Olmert the Inept Blitzkrieger: How He Made Israel ‘Vincible’ Twice- The Many Kims of Arabia
Ehud the inept blitzkrieger:“Israel announces ceasefire in Gaza. Olmert says that Israel has achieved all her goals in Gaza.”
“Israeli troops to withdraw….”
“Palestinians in Gaza announce ceasefire a few hours later…”
So what was all that reckless killing and maiming of thousands of civilians about?
Hamas still rules, apparently the tunnels from Egypt are still working. Fatah has apparently abandoned the hope of riding into Gaza on top of Israeli tanks and Saudi money.
Ehud Olmert will go down in Israeli history as the leader who could not shoot straight. Correcetion: as the corrupt leader who could not invade straight. He invaded Lebanon in July 2006 only to destroy the myth of the invincible Israeli military. He did manage to form an at least tacit alliance with some ‘moderate’ Arab ruling families like Saudi Arabia's, an alliance based on a common regional threat and pushed by the Bush administration. The oligarchs looked the other way while they waited for Olmert and his military to do the job for them, to defang Hezbullah, which had provoked the onslaught, and to give the Iranian mullahs a black eye. Yet the Lebanon war ended with a largely Hezbullah victory: it now controls the political and military agenda in Lebanon. It is now a first among supposed ‘equals’ in that country. It is also reported to be better armed than ever.
Don’t get me wrong: the Israeli military is still quite invincible against the armies of the ruling Arab oligarchies, against the trillion dollar weapons systems, and all the attendant commissions and bribes paid to our princes and potentates. These are state of the art weapons systems that we know neither how to operate nor how to set up the command and control for. But then the official armies of the Arab oligarchies are only good at looking inward, at being ready to turn their guns on their own peoples if it comes to that: experience tells us that they are not structured to face an invasion.
But thanks to Olmert’s reckless policies, the Israeli military has proven quite ‘vincible’ against Hezbullah, and possibly against Hamas- it may be too early to assess the impact on Hamas itself. Extreme fundamentalist regimes like Hamas are no better at managing their territory and economies than the rest: sooner or later people turn against them if given the chance.
Ehud Olmert leaves office next month, one month after George W Bush, another leader that looks like a disaster for his country. Unfortunately for Israel, for the Middle East, and for Barack Obama, Israeli voters may be frustrated enough to turn to someone who is possibly worse: the extreme right-winger Benyamin Netanyahu. Derailing Netanyahu was probably one reason for this uselss assault and bloodbath in Gaza.
Kim, Kim, and Kim:
The Seattle Times reports that Kim Jong Il, honorable chubby first son of the late Kim Il Song, is preparing his younger son, Kim Jong Un to take his place if he ever dies. In Egypt Husni Mubarak is preparing his son Gamal (Jamal to the rest of Arabs) Mubarak to ascend the throne of Egypt. Gamal will most likely prepare his not-yet-born son XXX Mubarak to replace him after 40 years in power. Hafez al-Assad left the throne of Damascus to his son Bashar al-Assad and I don’t know the name of his son. Muammar Qaddafi seems to prefer his son Seif al-Islam Qadddafi who is making some noises about 'reforms', a sure sign of future family plans. Except that the elder Qaddafi probably believes that he will live forever. Whenever an Arab ruler's sons start talking of reform it is a sure sign that they want to take over some day and carry on with the same old, same old.
It is not necessary to go over the list of all the hereditary polygamous tribal monarchies: and I am not talking about belgium and Holland.
“Washington and Tel Aviv sign an agreement to stop the smuggling of arms into Gaza (from Egypt): the deal was signed by US secretary of state Condi Rice and Israel’s Tzipi Livni…” alquds alarabi, Alarabiya
So how does Egypt, whose territory is being discussed and agreed on, fit in here? That is where the tunnels are- the tunnels the weapons supposedly come through. Maybe he is still napping?
Cheers
mhg
m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com
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