UN Cease-Fire: A Joke, To Be Sure
Yesterday the UN Security Council officially endorsed the cease-fire agreement that was proposed by France and the US. Of course, the blogosphere (which I consider an integral part of the GOP base for the center-righters out there) is split over it. A number of bloggers dislike the proposal, believing that the UN peacekeeping force, which is being bumped up to 15,000 troops, will be an enabler of Hezbollah. This opinion is based on the UN's own fickle inadequacies when it comes to such missions, and it's scoffed at that the UN forces will have the approval to engage Hezbollah forces. Uh-huh. And pigs might fly.
We, at The Asylum, stand with Captain Ed on this one; Israel holds the trump cards in almost every aspect. As Captain Ed pointed out, the cease-fire is completely dependent on how Hezbollah reacts. If they continue to rain rockets down on Israel, then all bets are off, and Israel may respond in like kind. ANY ACT OF AGGRESSION taken by Hezbollah will prompt an unfettered response by Israel. The US made sure that such a provision was within the cease-fire to make sure that Israel still had the ability to defend itself from Hezbollah's unwarranted aggression. And as Captain Ed pointed out today, Hezbollah--Nasrallah, specifically--has responded to the cease-fire agreement.
Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday that his organization would abide by the United Nations resolution calling for a cease-fire although he was not completely satisfied with its text.
Nasrallah's announcement came as the Lebanese government met in Beirut to accept the cease-fire.
Nasrallah warned, however, that despite the UN resolution, the war was still not over. "We must be aware of the fact that the war will continue for another few days," he said. "That's why we are continuing to fight today. We will fight as long as Israeli soldiers are in Lebanon."
"We believe that the resolution that was taken last night was unfair," Nasrallah said. "But if there is an agreement on the cessation of hostilities between the Lebanese government and the enemy, we will observe it without delay."
He said that Hizbullah would support any decision by the Lebanese government to end the war. "We will not be an obstacle to any decision that it finds appropriate, but our ministers will express reservations about articles that we consider unjust and unfair," he said.
Nasrallah also expressed his support for plans to deploy Lebanese army and additional UNIFIL troops in southern Lebanon. "Regardless of our reservations and political positions, we will cooperate when the Lebanese soldiers and UNIFIL forces are deployed," he said.
Nasrallah described the decision to dispatch Lebanese soldiers to the south of the country as an "achievement" for Hizbullah and Lebanon, saying it resulted from the steadfastness of the Lebanese people and the "heroes" of his organization.
Nasrallah's speech was his ninth since the war broke out, forcing him and the top leadership of Hizbullah into hiding.
Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV, which continues to broadcast despite repeated IAF attack on its studios and transmitters, declared "victory" over the weekend, saying that the IDF had failed to score military achievements.
Well, it would be a victory for Hezbollah if they'd quit attacking the IDF and Israel proper. But as long as they have decided to continue doing that, then the game's afoot. His citation of the lack of fairness comes from the fact that he is petitioning the UN to modify the agreement. This is a prospect that will come about just as soon as Hell asks for AC and ice water. It took the UN a long time to get this cease-fire agreement in place, and Kofi Annan threw a short (20 minute long) tizzy to the UNSC yesterday. Too bad for Kofi that he lost yet another round in the world's eyes, which only adds to how terrible of a general secretary he really is.
As for the UNIFIL troops, and the fact that he says he'll comply, that goes to the fact that he's hoping the peacekeeping forces will do as they always have done when it comes to an aggressor against Israel, which is letting them continue while berating Israel's response. As yet, nothing seems to have changed in that realm, regardless of the mandate in the cease-fire agreement. I'm sure this is a part of the "victory" that al-Manar is claiming here. Let them. Israel is still holding all the aces in this game. They won one simple hand here with this cease-fire, but Israel is still going to respond to every attack made on it by Hezbollah.
However, al-Manar is correct to point out that Israel's achievements are paltry, at best. Instead of engaging Hezbollah with overwhelming force, and crushing their capacity to fire rockets into Israel, Olmert dilly-dallied with bombing campaigns in a vain effort to spare the Israeli people any significant number of casualties. I'm not saying that national leaders should be callous, and simply toss soldiers into a meat grinder, but solid strategy should have been involved in Israel's decision to engage an enemy bent on destroying them. Olmert twiddled his thumbs, and squandered the international support for their defensive stance. Maybe it was because he thought the world would turn against them if he had initiated a ground invasion of Lebanon. Maybe he thought he could truly deal with Hezbollah with bombing campaigns. Either way, he lost face to Hezbollah and the Knesset knows it. It's rumored (and I emphasized rumored as we've yet to find any story to corroborate this) that the Knesset was close to a vote of "no confidence" in Olmert as the days wore on, and victory was not yet achieved.
The deal might hold. God only knows if Nasrallah will grow a brain cell or two, and realize that the bombs and troops he's been facing over the last several weeks will end as soon as Hezbollah ends it's attacks. And then there is still the matter of the two soldiers kidnapped. There is also the arms embargo on Hezbollah. This is the ultimate deal breaker. They are to disarm, not rearm as they have in the past. The UN wants this over, right now. The easiest way to do it is to disarm Hezbollah. We'll see if that sticks, too. My guess is that it won't. And I'm also hedging bets on whether or not Nasrallah is smart enough to end Hezbollah's attacks. If this keeps up, Israel going a heck of a lot further than the Litani River.
