In a recent speech Sheikh Nasrallah dedicated the swap with Israel to Lebanon. Many things can be said about Hizballah, but they surely know how to spin almost everything in their favor.
Hizballah claims that Israel is frail. Perhaps. However, in spite of its more recent victories, real or imaginated Hizballah is not the way it used to be, say, in mid 90s early 2000. Hizballah started as a militia, and it went on to be active on the socio-political stage. It did very well, and many hoped that in time, Hizbalah will abandon its military wing. Wishful thinking. In 2000 they had their biggest victory [again debatable, but technically Hizballah could claim it won] and they did not know how to use the moment to withdraw from the military career, in full glory. Or maybe they knew and simply ignored it. A while ago when they took the Sunni streets of Beirut Hizballah proved yet again that is a powerful militia full stop. Now that the negotiations with Israel ended, Hizballah tries to score some points politically too. The party needs reconcialition as much as the others need it. That won't be easy. That is why Sheikh Nasrallah wants to use the return of the prisoners as a unity moment. I can understand the political considerations behind it, but from a human point of view celebrating Samir Kuntar can only be one of the most shameful moments ever. If you don't know who Kuntar is and what his “glorious” actions were, just google him.
Meanwhile the negotiations over the new government continue, and President Suleiman thanked Qatar for giving him a helicopter. Question: did the Lebanese search it for bugs?
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
