Month: July 2006

Is Lebanon the Great Unravelling? By William Bowles

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28 July 2006

‘We are farmers, we can fall back on the land, hide in caves, make our own cheese and eat our lambs. The Israelis in their bunkers, this life upsets them. They will quit.’ — Mohammed Mulimh, 29, a Lebanese farmer

I think it’s now clear that the gamble the US took with its proxy force, Israel, is a military-political disaster. Soon, there won’t be much left to destroy in Lebanon, then what? There are several options open to Israel (US), none of them too inviting, yet sooner or later the real world will force the US to reconsider what it has done (if it’s not done so already):

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Israel: A wolf dressed in victim’s clothes and why the destruction of Lebanon is a strategic disaster for the Empire By William Bowles

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26 July 2006

Illegal Weapons?Are these illegal weapons being used by Israel?
Also check out Depleted Uranium Alert

“It was meant to be over by now. This time last week Israeli military planners were demanding another 72 hours to finish the job: that’s all they needed, they promised, to clear southern Lebanon of Hizbullah.” — Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian, Wednesday July 26, 2006

I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down said the Wolf. Well the Wolf is huffing and puffing but the house is not built of straw and Hezbollah (how is it spelt? Hez or Hiz?) are proving to be a very tenacious opponent. Okay, Israel has overwhelming orthodox military power but has it got the means or the political support at home for a protracted war?

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Media Lens: Demolishing Lebanon – Part 2

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26 July 2006 — Media Lens

Israeli Propaganda – Never Had It So Good

Assaf Shariv, media adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, boasted to the Jerusalem Post last week that Israelis have been interviewed by the foreign press four times as much as spokespeople for the Palestinians and Lebanese. Shariv cited a poll of Sky News viewers that found that 80 percent believe Israel’s attacks on Lebanon were justified. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Gideon Meir, added: “We have never had it so good. The hasbara [propaganda] effort is a well-oiled machine.” (Gil Hoffman, ‘Israel calls up media “reserves”,’ Jerusalem Post, July 17, 2006; www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=115088
6020429&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull)

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Media Lens: Demolishing Lebanon – Part 1

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25 July 2006 — Media Lens

In launching an emergency appeal for aid on July 24, the United Nations estimated that the lives of 800,000 Lebanese civilians have been disrupted by Israeli bombing. Hundreds of bridges and virtually all road networks have been systematically destroyed across the country, making relief efforts almost impossible. BBC and other journalists report many civilians trapped in the rubble of villages in the south of Lebanon cut off from medical aid by air strikes. ReliefWeb comments: Continue reading →

Reassessing the Hariri assassination in the light of recent events

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22 July 2006 — xymphora.blogspot.com/

Reassessing the Hariri assassination in the light of recent events:

1. The Hariri assassination, immediately blamed on Syria (with no evidence other than the lies promoted by Mehlis), led directly to Syria being forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.  It is obvious that that step was a necessary precondition of Israeli involvement in Lebanon.

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A US call to (more) arms By William Bowles

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19 July 2006

“A cease-fire that would leave the status quo ante intact is absolutely unacceptable. A cease-fire that would leave intact a terrorist infrastructure is unacceptable.” — White House spokesman Tony Snow, 18/7/06 (See ‘American imperialism wants war’)

One thing should absolutely clear by now, when it comes to Israel’s actions—the US calls the shots. I trust this lays to rest all those deluded individuals on the ‘left’ who subscribe to the fallacious notion commonly referred to as the ‘tail wagging the dog’.

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Remind me again, which century am I living in? By William Bowles

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18 July 2006

“And, that while the Taliban reduced poppy cultivation to virtually zero in 2001, Washington and its allies are watching over the mother of all opium harvests this year.” — July 15, 2006, Paul McGeough Chief Herald Correspondent in Kabul, Sydney Morning Herald

A friend sent me a link to a BBC ‘From our own correspondent’ story straight from the bowels of an outpost of the imperial empire, Afghanistan, from an elegant cocktail party celebrating the ‘victory’ of the Empire over the ‘heathen hordes’.

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Israel – just testing the waters? By William Bowles

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14 July 2006

“What has proportion got to do with it though … it’s not about proportion is it. I mean human life is not cheap to the Israelis and human life on the other side is quite cheap actually because they strap bombs to people and send them to blow themselves up.” – Maureen Lippman, 23/7/06, BBC TV ‘The Week in Politics’

Maybe it’s denial on everybody’s part but many of my lefty pals seem to be at a loss to explain the actions of Israel as it methodically dismembers Lebanon-aside that is, from the obvious ‘warmonger’ tag, a tag that explains little.

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When a war is not a war (unless the media says it is) By William Bowles

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14 July 2006

Dawn air strikes on south Lebanon on 13 July 2006 claimed the lives of at least 44 civilians, including over 15 children, and wounded over 100. Israel bombed bridges linking the north and south of the country and all three runways of Beirut’s commercial airport. The Israeli army’s Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz, promised that “nothing is safe in [Lebanon], as simple as that.” — ‘Israel attacks Lebanon’, 14/7/06

But it’s not all going Israel’s way. An eyewitness reports an Israeli naval vessel being hit by a missile and sunk off the coast of Beirut.

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Been there – done that By William Bowles

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11 July 2006

In 1881 British Redcoats got their arses well and truly kicked in Afghanistan and had to withdraw. It was one of the worst defeats British colonialism had experienced. The similarities don’t end there least of all the real reasons for being there in the first place. In 1881 it was, according to the government of the day, to guarantee access to India. Today, it’s oil of the Caspian Basin and the strategic locations of the former Soviet states that is the real reason for USUK presence. Forget all that crap about the Taleban, the Taleban government was supported by the US up until it became expedient to dump on them just like any and all so-called US allies when the circumstances warrant it.

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Cockroaches of the World Unite! By William Bowles

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1 July 2006

Roach hissing

“When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle.” — Raphael Eitan, chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, New York Times, April 14, 1983.

“[The Palestinians are] beasts walking on two legs.” — Menahim Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, ‘Begin and the “Beasts”’, New Statesman, 25 June 1982.

“’What is to be done with the Palestinian population?’ Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said ‘Drive them out!’” — Yitzhak Rabin, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979

There can be no clearer example of the inherently racist nature of Western ‘civilisation’ than the events of the past week. And if anyone doubt the power of language to shape our perception of events let them look no further than the alleged exemplar of ‘objective’ reporting, the BBC and its treatment of the genocidal policies of the state of Israel.

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