[YeGoblynQueenne]

I just wanted to clarify the above comment so I'm not misunderstood: no, I have no sympathy for Hezbollah, or their cause. I think they're bloody idiots who have caused untold death and destruction, and now the loss of South Lebanon, for entirely ideological reasons, and for no practical purpose.

[oldandboring]

You write well and you mean well but what's actually hopeless is trying to use logic with the people who post these kinds of articles and crawl out to comment on them. They're never going to view these conflicts dispassionately, seek out or absorb objective facts or explanations that challenge their preconceptions. They're motivated by an animus toward Israel they nearly all seem to lack toward any other country, they hold Israel to a standard that no other country is actively held to, and yet their worst nightmare is being called antisemites.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

Thanks, but I posted the article above.

Also to be even more clear: while I recognise that Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorists I am not on the side of Israel, either. Israel is a militaristic, belligerent nation that seems to have convinced itself that the only answer to all its problems is to be in a constant state of war against all its neighbours. Prime Minister Netanyahu recently compared Israel's future to Sparta; I'm from Athens. And I'm a peacenick and an anti-nationalist on top of that. The ideology promulgated by Israel's ruling class is against everything I stand for, everything my history and my culture has taught me is sane, and reasonable, and productive.

Anyway when two people (or more, as the case may be) are fighting a war, the last thing that those who wish for peace must do is take a side. Taking a side can only encourage the belligerents to fight even more, because now they have supporters for their cause (safely, from a distance, without skin in the game, but supporters). Again, war is against everything I am for, and so I must stand against war and not on the side of anyone fighting a war.

As to being antisemitic or holding Israel to a special standard, we can talk about Iran, and Russia, and the US, and China, and Darfur, and Nigeria, and everything else that's rotten and makes me angry in the world right now if you want, but of course this discussion is about Israel's use of technology in its current campaign in Lebanon.

Sorry to disappoint you.