For the sake of accuracy, the translation should be, "Continued Condemnation of Israeli Aggression Against Lebanon and Palestine".

Those search engine translators must be in league with Rice or Bolton!

Translation is me own mate, and I'd still go with criticism and hostilities.

OK, it's yours, take it or leave it.
I just think the demonstrators wouldn't be happy to know they were out in force only to "criticize" Israel!

I don't give a flying fuck what half-literate demonstrators speaking in another language might prefer. Criticise came to mind in a quick rendition and is perfectly accurate. Strongly criticise or denounce (or condemn) might be better, but translation is art, not mechanics, and I'm not inclined make the headline longer than necessary - and me personal prefernce in this case wins.

Regarding poodleness and servility, I'd love to see a transcript from a converstation between Ehud and George.

ﻳﺴﻗﻄ ﺬﻻﻭﻨﺯﺑﺮﻱ !

Translation (with artistic freedom): Viva The Lounsbury!

Reversingn the Arabic like that wasn't part of the art!

Ash 3ndk mouchkil qaouid?

Anyone have any sense what it would mean, in practical terms, for the Lebanese army to get involved? BTW, Josh Landis has an overview of the will-they/won't-they argument about such a move.

Louns - I must say thia was funny; now you do sound like one of them fortress diplos. I know you're so fucking vain and there is just no way you're going to change the stupid translation! Fine with me; I guess the comical relief of the exchange is worth it.

BTW, why does the antispam thing alway has the same fucking picture?

Tom

One would suspect not much.

Oryx: are you still whinging on about the triviality of denounce versus criticise? Comic relief is in your bloody hair splitting, not my disinclination to wet my pants. Now fuck off or say something of actual substance stupid git.

ya tom,

as it stands right now (middle of the day, saturday, 22 july), if the i.d.f. is launching a major ground offensive into lebanon then there will be lebanese army units who will be engaging them. some might coordinate with HA units, there might even be "combined forces".

so far, the lebanese army seems to not have done much. (those israeli assertions that the leb army's radar posts on the coast have helped HA to hit that i.d.f. vessel look more like an excuse to take them all out -- certainly the radar post in tripoli doesn't even reach to beirut, off whose shores the vessel was it.) the army doesn't have the equipment to defend the country against the israeli (or anyone else's) airforce.

once israeli boots are on lebanese soil, however, the situation changes. the army (read: the gov't) would not be able to explain why it doesn't fight the invaders when the HA does. and nor will they even want to NOT fight in that situation.

also, at this point, the make-up of the army is very skewed: the majority of officers are christian and druze, whereas the majority of the troops are shi'ites. there have been attempts to recruit christian troops in the north and to create special educational incentives for shi'ite troops and subalterns, but they haven't been run long enough to effect a shift.

THUS, should israel launch a ground offensive (or shoudl i say "when it does"?) ... commanding the army to NOT fight them might actually result in the desertion of a lot of regular soldiers from the army - only this time not to avoid fighting, but to JOIN the fight.

units of the lebanese army fighting the israeli invaders will not, however, make a difference in the political/international sphere. and i im not even sure if israel would extend its bombing campaign to all army barracks and the h.q. and such. the lebanese army would, in any case, only fight the i.d.f. on lebanese soil, and not lob shells and/or rockets onto israel. even if it would like to do so -> it doesn't have the means.

i hope this somewhat answers your question.

--raf*

ps: about the anti-spam pic -- the point is that it takes a human to recognize what is pictured and then type in the password, thus barring automated comments a la "24/7 poker" & the like.

Raf: I'm also wondering how effective the Leb army is likely to be - how many of them are kids serving their required military service vs. how many of them are actual trained professionals, and so forth. Globalsecurity.org's Lebanon army page is not very helpful, nor is the wikipedia entry. Maybe someone who can translate militarese into English can tell me if this list of equipment means "potentially dangerous" or "likely to hold up as long as wet tissue paper in case of contact with Israeli ground forces".

