At some point in the future, when the ill-fated American drive for hegemony in the first decade of the twenty-first century is subjected to critical study, historians will discover ugly parallels between the tenure of Condoleezza Rice as American secretary of state under President Bush and that of Joachim Ribbentrop as German foreign minister under Chancellor Hitler.

All the characteristics of the foreign policy of the Third Reich as it set the stage for World War—its depraved deceitfulness, cynicism, hypocrisy, recklessness, fascination with violence and utter contempt for human life—are to be observed 70 years later in the operations of the Bush administration, for whom Rice serves as chief foreign policy spokesman.

Each of these “qualities” was prominently on display during the last 48 hours, as Secretary of State Rice descended on war-torn Lebanon, before continuing on to Israel.

What Rice witnessed in Beirut was the product of policies that she herself had set into motion. But, aside from the hypocritical and token expressions of regret, she gave no indication of being particularly bothered.

Quite the opposite. In the midst of a city that has been subjected to massive bombardment, in a country that has been utterly devastated by the actions of the Israeli war machine, where tens of thousands of men, women and children are homeless, and without adequate food and water, Rice proclaimed with evident pride that a new Middle East was being born.   more »

The plan operates on two essential premises. To survive, Israel must

1) become an imperial regional power,

and 2) must effect the division of the whole area into small states by the dissolution of all existing Arab states.

Small here will depend on the ethnic or sectarian composition of each state. Consequently, the Zionist hope is that sectarian-based states become Israel’s satellites and, ironically, its source of moral legitimation.

This is not a new idea, nor does it surface for the first time in Zionist strategic thinking. Indeed, fragmenting all Arab states into smaller units has been a recurrent theme.   more »

The events of the past couple weeks in the Middle East are almost enough to make one quit writing political pieces, and stick to the contemplative dimension. But that would be too easy.

Besides, as an Israeli field commander said, “nothing is safe” now. In the words of the Lebanese prime minister, Israel has thrown open “the gates of hell.”

Philosophy matters. The philosophy of the Israelis, and their Bush Administration backers, is enfolded in the words of Condi Rice:

“A ceasefire would be a false promise if it just returns us to the status quo.”

Explication? The killing of civilians and systematic destruction of a country’s infrastructure must go on, because they are after a “sustainable peace.”

History will not forget that one phone call from George W. Bush could have put a stop to this madness. (Or did it start on the Bush Administration’s prompting?)   more »

Over the past few days, the Israelis did the maximum they can do, from the air and sea. There is no target—old, new, assumed, expected, based on information and analysis—they did not hit...

(But) Hezbollah is still managing the battle calmly, slowly, quietly, and without any emotional reaction. You can see this. There are no unnecessary threats and no random rhetoric…We are not a classic army extending from the sea to Mt. Hermon.

We are a popular and serious resistance movement that is present in many areas and axes...

Our equation and principles are the following: When the Israelis enter, they must pay dearly in terms of their tanks, officers, and soldiers. This is what we pledge to do and we will honor our pledge, God willing.

- Hasan Nasrallah, Secretary General Hezbollah, Al Jazeera interview.   more »

25 JULY

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