I doupt any of those having their closest killed or homes destroyed in this latest campaing understand Israelis motives…

…as a Israelian, do you understand Hezbollahs motives??

As an Israeli I can’t understand Hizballah’s motives, because they’re wrong. Some Lebanese, mostly in exile, also understand that they’re wrong.

Believe it or not, Gollevainen, but not every Lebanese thinks that Hizballah is the Arab’s world’s shining knight. Many understand that it was Hizballah who brought over their country a conflict which had nothing to do with them.

It depends which ordinary Lebanese you’re asking. Ask the Shi’a in the south, they’ll tell you that Hizballah makes them feel safe. Ask the Christians in Beirut, they’ll tell you that Hizballah is what makes them unsafe.

Neither of them wants Israel to attack Lebanon, but at least some of them can understand Israel’s motives.

I would personally feel much safer if the West would have equipped and trained the Lebanese army, and make it worthy of its name. Instead of sending troops here, the West (and especially France) should have given the Lebanese weapons and send some of their officers to get some real trainings in Europe. Then they could have dealt with Hizballah.

As the current U.N. force in Lebanon did nothing to prevent Hezbollah from occupying and fortifying the southern Lebanon boarder with Israel as a base for mounting attacks against Israel ( in some cases even providing cover for Hezbollah attacks), How long will it take Hezbollah to rearm and repair under the protection of the new U.N. force which is currently being assembled?

Sauron

I say that unless Hizballah will be disarmed, which it won’t, it will take about 2-3 years for it to return to the capablity it had prior to the war. Last time it took 6 years for it before it gained all the power it had, and now Israel eliminated around 40-50% of its arsenal.

I think it’s possible that by the next time, Hizballah will enjoy the direct and open support of Iran. The fate of Lebanon itself is at risk now – if they’ll allow the extremist muslim threat to grow inside what is otherwise a moderate, weak Arab state, it won’t take long for the Shi’a (who are already the largest religious group) to completely take over the country and make it Iran II.

No doubt. That certainly strikes as a scary image.

I was in Auschwitz-Birkenau on monday. A hell on earth, a very scary place.
Other than the “control tower”, this is a picture I took of another (in)famous place from there:

“Arbeit Macht Frei”.

What sort of helicopter anyone?

A CH-53.

Human beings will soon stop burning fossil fuels, but not because it harms the enviorment, but because we are fast running out of oil – which makes the development and use of renewable energy sources economically worth it. Most human beings only care about enviormental issues when it hurts their pockets.

Some of the damage done to the world will continue to effect it for generations to come. For example, some of the CFCs who ruin the earth’s Ozone will be active for the next 500-800 years.

But most of the damage can be repaired within a generation or two – it depends only on the amount of attention that the subject will get by people and governments.

Maybe a fuel tank jettisoned from some aircraft?