Category Archives: War Commentary

Being Killed By False Guilt

Shelby Steele has an important essay on the false consciousness of the left, and Europe:

The West is stymied by this extremism because it is used to enemies that want to live. In Vietnam, America fought one whose communism was driven by an underlying nationalism, the desire to live free of the West. Whatever one may think of this, here was an enemy that truly wanted to live, that insisted on territory and sovereignty. But Osama bin Laden fights only to achieve a death that will enshrine him as a figure of awe. The gift he wants to leave his people is not freedom or even justice; it is consolation.

White guilt in the West–especially in Europe and on the American left–confuses all this by seeing Islamic extremism as a response to oppression. The West is so terrified of being charged with its old sins of racism, imperialism and colonialism that it makes oppression an automatic prism on the non-Western world, a politeness. But Islamic extremists don’t hate the West because they are oppressed by it. They hate it precisely because the end of oppression and colonialism–not their continuance–forced the Muslim world to compete with the West. Less oppression, not more, opened this world to the sense of defeat that turned into extremism.

But the international left is in its own contest with American exceptionalism. It keeps charging Israel and America with oppression hoping to mute American power. And this works in today’s world because the oppression script is so familiar and because American power cringes when labeled with sins of the white Western past. Yet whenever the left does this, it makes room for extremism by lending legitimacy to its claim of oppression. And Israel can never use its military fire power without being labeled an oppressor–which brings legitimacy to the enemies she fights. Israel roars; much of Europe supports Hezbollah.

Fortunately, at least in England, the left may be finally waking up to reality:

It is amazing how a few by-election shocks and some madmen with explosive backpacks can concentrate the mind. At any rate, British citizens, black and white, can move onwards together

Israel’s Tet Offensive?

In an interesting analysis, Dan Gordon writes that Hizbollah lost, and Israel won, except in the press:

What they failed to gain militarily they accomplished through the manipulation of the Western Media, which were their willing dupes and through the ineptitude and weakness, if not down right appeasement of the political leadership of the International community. This has all but guaranteed that this war will be but round one.

As a result, it only delayed the ultimate war, it didn’t end it.

[Monday morning update]

I’ve had to close comments on this post. For some weird reason, it was really attracting spam–I got over two hundred yesterday, and they were continuing to hit me this morning. If you want to comment, go here. Hopefully the male enhancement hawkers won’t follow us there.

Israel’s Tet Offensive?

In an interesting analysis, Dan Gordon writes that Hizbollah lost, and Israel won, except in the press:

What they failed to gain militarily they accomplished through the manipulation of the Western Media, which were their willing dupes and through the ineptitude and weakness, if not down right appeasement of the political leadership of the International community. This has all but guaranteed that this war will be but round one.

As a result, it only delayed the ultimate war, it didn’t end it.

[Monday morning update]

I’ve had to close comments on this post. For some weird reason, it was really attracting spam–I got over two hundred yesterday, and they were continuing to hit me this morning. If you want to comment, go here. Hopefully the male enhancement hawkers won’t follow us there.

Israel’s Tet Offensive?

In an interesting analysis, Dan Gordon writes that Hizbollah lost, and Israel won, except in the press:

What they failed to gain militarily they accomplished through the manipulation of the Western Media, which were their willing dupes and through the ineptitude and weakness, if not down right appeasement of the political leadership of the International community. This has all but guaranteed that this war will be but round one.

As a result, it only delayed the ultimate war, it didn’t end it.

[Monday morning update]

I’ve had to close comments on this post. For some weird reason, it was really attracting spam–I got over two hundred yesterday, and they were continuing to hit me this morning. If you want to comment, go here. Hopefully the male enhancement hawkers won’t follow us there.

Time For New NGOs

To paraphrase Golda Meir, so-called human rights organizations will be useful when they learn to love human rights more than they hate the US and Israel. Or to paraphrase someone else–they’re not in favor of human rights, they’re just on the other side.

We need to either reform them (unlikely–it would require a housecleaning so thorough there would be little left) or form some new ones that could be more credible.

Idle Question

Given that some of the nations who have offered troops for the farce that is a ceasefire in Lebanon don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist (e.g., Malaysia and Indonesia), and the UN itself doesn’t seem to have a problem with this, what would they say at Turtle Bay if Iran offered up “peacekeeping troops” in south Lebanon? Since they don’t formally recognize Iran’s role in the war, how would they refuse? For that matter, why wouldn’t they accept an offer from Syria to help “police” its border with Lebanon?