From the Jerusalem Post:
Following intense US pressure, the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday issued an unprecedented condemnation of Monday’s Hizbullah attacks on northern Israel.
This condemnation – slamming Hizbullah by name for “acts of hatred” – marked the first time the Security Council has ever reprimanded Hizbullah for cross-border attacks on Israel. The condemnation followed by two days a failed attempt to get a condemnation issued on Monday, the day of the attack, when Algeria came out against any mention of Hizbullah in the statement.
When asked what changed from Monday to Wednesday, one diplomatic official replied: “John Bolton,” a reference to the US ambassador to the UN. Bolton lobbied vigorously for the passage of the statement.
Bolton, eh? The arrogant bastard—presumptuously blurring those carefully-drawn lines of international identity politics that for years have given the noble savages who exist in the minds of progressives, Arabists, and transnationalists the benefit of the doubt for aggression against the wicked and oppressive Jewish state.
Can’t he just leave well-enough alone? After all, crises in the middle east require lots and lots of diplomats…
Reached for comment, Secretary Bolton’s straight-talking mustache, “Regis,” took a belt of scotch and snorted. “Feh. Ain’t nothing Sinatra wouldn’t have done.”
(h/t INDC, via Norm Geras)
BOLTOWNED!
“Hizbullah.” Never seen that variant spelling before. Whatever happened to “Hezbollah?” No wonder it’s so hard to get a condemnation out of the U.N.  no one knows how to spell the farookin’ name.
Those crafty furriners  always inventing languages/alphabets that don’t transliterate precisely… obviously a deliberate strategy to stay ahead of Johnny Law.
But it’s clearly not working with Johnny Bolton.
In the interests of parity in the region, I hope we’ll also call on the Israelis for their provocation of Hizbullah by not dying fast enough…
Finally,
Someone in the UN that has a pair to call a spade a spade. Now let’s work on that Nobel Prize Arafat recieved.
I pray, for the sake of international peace, that he didn’t put his hands on his hips.
Any word if Regis had any comment?
Russ:
Does it go the other way too? Does Hisbuhllaw(sp) condemn “Boush,” “Bewsh,” “Boosh,” or “Buti”?
The Jerusalem Post, such as reliable and impartial media outlet…too bad its owner, the debonair Con Black, convicted Canadian-Israeli Neocon crook, is currently wanted for embezzlement by a US court…that’s unfair…it’s probably because the judge isn’t a “friend of freedom/liberty/Zionistan/freedom of choice/the choice of freedom…blah blahâ€Â…
Hmm Judge Patrick Fitzgerald you say? I mean like Jeez…the guy must be an evil Irish/Catholic/fascist/enemy of liberty/Zion/…Otherwise, how can you explain his legal zeal against Pharisaic luminaries such as Black, Libby, Cheney & Co ?
Too bad Bolton supported the illegal invasion of Iraq, for it was the only (relatively) secular country in the whole Middle-East, where many members of Saddam’s government such as Tariq John Aziz and 30%+ of high-ranking civil servants were Roman Catholics whereas Christians make up less than 4% of Iraq’s total population…
But Bolton and his Neocon cum Israeli partners in crime favored of a “free and democratic†Iraq led by a “progressive†Shiite fundamentalist such as Prime-Minister Al-Ja’afari, a bearded thug who claims to be an admirer of both Don Rumsfeld of Ubber-Grand Ayatollah Khomeini…Go figure.
Anyway, apart from the renegade “Sunni triangle†and the Kurdish Northeast, most of the country in now “fully liberatedâ€Â, firmly under Persian terrorist influence: in many neighborhoods, from Baghdad’s “Sadr city†to downtown Basra, bearded Iranian agents roam freely in broad daylight while US and British soldiers don’t dare enter.
John Bolton, thank you so much for fighting for America’s freedom by “sending a strong message to Ayyranâ€Â!
You’re a real macho with a fully developed thick Celtic-American moustache, not a dirty, small and less elaborate Semitic/Bedouin tash like that spider-hole wimp Saddam!
Long live el Vice-Presidente Bush!
Long live Shariaa-based Islamic Law and the institutionalized persecution of second-class citizen such as women, Sunnis and Christians in “Grand†Ayatollah Sistani’s “free Iraq†for which we’ve spent a mere $800 billion in taxpayers money and the life of 2,200+ American kids!
