Revenge will be served ... cold.
Justice...colder.
Murder
Israel has assassinated Hezbollah’s leader Nasrallah and his wife in an attack on their underground bunker in a residential area in Beirut, with more than 80 bombs, including huge American “bunker busters” dropped over a few minutes. A lot of tonnage to kill just a couple of people.
Of course, there was a lot of collateral damage, too.
The Israelis don’t care. If you are not Israeli, you are ot human.
This week alone, Nasrallah's murder aside, air strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon have killed nearly 800 people, mostly civilians.
As predicted, the war is heating up. Israel is giving the finger to the world.
But are they winning?
The death of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike has dramatically weakened a key Iranian deterrent against its archenemy, Israel.
Iran has long sought to have the proxies it supports in the region — including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and forces in Syria, Yemen and Iraq — serve as the front line in its long-running fight with Israel. But if its most important military asset, Hezbollah, has been decimated, it may have no choice but to respond, experts said Saturday.
Notice the use of the word “proxies” and the idea that the death of a single leader would derail the popular movement from which he came.
NYT’s idea is that Iran has been running the show through “assets” (i.e “operatives”) and that Nasrallah was one.
In fact, while Hezbollah and Iran’s interests often coincide, Hezbollah is a popular, resistance movement, created by the Israeli occupation of Lebanon in 1982. It is first and foremost nationalist.
Who are these NYT “experts”anyway? The interns who fetch coffee for the writers?
My “expert” is Ichi. Who makes a lot more sense.
In any case, Iran didn’t create Hezbollah. Israeli atrocities did.
One wonders why the NYT cannot do a little research. But I guess facts and history, and so on would interfere with the narrative. The Word, as revealed by AIPAC.
Hezbollah is nominally Shi’a as Iran is also. But they are not allied by Islam—rather by national interests which are threatened by the US and Israel in their neverending drive to dominate
These national interests are uniting Islamic groups once considered irreconcilable.
As Alastair Cooke has noted, when Hamas launched its October 7th attack it was named Al-Aqsa Flood after the Al Aqsa holy site in Jerusalem—sacred to all Muslims.
Now you have the Shia shaking hands with Saudi Wahabis. Hamas is Sunni Muslim (and Christian) . There are still divisions in the Arab world. But Arabs realize that they must join together and fight regardless of differences in religion. Because to Americans and Israelis, Arabs are not fully human—untermenschen.
Losing a leader
In the West, losing a “Leader” usually means losing your way. That is because Western hierarchies are based on individual dominance. “Personal hegemony” if you like. Biden can no longer do his job. So you have that political Bimbo Kamala. Dumb and Dumber. Organizational hierarchy has advantages some times. Hezbollah, however, is not organized that way.
Hezbollah is heterarchical . As all resistance organizations must be.
People like Nasrallah must always assume they may suddenly be martyred— so they distribute authority and responsibility and make sure there are competent people ready to step in. The concept is called “heterarchy” and I deal with it in my Special Article Part 3. It is among other things the key to success in organizations as different as Toyota and the (formerly) the Viet Cong.
Yes, the Vietnam lost and lost and lost — but won in the end.
There will be no change in policy for Hezbollah. No pause in its operations. Just more zeal. Hezbollah will want both revenge and justice. They have no shortage of leaders. Nor a shortage of martyrs.
Nasrallah has left a legacy.
The symbol is gone, the legend is born, and the resistance continues Sleiman Frangieh, leader of Lebanon's Christian political party Marada
Iran, in the meantime, will not immediately “respond” militarily — except to provide Hezbollah with the weapons it needs. The war with Lebanon must heat up.
The Israelis will escalate. More than 80 bombs to kill one man and his wife? It will get worse before it gets better. A land offensive is likely.
Just in time to kill Kamala’s election chances.
Birthday!
Ok, I am officially old.
The Real Me.
On a serious notes….
I was going to write an analysis of Putin’s new Nuclear Doctrine - or rather his comments on a projected revision of Russian nuclear policy— which has been misread even by many experienced analysts.
At the same time, I am working on Part 3 and concepts of democracy and their effects on the US in 2025.
But I got sidelined by Nasrallah’s death.
To Allah we belong and to Him we return. Quran 2.1565
All deaths must be mourned. So many in this war. I mourn the children most.
Thanks to all my coffee buyers. I will be take time tomorrow to respond to your many messages.
Of course,please buy Ichi, Chappy and me coffees! Click here!
"As predicted, the war is heating up. Israel is giving the finger to the world".
Ever since last October, I have believed that in launching Al-Aqsa Flood Hamas showed immense moral courage. By baiting "Israel", they challenged them to do their worst - knowing full well how horrible that "worst" would be. They deliberately sacrificed their comrades, women and children to the full fury of "Israel"'s malice, knowing how many of them would die.
By doing so, they forced "Israel" to give the whole world the finger - to admit, even boast, that they feel no moral constraints or compunction when dealing with Gentiles. In the last year, the rest of the world has been forced to look on at a continual series of "Israeli" atrocities and justifications. It's gradually getting harder to sit on the fence or pretend ignorance.
The alternative was to go on waiting passively until the "Israelis" either killed every last Palestinian or drove the survivors far away - where they would lose the right to call themselves Palestinian.
Happy birthday. I tried to buy you a meal. However, my employer blocks that website. Will get you a meal, once I have been home.