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Last night’s Orla Guerin report – caught telling porkies.
“Comments?
David Guy | ”
he’s wrong.
DFH…
Thanks for that link to the Guerin piece.
Have to say though, if Orla and Alex Thompson were posting from the same place at the same time then alarm bells should have been ringing from the outset. Shame their cameraman didn’t swing right round to give a panoramic view of their Hezb’ollah tour guide escorting them on their visit.
The BBC and terrorist propaganda;
Anybody else notice the overt and covert messages from the BBC that Hezbollah beat the Israeli
Hezbollah won
Syria hails ‘a new Middle East’
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says a new Middle East has emerged as a result of what he called Hezbollah’s victory over Israel in southern Lebanon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4794363.stm
Israel lost
‘Blame war’ looms for Israel leaders
A new war is about to erupt on Israel’s home front; indeed the first skirmishes have already begun. It will be a war of recriminations and blame, but it will also be a struggle to determine the true lessons of the fighting in Lebanon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4792261.stm
The Jews planned the whole thing from the beginning
US ‘knew of Israel bombing plan’
Israel had planned its bombing in advance, Mr Hersh claims
Israel and the United States were in close contact about Israel’s war on Hezbollah long before it began, a US investigative journalist has claimed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4792961.stm
Oh yes Hezbollah won the war
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, for his part, said his side had achieved a “strategic, historic victory” against Israel.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4791125.stm
Here’s a few questions for any BBC SECURITY EXPERT
From the start point 4 weeks ago which country had control of air, sea and land movements of the other.(Allow me to help you it wasn’t the country which you claimed was bombing the crap out of the other)
Which country has 3 Armoured divisions inside the other?
Which country has had all its lines of communication smashed?
Ah somebody will say. But they didn’t beat Hezbollah. No but they give it a good kicking, a kicking I should add which should enable the rest of Lebanon to disarm the terrorist org which the BBC waxes lyrically about.
Oh and for my curtain call. Read this weeks Janes defence weekly.
Issue 33 dated 16th August 2006
Page 5 paragraph 8
Out of more than 500 ATGMs fired at us in the first month of fighting only some 40 tanks sustained hits., with 10 being penetrated.
That’s more than 10 missiles for every hit. And more than 40 launched for every kill.
Remind me again about who won?
David Guy
I agree with Stephen Pollard. Much better to get a bigger volume of good communicators going round to speak up for Israel. They also need to have the facts, so that they could, for example, correct many of the errors in BBC reporting from the Middle East (e.g. Resolution 242 requires Israel to withdraw to the pre 1967 borders period, and more recently that the Shebaa farms really belong to Lebanon).
Ironically, the BBC might be right about Hezbollah (or Shia fundamentalism) being the winner. Hezbollah will not disarm. Hezbollah will reoccupy Southern Lebanon. Iran will supply further weapons and training to Hezbollah. The UN will pretend to do something but nothing will happen. Hezbollah is strengthened in Lebanon, the Government of Lebanon is weakened. Israel was not able to stop the rockets. Hezbollah will be ready tyo strike against Israel in the future.
And most worryingly, Iran may have nuclear weapons available next time.
Since the BBC was embarrased by the findings of its Newswatch segment on Sunday showing that the focus (time) given to the terrorists was a magnitude greater than the Israeli coverage has anyone else thought that Israel is getting some more airtime?
Note: I didn’t suggest more editorial balance, simply more balance in airtime.
Archduke:
A late reply, as I have been at work.
I’m not into death porn either, but maybe the video clip should be shown to all the lefties who chant…”We are all Hezbollah”, whilst making them wear eye opening restraints a’la “A Clockwork Orange”.
I really believe they are ignorant as to what the butchers in Iraq are STILL doing on a daily basis.
http://www.ogrish.com/archives/nepalese_hostages_execution_video_and_beheading_images_Aug_31_2004.html
DO NOT CLICK THE LINK IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH.
These men were unarmed innocent civilians.
The BBC agenda “radicalised British Muslims” The reality British Airways admits to having mislaid 10,000 suitcases, that makes 10,000 “Radicalised airline passengers” and that’s only the tip of the iceberg
mick -> you have a point alright.
the video is the cold hard reality of Islamic fascism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4791795.stm
“1m children face home violence”
err.. no.
its actually “Between 240,000 and 963,000”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4790577.stm
Meanwhile the BBC report on a ‘play’ in the Fringe using entries from Riverbend a blog written by a woman in Baghdad.
