Israel’s reckless, high-stakes decision to launch simultaneous wars against both Hamas and Hezbollah last week is a critical, perhaps world-shattering event.

It cannot be seen merely in its local context, that is, as an act by the unilateralist regime in Jerusalem to crush the armed wings of two radical Islamic organizations in Gaza, the West Bank and southern Lebanon.

Nor can it be seen merely in its regional context, that is, as an effort to raise the stakes in the struggle against Syria, Iran and rejectionist factions in occupied Iraq. Rather, Israel’s actions must be seen, first and foremost, in the context of global politics.

The key question: Is the Israeli offensive designed as a calculated effort to catapult the hard-right, neoconservative ideologues back to power in Washington?

The terrorist attacks of 9/11, the 21st century’s Pearl Harbor, allowed Vice President Dick Cheney—along with Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, John Bolton, et al.—to steer President George W. Bush and the U.S. government toward a global war, including the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq; the endless “war on terrorism” and the militarization of American foreign policy.   more »

Words fail; ordinary terms are inadequate to describe the horrors Israel daily perpetrates, and has perpetrated for years, against the Palestinians.

The tragedy of Gaza has been described a hundred times over, as have the tragedies of 1948, of Qibya, of Sabra and Shatila, of Jenin -- 60 years of atrocity perpetrated in the name of Judaism.

But the horror generally falls on deaf ears in most of Israel, in the U.S. political arena, in the mainstream U.S. media.

Those who are horrified -- and there are many -- cannot penetrate the shield of impassivity that protects the political and media elite in Israel, even more so in the U.S., and increasingly now in Canada and Europe, from seeing, from caring.

But it needs to be said now, loudly: those who devise and carry out Israeli policies have made Israel into a monster, and it has come time for all of us -- all Israelis, all Jews who allow Israel to speak for them, all Americans who do nothing to end U.S. support for Israel and its murderous policies -- to recognize that we stain ourselves morally by continuing to sit by while Israel carries out its atrocities against the Palestinians.

A nation that mandates the primacy of one ethnicity or religion over all others will eventually become psychologically dysfunctional.

Narcissistically obsessed with its own image, it must strive to maintain its racial superiority at all costs and will inevitably come to view any resistance to this imagined superiority as an existential threat. Indeed, any other people automatically becomes an existential threat simply by virtue of its own existence.   more »

"We got to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit."

At G8, That's what Bush said to Tony Blair, as broadcast by CNN.

If Bush thinks the way he encourages Israel to act, then Syria can expect to see it's airports, power generation plants, factories and major roads to Iran and Lebanon all DESTROYED.

That's the mindset. How do you get a country to do what you want? Destroy its infrastructure.

But what about the "shit" that Bush is "doing?" What about the shock and awe in Iraq that has never been cleaned up? What about the support of fascists all over the world. What about the tearing down of protectioins for Americans-- environmental, work, health, corporate?

Bush's "shit" has cost the United States it's reputation in the world, which means it has massively lost influence. Bush's "shit" has put the constitution and American Democracy in the toilet and his hand is on the flush handle.   more »

Much has been made in recent days - at the G8 summit and elsewhere - of Israel's right to retaliate against the capture of its soldiers, or attacks on its troops on its own sovereign territory.

Some, such as those in the US administration, seem to believe that Israel has an unqualified licence to hit back at its enemies no matter what the cost.

And even those willing to recognise that there may be a problem tend to couch it in terms of Israel's "disproportionate use of force" rather than its basic right to take military action.

But what is at stake here is not proportionality or the issue of self-defence, but symmetry and equivalence. Israel is staking a claim to the exclusive use of force as an instrument of policy and punishment, and is seeking to deny any opposing state or non-state actor a similar right.

It is also largely succeeding in portraying its own "right to self-defence" as beyond question, while denying anyone else the same. And the international community is effectively endorsing Israel's stance on both counts.   more »

The Bush administration has given Israel a carte blanche to wage war against Lebanon, bombing and killing as it sees fit.

American diplomacy in the crisis precipitated by Israeli aggression first against Gaza and then against its neighbor to the north is concentrated on blocking any move for a ceasefire and concocting a pretext for future military action against Syria and Iran.

It is transparently clear that for President Bush it is of no consequence that tens of thousands of American citizens, not to mention other foreign nationals, are in harm’s way, as Israel continues to blast away at civilian populations in every part of the country, including the capital, Beirut.

Already, eight Canadians have died as a result of an Israeli bomb attack on a house in southern Lebanon.

Far from issuing a warning to Israel to desist until the Americans can be evacuated, Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been using every available forum to justify Israel’s savage assault and scotch all efforts to halt the lopsided fighting, in which Israel has an overwhelming military advantage.   more »

Elements of the intelligence "community" which has done such a fine job in Iraq, and its Israeli counterpart along with the cadre of is paid and unpaid cheerleaders in the TV punditocracy seem to have decided that what the world needs now is another world war.

And they are not shy about saying so.

First, last week, the Tel Aviv correspondent for the New York Sun, a mouthpiece for the Israeli hardliners compared the kidnapping of a corporal in Gaza to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Saravejo, the incident that triggered World War 1.

The parallel was planted.

Next, on Sunday June 16, New Gingrich, former House Speaker and still a darling of the GOP right, stated matter of factly on Meet that Press that a new war is already underway in the Middle East. It is, he insists, already a world war.

"THIS IS, IN FACT, WORLD WAR 3," he said for emphasis, with no regrets and a longing to "bring it on."   more »

17 JULY

US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan Determined to Crush Hizbollah

Paul Krugman: March of Folly...Another Middle East War

Israel's War on Lebanon: The Real Aim

Bob Herbert: The Definition of Tyranny [American Version]

Bush And Blair's Response? "You Go, Israel!"

Why Are Palestinians So Angry? It's the Occupation,Stupid!