Creating a climate of fear

They should be able to push through terrorist laws, abridging civil rights, quite easily now, right?
Ruling by fear, we have entered a new era.

Suspected terrorists were planning to unleash a wave of "apocalyptic" attacks on land and air, using an arsenal of bombs and weaponry, including firearms, investigators have discovered.

Police and intelligence sources have indicated that the alleged plot which was thwarted last week was targeted at the UK, as well as at airliners heading for the US, and could have caused devastating loss of life and destruction on the British mainland. One Whitehall source said "many dozens" of plots were under investigation, involving "hundreds" of suspects.

According to one report last night, al-Qa'ida's leader in Britain could have been held in the raids. But security sources estimate that as many as 1,200 people here are actively involved with terrorism, and that the country is still under "very severe" threat from other potential terrorist plots. This, they added, explained why there were no immediate plans to lower the current national threat assessment from "critical", its highest level.

Source

Ceasefire??? I have your ceasefire

right here:

Despite UN agreement on ceasefire, 30,000 troops are now operating inside Lebanon

Israel was in the midst of an expanded air and ground military campaign inside Lebanon yesterday despite international agreement on a UN resolution calling for an "immediate" halt to a month of hostilities by both sides.

In the largest operation of its kind since the Yom Kippur war in 1973, the Israelis used up to 50 helicopters to land hundreds of troops deep inside southern Lebanon before dawn as part of the intensified ground offensive ordered by the Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, hours before Friday's UN vote.
Source

Aung San Suu Kyi

We always say, the non-violent way is the best.
We get all choked up at the very mention of Ghandi's name.
And yet... Aung San Suu Kyi is still locked up.
Eleven years of her life, locked up.

If we stand behind non-violent protest,
If we want this instead of killing,
Why are we not standing up and roaring, in one voice???
Why is she still imprisoned in her own home???
Why is she not free yet???

We speak with two faces.
Free Aung San Suu Kyi NOW!

Burma's military regime warned the world's most famous political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi that her days "are numbered" and she is "heading for a tragic end."

The junta said Suu Kyi, 61, was in "her final days," and guilty of "betraying the national cause while relying on aliens," including the United States, Britain and the European Union.

Suu Kyi remains under house arrest inside her two-story villa in the city of Rangoon, where she has languished for more than 10 of the past 16 years.

Describing the conditions under which she would be freed, the military government said "the restrictions imposed on her will be lifted on the day" when Suu Kyi stops demanding democracy.

"The restrictions will never be lifted until she abandons her practice of the liberal policy," it said, indicating a possible future renewal of her house arrest, which was extended in May for another year.

Quotes source


It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. - Aung San Suu Kyi - Freedom from Fear speech

This is unforgivable

and it's one of many such incidents.
Incident... actually, a very strange and cynical name to give to such a deadly event.

In one of the most dramatic development in the fighting Friday, an Israeli unmanned plane fired at the convoy, which included a 350 joint Lebanese army and police force as well as 500 civilian cars. They left Marjayoun after hours of U.N. mediated negotiations which succeeding in receiving Israeli assurances for the convoy's safety.

The attack came as the convoy was en route from Jib Jannin to Kefraya in the south of the Bekaa valley, security officials said. They said most of the casualties were civilians.

"The Israeli forces had been told in advance of the convoy's passage, and had given it the green light," UNIFIL spokesman Milos Strugar said.
Source

I dont have high hopes for the cease fire.
I think Israel will keep going for a while, they will ignore this and the next one or two resolutions.

This entire war is unforgivable. It should never have happened.
The worst thing about it, is that there will be no consequences for this wanton destruction and indiscriminate loss of life.
Not on either side, though as I've said before, Israel bears the brunt of the responsibility here.
All this death and destruction was completely by choice, not from necessity.

Beirut

Before and after.
This picture was headline in one of our major newspapers today.
This is criminal!!

Understand, I dont condone Hezbollah firing off their wildly inaccurate rockets into built up civilian areas even though I do realise this is almost the only card they have to play... A crime is a crime is a crime whether you are a state or a terrorist/resistance organisation. In fact, being a state makes it worse.

Qana

There is nothing to be said in the face of such an atrocity, that does not sound flip.
I am sick to my stomach.

Bush wont condemn.
Blair wont condemn.
The EU wont condemn with one voice.

IDF says cease fire and commences with a renewed push into Lebanon.
Bombs a few trucks, blows up some more of the Lebanese army.
Strange cease fire.

There is simply no excuse for this.