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Lebanon Is Ours

Kamangir | July 30, 2006 | Category Iran

“We are pushing for the enforcement of the UN resolution 1559” the Israelis say.
“The Americans have miscalculated…Hezbollah will never be defeated” says so Ayatollah Seied Ali Khamenei.
“We are fighting for Lebanese people’s rights” claims Hezbollah’s leader.
“A ceasefire is helpful only when it can last” America sends a friendly message to the Israel.
What is it all about?


We have all lived through the mathematics of high school. “What value of t gives the maximum possible 2cos(t)+sin(t) and what is that maximum”. For this type of problems you can have two approaches. You can either search your mind for applicable formulas and ideas or you can look over your classmate’s notebook. The results are obviously identical, assuming that you are not caught during your “optimized” shortcut. For those of us who have taken the high school spirit too seriously, like I have done, it is not very easy to move ahead to the next stage; where 2 plus 2 is both 5 and 6 at the same time.
Just watch CNN for half an hour. It appears that people are trying to solve the simple 2x=4 equation and yet not only there is no correlation between the results but also different parties are even distracted over the actual meaning of x multiplied by 2. What has happened? Is everybody deliberately misreading the facts? Is there anyone making up “justifications” for their actions? Or probably everybody is in the same boat.
There is a commission in Iran devoted to following the news about four Iranian “diplomats” who where kidnapped in Lebanon more than twenty years ago. Sometimes they are even called “Iranian students”. Basically, they were students, because after the Iranian revolution a major part of the active political forces came from universities. At least one of the abductees was a military commander, and yet a student. Then, the obvious question is what Iranian military personnel were doing at the time Lebanon was at the middle of a large scale crisis? I am sure the Iranian administration has a “true” story for the presence.
The important part of the research I am doing is concerned with optimization. Basically, I am given problems, mostly in communications, and I have to find revenue models and find the best set of parameters of the system which boost the performance. At the first sight it is very much like the 2cos(t)+sin(t) problem. Though, it is far from it. Take this. I am now working on the design of a video on demand (VOD) network. There are ten movies, with known popularities. There are also a hundred customers scattered in a geographical scene. The problem is to put five nodes, each of them capable of handling known number of channels. Then, when a customer requests a movie it will be brought from the cheapest location. The problem is where to put the nodes and what to cache in each of them.
The answer that I am seeking for is not like the cos/sin problem at all. It contains gradual iterative enhancement of randomly positioned resources. Then, my code starts from different possible solutions and finds “the best possible”. In my experience as we tend to get a bit close to the real world the high school mathematics diminishes. In these situations “best” changes into “better”. Also, you hear the words “possible” and “affordable” very frequently.
Let’s turn into the deadly streets of Beirut. It seems that every power in every corner of the world is exerting some influence there. Even Hugo Chavez travels the long way to Tehran to show its unconditional solidarity with the country which is too much accused of having its name on the missiles which hit Haifa. I see no reason, except for a classical optimistic peaceful mind, for thinking that this is a simple problem to be solved like 2x=4.
Isn’t it funny that Iran blames US for its support for Israel? From what I see Iran asks US to be neutral in the crisis. At the same moment Iran wows for Israel being wiped off the map. So, as I understand, there are two ways for dealing with this. Either everybody steps backward and Lebanon and Israel are left alone to solve their problem or everybody asks for its share of whatever is attainable in these types of deadly face-offs. From what I see everybody seems positive towards the second solution. I can understand this but why everyone is blaming another one for their rule? If Iranian students can depart Tehran for Beirut so can US send missiles to Israel and back it up. I am assuming that Iran’s blame for the US does not come from the fact that they do not have a veto in the Security Council.
From what I have seen so far the only factual logically-provable argument about the current Israel-Lebanon war is the one shouted by the bleeding people in Beirut and Haifa. And I am talking about those who have never supported either of the rivals. Everybody else has made their minds before. Obviously, I am not going to ask an Israeli soldier about his “justification” of the war. “You know, I am paid to do this.”

Reader's Comments

  1. Bill Channon | July 30th, 2006 at 12:57 pm

    I always thought that Lebanon ‘belonged’ to the Lebanese people, not to Hezbollah. Hezbollah seems to be doing exactly what the Iranian goverment tells it to do which is to fire rockets into the fields (and occasionally the towns) of Israel..
    I suppose some would say that if Hezbollah were to be eradicated, wiped off the face of the map, Lebanon would have peace.
    I would like to ask Syria, Iran and Hezbollah why don’t they leave Lebanon in peace?

  2. kamangir | July 31st, 2006 at 11:54 am

    With all respect don’t you think it is a bit strange for an Israeli, or someone sympathetic to Israel’s goals, to argue what is better for people of Lebanon? Don’t you think your argument is very much affected by your own position?

