Cease Fire

So, I'm glad that no one is getting killed today (or yesterday). In fact, I think the casualty levels have been pretty low overall, and that's a good thing.

However, I'm not sure they waited long enough to declare this cease-fire. Israel didn't have nearly enough time to finish the job, and it'll just come back to bite them in the butt next time.

Proof of this - both Hezbollah and Israel are declaring victory.

And, I don't have confidence in the "independent" UN troops coming in to keep the peace. Everything I'm hearing is that no one is willing to take on Hezbollah. Lebanon says they won't fight Hezbollah, despite the fact that they're going to implement a 'buffer' zone. (any buffer zone won't work if you don't enforce it, which will probably mean a fight at some point - and any buffer zone will probably just get jumped by longer range missles from Iran anyway). We seem to be looking at France to take the lead role in providing troops for the UN force, but they seem to be jumping up and down with their finger's on their noses saying "I said not me first! You can't put us in there! We don't want to fight Hezbollah."

Let me give you a moment to think about that - France is our best bet for a lead role in the UN peacekeeping force. No one else is volunteering, and we won't let Israel do it themselves.

At least our bleached fabric industry will get some extra customers. (actually probably not, given the protectionism that France engages in.)

Why did we stop what seems like the only people in the world who are willing and able to deal with a threat like Hezbollah which is reinforce by Iran?

Any ideas?