a stranger." Supporting fellow Muslims, right or wrong, is a fundamental cultural obligation among Arab society ........ and everything is being sacrificed by Arabs in order to kill Jews. The hatred of Jews by Arabs in the areas surrounding Israel is more important than a mother's love for her children....... In 1955, an intifada broke out in Gaza. But it was not against Israel; it was against the oppressive rule of Egypt's President Nasser. To divert attention from this uprising, the Egyptian government intensified the fedayeen operations against Israel under the command of my father, Lt. Colonel Mustafa Hafez. Israel's defense against the fedayeen, including their killing my father, ended the intifada. This pattern of Arabs increasing terror attacks against Israel as a way of dealing with threats to their governments continues until today. The fedayeen of the 1950's became the model for today's terror organizations.......... The terror groups' have distracted Arabs from solving their real human challenges while bringing them humiliating defeats...... We Arabs must abandon this obsession to destroy Israel and tend to more important issues, such as honor killing of Muslim girls, stoning of Muslim women, killing and torturing of gays, amputation of limbs of criminals, female genital mutilation, the murder of apostates who leave Islam, polygamy and its devastating effects on family relations, and the imprisonment of Arab reformists and writers and cutting the tongues of those who speak out. We must speak out against the self-anointed and hateful Ayatollahs and Sheikhs who incite violence, rage and anger from the pulpits of mosques. They are condemning the beautiful Middle East society to a permanent condition of war, terror and jihad.......
Mideast fighting has weakened moderates, says Jordan King Hindu, India the prolonged battle in Lebanon has weakened moderates all across the Mideast. ...... Even if Hezbollah is destroyed, the hostility toward Israel is so high that another such group may pop up in Syria, Egypt, Iraq - or even his own country, King Abdullah II, a key US ally, said ...... As long as there is aggression, there's resistance and there's popular support for this resistance..... may have crushed outright, any hope for reviving Mideast peacemaking....... Abdullah said Israel's "aggression has exceeded all limits and must stop immediately." ...... Israeli attacks in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories resulted in "despair in the whole region"
Wave of Rocket Attacks Kill 8 in Israel ABC News
Jordan's King Says Arab Moderates Change Washington Post, United States
Fighting in Lebanon sparks tensions around Mideast Hindu, India
Hezbollah 'heroes to Arabs' The Australian, Australia the rise of guerrilla groups such as Hezbollah who targeted the Jewish state stemmed from Israel's reluctance to give up Arab territory captured in the 1967 war in return for lasting peace. ...... "They (Israelis) want to destroy Hezbollah by tanks and air force. Peace comes by returning occupied territory and setting up a Palestinian state" ...... the US administration should move quickly to end the Arab-Israeli conflict to regain its credibility among ordinary Arabs. .... People cannot sleep and wake up to pictures of the dead and images of destruction in Lebanon and Gaza and for us to say we want moderation.
Mousa: Israel Attempting to Destroy Lebanon, not Hezbollah Zaman Online, Turkey
Jordanian king 'enraged by war' BBC News, UK
Snubbing mercy, once again National Post, Canada
36 Lawmakers Urge Israel to Stop Attack Korea Times, South Korea
3 weeks in, Hezbollah surprises with its might Seattle Times, United States Hezbollah has fired rockets as far as the West Bank, knocked out Israeli tanks and damaged a warship — and had plenty of time to booby-trap all of southern Lebanon. It is hardly a typical guerrilla group, equipped only with bravado and AK-47 assault rifles....... The group has gained attributes more often associated with a national military — fixed training bases, rocket-launching facilities, well-trained artillerymen — than with a guerrilla or terrorist group ......... they have more expertise than the Lebanese military ....... Communication is by walkie-talkies, always in code, and sometimes messages are delivered by motorcycle. Weapons are in place across a terrain fighters say they know intimately........ "On the ground, face to face, we're better fighters than the Israelis" ...... its detailed planning since the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000...... six years to ready its defenses, set deadly traps and store munitions in tunnels and bunkers hewn into the rocky, mountainous terrain of southern Lebanon....... Hezbollah fighters appear to exercise a great deal of autonomy, a flexibility evident along the region's back roads: ammunition loaded in cars, trucks in camouflage, rocket launchers tucked in banana plantations........ Fighters and supporters suggest time is their friend in a war many suspect won't have a conclusive end. .... "We are here, and we're not going anywhere." ..... In eight days of fighting in the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbail, Israel lost 18 soldiers, its heaviest casualties since the conflict began in Lebanon. Israel withdrew, saying it never intended to capture it......... the devotion of the Hezbollah fighters. ..... "The most important element about this war is its moral dimension. Hezbollah has prepared itself for this war, its fighters have been indoctrinated to fight until victory" ..... a mood of competition among fighters: competition over bravery, over performance and over who is going to be a martyr first ...... communications sophisticated enough to monitor some Israeli military communications ..... the fighting, so far, has been the type where "guerrillas have the advantage ...... "Our missile capacity is still untouched," Mahmoud Qamati, deputy head of Hezbollah's political bureau, said Wednesday in Beirut. "It is sufficient at two levels, in quantity for the missiles they know of, and in quality for those they still don't know about — the type or the range." He added, "We have enough missiles for months." ....... Hezbollah is believed to have 500 to 600 highly trained fighters, with about five times that many available in reserve .... Like any guerrilla army, it can also draw fighters from the civilian population. ..... before the war, it was believed to have a 12,000 to 13,000 missile stockpile ...... Hezbollah's most important hardware could be a variety of anti-tank weapons, potentially crucial if Israel uses previously successful strategies of encircling pockets of resistance with armor before wiping them out...... Israel can probably defeat Hezbollah, many analysts said. But it may have to be flexible, something past battles have shown it does well. ...... "If there's one military in the world that's especially adept at learning and adapting and adjusting to the situation as it presents itself, it's the Israeli Defense Force" ..... very innovative small-unit approaches
Arab, Jewish women unite to call for peace in Mideast Calgary Sun, Canada
News Analysis: How 'winning' might be defined International Herald Tribune, France
The Times interview with Ehud Olmert: full transcript Times Online, UK I am not talking only about the British soldiers. As far as I am concerned the French are welcome, the Germans are welcome, the Italians are welcome. Turkish forces are welcome. The Saudis, Egyptians.
