Walid Phares Calls For UN Intervention

via the Counterterrorism Blog.

In response, the international community should act swiftly in defense of Lebanon's population under the UN Chapter 7, by voting a new resolution to reinforce the UNIFIL in Lebanon and endow it with a deterrence and security mandate to protect civil society from violence as was the case in East Timor and Kosovo.

Damn! Does anyone believe for a minute that the UN can or will do anything effective? It ticks me off. The world is going to sit there and allow Syria and Iran to take down Lebanon one government member at a time until it plunges into civil war and all bets will be off.

If Bush wants democracy in the Middle East, he should show some real strength and start protecting the one that is further along than Iraq. And the quislings in the EU should wake up and get on board. But we know they won't.

Nature abhors a vacuum and this one will either be filled with American might, or Iranian / Syrian evil. I wouldn't want to bet on a positive outcome. And our newly elected Dems say nothing but - let's raise the minimum wage. What a joke of a Party they have become.

Comments

[Steel]

Oh, Dan.

Welcome to the new world.

My Mom used to make salmon croquettes from canned salmon.

Ever had canned salmon, amigo?

Pretty good stuff, but cooked enough that the bones are soft.

I remember with relish, being able to bite into a portion and find a backbone in it.

A little bitty backbone.

The joy of biting down on that and feeling it disintegrate was ... somehow empowering to a 5 year old.

Such is the state of the new world.

[DANEgerus]

The UN has been doing something in Lebanon. They have been actively supporting Hezbollah.

[daveinboca]

A reader of my blog sent me an email asking "cui bono" as to why the Syrians were involved. My response:

The Syrians have a very long record of interfering in Lebanon's economy and
political affairs, and it is in their PERCEIVED interest [however poorly
conceived] to stir the pot in that country, which they regard as irredentist
territory, because of several reasons.

It takes the Syrian people's mind off their own imbecilic government, it is an
attempt to try to keep the Lebanese cabinet from participating in the UN
Investigative Inquiry, an attempt to push the Hezbollah agenda in order to get
Iranian support, and because various factions supporting Assad in Lebanon,
including its demented Prez Emile L, actually want Syria back in control of
Lebanon, or at least an active player. Last, but not least, the Syrians made a
lot of money by interfering in Lebanon before, and think they can do it again.

Therefore, a very deluded Syrian leadership probably thinks it is its own good,
and because it believes it can get away with it. Think of it as a mafia
syndicate, with Bashar Assad as the capo di totti capiti. Don't necessarily
regard the present Syrian leadership as rational actors. As an FT columnist
said prophetically two years ago, this younger Assad tends to overplay his
hands.

[Barbara]

Interesting article by Joe Gehr on the rustiness of the UN can be found in The Terrorist's Nightmare Blog http://blog.technonllc.com/index.php?/archives/16-Kofi-go-home,-you-failed!.html

[Jack]

Where is the UN in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2G1TZKerTo