Nowhere does it mention that the blog writer is strongly believed to actually be a daughter of a former Saddam/Ba’ath supporter who was an Ambassador to a western nation (possibly Canada) and thus her entries are all tainted with the fact that she is angry at losing her position in society (albeit her and her father’s position was based on fear and a visit from Saddam’s goons if people didn’t treat her with respect).
….OF COURSE the Ba’ath losers aren’t going to be impartial and thus a credible source of news etc – this is something the BBC always seem to add with disclaimers etc when reporting stuff from ‘right wing’ blogs yet never do when praising left wing ones…..
UNICEF , who published the “1 million” report referenced above are also the publishers of this
http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_28182.html
“Investing in the Children of the Islamic World”
i wonder if it’ll cover the indoctrination of hatred, terror and violence into young Palestinian kids?
will it cover the teaching of anti-semitism and “jews are pigs” in Saudi schools, i wonder….
Reading some of the comments on the HYS about the ceasefire makes me want to cry.
But, the good news is that in the “Readers Recommend” section, 10 of the 14 comments on the first page are in line with my own opinion.
Arguments like this become very polarized – people are clearly either pro-Israeli or pro-HB (or anti-Israeli), apart from the odd few peacenics who condemn war full stop and blame both sides.
What I don’t understand is this. Pro-Israeli comments on that page received 3295 recommendations altogether. Pro-HB comments received 1201 recommendations. Indicates that the vast majority (74%) of visitors support the view that Israel had a right to self defense.
And yet, in the most recent section, this is not reflected in the balance of comments received.
Is this proof of the “moderators” favouring one argument over the other? Or am I missing something?
“makes me want to cry.”
leave that to feargal keane.
thanks to the BBC , those pro-hez commenters dont actually realise what a bunch of fascist thugs Hezbollah really are. its not their fault – they’ve been taken in by Beeboid propaganda.
i’d bet they’d change their minds if you showed them the Hez hitler salute photos.
BTW. Thank you Great Britain for discovering this latest plot in time.
“Did you read Patrick Bishop’s limp opinion piece yesterday? Basically trotted out the line that the creation of a palestinian state will be the panacea for all Islamist violence.”
I seem to recall we tried that about six years ago and Arafat turned it down. The Palestinians aren’t interested in any solution that includes the survival of Israel.
and more recently that the Shebaa farms really belong to Lebanon).
Eamonn | 15.08.06 – 4:05 pm | #
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shebaa_farms
“While rummaging through government archives in Paris, a historian at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Asher Kaufman, stumbled on documents that appear to resolve the dispute. Kaufman discovered a set of papers from the French mandate era from 1920 to 1941 that show that French officials in the 1930s had accidentally put the Shebaa Farms in Syria…….. After Kaufman published his findings, a 2002 editorial in the Lebanese newspaper the Daily Star chided the Lebanese academic community, and wrote that it was embarrassing that the discovery had been left to an Israeli researcher.
An Israeli journalist, Akiva Eldar, urged the UN to revisit its Lebanese resolutions. “If the Lebanese or Syrians had reached the archives in Paris in time and presented the evidence that Kaufman found, the UN’s decision would look very different,” Eldar observed four years ago. But Kaufman’s findings were published two years after Israel’s Lebanon pull-out in 2000 and were not considered by the UN team that investigated where to draw the border[44]
In one document found in the archives in Paris, French arbitrators and parties to a dispute wrote an agreement that suggested that the border put the Farms in Lebanon. Two other documents, from 1937 and 1939, were reports from the administrative councillor of south Lebanon and the head of the Services Speciaux in Quneitra. They noted a discrepancy between the boundary, as determined by the 1:200,000 Ottoman map, and the reality in the region. They collected unofficial information from various sources, and concluded that the area was Lebanese. “
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news_web/video/9012da68004e6c0/nb/09012da68004ea7b_16x9_nb.ram
President Assad of Syria has denounced US policies in the Middle East in a speech in Damascus.
He accused the US administration of adopting the principle of ”pre-emptive war” and described Israel as ”an enemy”.
Duration: 33:16
Thirtythree minutes and sixteen seconds of President Assad of Syria denouncing US policies!
When has the BBC ever given us complete speeches by GW Bush or Ehud Olmert?
