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Photography update

Personal

It's been a while since I've been in the mood to upload pictures, but there are over a dozen new ones from my skiing trip and my trip to Israel. My favourite pictures are Zell am See's black slope and me chilling at the beach in Tel-Aviv. Check all the pictures in the updated photography section.

International force for Gaza?

Anglosphere

The international force in Lebanon that will keep Israel safe by not disarming Hezbollah might be expanded to Gaza:

If the planned multinational force in Lebanon succeeds, it might be possible to create a similar force for the Gaza Strip, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said in an interview with Haaretz.

Even more than usual, I'm skeptical. This international force will not actually be able to use force, despite the obvious lessons from the Srebrenica massacre. Therefore Hezbollah (and Hamas) will have to lay down arms voluntarily. Time to smirk, people. See, if a voluntary disarmament were even a remote possibility, we wouldn't need an international force in the first place. And indeed we could suffice with the international farce that is currently underway. UNIFIL sounds a lot like "unfulfilled" and it's beocming clear why.

By the way, Hezbollah isn't even considered a terrorist organisation by former Communist Party senior D'Alema:

Hezbollah is not considered a terrorist group by the European Union, nor in my personal view.

Hezbollah actually is classified as such by the United States, Canada, Israel, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Australia. The EU does recognise "clear evidence" of "terrorist activities by Hezbollah" and for good reason. Hezbollah Secretary-General has actually stated: "in occupied Palestine there is no difference between a soldier and a civilian, for they are all invaders, occupiers and usurpers of the land". As long as that mentality prevails, not even disarmament will help obtain peace. Likewise, without the explicit acceptance of the state Israel, there will always be war, and UNIFIL might as well be named UNIFAIL.

Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire

Anglosphere

Neil comments on the cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon/Hezbollah:

So it cheered me up quite a bit to see Erick Erickson's new piece on Red State saying that this could be a big PR boon for our side when (not if) Hezbollah violates the terms of the cease fire. Let's just hope Olmert doesn't hold back at that point!

PR boon? What makes you think the world won't just say "restraint Israel, restraint" again?

Jani responds

Anglosphere

On Slashdot, I predicted that Jani Taskinen would respond to the outcry over his remarks:

If we follow Occam's razor then surely he would deny the words if the logs aren't true while if they are he would apologise for a sad, emotional rant. I suspect returning from his decision that he cannot work on PHP as long as Israeli Zend backs it is rather impossible at this point, but that decision in itself is respectable even for people like me who disagree with the logic (or even viewpoint) behind it. It is his right not to want to work with Israelis, but for his own sake I hope he tries to do some damage control.

And I think his PHP contributions are not the most notable background here. He's a UN peacekeeper and has in fact been stationed in Lebanon. If you think the PHP team is not going to be happy about this publicity, think of how the UN should feel when there own forces make such emotional hateful rants in public after a "friendly" fire incident - as bad as that incident may be.

And indeed he has responded:

I apologize for the wrong choice of words in "fuck jews" where it should have been "fuck israel". And of course I mean the government of Israel when I say "I'm anti-israel". I have friends who are jews and it does not bother me at all. Hopefully they don't get offended by those remarks I made.. :(

Unfortunately there is no explicit apology for the call to "nuke Israel", which is more worrisome than someone merely opposing Israel's government. However, any apology is better than none. I'm not Jewish nor Israeli so it's not for me to accept it, but it may please those who are.

Of course I still have doubt whether people demonstrating emotional outbursts in are fit for duty. In the specific case of Jani, I find it hard to find a firm position on whether his views of Israel are relevant to the UNAMA-AFG mission assisting NATO-ISAF. But I hold it possible that the UN will be more careful now to assign him to any mission in the Middle East in the future, or that Jani himself would turn down such an assignment. I'm curious, but I think this wraps matters up.

Jani Taskinen Wrap-up

Software

The Baheyeldin Dynasty has a nice wrap up of Jani Taskinen's departure from PHP over Israel, although not providing much more new information than my initial reaction.

It does however offer some open source and geopolitics musings, including Herbert Xu's Debian departure over the Taiwanese flag. Another good example, although not noted, would be Neil Steven's KDE departure over anti-Americanism. I maintain that Jani's case is the most interesting because he's also known for his UN peacekeeping activies, although so far the repercussions of the drama appear limited to the open source community.

