We fall asleep as the world falls apart

The above picture shows Israeli children writing messages on bombs bound for Lebanon.

In sitting down to finally write about the recent events in the Middle East, I don't really know where to start. With the Hezbollah kidnappings? With the Israeli response? With the rockets flying back into Israel? With the media bias? With Iran's involvement? With the lack of international peacekeeping? With the diversion of attention from Iraq and Gaza? Or maybe something else all together...

I guess I'll start with the word hypocrisy.

The US is supposed to be an ally to Lebanon ever since a democratic government has been in place, yet they're supplying the bombs for Israel's attack. Granted, this government hasn't been able to control Hezbollah, but it's rather diffucult when the strongest firepower is held by the militant group (a group that happens to be supported by Iran). Even still, it looks like Lebanon is a friend of the US, but Israel just happens to be a better friend. Roadmap to peace my ass. Afterall, peace isn't profitable to a warmonger, so why would the US want peace at all? I suppose it's all just fluffy politics that allows the average American to rest easy when laying in bed at night.

Next up we have the Israeli's themselves. Now, I can't support the acts of any "terrorist" group such as Hezbollah, because flinging up the proverbial rock at someone is not the way things should be accomplished in a civilized world. However, the Israeli response has been so ridiculously disproportionate to the initial violence, it's difficult to believe that they're concerned with the lives of civilians at all. UN officials have even condemned the scale of attack that's been unleashed upon Lebanon. At what point does the "good guy" become the "terrorist"? As far as I can tell, that line has been crossed by a huge margin. Bombing known civilian areas, Red Cross vehicles, bridges and other infrastructure, and hospitals is hardly a military operation meant to target "the enemy". When a country lowers its standards to the level of those that would employ reckless violence to achieve political goals, are they really worthy of the title "civil society"?

On top of this, the boulder-flinging employed by Israel will not help them in the long run. Do you think the average Lebanese citizen (who may or may not have supported Hezbollah in the past) will forgive Israel for the death and mass destruction they have delivered? Or do you suppose they might start to believe in Hezbollah and the principles that it stands for? I'm leaning towards the latter.

And then there's the UN. All told, the UN is a joke. If the US wants to illegally invade a country, they're allowed to do so, all the while ignoring the UN. But what if the entire UN were to disagree with the US? They'd still have their veto power, so what the fuck is the point? They've been sitting around with their thumbs up their asses in this crisis because they're essentially handcuffed by their own association. All the while, Israeli and Lebanese civilians are dying.

Our PM Stephen Harper's token response (after draggin his feet) was nothing more than a photo-op to paint a nice picture for the media. I'd be willing to bet that the thousands of other Canadians left behind couldn't give a sweet fuck less about Harper's help. Not to mention the family of Canadians that was killed by an Israeli air strike last week. I guess that's just another statistic to add to the list.

I've also been thinking of this little scenario: what if two innocent American citizens were killed by a Hezbollah missile as they were vacationing in Israel - and at the exact same time 20 Americans were killed by a bomb dropped from an Israeli plane while they were vactioning in Beirut. Question A: Which is the bigger tragedy? Question B: Who would the US be angry with? Question C: Do you get my point yet?

And one final thing I've got to mention - how can Israel justify saying "We'll stop bombing Lebanon if the Lebanese government can get Hezbollah under control"? After bombing the shit out of the country, how can they be brought under control? They weren't even controllable beforehand, so making that statement is akin to saying "If you stop breathing, we'll let you live."

Regardless of which side you're on, or who you choose to blame, it's fair to say that most people just want the rocket attacks and dropping of bombs to stop. Unless, of course, you're on moral and intellectual par with those involved.

If that's the case, all the pity in the world to ya.