Can we look forward to complete eight hour speeches from Fidel Castro too when he leaves hospital?
bioD -> hmmm. interesting – and ehud olmert has been making a fair number of speeches recently.
archduke, but Olmert doesn’t criticise Bush. And in case “test” is still lurking, he doesn’t claim God is on Israel’s side either:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4794363.stm
“God’s promises have come true”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Iranian president
In Iran, Mr Ahmadinejad said Hezbollah had foiled plans to forge a Middle East dominated by “the US, Britain and Zionists”.
“God’s promises have come true,” he told a cheering crowd in the north-western city of Arbadil.
“On one side, it’s corrupt powers…. with modern bombs and planes. And on the other side is a group of pious youth relying on God.”
The BBC and its pro terrorist agenda.
Peace has come to the Levant after 1 month of war. What should the headlines be from the BBC on its so called front page.
Peace?
Diplomacy wins?
Fragile truce holds?
Nah nothing of the sort.
http://img424.imageshack.us/img424/6562/bbctg3.jpg
Iran and Syria applaud ‘victory’
Syria and Iran have praised Hezbollah for what both describe as the group’s defeat of Israel in Lebanon.
Victory BBC?
Pray tell me what colour the sky is on the planet you live on.
pounce, remember its not over until the fat lady sings.
Nasrallah Is Already Carving out Lebanon’s Future
The corporation’s new diversity tsar wants to establish ‘cultural accuracy’ among staff
The BBC’s team of foreign correspondents should come from the same ethnic background as the country they are reporting from, according to the corporation’s new diversity tsar.
Speaking in her first interview in the newly-created role, BBC ‘editorial executive of diversity’, Mary Fitzpatrick, who is consulted on all decisions about television content at the BBC, said the ‘cultural accuracy’ among reporting staff was on her hitlist. She said there were too many white reporters reporting from non-white nations, particularly in Africa.
Her comments are in line with those of Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, who said last May: ‘Newsrooms which are monocultural are in danger of being like comedy that isn’t funny … Without cultural knowledge, you don’t ask the right questions.’
BBC correspondents abroad ‘too white’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1682669/posts
DRE:
Do a search for Fitzpatrick on the comments sections before posting….it’s already here mate.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/115536964108376367/#301729
The BBC is warbling about “radicalised British Muslims” well there is at least 10,000 “radicalised airline passengers”
The BBC defends the so called Hezbollah victory.
Tough lessons for Israeli armour
One of the major military surprises of the fighting in Lebanon has been the apparent vulnerability of Israeli armour to Hezbollah anti-tank rockets. No detailed figures are available and it is clear that many more tanks may have been hit than actually destroyed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4794829.stm
Thank you for such a load of tripe BBC. In fact I’ll even go further to say that your so called defence expert expanded somewhat on the Janes defence weekly article on page 5 of this week’s issue. (ATGM threat poses a quandary for IDF armour)
Seen as the second paragraph states it is the most extensive encounter between Israeli armour and Russian made ATGMs. That may explain the huge, huge detour taken into the past by the above article in which to revel in the warmth of the introduction of the AT3 Sagger. But I was shocked by how you left out how the Israeli tankies soon learnt to combat the Sagger by firing machine guns at the operators thus putting them off their aim. (I think you will find the tracer helped somewhat) Which helps understand this little comment of yours;
“As long as the operator kept the target tank in his sights,”
The tandem warhead is designed to counter reactive armour as used on many Israeli vehicles.
You mean Blazer? I think you will find that it was 1st generation modular armour. The Israelis are now playing with forth generation. The 2nd and 3rd were completely passive. Go figure.
The Merkava or Chariot is among the most modern in the world, but its unique feature is the extent to which crew protection figured in its design. Quite apart from carrying highly sophisticated armour, it is almost unique in having the engine in the front, affording additional protection to its crew.”
“It is almost unique in having the engine in the front?”
OK I give in. Name me any other Main Battle Tank which has its engine at the front.
There isn’t one. The Merkava is the only MBT in the world to have its engine at the front. Hence it is unique.
http://www.army-technology.com/projects/merkava4/
The need for well-armoured infantry carriers that can keep pace with the tanks has led Israel to convert a large number of older tanks to carry troops. The Achzarit is a good example. It is based on the Russian T54/T55 tank which Israel captured in large numbers during the 1973 war. Its turret and main gun have been removed But all of these enhancements have not proved sufficiently effective against the most modern anti-tank systems operated by determined fighters on the ground.