Long live our Liberty-loving social-democratic friend His Wahhâbiness King Abdullah of Riyadh, Mecca and Houstonistan and his coterie of clerically enlightened Saudi friends of freedom!
Dr Victorino de la Vega
Chair of the Thomas More Center for Middle East Studies
http://www.mideastmemo.blogspot.com/
Y’know, Regis makes a fine point. Maybe that should be our new standard of international relations – What would Frankie do?
We need a US that won’t take any crap from anyone. A US that walks around like it owns the joint. A US that is perfectly comfortable eating ham and eggs of the chest of a pricy call girl.
That’s how to keep those pansies in Europe in line. Besides, the music would be so much better. It’s a win-win.
Well, I am not too impressed with any UN announcement, resolution, edict or pizza take-out order, but, damn this is exciting.
John Bolton, the man whose nomination it felt that it had to defeat, is now beginning to have an effect at the UN. Lets face it, when Bush screws up he screws up totally. But, when he succeeds he hits the proverbial homer.
Long live John “Homer” Bolton.
Shalom –
A clarion KOL HAKAVOD!! to Mr. Bolton for bringing about even a modicum of change where it seemed none was possible.
I don’t know if he alone is enough to correct that wretched, tottering, malfeasant morasse that is the UN – and honestly, I’d rather just see it disbanded and replaced with something better (and what wouldn’t be better?)- but the fact that he is trying so forthrightly is like a ray of sunshine.
Even if he fails in his mission, he will do so having done his very best, and having stated his positions clearly and truthfully. We need more like him in our leadership.
Eretz Yisrael L’Am Yisrael
6PO
Dr Viagra, er Vega or whatever you go by now,
I truly enjoy reading the foul smelling diareah that spews from your pie hole. Thank you very much . You have made my day a little more bearable. But if we truly wanted your opinion we would gladly wipe it from our backsides………
Todd –
Re: EuroVega
You know, I once had a T-shirt that said: “If I had wanted to hear from an asshole, I would have farted”. Same song, different words. I think the best thing to do with V. is ignore him. He’s pretty good with words, but I think his muffler sprocket is stripped.
As for Bolton, maybe Bush could send him over to the CIA on his breaks. Goss is doing well, but obviously we need a mustache like Bolton’s over there for at least a little while.
I love this guy.
Wow. Vega came so close to speaking in tongues up there, I found myself shifting in my seat and looking around for someone to pass me a live rattler.
Witness, brother! This thing is real!
Holy Shiite!!
That Dr. Vega comes back like a bad casserole.
Just call him “Vicky”.
Like the Alcatraz tour guide. Probably wears the hat, too.
Mmmmm….Arrogant Bastard!
Well, heck—as long as Victorino is pissed off, it’s a good day.
Hey, Victorino? Ever notice that the more you hate someone, the better off they are? Think it might be because you’re, well, stupid?
Hizbullah/Hezbollah is spelled the same way in Arabic letters. See the Wikipedia article on Hizbullah/Hezbollah to see how it is written. The pronunciation depends on whether one is considering it to be an Arabic phrase or a Farsi/Persian phrase.
(Hereinafter, doubled vowels represent long vowels.)
Properly, it is hizbu-llah: al-hizbu (definite noun, meaning “army”) + allaahu (“God”), joined together in izaafah (indicating a relationship or ownership) would mean taking out the definite article (“al”), keeping the first term in the nominative case (so it ends in “u”), keeping the definite article of the second term (“al” of the contraction “al-ilaah” that is said to be the root of “allaah”), changing the second term to the genitive/prepositional case (add “i”) = “hizbu allaahi”. However, the “a” of the article of the second term is made silent and is replaced by the vowel of the word before it (“u”) = “hizbu llaahi”. Furthermore, the case vowel (for definite: “u” (nominative), “i” (genitive/prepositional), or “a” (accusative); for indefinite: “un” (nominative), “in” (genitive/prepositional), or “an” (accusative)) of the last word in a phrase, sentence, or appellation (in most cases) is not pronounced = hizbu llaah. This is pronounced as if it were one word: “hizbullaah”.
The above was the Arabic pronunciation. Farsi/Persian, although based on the Arabic script and consisting of many Arabic words and grammar rules, has a markedly different pronunciation. This applies even to vowels. With one exception, short vowels are pronounced differently in Farsi/Persian than in Arabic.
