Posted on 08/20/2006 5:54:54 AM PDT by kellynla
IN the wake of Israel's strategic setback in Lebanon, where's the Middle East headed? (Hint: The road sign doesn't read "Age of Aquarius").
Powerful emotions intoxicate all sides. In the Middle East, only the Israelis have intellectual and moral integrity. Arabs and Persians rely on a culture of blame. The media obscure as much as they illumine.
So what should truly concern us? Bad news first.
Within the forces of terror, the balance of power has shifted. Sunni fanatics, such as al Qaeda's supporters, have suffered severe losses in Afghanistan, Iraq and around the world. Still capable of doing serious damage, they're nonetheless being eclipsed in importance by state-backed Shia terrorists, with Hezbollah in the lead and Iran providing arms, money, training and strategic depth.
* A postmodern terrorist army - Hezbollah's - just achieved the first terrorist defeat of a powerful state on a conventional battlefield. The strategic echoes will embolden extremists throughout the Middle East and beyond.
* Iran, a state that openly sponsors terrorism, is well on the way to possessing nuclear weapons. And the world community pretends it doesn't really matter. Worse, military action to destroy Tehran's dispersed and bunkered nuclear program would require a massive, sustained effort - and still might fail. Iran's been playing poker while the West plays Old Maids.
* Iraq could fail - if the Iraqis fail themselves. It's still too early to pack up and leave, but if the people of Iraq will not seize the opportunity we gave them to build the region's first Arab-majority rule-of-law democracy, it won't be an American defeat, but another self-inflicted Arab disaster. Iraq is the Arab world's last chance - and the odds are now 50-50 they'll throw it away.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
...and the barbarians are already inside our gates. ...and at our neighbour's gates, as well:
Terror Strike Toronto ( Aborted! )-- Click the picture:
Or 50 years of production in which to drain their remaining productive reserves.
50-100 years out, continuing advances in scientific/medical technology will have transformed the West so much that it will be something for historians to puzzle over as they attempt to explain how primitive desert nomads could have possibly threatened us.
The article is a bit over the top in tone, but on the money in substance. The war between the West and Islam, militant and otherwise looms closer. I say:
Bring it on!
I agree, some of the analysis verges on defeatism. The Lebanon conflict was a very ugly loss of nerve by the Israelis (or better, by the Olmert government) but hardly a crushing defeat, as some argue. Some weaknesses were exposed in Israel's military and intell, but they weren't catastrophic and there's time to set things right. It remains to be seen, of course, whether they can "gird up their loins" and fight to win. The Olmert gov't does't look like it's got staying power. Let's hope the Churchillian Israelis regain power soon.
...the support of nations like Iran and Syria are beyond a doubt now. It would be justified to strike either nation based on their actions in this conflict now. They stand revealed.
Two other revelations are also key: the mendacity of the ME press and their Western enablers, as well as the laughable ineptitude of the UN. On FR these truths are commonplace, but they're still not clear to the wider public. It takes events like this to drive the point home. Gradually, people are becoming aware of media manipulation and the endemic mendacity that permeates the Muslim world. The total fecklessness of the UN is also on display yet again (sadly, with the support of Condi and W). Although it was no victory for our side, the draw gives the Israelis time to regroup. Nixon once said, Sooner or later the Arabs are going to learn how to fight. Better we take account of this and defeat them before they get really proficient at it.
It's hard to call it a victory for Hez when Olmert shot himself in the foot...
Victory and defeat are not measured by causalities. Rather they are measured by achievement of objectives, or failure to achieve them. Israel has not gotten it's soldiers back. It appears that Hzb'allah has already started moving back into south Lebanon, behind the withdrawing Israelis. They are being resupplied by Syria and Iran, perhaps with trained troops as well as with missiles and other material. Hzb'allah has increased it's stature in Lebanon, in the Arab world and in the larger Islamic world.
Yes, Israel lost, and Hzb'allah won..... this round. But as Peters points out, the next round is likely to be quite different.
True, but it's a very big IF. It's gets bigger every time NosehairAllah or Ahmanutjob opens their mouth.
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