"They are working extremely fast"

The Naz says:

“One of the central reasons for creating Hezbollah was to challenge the Zionist program in the region. Hezbollah still preserves this principle, and when an Egyptian journalist visited me after the liberation and asked me if the destruction of Israel and the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem were Hezbollah’s goal, I replied: "That is the principal objective of Hezbollah, and it is no less sacred than our [ultimate] goal.” --2002

It must be so comforting for the Israelis knowing the UN stands guard on that fence while they sleep in their beds at night:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/31/wleb31.xml

"UN vehicles were in plentiful evidence yesterday, and at numerous points Lebanese soldiers scrutinized traffic."

This is awe inspiring peacekeeping work. Scrutinizing traffic, the one thing Hezbollah fears will prevent the realization of their dream to rocket Israeli citizens into submission. I'm telling you, we can't fund the UN enough. Paint our tanks white, wear blue helmets, and scrutinize traffic? Why don’t we try this with Iraq?

The Iron Triangle

http://iraqforsale.org/

Supposedly uncovers the connections between corporations making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so.

Has anyone seen this film or desire to do so? Has anyone heard anything critical about the film?

The Committee of Grave Concern

What's one to make of those glasses? What’s one to make of these reports?

From Bill Gertz at the Washington Times:

“Intelligence photographs of North Korea's nuclear test site showed technicians playing volleyball this week near the tunnel where a nuclear device was unsuccessfully set off on Sunday. The facility where the test took place was identified by U.S. officials as a North Korean science and technology research center near the town of Kilchu and the northeastern coast. Very high-resolution satellite images obtained by the Defense Intelligence Agency showed the volleyball game being played near dormitories at the facility. The Japanese intelligence agency also had access to the photographs, and according to U.S. defense officials, they reported that a sports activity so close to a nuclear site was inconsistent with post-nuclear testing precautions, since the underground tunnel where the test took place was located several hundred yards away.”

And another report:

“Results from an initial air sampling after North Korea’s announced nuclear test showed no evidence of radioactive particles that would be expected from a successful nuclear detonation, a U.S. government intelligence official said Friday.”

Did they, or didn’t they?

Not to worry though. We have a piece of paper signed by North Korea over champagne and a smile and a handshake from Madeleine Albright herself that says that North Korea won't even work on a bomb. And can you imagine the impact sanctions will have on a country where many of its citizens boil grass or bark to avoid starvation. Cargo inspections and a cutoff of military and luxury trade will surely be enough to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. That will hit 'em right where it hurts.

Another note: I find it interesting that many will criticize the administration for unilateralism in its foreign policy, and that might have some merit, but yet, that's exactly what these same critics are calling for in demanding direct negotiations with Pyongyang beyond the six party talks. This is also the same cohort that deplores our policy with Iraq, but would like to see the 82 Airborne in Darfur tomorrow if they had their way. Why is it that they want to deploy the military only when US interests are not involved? What happened to consistency?

Prognosis: Saddle up, here comes the South East Asian arms race.

The Lobster Incident

Here are some shots from last weekend’s expedition to the Cape and the national seashore. View beach exercise video by Deb here.

Trio

The creature attacks

Warm bass from the Grundig

Jonathan Seagull paid us a visit

Surfers were a dime a dozen in surf that didn't seem to be all that spectacular for surfing. Kind of odd.

Slope

Leave me, go on, save yourselves. It's too far to continue.

UN Resolution 1701

Where can one get a baseball cap emblemized with Nasrallah? That's a must have if there ever was one.

I recently did a bit of reading of this ceasefire resolution passed by the Security Council that was drafted with the intent to end the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Keep in mind that a similar resolution was negotiated in 2000 that premised the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon at that time also.

1701 calls for, among other elements:

1. 
   Security arrangements to prevent a resumption of hostilities, including no armed forces other than the state of Lebanon or UNIFIL south of the Litani river (read: No Hezbollah near the Israeli border)
2. 
   No sales or resupply of arms and related materials to Lebanon except as authorized by its government (read: no re-supply of rockets to Hezbollah from Iran or Syria) (“If a real will exists to introduce illegal weapons (into Lebanon), neither UN resolutions nor military deployment will be able to stop their entry" --Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Sept. 2006)
3. 
   The disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon (read: Hezbollah)

Since the passing of the resolution, Hezbollah has repeatedly stated that it will not be disarmed. Lebanon has also stated that it will not disarm Hezbollah, and the UN too has indicated that UNIFIL forces will not have the role of disarming Hezbollah. Ironically, Israel was the only force committed to disarming this terrorist group in order to prevent rocket attacks against its citizens or the unprovoked kidnapping and killing of its soldiers within Israel. Yet, it has now relinquished that goal and withdrawn –foolishly, in my opinion— so that the UN and Lebanon can undertake the cause with pledged vacancy.

Kofi Annan stated back in August his staggeringly unrealistic feelings on the matter of the disarmament:

“I think the disarmament of Hezbollah cannot be done by force. It has to be a political disagreement between the Lebanese; there has to be a Lebanese agreement among them to disarm.”

Israel has indicated that if Hezbollah is not disarmed (as the resolution calls for, and as was the basis for Israeli acceptance of the ceasefire and withdrawal), it will resume operations in Lebanon to protect its citizens from cross-border rocket attacks.

The UN, in my opinion, is an utter failure in these matters, there’s no two ways about it. In fact, by failing to live up to its obligations both in 2000 and with the current crisis, it has assured that Israel will be drawn into conflict again with an enemy that has called for its very destruction. By becoming involved in conflict resolution without any commitment to employing the means to enforce such resolution, it has guaranteed that the conflict will be perpetuated.