PHP turns ugly to anti-semite Jani Taskinen

Software

Jani Taskinen, one of the lead developers of the PHP project, and former UN peacekeeper, has announced to immediately quit the project:

Thank you all for the last 6 years or so. It has been fun (sometimes) and many times not so much fun. Unfortunately I have had enough and I don't want to be associated with this project anymore.

I'm sure most people (the ones who matter) can understand why. If someone doesn't, I could not care less. Take care.

Okay, shit happens. Software development sure can get tedious and we all need a break, or move on to other projects. So why did Jani snap? Rude co-workers? Slipping deadlines? Ever-growing bug lists? Insane development requests? No, none of that.

Four UN peacekeepers were killed by Israeli fire last week, including a Finnish co-worker or even friend of his, so Jani decided he hates Jews:

<_sniper_> hehehehe..
<_sniper_> all other members of the UN security council wanted to condemn Israel for attacking the UN post but USA (freedom and democracy) vetoed it....Israel says the resolution was fair.
<_sniper_> hell yeah..
<_sniper_> NUKE ISRAEL!
<_sniper_> I'm so full of that fucking country..
<Shai-Tan> indeed
<_sniper_> Eye for an eye..I'll kill one Israel officer for one of ours, is that fair?
<_sniper_> I bet I'll be hanged for that.
<_sniper_> They kill one of my brother-in-arms-for-peace..I think I'm entitled to kill one of their nazis.
<_sniper_> Hezbollah, where can I enlist?
<_sniper_> FYI: I don't care at all what anybody thinks about me. I'm going to be openly anti-Israel from now on. This was the last straw for me. Fuck you jews.
<_sniper_> I will also quit this project. As long as it's backed by some Israel company, I don't want to have anything to do with it.
<_sniper_> Good bye.
<-- _sniper_ (~jani@a88-112-115-63.elisa-laajakaista.fi) has left #php.pecl

If that IRC log is correct: what a loser.

First there is a claim that Israel said the resolution was fair. So then why hate the country when it was the US who vetoed? Whatever.

Secondly there is a call for nuclear destruction of Israel. Not cool.

Thirdly note that Hezbollah was very active near the UN positions, so there is ample reason to believe this was a mere accident on Israel's part, possibly unavoidable even.

Last but not least there is support for Hezbollah, more hatred of Jews and finally a decision that PHP has become tainted merely because it is backed by a company (Zend) having to do fuck all with all this yet happens to be Israeli. Obviously making the project as undesired on this planet as those Jews themselves?

Well, good riddance Jani. I know you couldn't care less about what people think of you now, but as long as you don't start to blow up civilians Hezbollah-style.. we couldn't care less.

World War III!

Anglosphere

Europe is chilling out in the heat, but the rest of the world is as lively as ever: Newt Gingrich says "it's World War III", referring to the war on terrorism in general. And Hezbollah would love World War III, said Iranian Hizbollah's spokesman Mojtaba Bigdeli:

"They have been trained and they can become fully armed. We are ready to dispatch them to every corner of the world to jeopardise Israel and America's interests. We are only waiting for the Supreme Leader's green light to take action. If America wants to ignite World War Three ... we welcome it," he said.

Hm.. was that just something about welcoming World War III? I couldn't exactly hear it with everbody screaming at Israel to show restraint. Hey Israel, once again they welcome total war and destruction, preferably yours.. show some restaint!

Anyway, people have long argued the war on terror is a World War. Not everyone fights everywhere and surely some spots in the world show weaknesses, but everyone's involved already. I wonder then why Israel and the US are singled out. Is it maybe because the US indeed stands by Israel, which has always been terrorists' favourite target.

Palestinian war crimes

Anglosphere

What is your first impression of Israel going to be from this headline? HUSBAND, HIS WIFE AND THEIR SEVEN CHILDREN KILLED BY ISRAELI SHELLS IN GAZA. Nasty Israel, right?

Dr. Al Saqqa identified the killed family members as Nabil Abu Salmiya, his wife Salwa, both 39, and their seven children were identified as Nasrallah, Basima, 16, Sumayya, 12, Huda, 8, Eman, 11, Aya, 7, and Yahia, 13.

