Ah, well, after much breathlessly reported diplomatic “wrangling”, out pops a “resolution” that will “cease hostilities”.

Color me cynical, but this would be me NOT holding my breath.

Some are happy. Some are dismayed. Some are downright pissed.

Me? Yeah, whatever. Although, one addition I would have found wholly appropriate, would have been Bolton patting the French on the head for, at least, being predictable cheese eating surrender monkies. And the Dems say this guy is ineffective?

Again…whatever. But, I do recommend a pause to savor the nuance, the hint of which, I daresay, is much, much too subtle to be detected by, let alone appreciated by, well, anyone firmly grounded in a reality-based worldview.

But back to …whatever. Which, btw, is pretty much my take on the reactions by the Israelis and the Jihadis (who both realize this latest resolution actually isn’t worth the electricity to animate a few pixels on a screen) to this bit of window dressing on paper (what’s missing being the grainy newsreel footage of a man, hat in one hand, with a grey mustache and dark topcoat stepping off an airplane and waving a print of it around). Why window dressing on paper? Well, both sides have basically announced “yeah, ok, sounds like we can go with that”, but since this charade of a “deal” basically amounts to “pretty, please, stop shooting”, the Israelis will be able to continue to prosecute Jihadis in South Lebanon, because the Jihadis have, in the same breath as their acceptance of the window dressing, vowed to keep shooting as long as there are Israelis in South Lebanon, who are there because the Jihadis are shooting at Israelis, who are completely within their rights to defend themselves. (bias alert: which I hope the Israelis continue to do, with a vengeance)

Oh, those nice paragraphs about introducing an international force? Or propping up the Lebanese Army to keep the ruckus down and disarm the whacko-nut-job Iranian surrogates? Well, that is just a frilly trim on this, a document that’ll basically only appease the appeasers, those chattering nabobs that rush blindly to celebrate symbolism over substance. It’ll be a week, or two, maybe longer, before they realize the shrimp cocktails are all gone, and that their symbolism didn’t work (again, go figure), and they commence to whining about the need to “do” something (like order more shrimp cocktails for the grueling rounds of negotiations amongst more third parties which are sure to ensue).

Why dismiss this as mere symbolism instead of celebrating (or shuddering over) the “substance”? Oh, c’mon, ask me a hard one. It’s simple. Who is going to be making the call about when, where and how the notional “international force” will be introduced? Mr. Deeply Concerned to the point he can’t decide wether or not to go to the bathroom, if that’s ok with everyone, Kofi! The same guy already on record with not making a decision about just about every other potential military flare up he’s been in a position of “authority” to offer a decision about. Well, except to decide he didn’t want to make the decision to actually, you know, “order” anyone to go to (or leave) someplace they might actually get shot at. Much less to do any actual, you know shooting, themselves. Even in self-defense. Because, how can they do actual “peacekeeping” if there’s shooting going on!?!?!

So, while it may be downright cynical, in this instance, I put my full faith and confidence in the UN, and their ability to mobilize an effective deterence to violence, in the form of a military force, and deploy it in a fairly rapid and meaningful matter. Absence of financial incentives notwithstanding.

And wish the IDF happy hunting! Now that the UN has “legitimized” the Jihadis, the Israelis can now legitimately kick their 6th century wannabe asses.