I intended to post this a week or two ago, but the Syria/Lebanon/Israel/iran issue is rather complicated. It's taken me a lot of reading to untangle the threads and make sense of what's going on over there. Incidentally that's my major problem with almost every opinion piece I've seen written about the issue: there are many uncomfortable truths ( Read more... )

A lot of my LJ posts are written for myself more than anyone else. When there's a big issue that I honestly do not understand but feel like I ought to have an informed opinion on I'll start writing a post and in the process I'll end up working out how I feel about it ( Read more... )

Last week I sent sploof some questions about the Geneva Conventions and how they apply to the Lebanon/Israel conflict. He couldn't email me back, but he called on the UN's phone (the rates they charge him are cheaper than Sudanese rates) and we talked a little bit. Here's what he told me:

Q: Is Israel violating the Geneva Conventions? Are Hezbollah ( Read more... )