Publius II
Yesterday the UN Security Council officially endorsed the cease-fire agreement that was proposed by France and the US. Of course, the blogosphere (which I consider an integral part of the GOP base for the center-righters out there) is split over it. A number of bloggers dislike the proposal, believing that the UN peacekeeping force, which is being bumped up to 15,000 troops, will be an enabler of Hezbollah. This opinion is based on the UN's own fickle inadequacies when it comes to such missions, and it's scoffed at that the UN forces will have the approval to engage Hezbollah forces. Uh-huh. And pigs might fly.
We, at The Asylum, stand with Captain Ed on this one; Israel holds the trump cards in almost every aspect. As Captain Ed pointed out, the cease-fire is completely dependent on how Hezbollah reacts. If they continue to rain rockets down on Israel, then all bets are off, and Israel may respond in like kind. ANY ACT OF AGGRESSION taken by Hezbollah will prompt an unfettered response by Israel. The US made sure that such a provision was within the cease-fire to make sure that Israel still had the ability to defend itself from Hezbollah's unwarranted aggression. And as Captain Ed pointed out today, Hezbollah--Nasrallah, specifically--has responded to the cease-fire agreement.
Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday that his organization would abide by the United Nations resolution calling for a cease-fire although he was not completely satisfied with its text.
Nasrallah's announcement came as the Lebanese government met in Beirut to accept the cease-fire.
Nasrallah warned, however, that despite the UN resolution, the war was still not over. "We must be aware of the fact that the war will continue for another few days," he said. "That's why we are continuing to fight today. We will fight as long as Israeli soldiers are in Lebanon."
"We believe that the resolution that was taken last night was unfair," Nasrallah said. "But if there is an agreement on the cessation of hostilities between the Lebanese government and the enemy, we will observe it without delay."
He said that Hizbullah would support any decision by the Lebanese government to end the war. "We will not be an obstacle to any decision that it finds appropriate, but our ministers will express reservations about articles that we consider unjust and unfair," he said.
Nasrallah also expressed his support for plans to deploy Lebanese army and additional UNIFIL troops in southern Lebanon. "Regardless of our reservations and political positions, we will cooperate when the Lebanese soldiers and UNIFIL forces are deployed," he said.
Nasrallah described the decision to dispatch Lebanese soldiers to the south of the country as an "achievement" for Hizbullah and Lebanon, saying it resulted from the steadfastness of the Lebanese people and the "heroes" of his organization.
Nasrallah's speech was his ninth since the war broke out, forcing him and the top leadership of Hizbullah into hiding.
Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV, which continues to broadcast despite repeated IAF attack on its studios and transmitters, declared "victory" over the weekend, saying that the IDF had failed to score military achievements.
Well, it would be a victory for Hezbollah if they'd quit attacking the IDF and Israel proper. But as long as they have decided to continue doing that, then the game's afoot. His citation of the lack of fairness comes from the fact that he is petitioning the UN to modify the agreement. This is a prospect that will come about just as soon as Hell asks for AC and ice water. It took the UN a long time to get this cease-fire agreement in place, and Kofi Annan threw a short (20 minute long) tizzy to the UNSC yesterday. Too bad for Kofi that he lost yet another round in the world's eyes, which only adds to how terrible of a general secretary he really is.
As for the UNIFIL troops, and the fact that he says he'll comply, that goes to the fact that he's hoping the peacekeeping forces will do as they always have done when it comes to an aggressor against Israel, which is letting them continue while berating Israel's response. As yet, nothing seems to have changed in that realm, regardless of the mandate in the cease-fire agreement. I'm sure this is a part of the "victory" that al-Manar is claiming here. Let them. Israel is still holding all the aces in this game. They won one simple hand here with this cease-fire, but Israel is still going to respond to every attack made on it by Hezbollah.
However, al-Manar is correct to point out that Israel's achievements are paltry, at best. Instead of engaging Hezbollah with overwhelming force, and crushing their capacity to fire rockets into Israel, Olmert dilly-dallied with bombing campaigns in a vain effort to spare the Israeli people any significant number of casualties. I'm not saying that national leaders should be callous, and simply toss soldiers into a meat grinder, but solid strategy should have been involved in Israel's decision to engage an enemy bent on destroying them. Olmert twiddled his thumbs, and squandered the international support for their defensive stance. Maybe it was because he thought the world would turn against them if he had initiated a ground invasion of Lebanon. Maybe he thought he could truly deal with Hezbollah with bombing campaigns. Either way, he lost face to Hezbollah and the Knesset knows it. It's rumored (and I emphasized rumored as we've yet to find any story to corroborate this) that the Knesset was close to a vote of "no confidence" in Olmert as the days wore on, and victory was not yet achieved.
The deal might hold. God only knows if Nasrallah will grow a brain cell or two, and realize that the bombs and troops he's been facing over the last several weeks will end as soon as Hezbollah ends it's attacks. And then there is still the matter of the two soldiers kidnapped. There is also the arms embargo on Hezbollah. This is the ultimate deal breaker. They are to disarm, not rearm as they have in the past. The UN wants this over, right now. The easiest way to do it is to disarm Hezbollah. We'll see if that sticks, too. My guess is that it won't. And I'm also hedging bets on whether or not Nasrallah is smart enough to end Hezbollah's attacks. If this keeps up, Israel going a heck of a lot further than the Litani River.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 5:21 PM
1 Comments:
I will go on the record the UN deal. Hezbollah sees it as a victory for them but that doesn't over ride their pure hate of Israel. Remember their Mohammad didn't like the Jews. Hezbollah will not honor the intent and spirit of the agree. Lebanon seems to be a weak sister sitting on the sidelines letting Hezbollah make decision for it. I'm sorry to say the UN was ever involved.
Rawriter
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