Arabic “a” (apply) – Farsi “a” (apply)
Arabic “aa” (father) – Farsi “aa” (father)
Arabic “i” (mitt) – Farsi “e” (met)
Arabic “ii” (meet) – Farsi “ee” (meet)
Arabic “u” (book) – Farsi “o” (not)
Arabic “uu” (moon) – Farsi “oo” (moon)
Thus, the “i” in hizbullaah becomes “e”, and the “u” in the same becomes “o”. Hence, “hizbullaah” becomes “hezbollaah”.
This is also seen in the word Ayatollah. In Arabic, it would be pronounced as “aayatullaah”, whereas in Farsi/Persian it is pronounced as “aayatollaah.”
The strange part is that this is a Persification of an Arabic term. According to Persian izaafe, the name would be “hizbe allaah” or “hizbe khodaa” (both meaning “[the] Army of God”). The presence of “-ollaah” (betraying the existence of the short vowel “u” of Arabic in place of “a”, which could only happen in Arabic izaafah) shows the phrase is borrowed from Arabic. Which is not surprising, seeing that Arabic is considered to be the Islamic language par excellence, admired and used throughout the Islamic world including those who don’t normally use Arabic. Having an Arabic name/phrase/etc. adds an aura of legitimacy and Islamicness.
(For the record, Arabic has two pronunciations for what Farsi renders as “h”. Indeed, there are two separate letters that in Arabic are pronounced different but that are pronounced as the same (“h”) in Farsi. As such, the first “h” and the last “h” in “hizbullah” are pronounced differently in Arabic. Needless to say, each is rendered with a different letter. In Farsi, both are technically pronounced the same. I say “technically” because both Arabic and Farsi actually drop the last “h”.)
TW: could. One would think with this much useless information I could get a job.
Dr. Vega, were there any other injuries at the Moral Equivalency factory explosion?
I see you didn’t make it out quick enough. Take a few aspirin and chase them down with some drano.
It won’t help, but then again, at your terminal stage, it can’t hurt.
My (non-Jewish) prayers are with you.
tw: “freedom”. Gads, you can’t make this up.
Newbie here. You would think this Victorino guy would post under an alias…sort of exposes the whole ‘middle eastern studies’ scam doesn’t it? His drivel is what passes for scholarship?
I think Dr. Vectoro de la Vagina is using the wrong brand of tinfoil.
Two points:
1. Don’t feed the trolls. They don’t want to win you over they just want the attention.
2. It is not a triumph that John Bolton applied pressure to condemn Hizbullah. It is a pity and should be an embarassment to the UN that pressure was necessary in the first place.
it hurts my head that it was unprecidented for the UN to condemn hixballsa
I don’t want to seem to justify or support the UN (which I see to be nothing but a glorified debating society and refugee enabler), but from the perspective of Arab/Muslim states condemning an organization like Hizbullaah/Hezbollaah is controversial.
There is no doubt whatsoever that these organizations (which includes the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt and elsewhere) conduct terrorist attacks. However, what’s problematic is that this is not all they do. They also run hospitals, schools, and other charitable places; they also run as political parties. This is a very efficient tactic to gain support, spread one’s network, and to abuse these charities and networks to support terrorism. As such, the US has rightly listed these organizations as terrorist organizations despite the fact that they can be said to do some charitable work. An equivalent would be if the Salvation Army–in addition to providing healthcare, education, jobs, and so on–bombed tourist areas, government officials, and so on.
Governments are put in a very difficult position: they don’t want to (further) alienate their people but they also want to crack down on these organizations that cause instability and undermine the government. In some cases, the differences are based less on who is in power and more what policies government should institute. These fundamentalist/terrorist charities believe in a religious government (that is, that places Islam supreme and implements and enforces Islamic law or shari’ah); most Arab and Muslim states believe in a secular government (or, at least, secular from the perspective of the religious). Shooting the viper might be shooting one’s foot as well.
TW: report. The MSM fails to report the complex web between charities, fundamentalist groups, and terrorist organizations. On principle, I refuse to donate to any Islamic cause. One cannot be sure the money will be use for development, welfare, charity or to attack Western targets or to pay some corrupt official.
Worse than being an “arrogant bastard” is to be an “arrogant(successful) bastard”.