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Updates, thoughts
I strongly support the UN’s stance on a ceasefire, as if it matters worth a damn. The spectacle of John Bolton lashing out at the UN every day is hard to take, now more than ever. The discourse on the cowboy right couldn’t be more disturbing. Newt Gingrich was on Bill O’Reilly yesterday, rattling sabers, with O’Reilly saying the U.S.
Good reading
Fred Halliday, at Open Democracy, recalls his two-day visit with Hezbollah in 2004. In engrossing detail, he describes his “relations with [Lebanon] and its left intelligentsia,” then recounts his interview with a senior Hezbollah official, Sheik Naim Qassem:On the matter of political relations with Iran, the sheikh was absolutely clear. Hizbollah regards the Iranian spiritual leader, in this case Khamenei,
A brief note
Cian in the comments: Israel started targetting civilians, in their “disproportionate” response to a military action. They were the country that first flagrantly violated the principle of civilian immunity. Hezbollah were retaliating. This is rubbish, as Shalom Lappin reminds us: The attack on July 12, which sparked the current conflict, involved a large scale katyusha assault on Israeli towns along
Panel discussion on antisemitism
And well-timed too. The cartoon at left appeared in the Guardian of 7/19. (The paper ran this rather weak clarification today.) OPPOSING ANTISEMITISM IN THE MOVEMENT: A WORKSHOP FOR ACTIVISTS When: Sunday, July 23, 6:30 p.m. Where: Bluestockings, 172 Allen Street, between Stanton and Rivington Streets, Manhattan The panelists are: April Rosenblum, a Philadelphia-based activist and author of “The Past
Fog upon fog
For some reason I continue to believe it’s possible to have civil discussion of the Mideast conflict — even in the blogosphere, which I’m beginning to think is an inherently poisonous medium. In the last couple of days I’ve been accused of ethnocentrism, support for ethnic cleansing, even tacit sympathy for Lebanese Maronite fascism. I’m not going to respond to
Music notes
Now playing: Jean-Marie Leclair, Leclair Sonatas — II (from Op. 9) (Hyperion)Composed between c1738-1743, for violin, cello and harpsichord. The Convivium ensemble plays this music at a pitch of A=415Hz, substantially lower than modern concert pitch (440). The result is harmonically bright music that sounds strangely dark. Music not to listen to while writing about violence and death —Luciano Berio’s
In other news
Sunni gunmen rampage against Shia civilians in Mahmudiya, Iraq, killing up to 48. You know things are bad when that’s not the day’s biggest news, not even close. The mass media gaze is drifting away from Iraq, but the ongoing bloodbath must not be forgotten. Both Sunni and Shia death squads are now operating in police or security uniform, engaging
What instead?
Gene at HP insists that those who criticize Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon should stop griping and offer concrete suggestions on how to repel Hezbollah. Here are some words from Michael Totten, a Westerner who has lived in Lebanon and actually knows something about the place:What should the Israelis have done instead? They should have treated Hezbollahland as a country, which