Blood and guts

It's the end of the world as we know it.
Those fucking American rapture specialists must be preparing for pigshit heaven right now with the armies of the unbelievers - therefore, the antichrist - engaged in bitter battle with the armies of the jews.
I've seen too many pictures of dead children being taken from bombed out buildings these last couple of weeks. At least I'm not the only one getting disturbed:
Here's Emma Brockes.
Everyone has their own tipping point. For some it was North Korea's decision to fire missiles over the sea of Japan last month; for others it was the transcript of Bush and Blair rap-speaking at the G8; the relief into which the number of Iraqi dead has been thrown by the war in Lebanon did for many more and for those really paying attention, it was the collapse of the world trade talks last week. None of these crises are in themselves unique, but they have built up over the weeks until you are watching the news one night and suddenly there it is: the out-of-body experience and sense that everything, everywhere, is out of whack. It's like that scene in Jurassic Park when Jeff Goldblum, finding himself being chased by a T-Rex, struggles momentarily to organise a response. "I'm fairly alarmed here," he says. I'm fairly alarmed here.

There doesn't seem much doubt that we're now busy with the Third World War. I imagine that after that radio speech from Chamberlain back in September 1939, things seemed a little unreal for a long time for the Brits. Was this really a war or not? Sure the occasional crazy thing happened - like bombing Scunthorpe - but that hardly passed for real war. I imagine people back then were going along thinking it might work out OK, until suddenly they found themselves up to the elbows in lost family and bombsites. Then it was body parts and propaganda left, right and centre.
War is raging from the Mediterannean to the Indian Ocean. More "international peacekeepers" are going to go into South Lebanon, though quite which country's poor gullible fools are going to be sent is so far unclear. The Christian idiots are busy from Al-anwar to Uruzgan. Only Iran is so far untouched, and partly Syria.
If I was those countries, I would be preparing the tunnels and arming the populace right now. And of course, that's what's happening.
It's turning to hellon Earth. Those fundamentalist God-botherers on all sides must be happy as pigs in shit. And the rest of us will really have to get our shit together if we're going to stop them sending us all to hell ina handbasket - or a cut-rate mushroom cloud, if that so inclines.

Meanwhile, the Western news is full of the fact that the US and France have finally agreed on the wording of the text of a resolution calling for an eventual cessation of hostilities. They don't seem big on the fact that Lebanon has said: ""Unfortunately, it lacked, for instance, a call for the withdrawal of Israeli forces which are now in Lebanon. That is a recipe for more confrontation."

Half the world sees Israel as bully. Half the world sees Israel as victim. It's time that Israel saw itself as safe. That will take a lot of work. But I can guarantee, sending helicopter gunships and F-16's to kill children is really not the way to make friends...
Here's the Christian pacifist Bruce Cockburn on being exposed to the war of oppression in Central America in the 80's:

"i want to raise every voice -- at least i've got to try.
every time i think about it water rises to my eyes.
situation desperate echoes of the victims cry
if i had a rocket launcher...some sonofabitch would die"

Many sons of bitches are gonna die.
But vastly more of us who just want the arseholes to stop fighting.