  3. Julia | August 1st, 2006 at 10:10 am

    First of all, everyone’s arguments are very much affected by their position :)
    But I try to be objective, when I say that a peacefull and prosperous Lebanon is very much in the Israeli advantage, and in the current situation it was the Hezbollah that interfered with that…

  4. kamangir | August 1st, 2006 at 10:56 am

    I try to be objective too :). When Israel likes Hezbollah to be diminished I can think of the fact that in the absence of Hezbollah there will be no opposition to acts like occupying Golan heights. I am not a fan of Hezbollah. The similar group has already ruined Iran. But, I think we have to be rational and fair if we claim we are against unfairness and irrational behaviors.
    Any way, lets talk more.

  5. Phil | August 1st, 2006 at 5:03 pm

    Some corrections in regards to the Golan heights. This territory is not a matter of Hezbollah but rather between Syria and Israel. A dispute beween two states. As I am optimistic and no war occur between the concern countries since 1973, this matter will be solve in the near future (5 to 10 years), maybe after the creation of the palestinian state. The “Sheba farms” territories are the excuse of Hezbollah to defend the rights of Lebanon against Israel. By the way those territories do not belong to Lebanon but to Syria (very complicated). This issue should be solve between the legal authorities of the concern states and not by an arm group or militia or political representative in the lebanese government as Hezbollah. As for the Hezbollah Israeli war in Lebanon, the people of Lebanon have to decide if they want to control all of there territories or not. I said the lebanese people and not the lebanese government which is to weak. They prove to the world in a peace manner there objection to the syrian occupation. The Syrian had to leave Lebanon. In addition, Israel should start talking with Syria despite the objections of the US, which will bring calm and even peace between Israel and Lebanon (no arm militia in Lebanon anymore) and later through step agreements - peace between Syria and Israel. At present, the Syrian interests for discussions and peace are stronger than the Israeli part.

  6. kamangir | August 1st, 2006 at 5:13 pm

    I love these neat arguments. Lets look at it like this, if everything is this easy to understand why some people can not help understanding it? Because they are evil?
    I have lived between the people who believe they are attacked by other “infidels”. So, I pretty much know what kind of organization Hezbollah is. Also, I know how manipulative they probably are. I do not support Hezbollah but at the same time I do not like manipulation of truth so that it serves the speaker’s benefits. If the Israeli government is the nice gentle state that it is portrayed to be these days why are there too many pieces of land occupied by Israel?
    Lets be objective. I do not think we can manufacture versions of truth just because the target is a not very decent organization like Hezbollah.

  7. Phil | August 1st, 2006 at 5:53 pm

    Evil? no! Worth, they are govern by interests and certainly paranoia. The target is not Hezbollah, it is Iran. The game here is strategic and not only regional.
    The Israelis are not the good guys or better guys than Syria or Lebanon. They are the most paranoid in the region (Holocaust). I beleive that all the people in the region want to prosper. The problem are regional (Iran v.s US interest in the region) and strategic (US v.s Russia) interests and the paranoia of there governments. In a very simpliest way: Syria fears the strength of Israel, Israel v.s Iran and there militia in Lebanon + Hamas (Syria) in the palestinian authority, Lebanon v.s Syria, and the US v.s radical Islam. The Bush administartion divides the participants in two groups: the bad guys (states that support terrorists)and the good guys (states that fight terrorists). Israel and the US are allies but US interests in the region are not always Israel interests…

  8. kamangir | August 1st, 2006 at 6:05 pm

    OK, I am quite confused. Everyone hates everyone. I do not think there is any light at the end of this tunnel.

  9. Phil | August 1st, 2006 at 6:16 pm

    Yes there is the light - the prosperity motivation of the people.
    We have to believe. First indications are peace agreements between Israel and Egypt and Jordan. Now will come an agreement between Lebanon and Israel (US interest). Israel and Syria not yet (not in the US interest yet) which is a mistake.

  10. kamangir | August 1st, 2006 at 6:17 pm

    And what is the role this war in this big picture?

  11. Phil | August 1st, 2006 at 6:25 pm

    The pull-out the Iranian interest from the region (the north border of Israel).

  12. kamangir | August 1st, 2006 at 6:39 pm

    And what about the kids whom are killed in this war of adults?

  13. Athena | August 5th, 2006 at 4:06 am

    In terms of global behavior — is this something new? Don’t act the self-righteous moral super-hero. The innocents are always paying the heaviest price of wars. States and militia groups (in South America, all around Africa, South-East Asia and Europe) prefer spending millions on guns and weapons, while the local children are dying of hunger, neglect and lack of proper medical treatment. In the Iran-Iraq war (remember the 1980s?), there are accounts that over 50,000 children (under the age 15) were killed in the fighting. Its not even new, that States and armed groups were/are using humanitarian shipments to smuggle arms and weaponry, or bargain viscously for their own interests with humanitarian aid (I can name few places in Africa as examples, if you like).

    Since, i do agree that every side in the current crisis can claim for its just causes (and no one can really be objective - without taking sides. like in the equations you are trying to set) - the solution, is an international movement that do not call for peace - but calls for the end of all wars, that calls for the end of unnecessary killing, no matter where. Whether in East Timor, Seri-Lanka, Africa, Middle East etc. Peace will come the day after, when all nations lay down their arms and truly respect every man, woman and child’s human right to exist.

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