Lebanese civilians pitiful. Hezbollah bad for invading Israel. Israel bad for using disproportionate force. Is this all there is to be said?

First of all, a thank you to Wei Kit for suggesting that the ongoing Middle East crisis be discussed in class. Amidst all my preoccupation with essay skills, making sure that you will have done enough in-class assignments, and will have discussed a few important aspects of politics, it had not occurred to me that such a discussion on current affairs, terrorism and war might serve as an apposite conclusion to the topic of government and politics.

The title above echoes Robinson's caricature of what he feels is Bush's simplistic worldview. In his article "It's Disproportionate..." he argues that Israel's retaliatory actions against Hezbollah aggression is grossly disproportionate to the injury suffered, and that such unrestrained military action especially in its injury to civilians will only be counterproductive in a war against terrorism and mistaken as a means towards long-term peace in the Middle East. Taking an opposite stand is Cohen who argues that a proportionate response is madness, if we truly understand the history of the region and the precarious situation that Israel is in--a small state surrounded by neighbours who have always maintained in no uncertain terms that they want to see Israel destroyed; a state which has no choice but to demonstrate her superior military strength as the one effective deterrent against would-be aggressors. So, who's correct? Can the unrelenting Israeli strikes against the Hizbollah in Lebanon be justified?

To answer that question, we perhaps still need to understand more of the complexity of the situation. I found this article on the local, intra-Muslim politics in and between Lebanon, Syria and Iran most informative. But lest we then are led to think that this is mainly "local politics", this article reminds or shows us how the Middle East crisis is our crisis too.

Given the escalating gravity and the grimness of the ongoing crisis--and the fact that no lasting Middle East peace solution seems to be in clear sight, could we be headed towards World War III? Read this one to find out why we may be safe... for now at least.

WARNING: This page and another contain some gory pictures but I think it's fascinating and illuminating investigative work by two bloggers as they scrutinise some rather suspicious pieces of photo journalism.

Here are some other useful and interesting sites from Wei Kit:
1. The special report by CNN
2. Timeline
3. Qana article

4. From the AP: a slideshow about the start of the crisis; and an interactive info sheet about the struggle for peace in the middle east, giving a larger picture and not just the current crisis.