Israel continues the shelling of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. For three soldiers. Shelling is a misnomer; let me restate that:

Israel continues its grossly disproportionate blood bath by an equally machismo war machine.

There is certainly no justification for this incursion. I’ve been wondering what has made Israel come to this, to nearly destroy Lebanon. They’ve done a decent job of destroying Palestine, and I think their military is loving this raucous display of their brute force. And the question remains, are these actions actually helping secure the Israeli soldiers? Or the Israeli people?

Its quite clear that these actions are not. Israel has taken this as an opportunity to clean out Hezbollah. But haven’t they learned that taking out a guerrilla force cannot be done with ultra modern tanks and other brute elements of statecraft?

200 Lebanese dead. 24 Israeli dead. Everytime another Israeli citizen dies, it makes its way into the news. 200 Lebanese have died, and I only hear that solitary statistic, occasionally updated, but nonetheless, the lives of the Lebanese are not worthy enough to be individualized, personalized.

Don’t forget, though, if you get really mad about it and want to curse about it, you may be caught on tape and broadcast to the rest of the world. Especially if you’re, well, at some important meeting and talking to some equally important person. But then again, if you’re someone who is a habitual expletive producer, then no camera will likely stop you.

In other news, there has not been a single documented case of a Hindu attacking a Muslim in Bombay after the bomb blasts last week. Everyone was thinking about it, about where it would start, where shops would first close down and curfews first enforced. Tensions exist, no doubt, and the police is taking up anyone with a beard and a cap. But the worst hasn’t happened, and I hope it stays this way.

Posted by Vivek on Tuesday, July 18th, 2006 at 1:15 am.