The Achzarit was designed with the tandem warhead in mind. That may explain why 14 of it 44 tonnes of weight is armour. http://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/vehicles/armored_personnel_carriers/achzarit/Achzarit.html
You can be sure Israeli Defence Forces planners and indeed military observers from around the world will be studying these engagements in detail. Part of the answer may be to adopt new kinds of armour.
New kinds of armour? What kind of defence expert are you? The latest thing is Active Protection systems
You know like the Russian Drozd;
http://www.defense-update.com/products/d/drozd-2.htm
followed by the Russian Arena-E
http://www.defense-update.com/products/a/arena-e.htm
Why even the Americans are looking into it;
http://www.defense-update.com/products/i/iaaps.htm
But the so called world leader is this;
http://www.defense-update.com/products/t/trophy.htm
Now if Israel had planned this along with America then don’t you think they would have waited until they had retrofitted every vehicle with Trophy. (it only came on line the other month)
BBC defence experts what a joke.
Fascinating film on C4 news this evening taken a few days ago from within a Israeli military command centre,
http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=3017
A famous BBC face in wheelchair (not Frank Gardner) has been involved in an “alleged” incident outside a night club. It seems a BBC radio comedian & broadcaster has acted as judge & jury on this “alleged” plot, and has incurred, what he considers to be, an unjustified pod censorship from BBC staffers, so that people can’t listen again to the “alleged” obscenities repeated on air.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1844651,00.html
pounce,
You can’t be a defense journalist for the BBC because you don’t have the military insight that only comes from studying art and english at a second tier university.
john,
Pethetic, it should be between the club and the person affected.
Why does he want to spend money in a club with such rubbish customer relationship skills?
The BBC and half a story.
On ‘Have you say’ The BBC is currently running with this;
Does British multi-culturalism lead to extremism?
The Anglican Bishop of Rochester says “Multi-culturalism is to blame for perverting young Muslims”. He argues that British policies have favoured segregation with the “consequence of alienating the different religious, racial and cultural groups from one another”.
Note the prefix of Anglican in front of the title in which to allege that the present incumbent is a white (therefore racist) person and also note how the BBC withheld his name from the article in which to reinforce that supposition.
Well here is how the BBC reported on the Bishop of Rochester in 2004;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2046892.stm
And here is the wiki article on him;
The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Michael Nazir-Ali (born 1949) is the current Bishop of Rochester in the Church of England.
Nazir-Ali was born in Karachi, Pakistan to a Shi’a Muslim family. He attended a Roman Catholic school and became a practising Catholic at the age of 15, but was received into the Anglican Church around the age of 20.
It appears that The Anglican Bishop of Rochester is not only brown skinned , but was born into a Muslim family in Pakistan. Who better to speak out against “Multi-culturalism than a coloured person living in the UK.
The BBC lying by deceit
john | 15.08.06 – 8:14 pm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1844651,00.html
When bouncers still feel they can abuse people in wheelchairs, we must all stand up and be counted
Slightly unfortunate choice of metaphor.
pounce
The Anglican Bishop of Rochester
Affectionately known to his friends as Nazi-Ali.
The BBC and how it brain washes our children in order to defend Terrorists
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/9158/bbcol6.jpg
So how do the BBC report on the current situation over there in the Middle East why they insert false statements which point in the direction of Israeli aggression;
So we have;
“Hezbollah’s leader has said they will keep the peace as long as Israel does.”
Remind me again how this little tussel kicked off in the first place BBC?
“This new violence was triggered when armed group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers”
Captured BBC?, Why silly me and I thought Hezbollah sneaked across the border with Israel, attacked a patrol, killed 3 kidnapped 2 and then scuttled back across the border under a rocket barrage in which to make their escape. To say they captured the two soldiers gives the impression it was an legitimate endeavour by a terrorist organisation.
“Hezbollah wanted to exchange the soldiers for prisoners they want returned from Israel”
Prisoners BBC? Why don’t you explain to your young audience just what one of those prisoners did in which to get incarcerated by the Israeli justice system? (A justice system I should add didn’t shoot in dead in the middle of the street and then have a Mob stamp all over him while others took pictures)
I’m sure that they would feel sorry for the murderer who smashed a 4 year olds skull against a rock in front of her father.
BBC brainwashing our children that terrorists are innocent.
