UNSCR 1701: Munich, 2006

In 1938, Neville Chamberlain arrived in London waving a piece of paper upon which Herr Hitler had affixed his signature. Chamberlain, beaming, proclaimed "peace in our time." Within months, the Germans had taken all of Czeckoslovakia. Knowing England would not go to war to protect the Sudeteland or even all Czeckoslovakia, Hitler tried his luck with Poland. No reaction but diplomatic condemnation. Austria was soon annexed and within a year of the Munich pact, Germany invaded the low countries and was within striking distance of England.

Many tens of millions dead later we hail UN Security Council Resolution 1701 a diplomatic success because we have deluded ourselves into thinking that it has stopped a war . The international community has expressed its resolve to disarm Hiz'b'allah. But who will do it?

Not the USA! Condi Rice says:

I don't think there is an expectation that this force is going to physically disarm Hezbollah. I think it's a little bit of a misreading of how you disarm a militia. You have to have a plan, first of all, for the disarmament of a militia, and then the hope is that some people lay down their arms voluntarily. [my italics]

see also here.

and....

confirmation of how bad this "resolution" is:

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy made clear in an interview with Le Monde newspaper that the mission of the larger UNIFIL would not include disarming Hizbollah by force: "We never thought a purely military solution could resolve the problem of Hizbollah," he said. "We are agreed on the goal, the disarmament, but for us the means are purely political. [my emphasis]

So Hiz'b'allah will not be disarmed. Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

RAFSANJANI SAYS MUSLIMS SHOULD USE NUCLEAR WEAPON AGAINST ISRAEL [December 14, 2001]

also here.

Denial is a river in Iran too!

IRAN DENIES WILLING TO NUKE DOWN ISRAEL [December 30, 2001]

And now, presenting, the madman pursuing [oops! allegedly pursuing nukes!] nukes, communicating with the dead:

Last Monday, just before he announced that Iran had gatecrashed "the nuclear club", President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disappeared for several hours. He was having a khalvat (tête-à-tête) with the Hidden Imam, the 12th and last of the imams of Shiism who went into "grand occultation" in 941. -Amir Taheri, April 16, 2006 in the Telegraph.

1701

Open letter by Dan Goorevitch at Overful to Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs here hits all the right notes on the diplomatic piano. See my next post for its utter futility at avoiding war. Here's the big bell:

How can non-state actors who use violence to either destroy fellow states or coerce their policies be stopped if the nations in which they operate can not be held responsible? Lebanon, and all nations, have to be held responsible and accountable for every act, no matter by whom, that is initiated from within its borders. What otherwise is the meaning of national sovereignty but the right to make law, balanced by the responsibility not to harm others outside its jurisdiction? It is this contract that lies at the heart of the nation state and why it works.

That's right! A state has a border and within that border it has laws. We respect their national borders and they respect ours. That's how it works. Then we cooperate and help each other against common threats. Lebanon was let off the hook at the UN when UNSCR 1701 was passed.