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The AZN Wolverine: this is how the world ends

Friday, July 14, 2006

this is how the world ends

OneShot315: yo man
erose33187: hey yo
OneShot315: man how many battles is israel going to fight
OneShot315: and does this happen all the time? because it seems like there's really no consequence to it at all
erose33187: i wouldnt say it happens all the time, but israel has been in either a constant state or threat of war since 1948
OneShot315: right
OneShot315: its so volatile but it seems like world war 3 is never an issue
erose33187: the last few days have definately been scary
erose33187 : there was an editorial in the newspaper arguing that for all intensive purposes, ww3 is essentially now
OneShot315: right thats what i'm worried about
OneShot315: all it takes is one shot and boom
erose33187: i know
OneShot315: israel doesn't seem like they're going to stop until those troops are returned and maybe not even then
OneShot315: and we're certainly not going to do anything about it
erose33187: i strongly dislike bush, but the one thing i like is that he is a pretty big israel supporter
erose33187: if shit really hits the fan, i imagine we would have israels back
erose33187: but yea--all the fundimentalist islams have every intention of starting a war

----------
"They say the heat makes people crazy."
- Huey Freeman, The Boondocks


Israeli forces expanded reprisals in Lebanon on July 13, a day after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight. Above, Israeli artillery firing into Lebanon. This and the next four photos are from the New York Times.


Israeli artillery firing across the border into southern Lebanon.


Fuel tanks burn at the Beirut International Airport after it was attacked by Israeli aircraft.


Lebanese citizens carry away the body of a victim, found under rubble, after Israeli warplanes targeted a house in the village of Zebqin, in the southern town of Tyre, Lebanon.


The attacks could strand thousands of visitors at the peak of the tourism season.







Israeli bombing of Lebanon and results on July 14, 2006.
Photos from Yahoo! News.

----------
 
Mistah Kurtz—he dead.

A penny for the Old Guy

I

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

II

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death’s dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer
In death’s dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer—

Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom

III

This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this
In death’s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

IV

The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death’s twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.

V

Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o’clock in the morning.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
            For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
            Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
            For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
- T.S. Eliot, Hollow Men

----------
World War III is near. You can feel it. I used to think I was just over-worried because I'm a college student and this shit has relevance in my life for the first time. I used to think that every generation has its wars and conflicts and we've gotten through it all without mass destruction on a global scale. Except that now we're in the nuclear age, where a country can be wiped off a map with a single malicious thought and the press of a button. America is the Death Star come to life.

We've long been a war-mongering country. Someone has to police the world, and someone has to take out the garbage, regardless of how much opposition may occur. Seeing as how we are the world's (and therefore, all of life's) premiere superpower, it is our duty to make sure tyranny and oppression everywhere are banished. Of course, that is only if we have socioeconomic and/or political interest in the region. These events, mostly invasion and rebuilding projects, have really shown no long-term productivity. Panama, Somalia, Kosovo, Kuwait. We've "aided" all these countries by flexing our military force and none really have seemed to step into the limelight again. Now we're trying again with Iraq.

Iraq isn't the main issue. Terrorism is growing at slow rates throughout various countries, the US included. While these homemade cells may be small, all it takes is one crazed individual to walk into a landmark with a bomb strapped to his body. Aside from terrorism, you have a bleak outlook at the rest of the world. The UN has little confidence in the US, especially when it comes to requesting orders. Our main ally, England, is only held back by America's dog, Tony Blair. Israel's lobby has such a foothold in our Congress that Israel can invade countries unabated, such as their invasion of Lebanon to attack Hamas and into the Gaza Strip to rescue Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who is still captured. The world powers called for Israel to halt their progress, or at least do so in a relatively quiet fashion, but Bush keeps mum. Iran has long been an enemy, and is now developing nuclear technology. With the amount of nuclear missiles and powerplants America has, who are we to say another country can't do so? And now, North Korea recently test-fired missiles that are capable of hitting America's west coast. Israel is our next closest ally besides England, and Hezbollah has already begun firing rockets at them. Palestine has uncountable katyushas aimed at Israel from the mountains, ready to fire at a single command.

We could wait for Kim Jong-il and Castro and Osama to slowly expire and send hitmen to take out Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ismail Haniya. We've already dealt with al-Zarqawi, whose name no longer rings bells as loudly as it once did. But in the myth of a lernaean hydra, whose head is replaced by two more, as soon as these leaders are gone, someone will take their place. It's a recurring cycle that has continued throughout history and has yet to change its course.

Another problem presents itself in that the elder leaders of these "axis of evil" nations may be tyrannical fucks, but they're nevertheless wise and therefore hesitant to do anything stupid, i.e. launching a nuke. When they die, who knows what kind of hothead maverick young gun will take over? The worst possible thing that could happen in one of these countries (and even in the US) is having these revolutionary-type assholes take control. Nothing good can come out of that and you can't rule the world if there's nothing left to rule over.

Another small thing I've noticed: throughout history Christians have battled Muslims, and although it isn't glitzed up by the media because of ratings, it's happening again. Christian America and its Christian allies are going to war against the Moors. The Muslims have already called a jihad, but the Vatican isn't about to declare a holy war. Where are the Knights Templar? In the US military, that's where.

We've been building a long list of grievances, enemies, and allies who no longer confide in us. All it takes now is one shot from one country and the world will all go to hell. I don't think people realize how volatile the situation is; talk only gets you so far, and the mouths of politicans are definitely getting tired. In the sheltered environment of a college campus or anywhere else in America, the problems are only seen on the news and are dismissed along with whatever food is served at dinnertime. I just hope key people keep their calm and keep their trigger fingers in check.

posted by KTrain at 3:17 PM

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