They talk over each other at points, so brackets[] are what I think they said or unintellible areas. And Bush looked starved And it's interesting to see one of the G8 seeming to eavesdrop, pretending to be on the phone. At least WE are publicly doing it! ;-)
GB: What about Kofi Annan? I don't like the sequence of it. His attitude is basically ceasefire and everything else happens, but...you know what I'm saying?
TB: Yeah, no, I think,the thing that is really difficult is, we can't stop this unless you get this international presence agreed. Now I think...
GB: Yeah
TB: I think what you guys [have been talking about these three days about is the same to me, you have to be careful, having dealt with ["C.E.?] more than once,um, in the last 9 days,] but you need that done quickly,
GB: (interrupts) Yeah, she's going
TB: [She's got some spine](he may be speaking of "CE?")GB: I think Condi's going to go pretty soon
TB: Right,well that's all that matters.
GB: She's going
TB: It takes some time to get that together...
GB: Yeah,it's a process I agree
TB: At least it gives people
GB: (interupts) I told her your offer too
TB: Well, it's only if it's, I mean you know, or it's if, she's gonna, or if she needs the ground prepared as it were, obviously if she goes out she's got to succeed as it were, where I can't just go out and
GB: (interupts)See, the irony of this is, they need to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this sh__, and it's over
TB; Whose, (and he pauses for effect) Syria?
GB: Why?
TB: Because I think this is all part of the same thing
GB: Yeah
TB: Look, what does he think? He thinks if Lebananon turns out fine, if he gets a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way, he's
[together:]
GB: He's through
TB: He's [hay?]
GB: Yeah.
TB: That's what this whole thing's about. It's the same with Iran.
GB : I feel like telling Kofi to call,get on the phone with Assad and make something happen, in that language
TB: Yeah
GB: I'm not blaming the Israeli government. We're not blaming the Lebanese government.
Tony reaches over and turns off the mic.
gentlestrength wrote:
TB: Because I think this is all part of the same thing
GB: Yeah
There it is, straight from the guys who the PDB's are written for.
I think "CE" is proper British for "Condi".
For any latecomers, here's the drill:
The Axis, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, and North Korea, either have to fight and win, or be disarmed, by the US and Britain, one by one, divide and conquor.
Trouble is, the only military options open to the Axis are extreme, like closing the Gulf and bottling up all the oil, Saudi, Iraqi, Kuwaiti, rump states etc, or attacking into Iraq.
The Axis desperately need some sort of visible casus belli to do what they want (need) to do without opening themselves to charges of attacking Islamic brothers.
Israel understands this, as do all of the major players, in the Gulf, western, you name it.
As Bush predicted, the economic math forces everyone, globally, to choose sides, "you're either with us or with the terrorists". Even the UN is playing hardball trying to lure Americans into Syria for "evacuation".
Few want to see the US and Britain sitting on all the oil, even by default and terrorism takes a distant second place in their priority lists.
Israel wants Hezbollah crushed, but not necessarily at the price of giving the Axis casus belli, so they may settle for a strategy based on a limited incursion to suppress missiles only. Of course, Hezbollah will not sit still for this, and even a minimally occupying force has the right to self defense. Israel could "little bit" their way right up to the north end of the Bejkaa before all is said and done.
The desperate Axis may have to take whatever casus belli they can get, hoping to re-write the history books as global winners, so even a limited incursion risks regional involvement. For this reason, I don't expect to see Israel move until civilian allies are out of Beirut and until all missile defense assets possible are in place. The Golan threat axis has to be secured as well, but that has long been priority one for Israel and I expect this has already been accomplished.