This from The Times of India. I wonder if Gordon Brown’s early publication of the names of those arrested in the terror plot, and the freezing of their assets, was a move that on the surface appeared extremely quick (even for the police), yet actually covered up a much deeper incompetence at a financial level(between Pakistan and Britain), and one that Brown had himself promised to monitor and even made it his special turf in the war on terror. I wonder if the BBC will run with this, probably not.
Pakistan funds fuelled Britain plot
Investigators probing the UK terror plot have found that huge wire transfers took place from Pakistan to the UK to low-income customers whose families were immigrants from that country.
The finding highlights the role alert financial institutions can play in blocking the flow of clandestine money for possible use by terror networks. Sadly, it also brings out the continuing laxity by financial institutions in monitoring even those transactions which prima facie look dubious, as well as the ability of the terror groups to exploit the loopholes that have remained despite the post-9/11 global consensus favouring a stricter vigil.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1896247.cms
john betjeman, the blogger, affectionately known to his enemies as a sad twat.
Why do these beeb people always have to hark back to the golden age of the BBC for their monikers? You do yourselves no justice whatsoever! Your not worthy!
“pounce, remember its not over until the fat lady sings.
Nasrallah Is Already Carving out Lebanon’s Future
Biodegradable | 15.08.06 – 7:17 pm |”
i’ll go out on the limb here.
i dont think the israelis are finished yet.
i also dont believe that Olmert is a weak leader. I dont believe in that the IDF was having strategic problems.
Israel is making itself *look* weak on purpose.
why? this will make Hez/Iran more cocky. less cautious.
remember as well, that Syrian president speech – he only made that after Israel had “lost”. he therefore quite clearly placed his cards on the table. and very openly too.
Now we also have Tehran boasting of victory, and Nasrallah as well.
Remember the dictum on Sun Tzu
“All warfare is based on deception”
if the other side is cocky – their guard will be down.
and then , the israelis will hit them with the mother of all assaults. and it will include Tehran and Damascus.
as i said – out on a limb here. but thats what i’m reading into it.
also bear in mind that a lot of the israeli paratrooper and commando assaults involved recovering documents and intelligence. this aspect is buried within a number of news reports. the assault on that Bekaa valley “hospital” is a good example.
and this happened numerous times.
my guess – the past month was an intelligence gathering operation.
why did olmert overule his generals and not go for a full on assault? well, its obvious – southern lebanon isnt the real strategic target. they just wanted the intelligence. something else is brewing.
“I’m sure that they would feel sorry for the murderer who smashed a 4 year olds skull against a rock in front of her father.”
it was the other way round Pounce – and it was worse.
the father was killed in front of the child. and then the child was killed – the last thing she saw in her life was her dad’s brains being blown out.
and yet, the “evil Zionist Genocidal monsters” havent shot the culprit or strung him up.
no, those “evil Zionists” have , err. put him in jail
archduke,
Greater minds than mine have said before that Israel’s greatest mistake has always been not declaring victory in any of its wars.
This is why situations have been allowed to come about in which “disputed territories” have become in BBC-speak “illegally occupied territories” and why we now have Iran, Syria and Hizbollah declaring victory – unless they are thouroughly and indisputably beaten they will declare victory – that’s how the Arab mind works.
I agree with you that Israel has certainly not taken a beating and that quite apart from having destroyed a lot of Hizbollah bases and weaponry have gleaned intelligence which will be used quietly to good effect, but it is also true that many military commanders have felt that Olmert has held them back from giving Hizbollah the pasting they were capable of giving them.
Enemies like Hizbollah need to be thoroughly thrashed and humiliated or else, as we now see, they will simply lick their wounds and come back for more.
Its clear that Israel has won this round because she still exists.
Always spud-thick, Newsnight tonight asks Is it time to take sides in the war on terror?
(er, no. That was on a September day in 2001).
As Emily (it is no longer racist, it seems, to discuss immigration) Maitlis is off tonight, and Grandmother Kearney is minding the Grandchildren, we are left with Kirsty (they may take away our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!) Wark to lead a discussion on the war on terror featuring……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Drumroll if you please!………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Former Studio 54 Disco Queen……………………………………… Bianca Jagger!!!
I give up.
unless they are thouroughly and indisputably beaten they will declare victory
Have we ever had the situation before where the BBC simultaneously declares Israel’s enemy both victor & victim?
