What a difference in coverage between the US networks including CNN and other world media. The American media is so compliant they don't need to be censured, they slavishly do it themselves.
CNN said the Israeli military action was a “robust response” to “terrorist action. CBC suggested the same issue was a harsh military action.
The Americans see it as an “incursion” while the rest of the world talks of invasion and occupation.
The Israelis hold thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese but protest two of their soldiers captured.
The Israelis killed hundreds of Palestinians civilians but the Americans barely say anything.
For this war to come to a resolution the US has to stop their blinkered support.
And as for bringing the diversion of Iran into this situation. No one believes the Bush regime anymore. .
It did strike me that the US media was incredibly biased over this, even through comparing US news websites to BBC online. Equally as weird was the president's statements that 'Israel has a right to self defense'. Since when has attacking a nations airports and infrastructure an 'act of self defense'? Still from the idiot who still believes that attacking Iraq was 'self defense', its not really surprising...
Israel feels the need to make sure everyone in the middle east knows who is the boss. Additionally, I think they have a real fear that Iran is behind the taking of the two (actually three if you include the guy in Gaza) soldiers and that they will turn up in Tehran soon.
Israel is the one nation on record as saying it will bomb Iran over the nuclear issue. America would like to attack but feels it cannot open up yet another front in its half baked war(s) on terror - and thus would not object to Iaral as it's proxy.
For it's part, Israel is the obvious potential target if Iran lets loose nukes at some point in the future. As unlikely as that may seem to us, it is not something Israel will tolerate.
Of course the real victims in all of this are the Lebanese, they are just emerging from their own occupations (by Israel and Syria) and were making tangible moves towards democracy and stability. A cynic might wonder whether Israel really wants a legitimate, pluralistic arab democracy on its doorstep.
I get the impression the higher a barrel of oil goes, the less sympathetic the USA will be to Israel.
The United States claims that it acts on principle, but it acts on it's short term interests, even when thwe long term interes would be best served by acting on principle.
No foreign entity should expect the USA to follow up on it's promises, once it's short term goals are achieved or bypassed, it moves on. The Kurds have been sold down the river twice, the Shia in the south. But go back in history and you keep finding more examples.
I can't find the reference but Kissinger stated it once.
After the disasterous attempts by Arab nations to subdue Israel, do they really have a hope of inflicting any kind of defeat on Isreal in the future?
Even combined assaults have failed and even back-fired as the Israelis seem to be quite expert at sudden counter-attacking, following successful holding operations and have gained a lot of territory in the past from this - further adding insult to injury.
It would appear that the only way to cause Israel problems is to escalate the terrorism and continue to support those organisations that are able to hit Israel, albeit on a small scale.
That said, the Arab nations do still harbour some thoughts of inflicting something much bigger on Israel if the opportunity arises so who knows what might happen in the future.
Personally I don't much care for Israel - historically, they are as much a nation formed from lies and cheating as any other and deserve no special support - in fact, it is support from other nations that has historically led to this never-ending war of attrition and we might just as well have tossed a coin to see whether Palestine or Israel got their own country on that eastern part of the Medditerranean.
This problem will go on for an age. With no real answer that will bring an end to the conflict. The world has to face the fact that there are some people that do not want Isreal to be there at all. That fact , gives Isreal a right to defend its self.
As a people that have been perscuted so much in the past, you would have thought, they of all folks should understand the palastenian people.
End of the day its all about power and nothing else. The people don't really count.
Shame really that the human race is like it is