Not much sooner did I set up my link to Michael Bérubé’s blog did I test it this morning to find that he’d plugged my earlier post about anti-semitism in some anti-war demonstrations. Can’t be sure, but I may have left him with the impression that I’m a British citizen.
Be that it may, he acknowledges my points and those of others, but also raises some interesting points about the difficulties of mainstream liberals who express criticism of Israel and some other engaging thoughts about the conflict, including the following points:
But there are two things I’d like to add. The first is that I did not expect Hezbollah’s resistance to be quite so . . . resilient. I thought this would be a political disaster for the region and a humanitarian disaster for Lebanon, but I did not imagine that it would also be a strategic disaster for Israel.The second is that I was probably wrong to say that there is no braking system in place. In one sense that’s true, because the U.S. has clearly green-lighted the “kill them all” option, and the wingnuts have begun to debate whether we made a mistake in not killing enough Sunni men between 15 and 35 in the course of our noble quest to liberate Iraq. A bunch of dead children, bombed in their sleep, and our government can’t even demand a cease-fire. (But let’s not overlook Condi Rice’s very first diplomatic triumph: getting Israel to announce a 48-hour suspension of air strikes. Oops, wait a sec . . . It turns out that “despite Israel’s announcement of 48-hour suspension of aerial strikes, bombs continued to fall across Lebanon, albeit at a slower pace and at more limited targets than earlier in the offensive.” Well, Secretary Rice, congratulations on that much.)
It’s his first post on the topic since the war broke out. He crammed a lot into one post (and you thought I was long winded), but it’s a worthwhile read.
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July 31, 2006 at 9:26 pm
Michael Bérubé
Oh, I knew you weren’t a Brit. I figure, from your prose style, that you live somewhere around . . . hmmm . . . lemme see . . . Redway, California?
Anyway, thanks for your kind words about my blog the other day. Someone on the DemLeft listserv told me last week about your post on the London rally, and since I’d just gotten over the foul stench emanating from Lenin’s Tomb, I was mightily impressed — by that post, and by the rest of the blog. Keep up the fine work!
July 31, 2006 at 10:41 pm
Eric V. Kirk
Thanx! I didn’t know you were on the Democratic Left list. That’s quite a list – Marc Cooper, Mitch Cohen, Maurice Isserman…
For anybody interested, it’s a Yahoo Group named “Democratic Left.” Some great discussions.
August 1, 2006 at 2:31 am
Anonymous
Congratulations on receiving such high praise. You deserve it.
August 1, 2006 at 2:46 am
Anonymous
in case you havent noticed, nobody bothers with ‘sunday night news’ because there is no news, no comments, no nothing besides michael smiths outdated and sporadic rambling.
August 1, 2006 at 2:47 am
Anonymous
so why do you list it as a local blog when the vicious little cobbite moved to oregon to leech off of their welfare system like he did here?
August 1, 2006 at 5:22 am
Anonymous
Eric your blasting of the US and Condy Rice is starting to sound like ……. “sour grapes”. After all GW won so you can’t say anything bad about him and the way he runs things right ?? At least that’s the way it’s supposed to go in HC, as least according to the guy everyone calls Dick/Richard/Dickard.
August 1, 2006 at 6:13 am
Eric V. Kirk
You keep bringing this up. I assume you’re talking about something Salzman said. Somehow I doubt that he said that any criticism of Gallegos is sour grapes, but if that’s what he said I disagree.
August 1, 2006 at 6:35 am
Anonymous
Blogs are dying in HC. How sad.
August 1, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Fred
Just a suggestion, to make for easier reading of your blog:
When you quote someone, use italics for the quote. That makes it easier to discern between what you’re saying and what they said (or wrote).
Also, where you wrote, “including the following points.”, I’d use a colon after “points” to show something follows.
I’m no expert in writing and don’t know if that’s “by the book”, but it makes easier reading for me.
August 1, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Eric V. Kirk
Thanx Fred, although I thought the blockquote indentation would be a tip-off.
anon 1135 – Well, don’t hide your brilliance under a bushel. Show us how it’s done. Perhaps the rest of us will emulate your example.