Internecine
Andrew Stuttaford, who, like John Derbyshire and Rich Brookhiser, is often wrong but also grown-up enough to correct some of the more batshit offerings of other Cornholians, says with regard to the Israeli-Hezbollah War:
[T]he longer this goes on, the much-vaunted Sunni/Shia split (evidenced by the notably lukewarm attitude of some Arab regimes to Hezbollah) will be overwhelmed by traditional hatred of Israel, and the need of those Sunni regimes to protect their own positions domestically, as that already poisonous hatred is whipped up still more within their countries. Those regimes may dislike Iranian adventurism in the region, but as David Gardner points out in today’s FT (link requires subscription) they fear their own people more.
A ceasefire is in America’s interest. [Warren] Christopher is right to argue for it.
What he’s saying is terribly sensible, which of course means that it doesn’t sit well with JPod, the Cornhole’s Wookiee who, in lieu of pulling people’s arms out of their sockets, likes to pull dead-tired WW2 analogies out of his own ass:
Andrew Stuttaford’s Umbrella [John Podhoretz]
Did you buy Chamberlain’s at an auction?
Posted at 1:06 PM
RRRRWWWRRRLLLL!!!
Calling him a Wookie reminded me of that damned swimming pool photo that TBogg keeps posting now and again.
Thanks, buddy. Thanks a lot.
WTF? Have I been accidentally hitting the crack pipe again? ‘Cause that goddamn picture wasn’t there when I first read this.
Thanks again. No, really.
I am so sick of these wankers dredging up Munich. It’s idiocy like this that got us in the mess we find ourselves in Iraq.
Also, can we retire this photo of JPod? This photo might be effective for Promise Keeper teenage girls, but the rest of us just want to lose our lunch. I don’t need to see a picture of Jonah Goldberg jerking off to Marge Simpson to understand that what he writes is shit.
Two things alway piss me off about Americans and appeasement.
1. Just where the fuck were the Americans in 1938? Sat on their arses doing bugger all.
2. I get so fired up over the first I can never remember what the second but it does exist, honest……………….
That’s it J-Pod – eat your young.
[T]he longer this goes on, the much-vaunted Sunni/Shia split (evidenced by the notably lukewarm attitude of some Arab regimes to Hezbollah) will be overwhelmed by traditional hatred of Israel
True, but in Lebanon, it’s less that the Sunnis hate Israel (I haven’t seen any polls, but I’ll bet that’s true), and more the fact that they’re in the minority and know that opposing an enraged Shi’ite Hezbollah is tantamount to signing their own death warrants.
Johnny Podhoretz is so frigging predictable with his hackneyed insults.
After the World Cup final last month he posted:
“Instead of playing the match and losing, why didn’t France simply surrender the way it always does?”
—I emailed him with:
“Instead of losing in the first round, why didn’t the USA just invade the pitch, shit all over the grass, rape some 14 year-old spectators, set them on fire, kill the witnesses, paint the stadium seats and then demand the trophy ?”
–To which he replied with an email saying:
“Go blow up a Greenpeace boat”
—To which I replied:
“podster,
‘Go blow up a Greenpeace boat’ ?
Ooh, ouch.
It’s a confusing comeback, though. My ultimate guess is you think I’m French. But you know, there are about a gazillion non-French people who rated your post- World Cup one-liner as about the dumbest, most out-of-date “cheese-eating surrender-monkey” crack of the year.
What’s next, jpod: Hans Blix jokes? Freedom fries? And what’s with the “jpod” tag anyway? I mean, sheesh…how ancient is that? Is J- Lo even still alive?
You must have March, 2003 playing on a permanent loop in your head.”
—To which he replied:
“I don’t actually care who, what, where or when you are. As for jpod, it’s been my nickname since high school, which may have been before J- Lo was born. ”
—To which I replied:
“And yet you cared enough to trawl the oceans of your psyche for a
blowing- up- a- Greenpece-boat reference? I’m touched, but not in a
Jeff Goldstein “sister’s secret places” kind of way. So don’t get any
ideas.
‘Jpod’ was your highschool nickname? Heh. You keep and cherish your highschool nickname? Much is explained…
‘Man, that jpod..he can’t dodge the ball in gym class for shit, and
those sweat stains under his pits are gross, but he’s funny. He made a
crap-your-pants -hilarious crack about surrender monkeys during French
class this morning.’
Teh… “
France ..Dead WWI…1.4 Million, six in ten men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight died or were permanently maimed.
France ..Dead WWII..520,000 including civilian deaths
Podhoretz ..Dead (at last report) WWI and WWII…Zero
. Just where the fuck were the Americans in 1938? Sat on their arses doing bugger all.
Not true: Papa Joe Kennedy helped to set it up (which was really more than would be expected of us, given that Hitler was at that time much more of a regional concern, which meant more then than now, in this age of globalized business).
The analogy is a poor one– firstly because Hitler is a few catagories above most of the current global threats: he was 1) the head of an industrial powerhouse with 2) a hyper-militarized society (at this point) and 3) an axe to grind with England and France, and 4) a psuedo-historical belief that they were entitled to a great deal more territory than they owned.
Hezbollah is a check for numbers two and four, but given that number one was the solvent for the rest of these elements that made Hitler too dangerous to deal with diplomatically, the analogy is severely wanting.
Added:
US soldiers killed in WWII..300,000..population 132,000,000 (1940)
French Soldiers killed in WWII..250,000..population 46,000,000 (1936)
By any accounting, France paid a higher price in WWII than the US.
More French WWII bashing? Is it even worth bothering to point out how instrumental French resistance was to the invasion of Europe and the defeat of the Nazis?
Mudge, is that Europe American Deaths only, or does it include Pacific campainges as well?
Blowback, I’m pretty sure we were selling England munitions and supplies, at least by 1939.
not to mention the military supremacy of france for a hundred years during the napoleonic era…
Did you buy Chamberlain’s at an auction?
Ooh, fucking clever. I’ll bet he was so pleased with his little bon mot. Probably waited weeks for his chance to work it into a conversation.
J-Pod,
Ten times as big as a maaaaaaaaan!
Some Guy:
That was “Allied” deaths, it was not divided into Pacific and Europe, and it did not include, as far as I can tell, Vichy deaths.
I swear to stay away from the series of tubes for the weekend, give in and log on, and am treated to an image of the pool scene from Caddyshack – fucking thanks!
As for jpod, it’s been my nickname since high school, which may have been before J- Lo was born.
Sadly, No! In fact, it’s ‘John P. Normanson’.