The various cable networks "policy wonks" are starting to proclaim the Israeli/Hezbollah/Lebanese/Iraq/Afghanistan War as the opening stages of World War Three and the recent incursion into Lebanon by Israel as the "Archduke Franz Ferdinand Moment", referring to the assasination incident that started World War I.
Considering that we have players from all the major continents except South America involved in the Middle East and they may be in there too by now, it's getting close to the definition.
Nobody seems to want it to stop.....until they win. That will help move it forward. Nobody can win as long as the goal is total domination or elimination of the enemy regardless of which side you are on, which also means it will continue for a long time.
And there is a common thread throughout the entire conflict which centers on the Israeli-Palestine issue that goes back to 1948 and beyond which gives it even greater staying power.
Add to that the beliefs of fundamentalist Moslems and Christians that there will be a final battle of Armeggedon in the Middle East between the forces of good and evil which they tend to define as each other and that the battle is due any day now. Understand that some of the people who believe this are the world leaders that are making the decisions for the rest of us and it sort of becomes an unavoidable self-fulfilling prophecy by design being carried forward by people who believe they are doing "God's Will".
Doesn't leave much room for the rest of us who's job in this "Holy Play" is to be victims, sinners and cannon fodder.
Posted by donburnshomepage
at 11:26 AM EDT
Updated: Thursday, July 27, 2006 11:54 PM EDT