The Middle East Continues...

[atawa]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


Reductions in tensions have not led to cuts in aid. OTOH the tensions hurt the Israeli economy. Northern Israel is virtually shut down now.

Then what is he doing

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by germanos


I have tried to find a transcript, but so far no luck. It's not live.

I may try to transcribe for you some more. The above quote was a transcript done by me.

if its not live, then presumably its what theyre referencing in their article on Olmerts statement of today. Which makes no reference to the line youve pointed out. It would seem that the BBC itself didnt interpret what he was saying as you do, or Im sure theyd have led with it.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by atawa


Then what is he doing

What? Are you referring to what hes doing by continuing the war, or what hes doing by mentioning displacement in the interview.

By continuing the war hes A. contuing the physical weakening of Hezbollah forces B. Exerting pressure on the international community to quickly ready a peacekeeping force.

In the interview - well without a full transcript, knowing what question he was answering its hard to say. I suspect, in the face of accusations in Israel that the war was ill planned tactically, and has not gone well, hes listing whats been achieved - "we destroyed X rockets, we elimiinated Y command posts, and Hezb now has less support from the population, which was displaced because of them."

It wouldnt surprise me if he has exagerated what was achieved

[germanos]

The best I can do for now:

In answer to a question on the deployment of a UN force which would then also have to disarm Hezbollah:

“I think that Hezbollah has been disarmed by the militairy [pressure?] to a large degree. That can be measured only by the amount of missiles they still shoot. The infrastructure of Hezbollah has been entirely destroyed. More then 700 [deepened? defend?] ground positions, command positions were entirely wiped out by the Israely army. All of the population, which is the powerbase of Hezbollah, has been displaced. They lost their property, they lost their positions. They are bitter, they are angry at Hezbollah. And the powerstructure itself in Lebanon has been devided and the Hezbollah is now entirely isolated, in Lebanon, in the Arab world, except for Iran and Syria.”

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by germanos
The best I can do for now:

In answer to a question on the deployment of a UN force which would then also have to disarm Hezbollah:

ah.

Israel is asking for an international force whose mandate would include disarming Hezb. Many people are saying thats impossible, too tall an order for a UN force. To make his case, hes arguing how weakened Hezb is, including that its lost support from the population.

Again, I dont know if thats true, but I can understand why hed say it, and no, I dont think it shows an Israeli policy of deliberate displacement.

[germanos]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
In the interview - well without a full transcript, knowing what question he was answering its hard to say. I suspect, in the face of accusations in Israel that the war was ill planned tactically, and has not gone well, hes listing whats been achieved - "we destroyed X rockets, we elimiinated Y command posts, and Hezb now has less support from the population, which was displaced because of them."

Well, I'm puzzled myself.
Why does he bring up the displacement of the civilian population "the powerbase of Hezbollah" in the list of militairy objectives?

Then, for both him and me English is not our mothertongue.

But my first reaction was: WTF?

[Sandman]

At least Tony Blair's coming under enormous pressure to put an end to his slavering support for Bush and the Israelis. Another nail in the coffin of New Labour.

[germanos]

A longer version of the same inteview can be seen at the Reuters website.

http://today.reuters.com/tv/videoChannel.aspx?storyid=049410c35b03c307abab0bfb0a25bf47a878f7f8&src=080206_1330_TOPSTORY_rockets_hit_israel

[Heresson]

1.08. was a holiday of Syrian army. The president gave a strong speach.
Today, ministry of FE of Spain, M.A. Moratinos, came to Damascus in the name of entire EU. It's the first official european visit in Syria since the killing of Al-Hariri.

[Lodi]

When do you guys think Israel is going to attack Syria? Right now it appears to me that the entire Israel involvement in Lebanon is in part to help protect Israel's flank when Israel attacks Syria.

Then there is the Iran war. I for one think that might come out as an 'October Surprise.'

[Ecthy]

This fall shall see some surprises

[Lodi]

A good map detailing what Israel has done in Lebanon so far:

http://www.rense.com/1.imagesH/lebmap.jpg

[Edan]

Originally posted by Lodi
A good map detailing what Israel has done in Lebanon so far:

detailing what "Occupied Palestine" has done.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Lodi
A good map detailing what Israel has done in Lebanon so far:

http://www.rense.com/1.imagesH/lebmap.jpg

Linking to a site that has the following isn't what I would call reliable

http://www.rense.com/general72/zoch.htm

As has been observed by Henry Ford, Charles Lindberg, and even Adolf Hitler, Jews dominate all information and communications in American society.

[Lodi]

I never said I vouched for everything on that site. They need to update that sentence to include Mel Gibson.