Reason Writers Around Town

In The New York Times, Michael Young reports from Beirut on the state of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

Comments

[Jack]

Wouldn't this post be more correctly titled, "Reason Writers in a Bunker"?

[spur]

Mr. Young,

A great article. Enough to make each side angry. You say Israel 'brutalizes Lebanon' which is a clear show of your anti-semitism. And you condemn Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas which show you to be the Zionist puppet you really are. 🙂

A couple questions:

How many seats in the government would Hezbollah have (approx.?) if they weren't limited by law and would lifting this restriction help moderate the big H. and its shiite followers?

As a practical matter, why shouldn't Hamas and Hezbollah coordinate? From a strategies and tactics standpoint it would make no sense at all, especially if they are both supported by Syria and Iran?

Cheers.

[Herrick and His Balls]

Lebanon is one fucking interesting country. Since it has such a small area and population, I'd say it's the most interesting country per capita and per square kilometer.

Yeah, I went metric. Blow me.

[spur]

I'm watching overnight coverage of this whole thing on CNN International and they keep talking about these missiles that 'penetrate deep inside Israel' like the liner notes from some gay porn -- but Haifa according to these same reporters is 18 miles from Lebanon. Is 18 miles really considered deep penetration? I mean, like, my daily commute to work is longer than that. Is the distance wrong or are they just stratching the meaning of 'deep penetration.

Again, you get a lot of stick on here Mr. Young, but great article. Especially compared to a lot of the crap I'm reading on this. Stay safe.

[Phileleutherus Lipsiensis]

spur,

Well, it it isn't a large country certainly, but still there probably is some "for dramatic effect" mojo going on when they use that language.

[M. Simon]

Michael Young says Israel ought to cease and desist and let diplomacy take over.

I guess he failed to note all the UN diplomacy condemning Hizbolla in Lebanon. For the last 5 or 6 years diplomacy.

I do agree Syria is the key. Israel should depose Assad.

The ME is a mess because the peace makers come in before the losing side has lost all hope. Wars end when one side has no further will to fight. That often means utter destruction (see Germany WW1 vs WW2).

It is time to give war a chance.

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BTW why is it always "Israel must use diplomacy...."? Why isn't it Hizbolla must use diplomacy, or Palestinians must use diplomacy, or Arabs must use diplomacy.

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You will note that Lebanon and Syria have been in a state of war with Israel since '48.

[Genghis Kahn]

It is time to give war a chance.

Amen!

[spur]

M. Simon,

If you want to get into countries not following UN negotiations and resolutions Israel is hardly a great example to uphold. I'm not saying the UN is right, but if you want to use it as an example to bolster your argument, Israel is as bad an actor with the UN as Hezbollah if not a lot worst.

And yeah -- WWI was brilliant for Europe, worked out great, lets have another shall we?

[Steven]

I think it would be nice if countries would stop supporting killing millions more Jews as has been done throughout history. Also, since the U.N. is bestially anti-Semitic, Spur's blaming the victim is evil, but not suprising for Libertarian/Ernst Rhoem types. While most Jews are Liberal, Judaism itself has the death penalty for homosexuality and that unenforced provision might grate heavily on the libertine Libertarians.

[Viking Moose]

Excellent work, Mr. Young. Be safe.

(Steven: why don't you go screw an onion)

[wingnutx]

P.J. O'Rourke needs to get his butt back over there and do some writing.

[Frank_A]

Mr. Young, very, very good article. Hope you stay safe...

[David Nieporent]

Good article, except that Michael must know that Shebaa Farms is not "contested Lebanese land." It's Syrian. Israel says so, Syria says so (admittedly, Syria says that all of Lebanon is Syrian), and the U.N. says so. Only Hezbollah insists on claiming it to be Lebanese.