Category: News

In searching out some writeups on the Rutgers win yesterday (where are you, Star Ledger? Rutgers goes 3-0 on homecoming for the first time in 25 years and you have NO coverage? Are we too good for you now?), I stumbled on this gem of an article about doping in sports.

So forgive me if I don’t get it. If “everyone” is doing it, then what difference does it really make? Why the obsession? What makes it so different than the expensive wind-tunnel conditioning, the expensive practice equipment, the relentless pursuit of the latest technology and design innovations in equipment? Granted, athletes run a personal health risk by engaging in doping, but isn’t that their choice to make? After all, don’t they already engage in a significant personal health risk simply by choosing for their profession a world where physical competition rules? So long as the capability within the playing field is relatively level, who cares?

And back to Rutgers. Watching the defense and special teams on the field, you get the vibe they’re working their way up to becoming scary good. Overall they’re head and shoulders above last year, and last year’s defense wasn’t half bad. Once the offense gets it together this will be one of the best Rutgers teams in a long time.

The D-N-I continues its reflection on the changing nature of warfare and its impact on Israel. I echo many of their concerns with what can come down. Basically, I see it happening one of three ways:

1. Israel pushes Lebanon to collapse, leaving a power vaccum that is filled even more by Hezbollah.

2. Hezbollah holds off Israel enough to claim a tie, if not outright victory, leading to the conclusions outlined in the article.

3. The world intervenes in a way that resets the situation to something close to the status quo, which at best gives Hezbollah the tie.

I read Beirut Notes’ post and could only shake my head. The first thought that came to mind were those trite sayings you hear as a child, like “If jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” and “Two wrongs don’t make a right”.

Hezbollah may serve Iran and Syria, but the majority of its supporters are poor and miserable people who need welfare. Be patient and unite and defend your brothers even if they are wrong.

It’s precisely this attitude that landed Lebanon in the position it is now. Had the Lebanese disarmed Hezbollah over the last six years and taken control of the border, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

Imagine my surprise this morning when, upon checking TechMeme, I had two back-to-back articles with the following headlines:

US to continue its control over ICANN
United States cedes control of the internet – but what now?

I’ll let someone else figure it out.

Business Week had a phenomenal article about how the Veteran Affairs transformed itself in to a strong provider of health care, holding down cost while providing increased quality and outpacing private health care providers.

Unfortunately, now that this activity has been brought to the attention of the Bush Administration, I’m sure el Presidente will see the need to take immediate corrective action. Having competent leadership in place while not allowing unqualified cronies to run any part of the US Government is clearly unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

I look forward to having this travesty corrected immediately so that our government is unable to deliver any services to its citizens (excepting, of course, fat no-bid contracts to rich friends).

I was listening to the BBC podcasts as I was driving around in my car today and, in one of the interviews with a British government minister, I recall a line from the minister that really stood out.

It’s not like anyone’s questioning the right for Israel to exist.

Yet, in all honesty, that’s exactly what’s at issue with the conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon. If you listen to real interviews with members of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the citizens of the territories, many of these individuals are denying Israel has a right to exist. A two state solution to the Palestinian crisis is not out of reach. Instead of launching attacks against Israel, the Hamas-led Palestinian government could have demonstrated that they were going to be adults and attended to the needs of their citizens. Instead, they demonstrated only that they can behave like small children. Their rise to power combined with the Israeli pullout was an opportunity to show the world that the Palenstinians could be trusted and were capable of building their own state; instead, it confirmed that the doubters who argued the Palestinians would never be able to stand on their own were correct.

Lebanon, likewise, finds itself in a similar predicament. The Lebanese government could have taken steps to disarm Hezbollah after Israel pulled out in the year 2000. Instead, Hezbollah continued to exist, to plan and develop its capabilities. It launched attacks on the pretext that Israel still occupied territory. What territory? The disputed border with Syria over the Golan Heights? The Palestinian cause?

The truth, which Western leaders so often like to forget, is that Israel itself is the disputed territory in the minds of many in the Middle East. Western leaders who ignore this fundamental fact to pressure Israel to capitulate do so at everyone’s peril.

P.S. Who ever thought I would come to agree so strongly with the Bull Moose on this point?

Updated to add: My only fear is that Israel will push Lebanon to collapse, creating yet another destabilized land within an already unstable region. Building governments out of the ruin is much harder than supporting and developing existing ones, a la Afghanistan and Iraq.

If you haven’t heard Ted Stevens’ remarks on the Internet and Net Neutrality, this classic techno remix version is a good way to catch up.

Like so many stories, some of the key details tend to get lost when people make their judgements on what is fair and equitable. Take, for instance, the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, through the eyes of these two individuals.

Salem focuses solely on the kidnapped soldier angle, which has received most of the focus in all the press accounts and news stories I’ve seen. And, true, this plays a factor. Taken alone, I would argue that the current escalation of violence could be considered disproportionate.

However, that’s not the whole story, and weighing a response on that factor alone is insufficient. Gordon rightly points this out in his response:

You say that Israel should have first negotiated, instead of immediately reacting. But the Hezbollah already have their negotiating card… they wilfully started a shelling campaign, came over the border and killed and kidnapped Israelis.

The kidnapping occurred inside Israel, not in Lebanon. And it included not just the kidnapping of two soldiers but the deaths of eight others. But even more important is that Hezbollah began firing rockets in to northern Israel even before Israel began its response. When you add that factor in, it’s clear enough that Israel couldn’t just stand idly by chasing after negotiations while it was being attacked.

I spent the past week or so making a few minor updates to the website. Most are behind the scenes, but one is definitely more visible than the rest. I’ve now included a tagging feature, whereby I can attached indexable keywords to each post so you (and I) can quickly navigate to the related posts on a topic.

It’s a feature that’s been around for awhile, and I thought I would implement it here.

I also made some behind the scenes revisions around how the blog and album ids are tracked, which will enable me to clone the blog faster than I previously could. I have another revision planned to make the interface ‘customizable’, thereby letting me create multiple independent blogs on the server.

I was poking around Flyertalk yesterday when I stumbled across this thread by two posters, Dovster and BEYFlyer. Dovster is located in a kibbutz right up against the border with Lebanon; BEYFlyer lives in the southern suburbs of Beirut, near the airport.

Both have been regularly posting the info they have and their experiences as Israel and Hizbollah escalate their conflict. The thread, in fact, attracted the attention of MSNBC, drawing in scores of new visitors and posters, mostly offering well-wishes to both posters.

The most impressive aspect, though, remains the moderators and the posters both, who have shown impressive restraint in not letting the thread degenerate in to political attacks. For those who don’t know, this is a common bulletin board problem, and Flyertalk is certainly no exception. 🙂

And, of course, I offer both my own best wishes and hope that they make it through and the conflict ends soon.