Month: July 2006

Hezbollah, by kidnapping two and killing several Israeli soldiers, has drawn a forceful response from the Jewish state. One perspective is that the Islamist organization was surprised by the ferocity of that response. It can also be argued that such intensity only fulfills the objective of Hezbollah to create an imbroglio for Israel in Lebanon … Continue reading “Fourth Generation War
in Lebanon”

Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq. By Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Kael Alford, Thorne Anderson, and Rita Leistner. Chelsea Greene, 2005. 196 pages. Hardback and paperback editions available. When the U.S. invaded the Middle East in 2003, the American war machine offered to “embed” reporters with the troops. Reporters and photojournalists would be assigned … Continue reading “A Pictorial Rebuttal to the Embedded Media”

Intervention begets intervention. No intervention is ever complete; new countries must be constantly conquered or transformed to finish the job. Having intervened, one must continue to intervene to achieve one’s original objectives. There are always unintended consequences to overcome. Running an empire, acting as the global policeman, and spreading liberty, truth, justice, and happiness around … Continue reading “Endless Entanglements”

JERUSALEM – Avner Pomeranetz does not sound particularly concerned by the barrage of 26 Katyusha rockets that slammed into his home town of Kiryat Shmona on Israel’s northern border over the weekend. Nor by the fact that he has to remain in town by order of the army, and cannot travel south out of range … Continue reading “Despite Olmert’s Offensive, Israelis Running From Rockets”

Jonathan Schell, who ended his Nation magazine column, “Letter From Ground Zero,” last February, now takes up “The Crisis of the Republic” in what will be a series of periodic, longer essays appearing in the Nation under that rubric. For all its wealth, its power, its dreams of military domination over the last half-century-plus, the … Continue reading “Too Late for Empire”

Over the past two decades, as the Christian Right has grown in political power in the United States, there has been a parallel growth in support for Israel. Organizations made up of conservative evangelical and Jewish leaders have been founded, and millions of dollars have been raised and donated to charities in Israel. Now, a … Continue reading “Christian Right Steps Up Pro-Israel Lobbying”

BEIRUT – The continuing Israeli bombing of south Lebanon and south Beirut might just have strengthened the Hezbollah. The bombings appear particularly to have strengthened the hand of Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the charismatic Hezbollah leader. Hezbollah has over the years gained a strong following in Lebanon primarily on the back of its engagement in social … Continue reading “Hezbollah Could Be
Gaining Strength”

If you’ve been watching the television images from Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine and have been getting a little depressed, cheer up! U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has explained to reporters that the scenes of death, destruction, and human misery from Beirut, Haifa, and Gaza are – get this! – “birth pangs of a new … Continue reading “‘Birth Pangs of a
New Middle East’?”

The Shame of Being an American What will you say when Israel does not stay in Lebanon? And why did Hezbollah attack Israel when Israel is not in Lebanon? Hezbollah, which is in Lebanon’s government, is pounding Israel with rockets; though not as powerful as Israel, they did start this conflict and as members of … Continue reading “Backtalk, July 27, 2006”

Syndicated columnist Richard Cohen declared in the Washington Post on Tuesday that an-eye-for-an-eye would be a hopelessly wimpy policy for the Israeli government. “Anyone who knows anything about the Middle East knows that proportionality is madness,” he wrote. “For Israel, a small country within reach, as we are finding out, of a missile launched from … Continue reading “Applauding While
Lebanon Burns”