Colmar of Colmar 3000 is an interesting fellow. He's bright, articulate, informed, and his posts are always thought-provoking. He seems to pass himself off as someone who's intersted in an even-handed consideration of truth. Yet, his politics strike me as almost contemptuously dismissive of anyone who doesn't agree with the likes of George Bush.
Colmar is very unhappy with Israel's agreement to withdraw from Lebanon. He believes that Israel should have continued bombing and fighting at least until the abducted Israeli soldiers were returned, Hezbollah was completely destroyed or disarmed, or all of Lebanon lie in ruins, whichever came first. As it is, he believes that Israel has suffered a humiliating defeat that weakens it terribly while strengthening Hezbollah and the evil forces of Islamist terrorism throughout the region.
These are my preliminary thoughts on the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon that I left as a counterpoint comment on Colmar's blog:
It sounds to me like you wanted Israel to fight until it destroyed virtually all of Lebanon while Hezbollah rockets destroyed more of Israel, killed many more of the Lebanese people while many more Israeli civilians and soldiers died, and had even more of the world hating it more venemously than ever, while, in the end, its missing soldiers would still be missing, its economy would be in greater distress, and its position would be just as precarious if not more so than it is now.
You may think old style massive military action will ultimately prevail in these "asymmetrical" wars against terrorist organizations, even those as well-trained, well-supplied, and adaptable as Hezbollah, but I'm inclined to agree with C.J. that Israel and the U.S. need to find another way that emphasizes large scale attacks with bombs and bullets less than it does other measures.
Times are changing. The world is changing. War is changing. We must change with them.
On the other hand, if Israel will not adapt, it can do as I suggested previously and warn Hezbollah, Lebanon, and the United Nations that it is prepared to take devastating military action if it incurs further attacks from Hezbollah. This would put Lebanon and the rest of the world on notice that they need to work together to make sure that Hezbollah behaves itself so that this does not happen.
On Wings of Speech: To Infinity and Beyond
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Language -- like consciousness, experience, and being -- is difficult to
wrap our minds around, since it presupposes any discussion of it. Like the
eye t...
1 day ago
6 comments:
Colmar, this isn't a group blog. I wrote all of the post to which you've graciously responded. Thanks for clarifying where you agree and disagree with the Bush administration and what you think about Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon as well as the Middle Eastern situation in general.
Briefly, I think we need to be careful about trying to force democracy on nations and people who aren't ready for it. We should perhaps concentrate instead on fostering economic, social, and cultural conditions in those parts of the world in which democracy can eventually develop by itself.
I'm not sure how we could prevent people from coming into this country illegally from over our southern borders except by finding ways to stop illegals from being hired for virtually all jobs. I don't see how we can stop them with more fences, national guard troops, and immigration patrols. Illegals can climb over, dig under, or break down the fences, and there can never be enough personnel to thoroughly guard the borders from encroachment.
Why do you think the Bush Medicare drug program is a "farce"? What would you like to see instead? I'd like to see cradle-to-grave guaranteed healthcare for all.
What do you see as "outrageous pork barrel spending"? I believe that the Bush tax cuts are an obscenity not only because they overwhelmingly favor the richest people in America, but also because they're causing a staggering escalation in the national debt that can produce terrible longterm economic consequences that can be reduced only by draconian cuts to vital social and other federally funded programs to help people who need help, which is most of us at one time or other, and rebuild and revitalize our national infrastructure.
I believe, for reasons too numerous to list, that Bush was wrong to invade Iraq and that neither this country, the people of Iraq, nor the world at large are likely to end up better off as a result, while we've squandered hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars there, lost THOUSANDS of precious American lives, and physically and psychologically maimed and scarred thousands more Americans for life.
I'm inclined to agree with you that Israel could have remained "massed" on the border, but I have grave doubts that Hezbollah would have "blinked" or that any agreement could have been reached without a long continuation of the conflict, death, and destruction that ultimately would have done little or nothing to make Israel safer or the forces of terrorism in the region weaker.
Colmar, I share your pessimism. I don't see the world coming together to stop nuclear proliferation in "Islamofacist" nations or terrorism supported by these nations. Therefore, I believe that some extremely dangerous, difficult, and even catastrophic times lie ahead. However, I also believe that our best chances of preventing or at least minimizing this is to take what Ken Wilber would call an "integral" or AQAL approach to addressing these problems that does not place a disproportionate number of its eggs in the military basket. Exactly how this would be done, it'll take far brighter minds than mine to figure out. :-)
Thank you for your comments, Colmar.
Colmar IS an intelligent person. I assume that he's a man. I enjoy his posts and perspective.
I couldn't agree more that the real Nagarjuna towered above me intellectually, as he probably did most of us. But I still like the name and the ideal of someone who was apparently able to integrate extraordinary levels of intellect and intuition, knowledge and wisdom. Though I can never reasonably hope to come within light-years of equalling his success in this regard, I can strive to progress as far as my meager abilities will allow, adopting his name as my inspiration.
Thank you for reminding me of this.
You'll need to drop the pretense and fantasy in order to grow spiritually, otherwise you'll remain confused and corraled by your own ego driven thoughts.
What "pretense and fantasy" do you think I need to drop, my friend?
anonymous 12:44 It seems you have some dislike of the owner of this blog. Why don't you come out from behind your anon name and show us how you could make it better. Or do you prefer to attack anonymously from the security of a keyboard? That seems to be the cowards way of saying anything does it not?
Perhaps anonymous 12:44 has a blog of his own. If he does, I'm sure it's far better than my humble effort. So, I hope he'll do us all a wonderful favor and tell us where it is so that we might experience the joy of reading it and reveling in its profound and glorious wisdom.
If not, he's welcome to continue sharing his uplifting wisdom with us here.
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