Aug. 3, 2006: Bud Talkinghorn

Moral equivalences in the Lebanon conflict

"If you wanted proportionality of warfare", Rex Murphy opined, "you could have Israel use their citizens as ramparts, purposely target civilians, and allow a rump mini-state within Israel's borders--one that takes its orders from foreign powers. Then you would have true proportionality with Hezbollah." Right on, Rex! The idea of some moral equivalence here is a joke. One opponent has cynically started a war, while the other is defending itself from fanatics who have hurled thousands of rockets into their cities and towns. Hezbollah is doubly immoral for bringing down Israel's wrath on all Lebanon, mainly to please their Syrian and Iranian masters. It was also, of course, a power statement to northern Lebanon. "Fanaticism + superior weaponry rules." If the Lebanese Christians, Druze and Sunnis choose to allow Hezbollah to escape major censure for their reckless behaviour, then my sympathy for them has been sorely misplaced.

It was amusing to see how in sync Hamas and Hezbollah are. On the same day, the UN headquarters in Beirut and Gaza were trashed by mobs. Why the Palestinians would take their ire out on an organization that has kept their miserable souls alive for decades defies logic. Even as I write this, the UN is trucking in relief to southern Lebanon. But than logic and "The Arab street" have never been close neighbours. God, they can't even see the logic of not shooting hundreds of rounds into the air directly above them. Nothing like showing your support for a fallen comrade by killing a few of the mourners. I guess the law of gravity is just seen as another perfidious infidel idea. This insane behaviour killed 17 Kuwaitis -- while they were celebrating their deliverance from Iraqi occupation. And don't the non-Shia Lebanese see that Hezbollah is nothing but the vanguard of a theocracy, besides, one that tap dances to Syria and Iran's tune? Don't they remember the counter demonstrations by Hezbollah to keep Syria in Lebanon? I can only imagine that the humiliation of their subservience to these fanatics is so complete that they are in deep denial. When they calm down, they will see the dead end that Lebanon is rapidly moving towards. The educated will leave, foreign investment and aid will dry up and Lebanon will sink into economic insignificance. As they embark they may gaze back at Beirut--by then, the Khartoum of the Middle East.

© Bud Talkinghorn


The media war--winners and losers

"If it bleeds, it leads", as the old media axiom goes. Well, it didn't take long for the Muslim bleeding in Qana to appear on Arab networks. It is exceedingly strange to me that an area that supposedly is so isolated could get their victims on the front page or as a media lead within hours. It is though an al-Jazeera camera crew were embedded in the village. All the Western media have also zeroed in on the Qana strike. Pictures of youngsters bundled in shrouds makes far better optics than a million Israelis hunkering down in cellars and bomb shelters. Oh, they do mention that some Israelis have actually been killed by the rockets, but they lack the grisly pictures to accompany them.

The so-called Arab street protests are always good for ratings. They could only be larger if Israel were annihilated and they were rejoicing. Under-reported is the statistic that the Palestinian Human Rights Watch gave. It showed that in the last year, Palestinians killed as many Palestinians as were killed by the Israelis. The Palestinian state is a mish-mash of tribal fifedoms, political antagonists and rampant street crime. The Palestinians do everything possible to hide this reality. But let some Hamas leader's family get blown away with him and that is immediately heralded. The Western liberal press is complicit in smothering this internecine violence. This is partly due to having to their reliance on Palestinian "guides". It is akin to the old Western commies coming back from Russia in the 50's with glowing reports on Soviet progress. The warts were skillfully hidden. So it is with the Israeli-Arab conflict. Perhaps the Western media could afford to be a bit more jaundiced about the reports of Israeli atrocities. The "Arab street" hates the West anyway, so why play their PR game? Leave that to al-Arabyia and al-Jazeera.

© Bud Talkinghorn


The ghost of Neville Chamberlain visits Canada

So only 34% of Canadians support Harper's pro-Israeli stance. One writer to the editor in The Globe and Mail said he found that "frightening". Another writer said, "The results makes him proud to be a Canadian." I stand with the first writer, while the second one could have added a few adjectives to Canadian--like morally neutral, Appeasement R Us, or some other descriptor denoting our serious drift away from democracy and national security. I encourage you to read the post on Aug. 1, 2006: "Shitty little country". A friendly contributor sent the item. It is a list of some of the incredible scientific, medical and technological advances that Israel has made, a long list. Should you want a comparison to the list of accomplishments from its enemies, Google "Modern Muslim states, greatest accomplishments". Prepare to be severely underwhelmed. Want another comparison? Check out the UN's own world rankings for "best countries in the world to live in". Israel is in the top tier, while down in the bottom sludge are countries like Mali, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan slugging it out to be named the worst.

Israel has a history of democracy, the Arab world none. In UN resolutions Israel is part of the Western world's position. In contrast, the Muslim countries often become "vote buddies" with the worst non-Muslim thugocracies. On one level they are perfectly attuned. None believe in anything but brute force to rule their citizens. Occasionally, Zimbabwe and Iran pretend to have open elections. They are of course rigged from the start. The Iranian ploy was absolutely naked. The mullahs decided who could even run for office. Any candidate who espoused democratic reform was disallowed. The official explanation was that they were "too morally impure", or their platforms threatened the mullahs stranglehold on power. When demonstrations broke out by progressive Iranians, the mullahs called in their slum rent-a-mob to attack them.

So how can Canadians side with Hamas and Hezbollah, both of whom want to annihilate "Shitty little" Israel, and replace it with a theocracy? While our soldiers are trying to contain the viruent Taliban elements, we have at-home Canadians throwing in their lot with Islamic fundamentalism. I have struggled to discern why my fellow citizens have adopted such a craven ideology. In fact, the villains are everywhere. An education system that must have been designed by the UN Committtee of cultural diversity, as mentioned by FHTR (Frosty). Forget those old dead white men who fashioned this country; rather, gabble on about what a wondrous neutrality we have. Then there is the Quebecois factor in our polling results. The Quebecois skew every national poll. If you take out their numbers, the polls are not so ultra-left in their conclusions. There is the relentless liberal media spin to everything. Then there is the mindless fare that is our entertainment. Read Neil Postman's book "Amusing Ourselves to Death" to see the damage done to our citizens' psyches. Then where would we be without the tsunami of cheap Chinese products? The list of negative influences on Canadians is infinitely expandable--kumbaya religions, "blended families", a broken moral compass, and the cult of victimology.

Whatever you think of Stephen Harper, he sounds clear messages to stem the rot. He will lose the Muslim vote rather than compromise his moral position. How refreshing.

© Bud Talkinghorn