FRANCE 24About that four-week campaign that the Pentagon promised… Overnight volleys between Iran and the United States met by many with a shrug…so often has the current ceasefire been violated. Even the deal in the works is mostly to roll over that fragile truce and open more talks… not to permanently settle differences. Ceasefires and their violations the norm…as Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade blows and US-brokered truces for both Lebanon and Gaza go mostly ignored. We’ll ask if the taking of the Crusaders-era castle at Beaufort’s a PR stunt or are Israelis digging in at what was an army command center for nearly two decades during the last occupation of south Lebanon?
Benjamin Netanyahu espouses a super Sparta state mentality to national security, insisting that Israel – like the Ancient Greek state – embrace a permanent war footing. Do the benefits outweigh the costs for an Israeli prime minister who’s again up for re-election? And how about for Hezbollah, the Iranian regime and a United States whose leaders promised no more boots on the ground but who under Donald Trump has increasingly made use of or threatened military might around the globe. Does that project strength or weakness? And is it sustainable?
