I wouldn't hold my breath about Condoleeza Rice's current detour to Beirut. The Lebanese nightmare continues unabated while the world debates over vacuous issues such as the identity of Hezbollah, the veracity of the Israeli incursion, the apathetic neighbor status of Syria, and the insidious machinations of Iran.The link below tells how ineffective a major part of the world is, and how a few countries wield all the power and determine a course of action for all of humanity! As an American I watch the Lebanese crisis with a sense of shame, and do little else other than watch news on TV and blog about the impotency of the world powers, both meaningless activities that will not make the slightest dent in the Lebanese situation. Which part of the world do you belong to, and are you doing your part?
http://www.kottke.org/06/07/independent-infographic
22 comments:
Pray that they trash out a solution for peace.
I am sitting on the sidelines like you watching the show.Can do very little. hopefully this show will end.no winners in this game,just a lot of lives lost.
Yes, the visual representation in the UK Independent says it all. The coverage has been largely as expected in the UK...lots of profiled tragedies and "human interest" stories. But suddenly,at every turn, Condoleeza Rice has become Dr Condoleeza Rice.
Why? She has been this since the early 1980s. I suspect it marks a deferential tone towards the USA and a wishful belief that she can pull of an intellectual solution.
eshuneutics,
How true! Never in the past had I heard the Dr. before her name, and now all of a sudden that part of her identity seems to flex muscle and is in the limelight.
With all else failing, I hope her credentials bring about that ceasefire!
I'm glad you heard it too...I was wondering if it was just me. And I hope the same as you.
It sure took a long time to get her there. Talk about slow moving.
Israel is claiming that the foot-dragging being done is a result of wanting to defeat Iran in this battle, a "first" victory that they hope of a long series of such victories.
It seems like a silly idea - I can think of no good examples of a conventional army defeating a terrorist group. Defeating a terrorist group is impossibly militarily; there is no clear definition of military defeat when it comes to fighting terrorists.
I certainly also hope that Dr. Rice (so far a blemish on academia) is able to bring about a cease-fire soon, but as long as the Independent graphic remains true, I'm not holding my breath.
I was standing picking cherries from a tree in my yard while talking on the phone with a friend, and then a plane flew over my head , and I wondered, imagine that I can just look at this plane flying over my head and continue picking my cherries, but to think about the people caught in the crossfires of hell right now, imagine a small child, the fear that an airplane would ignite in them rather than wonder, a child not knowing if he/she can find a place to rest their head at night, or where their food would come from, a child denied the pleasure of enjoying one night's sleep.
And then there are these people in command debating on whether or not they need to end this!
A small child screaming for this to stop, with his/her please suffocated by the very people who were elected to try and stop the choas.
How do you accidentally hit a UN post in this hi-tec age? Insiscriminate killing, now arrogant killing. Probably, though, you have to be arrogant to accept the indiscriminate.
What happened to my comment I know I made one earlier but it never appeared. Oh well maybe it is a sign so I guess I won't repeat it. lol
That was a good graphic.. and a potent one.. thanks for sharing it.
I remain a mute spectator sitting on the fence and watching the freakshow. And thts the state of many of us..but then weve got something potent in our possession that we better use. The flick of the pen or the keystroke.
I DO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, BUT DO THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY GET THE POINT? I DON'T THINK THEY DO. I'M ASHAMED THAT A POWERFUL COUNTRY LIKE THIS IS NOT HELPING IN ANY WAY!
-U.N
exseno,
I am sorry to have missed that earlier comment; I wonder why it didn't show up.
U.N.
Glad to know we share the same sentiment.
Thanks for stopping by.
SR
That is a great point you make there
'Defeating a terrorist group is impossibly militarily'
Infact I'm reminded of the "universalism' concept of Bill Clinton; his theme for the keynote address at princeton this year.
I enjoyed your last post on this same subject a great deal, and I wish you'd post more often
jedi,
Do you really think that the writing we do is making any impact on what's happening in the Middle East? I wish it did/does!
eshuneutics,
"though, you have to be arrogant to accept the indiscriminate".
I was thinking about that and I am not so sure that one necessarily presupposes the other; you needn't always be arrogant to accept the indiscriminate. You could as well be
'karmic', or then ignorant, or simply apathetic to have an acceptance for the indiscriminate. Would you agree?
As for the fatal fire on the UN post, that is a 'greater' tragedy amid the tragedy already in progress. There is no condoning that. Yet a greater part of the world is still just watching...
Maybe it doesnt alter the larger picture persay,but thru this post, u just made 9 others ponder over the point so far..and i believe thts the way one can/should go about it. Coz in the end its all about forming collective opinion.
Liked the link. It says it so much better. I do feel hepless to some extent. I did march last year in the anti-war rally in DC. I just wish both sides would step down and try to talk about it.
Am contributing time and $ to hopefulyl help elect a bunch of more responsive and responsible group of public officials. It just feels like such a long hard slog.
Yes, I would agree that apathy, ignorance, a kind of fatalism contribute much that is negative. But I would also agree that some of the worst violations in history, which involve indiscriminate killing, are done, not from ignorance or apathy, but from a sense of arrogant superiority. I watched a peace march today. I have done anti-war marches in the past. But this one seemed to be going through the motions. The banners were predictable. Sadly, it had a fatalism to it: as if the protest was accepting a cosmic inevitabilty. I listened to the speakers, as best as I could, above the roar of traffic. People walked by, in ignorance, but then, the speakers had nothing to offer but a world weary apathy that the Lebanon conflict was wrong and all wanted to see White Doves of Peace. None of that stands against the Israel spokesman playing semantic games as to whether Kofi Annan was wrong to criticise Israel. There was the immovable, incontrovertable face of Arrogance that could justify anything.
... and now Qana!
So much for her brokering peace in the mid east. She had best be out of there and let fate take its course in Lebanon.
Not very optimistic on this one
Pete
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