Anyone ...... this murderous organisation Hezbollah, which is the long arm of Iran ..... We didn’t like very much UNIFIL which was very useless and very helpless. ..... Everyone understands that Israel was the defensive side and Hezbollah was the offensive side. ..... I will do everything possible in order to influence the resolution to this direction. ...... Ariel Sharon’s, ‘brave step’ of disengaging from Gaza and the lack of emergence of ‘moderate elements’ in Hamas ....... we have to win the war against global extremism and that we have to win it at the level of values and at the level of force ...... I don’t think relations between Israel and America is established on the basis that we get orders from the administration. ...... We all share the same commitment to the basic values of democracy, of equality, of tolerance and that we are ready to fight for these principles. ...... The war started not only by killing eight Israeli soldiers and abducting two but by shooting Katyusha and other rockets on the northern cities of Israel on that same morning. Indiscriminately. ...... can you imagine seven million British citizens sitting for 22 days in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham in Newcastle, in Brighton and in other cities? Twenty two days in shelters because a terrorist organisation was shooting rockets and missiles on their heads? What would have been the British reaction to that? .......... How many innocent civilians were killed in Kosovo 10 years ago? ...... The difference between us and Hezbollah is that when we kill innocent people we consider it a failure, when they kill innocent people they consider it a success. .... It was registered by the UN that Israel has pulled out entirely from Lebanon and we don’t occupy one centimetre of Lebanon. ...... it has to be made up of armies, not of retirees, of real soldiers, not of pensioners who have come to spend leisurely months in south Lebanon, but, rather, an army with combat units..... Israel is not afraid of missiles. ..... my wife - she went today to the north to visit with some people and communities and she told me: 'Listen, it's not pleasant. They are falling all the time, everywhere.' ........ we responded in such a manner that will be registered in the collective memory, of not just the Lebanese, but of every nation that has ever had any plans to attack the state of Israel with missiles. They will know that we respond and sometimes the response can be very, very, very painful....... Israel will never, ever allow anyone any more to attack Israel without response....... - a big infrastructure created for Hezbollah. .... in 2001 in the middle of the intifada when we had to face every day suicide attacks in the middle of our cities ...... the military campaign has been brilliant. ...... I don't know of any army in modern history which has done near what we did against a guerrilla organisation....... Look how difficult it is for the allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why? Because you don’t fight big formats....... If Lebanon as a country had been the target within half an hour there wouldn't have been any air fields, any planes, any tanks, anything, and that would be it. ...... the enormous, unbelievable intelligence we knew in every village which home they had these launchers ...... We destroyed most of the launchers of the longer range missiles, again due to unbelievable intelligence. We also destroyed 700 targets that served as command positions, as logistical positions, as storage houses as offices of Hezbollah across Lebanon. ....... look at the face of Nasrallah .... had he been able to reverse it to square one and not to start it altogether he would have done it immediately ........ the Hezbollah lost entirely their status in the political structure of Lebanon. Number two, they lost their position amongst the moderate Arab countries. For Hezbollah to hear that Saudi Arabia is opposed to them is a blow in the heart ....... error of judgement was that Israel would not respond in the way that we did. ...... I am not a Nasrallah. I am not talking in this arrogant and pompous manner......... if Nasrallah is so courageous why doesn’t he resurface? Why is he afraid even to feel the light of the sun...... Where exactly is Nasrallah, this big mouth? ......
It's Israel that is the larger threat Toronto Star, Canada
Open letter to Bush from an Arab girl Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates your foreign policy is completely biased towards Israel ..... it is our — the entire Arab and Muslim world’s — choice to support Lebanon. ..... In Qana, 57 armless, defenseless civilians died in an Israeli air strike, 37 of them were children..... they matter to more than 200 million Arabs in the Middle East..... How many more, Mr Bush, should die before you decide to stop sending those bloody weapons to Israel? Perhaps we can afford a sacrifice that will rein in your generosity towards Israel permanently....... Not the "New Middle East" that you’ve been brainstorming in your Oval Office. ..... "They murder the murdered and walk in his funeral." ......Your credibility and your government’s credibility have long been lost — irretrievably lost like those lost innocent lives. People will not forget this though. They will not turn the other cheek; they will retaliate — just like you had chosen to retaliate after 9/11...... I was born too late to see how the British Empire had collapsed, but right on time to see how the American Empire is falling apart. Mr Bush, You will surely be remembered in history for hastening that process.
No side winning War The Israeli people are not winning because they live in constant fear of terrorist threats and suffer continuous attacks. The Palestinian people aren't winning because they haven't yet regained their homeland; they live in constant fear of Israeli reprisals and suffer unbearably when Israel retaliates. Both Israel and the terrorists lose face, in their struggle to dominate, when they kill innocent civilians........ The only people who seem to be winning are the politicians and leaders who incite passions and use the conflict to further their aims; the organizations that gain money and support by inciting anger; the weapons manufacturers and distributors, which make billions selling their hardware; the security companies, which make billions advising leaders and selling their equipment and all the remaining companies that supply other goods and services to the warring factions...... After all is said and done, the Palestinian issue will eventually be settled using the non-violent methods of diplomacy, talking, negotiating, handshaking and paper signing

Visitors

1 August