You want delusional American rhetoric? Last night on CNN I heard some idiots (including one former deputy undersecretary) talk about how Hezbollah had links with Al Qaeda and they were part of the global axis of terror, and then some Israeli policy "experts" chimed in about how this was a war between Judeo-Christian civilization and fanatical Islam. Then some administration type started to talk about how the Lebanese government was a fragile democracy that must be helped against the terrorists on its soil who wanted to weaken it (yeah, apply the Iraq frame here, the Middle East is all the same, innit).

raf – The two most likely scenarios floated by the media now include either lightening incursions in the South and Bekaa (and possibly other areas) to destroy specific targets then withdrawing a.s.a.p; or a sweep of the south all the way up to the Litani (per the 1978 invasion) to clear the area of HA fighters and stay there till a UN-patrolled security zone is established (to be replaced later by Lebanese army units as part of a complete package deal to sort out all outstanding issues).

The firs scenario would most likely avoid hitting the army (assuming it hasn’t disintegrated and shifted loyalty to HA). The Litani option by default won’t involve much of a confrontation with the army either. If I’m not mistaken there is not much army presence south of the Litani; and given the destroyed road and bridges (an Israeli air superiority) the army would find it impossible to deploy to the South to confront the Israeli invasion.

On a different point, a closing of ranks of sort seems to be happening among Lebanese political elite, avoiding the criticism of HA, emphasizing the need for national unity and blaming Israel squarely for the war. I just watched Hariri Jr. in Paris talking about Israel’s occupation of Shebaa farms and the Lebanese prisoners it holds and describing Israel’s war as barbaric. Many of the MPS and intellectuals hosted around the clock on the LBC, NTV and other TV stations seem to echo the same line.

Another interesting development is that some of these voices (including Hariri’s) are now asking or appealing to HA to hand in the 2 captured soldiers to the Lebanese government. It’s hitting 2 birds with one stone; give the very weak Siniora government a card to start an acceptable and legitimate negotiating process over a prisoners exchange (probably as part of the big package deal); and find a face-saving formula for HA out of the bind they unwittingly created for themselves (and everybody else). Whether HA would actually agree to this is another story; but given the mounting pressure on them and the priority of closing ranks, they may just yield (and hope that at least the government would get the prisoners back).

I’m no astrologer, but I think a Litani operation seems the more likely course of events. But war, like a black hole, has its own logic, and so any thing can happen.

p.s. as for the anti-spam, I was just thinking of word verification where the letters change constantly whereas in this case it’s the same pic.

Sorry CL, the last hope of mutual understanding behind slithering Leb Pop Tart hip movements has vanished...they bombed LBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5206110.stm
"Israeli planes hit at least two communications and TV transmission towers - one in the Kesrwan mountains, east of Beirut, and in Terbol in northern Lebanon.

The strike disrupted broadcasts for Hezbollah's Al-Manar television and the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.

An Israeli military spokesman said the television and mobile phone networks were being used to spread the militant group's propaganda."

They also bombed Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera TV crews few hours ago on their way from the South to Hasbiya. Nobody was hurt but they had to flee, leave vehicles and equipment behind and take cover in orchards; later they were picked by the Red Cross. LBC is back on on Nilesat , but Al Manar is still out.

Israel is so good with media.

ok, there is this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5207478.stm

UN says destruction is horrible.

Then there is this:

...Walking and driving around the streets, I noticed a peculiar trait of Beirut: it’s not always possible to tell the difference between the old war damage and the new. Beirut is ramshackle and delightfully dilapidated in some parts — mostly the poor Shi’a parts, which are also the main target areas. Sometimes you realize that a balcony that appears freshly shorn off actually collapsed in the 1980s.

http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/2006/07/

article: In search of Beirut.

So, is the UN inspector misinterpreting the damage? Can't say.