“disputed territories” have become in BBC-speak “illegally occupied territories”
Another revision of history in today’s Newsnight email
A majority of the British public opposed the Iraq war
Oppose, yes, with hindsight. But before the war polling supported the action & considered Saddam a threat that had to be dealt with. The majority only opposed the war from October 2003 onwards.
http://www.yougov.com/archives/archivesMain.asp?jID=2&sID=6&rID=3&wID=0&uID=
SiN
The only one with a brain of the five talking heads on Newsnight was William Shawcross. And which one did Kirsty Wark allow to be interrupted and talked over? It was a picture when Shahid Malik (Labour MP, signitory to the letter the other day demanding we run our foreign policy by terrorists first and all round socialist filth) jabbered on continuously with Shawcross in the background, chin on his hand in a pose with said “Why did I bother coming here?”
Related to the BBC in a roundabout way:
This post on Harry’s Place publishes the most recent Stop The War Coalition accounts:
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2006/08/15/the_micawber_principle.php
Harry’s Place states: The Financial Report also indicates that the STWC’s membership – which costs £24 a year (standard) and £12 a year (concessions) – stands at somewhere between 567 and 283 people.
Now doesn’t the STWC generate an awful lot of publicity for such a puny organisation? I don’t mean for a demonstartion through London (“Stop the war – kill the Jews!”) but in its other activities. The BBC is always ready to give a bit of airtime to a coalition (and remember, the ‘coalition of the willing had 34 members, and the pro-terror leftist scum still said Bush and Blair acted alone) which has the active support of just a few hundred people.
In the comments someone has said that some unions are ‘affiliated’ to the STWC. Among these is the NUJ.
pounce:
‘Tough lessons for Israeli armour’
Quite a few tanks were hit from the higher ground across the tops of their turrets where armour in every tank is inevitably thin because no tank would be otherwise able to move. The percentage of any other armoured surface hits was lower than it is made out to be.
Why do these beeb people always have to hark back to the golden age of the BBC for their monikers? You do yourselves no justice whatsoever! Your not worthy!
Barker John | 16.08.06 – 12:40 am | #
Clearly you have no sense of humour or knowledge of the poet! Actually on Monday(14th August)BBC2 there were two programmes on Betjeman: “Betjeman and Me” (9-9.50) and following Newsnight “Reputations” (11.20-12.25). I watched the latter totally enthralled(maybe I’m sad). Betjeman was always inventing scurrilous names for people, and sometimes exceptionally rude ones, I believe he reserved “Filth” for one of his wives(sic). I would have loved Grimer to have captured for YouTube a scene shown where he was in conversation with Kingsly Amis, and disturbed by the telephone ringing during his interview in his office, pretended that the caller had reached Wandsworth gas works, rather than the poet laureate.
Calm down Barking John!
Biodegradable –
Enemies like Hizbollah need to be thoroughly thrashed and humiliated or else, as we now see, they will simply lick their wounds and come back for more.
This is one of the great lessons of WW2. Germany and Japan were able to become civilised, peaceful countries post 1945 because, in the first instance, we obliterated them. We did not march to the border and stop, respecting sovereign Nazi and Nip soil. We pulverised them into defeat and annilhilated the ruling regimes. Those countries could only rise once their peoples had seen, in the clearest way possible, that they had been utterly defeated.
Pete_London
Israel’s allies in the West have never allowed Israel a completely free hand in its wars with its Arab neighbours. Had not the West rushed in in 1967 to impose a cease-fire, Israel could (I’m not saying would) have occupied Damascus and Cairo (and Amman). The same could have happened in 1973. But the West prevented the utter humiliation of Egypt and Syria – and a dictated peace – for fear of an undefined worse outcome.
In the end, it seems to me, it all comes down to oil. If the Middle East was not sited above gigantic oil reserves on which the West depends, the West would not care less about Arab (or Muslim) grievances justified or not. (Imagine, in another context, that pipsqueak Chavez – without Venezuelan oil reserves – being taken seriously). Until those reserves run dry (or we find other reserves or cut our dependence on oil) we have to live with it. Unluckily for Israel, it has to live with it also.
“but it is also true that many military commanders have felt that Olmert has held them back from giving Hizbollah the pasting they were capable of giving them.”
thats the question thats bothering me – *why* did Olmert hold them back.
i just get the nagging feeling that the past month was just a warm up.