The Swiss call this a "schnäggli"...

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

"We don't do body counts"

Haaretz: Army set to call up thousands of reservists; IAF planes pound Lebanon's main road link to Syria (21/07/2006)

GOC Northern Command Major General Udi Adam said Friday that Israel is at war and that human life is important, but now is not the time to count the dead.

The Northern Command believes that the fighting in the north will continue for several more weeks, with additional casualties and fatalities.

"We must change our way of thinking. Human life is important, but we are at war, and it costs human lives. We won't count the dead at present, only at the end. We'll cry for the dead and will encourage the fighters. There are more places like Meron A-Ras, and unfortunately we'll have to reach them."

It is rather clear that, in the "global war for hearts and minds", Israel and the US think they speak to exactly the same people, because they use the same rhetorical devices.

Nothing is 'mere'. — Richard P. Feynman

I like photojournalism so this unfortunately all in German is a very nice combination of Google (I think) map and narrated history - along one of the longest buildings in the world.

These pictures are equally interesting (about the comparative turbulence measurements of the the Airbus 350 and a Boeing.

Great pictures really, but clicking is so complicated...

I'm probably out of here for the rest of the day.  Hoping to get the diary on comparative advantage up either tomorrow or Sunday when I get to the hotel.  But, for now, it's packing time, then time with the old ball and chain, and, finally, off to Angle-land in the morning...

...so behave yourselves, because I'll be in the neighborhood on Sunday.

Miguel, I'll send you an email later tonight on meeting up in London.  My father and I are staying at the Travelodge on what appears to be the edge of the City.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

Interesting comment from the poet Adonis:

For Paris-based Syrian poet Adonis, only Lebanon can "prompt the development of a secular civilian society" in the Middle East. The Arab states "won't stop being 'theocracies', despite superficially conforming to democratic norms, simply because their power is 'naturally' rooted, and also because of how they view non-Muslims. In addition, if Israel's democracy were based on diversity and pluralism, this would contradict the exclusive self-understanding of the Jewish people, which sees itself as the chosen people, without diversity or pluralism. So in both human and cultural terms, a Lebanese democracy in this part of the world would be a radical and enduring transgression of the status quo, simply because it would be more open, richer, more persuasive and more enticing."

I've been surrounded by the Eurosceptic British press for too long. That snail with the EU flag instantly brought to mind some sort of snide comment about "EU bureaucrats in Brussels issuing diktats..." or something similar.

Condi Rice was just on the radio saying that what is going on in Lebanon is "just birthing pangs of a new Middle East" and she has no desire whatsoever for a ceasefire or diplomacy (because that would just return everything to the status quo.)

I'm going to vomit.

Help.  These people are monsters.  

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

The Stop the War Coalition is holding emergency demonstrations tomorrow (the 22nd) in major UK cities.

Nothing is 'mere'. — Richard P. Feynman

I went and checked what the refuseniks had to say about the situation in Lebanon...

• Oznik has links to items on Lebanon on the left margin, but its most prominent headline dates from April 18, and is about Gaza.
  
• Yesh Vgul's top three news items are about Lebanon.
  
• seruv's silence is deafening.
  
• New Profile has nothing since last month
  
• Refuser Solidarity Network also has no news since last month.

Yesh Vgul links to the following Haaretz story.
Haaretz: Fighting produces first conscientious objector (July 20, 2006)

The Lebanon 2006 war has produced its first conscientious objector - Staff Sergeant Itzik Shabbat, a 28-year-old TV producer. He refused to comply with an emergency order (Tsav 8) to report today for reserve duty in the territories in order to free forces in the standing army for the war in Lebanon.

Shabbat, a resident of Sderot, had not yet decided last night whether he would go to his reserve unit today and announce there that he was refusing to do reserve duty or whether he would not report at all and be considered absent.

"I know people will attack me and ask how could I not take part in this war when Qassams are falling on my hometown and Katyushas on the towns in the north," he told Haaretz. "In my opinion, only this type of opposition that I've chosen will put an end to the madness that is going on now and will shatter the false feeling that the entire home front supports this unnecessary war that is based on deceptive considerations."

There will also be a demonstration in Tel Aviv tomorrow against the war.

Nothing is 'mere'. — Richard P. Feynman

On the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, my favourite author - and actor -, is Uri Avnery, from Gush Shalom.
In the latest on-line number of from Current Concerns, updated yesterday, you can find several interesting pieces on this long war that shows the hypocrisy of our time, namely an interview by John Pilger. The interviewed person is a father of a victim of a suicide bomber, a man who did not forget other people's loss. He shares with us a very lucid and sensitive perspective. It is a beautiful testimony.

I had the pleasure to listen a very famous botanist. He used to travel throughout the world. One of its theories, one which we used to experiment in its person, was that a plant who has a powerful toxic in one part of its body, has an adequate antidote on a different organ. It is ironical that precisely the Jewish culture, who grew its amazing strength from the geopolitical weakness of its people, has given birth to the current statesman, who have no consideration to the political costs of starting unnecessary wars of aggression. The toxin appeared later.

As life and kindness must take priority, I leave you with the remembering and refreshing of the thoughts of Gen. Moshe Dayan of the Vietnam war, and the transposition of that analysis to the present Iraq war. A work done by Martin van Creveld. Incidentally, while I was looking for the web ref., I found Jérôme acknowledging this document, but I did not find a ref. to the actual document in ET.