It's Been a While... But Nothing's Changed.

No Rockford or Columbo this afternoon, so spending a few hours with Sky News and the laptop:

Heavy memories of watching the live feed as the Americans started bombing Baghdad three years ago. The waves of anger as reporters who although given a few minutes in a studio can tow the line, on the ground can hardly contain their disgust at the wanton destruction in Lebanon. And the sadness of eye-witnesses trapped in villages, politely asking for the bombing to stop. Entire blocks of civilian high-rises destroyed as politicians avoid giving anything which anywhere near answers the question 'why?', and evacuees at Heathrow denouncing the media reports...

And the silence of Blair and Bush, who are often so ready to claim the high-ground, as they realise that they have nowhere to squirm to. They have no moral or believable position. Tight-lipped bombers together.

And these sudden bursts of imperial violence are not 'surprising' at all. Hezbollah are manipulative scumbags but this tottaly un-balanced reaction betrays Israel's unpleasant links to the western 'democracies' Under the cover of rescuing three soldiers they do a terrible injustice to the many generations of oppressed Jews that they claim to represent.