Michael Totten has a strong piece up at Commentary about the explosive situation in Lebanon. He argues that Hezbollah is tanned, rested and ready for its next confrontation with Israel. (Apparently, Hezbollah is upset by Israel's decision to build new apartments in East Jerusalem. That, or it's upset with the existence of the Jewish people. I'm not sure).
Michael argues that the way forward for Israel might be to enlarge the problem, rather than shrink it, which is to say: Take the fight to Hezbollah's sponsors:
The point here isn't to ensure that the next war takes place in four countries instead of in two. The point is to prevent the next war entirely by making it cost more for those who would start it. If Damascus and Tehran can continue setting the region on fire without paying a price -- without even fearing that they might pay a price -- they will continue to do so.
The Obama administration may want to consider the Lebanon file a higher priority than an Israeli-Palestinian "peace process" that's not going anywhere. The next Israeli-Hezbollah war could be bigger and more destructive than any Arab-Israeli hot war in decades, and could make last year's war in Gaza look, by comparison, like a bar fight.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/01/the-next-lebanon-war/34284/