Tragedy, I can't deny that.

None of the killed and injured residents is affiliated with any resistance group.

Army claimed targeting a senior leader of Hamas' armed wing, Mohammad Deif, and several leaders of the Al Qassam Brigades, several leaders of Hamas' armed wing were present at the targeted house, according to army sources.

The army added that Deif was at the house of Abu Salmiya, one of the leaders of the Hamas movement.

Meanwhile, Abu Obeida, media spokesperson of the brigades, said that Deif was unharmed in the attack.

Unharmed. Why did he not say he was not present?

Abu Obaida, spokesman of Al-Qassam brigade, said Deif and Al-Ghandour are safe and were not harmed and vowed a painful revenge.

Safe. Why even bother to mention that when they were not present, had been or were planning to?

The Israeli Air Force carried out a similar attack on a house in Gaza in June 2002, killing Hamas operative Salah Shihadeh and 17 other civilians including elders, women and children.

After bombarding the house, which was leveled to the ground, eyewitnesses said the same warplane fired a missile at a car in an attempt to kill Raed Sa'ad, another Qassam brigade operative.

Sa'ad managed to jump out of the car before it was hit by the missile, witnesses said.

Wow, these brigade operatives sure spend a lot of time in houses with elders, women and children. Not exactly recommended by the Fourth Geneva Convention:

The Fourth Geneva Convention forbids the use of any civilian as a shield: "The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations." (Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, August 12, 1949, 6 U.S.T. 3516, 75 U.N.T.S. 287, art. 28)

Sure, one can put "Israel" in the headline, but wouldn't someone who actually understands the most significant facts from the article make one along the lines of "Hamas commits war crime"? Surely such meetings could take place without so many civilians? Even assuming all these leaders where buddies, it's hardly the time for a neighbourhood BBQ when you're job descriptions are "war and death to Israel". There is a defensive responsibility for preventing civilian harm as well, and it is clear Hamas does not care much about taking that responsibility.

Update: Hezbollah too uses human shields. Robert McClelland concludes Israel is terrorist, but in this case I clearly think the onus is on Hezbollah for failing to protect citizens by hiding amongst them, which is a war crime.

UNSC Idiocracy

Anglosphere

Wikipedia on Hezbollah:

Those who consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization consider its sponsors (in particular Iran, Syria, and Lebanon) to stand in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1373 and 1566. Further, UN Security Council Resolution 1559 calls for the dismantling of Hezbollah and all other militias.

So you think the UN would then praise Israel for beginning to dismantle this terrorist network? Think again, that's not the kind of world we live in. The UN was actually planning to condemn Israel's reaction, an effort killed by the sanity of John Bolton's veto for the US yesterday.

Meryl Yourish doesn't expect much form the UN either:

More than 700 katyusha rockets and mortars have landed in Israel since the beginning of hostilities. Imagine the "disproportionate" response of any other nation under these circumstances. Like, say, Russia. Or France, who threatened to nuke Iran only this past year, as I recall.

Still waiting for UN condemnation of Hezbullah rocket attacks on Israel. No, not really.

Stating the obvious

Anglosphere

Now, really?

Israel believes Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah did not intend to ignite such a dramatic escalation when his fighters kidnapped two Israel Defense Forces soldiers and killed eight others on Tuesday.

Blatently. Terrorists can only exist when they expect to be appeased to some extent. If terrorists would always be 100% convinced that their actions are followed by full-out retaliatio, they'd probably get smart and quit.

So basically it's a big confession to state that ordinarily people get away with this stuff without "dramatic escalation".

Latest photos

2007-01-14 11:29
Chilling at the Tel Aviv beach
Chilling at the Tel Aviv beach
(1 comment)
2007-01-13 16:58
Israeli security fence
Israeli security fence
(0 comments)
2007-01-13 16:40
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
(0 comments)
2007-01-13 16:26
Via Dolorosa
Via Dolorosa
(0 comments)
2007-01-13 16:06
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque
(0 comments)
2007-01-12 16:39
Tel-Aviv skyline
Tel-Aviv skyline
(0 comments)

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Tom has more friends but mine are prettier! (#1/1)