The 1701 charade

The Belmont Club:

...

UNIFIL sure showed Hezbollah who was boss. In a fantastic world of diplomat-speak, the Hashmonean asks the pertinent question: where is Resolution 1701? "Kofi Annan keeps slamming Israel (business as usual), saying it is in breach of resolution 1701 - as if there is a resoluton 1701." The resolution was supposed to provide an internationally supervised buffer zone and staunch the flow of arms to Hezbollah. Those are the words. But in reality the French have decamped, Hezbollah continues to arm, unmolested by the UN and Israel is sternly warned not to interfere -- on pain of being cited for violating the ceasefire. Kofi Annan does well to cite the words, because words are all that remain of 1701.

Sadly but not unsurprisingly, a Israeli cabinet minister has openly called for the construction of more bomb shelters in anticipation of a possible conflict with Iran. It's always a bad sign when a ceasefire evokes not bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover, but presents itself as prelude to a larger war. The question, even as President Bush sought a new UN Security Council resolution providing Italy with workable rules of engagement, was whether this effort would put the region firmly on the road to peace or merely rearrange the deck chairs on a ship sinking from wounds no one had the fortitude to look on. With Iran signaling its intention to reject the Security Council proposal to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for a package of incentives, the connection between the Lebanese ceasefire and the regional ambitions of Teheran grows ever harder to disentangle. The question is larger than any answer a brigade from Italy, however valiant, can provide.


This is one of those occassions when the pretensions of the UN are transparent and silly. The resolution that required Hezballah to disarm and for an embargo on new arms will now be enforced but the right of Israel to stop this rearmament which is granted under the terms of resalution will be denied? The UN has now become the protector of terrorist rights to bear arms to attack a memeber state with.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Washington Post: Some Democrats eye adding more justices to the Supreme Court to change its ideological bent The once-remote idea has gained the attention of liberals angered by the GOP push to remake the federal courts. Probably the easy way to defeat this court-packing scheme is for Trump to propose doing the same thing now.  It would lead to Democrat denunciations and claims that it would be wrong, thereby blowing up any attempt by them in the unfortunate event of Democrats winning a presidential election.
Read more

Is the F-35 obsolete?

Headline USA: Pentagon Fires Back after Musk Calls Its Most Expensive Project ‘Obsolete’ 'Yeah, as I'm sure you can appreciate, Mr. Musk is, currently, a private citizen, I'm not going to make any comments about what a private citizen may have to say about the F-35....'   ... ... Drones appear to be replacing jets for many operations.  The Russia-Ukraine war is an example of that.  Drones are often hard to detect and can be used for intelligence operations as well as for attacking enemy targets.  It would not surprise me to see drones engaging other drones in combat.  They also cost much less than manned fighters.  
Read more

Apple's huge investment in US including Texas facility

Blaze: Apple announced a $500 billion commitment to infrastructure in the United States over four years, its largest commitment to domestic spending to date. Apple said it will expand teams and facilities in Arizona, California, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Washington as part of its new spending. With a new facility in Houston, Texas, Apple will reportedly double its investment in advanced manufacturing along with increasing investments in AI and silicon engineering. The company said in a press release that the Houston facility will produce servers to support Apple Intelligence, the "personal intelligence system that helps users write, express themselves, and get things done." ... The Texas facility will be for advanced technologies.   Texas has become a place that is very supportive of the tech industries.  Austin and Houston have seen much of the tech growth in the state.  Texas universities have been active in the AI field.
Read more