Ceasefire -- August 11th, 2006

The UN resolution finally agreed upon in the security council deserves a big, giant Andersmile.

Andy looks like he's chilly in London. He's wearing a jacket and polar fleece, and he pulls his shoulders up like he's trying to cover his ears to keep them warm. Too cute. I just checked the forecast for London. It's 16°C (60°F), so that is pretty cool, especially after having been in the Middle East for the last month where it's 30°C+ everyday.

Christiane's yellow trench was awesome. I would've liked to see it full length, and then try it on, LOL! I don't know how much I liked it on her, but I loved the jacket.

Okay, onto the big news! A UN resolution! At last! I know that this doesn't mena the fighting will stop, but is certainly is a step in the right direction. Of course, Israel is now taking the time they have left before it's put into effect to hit as many Hezbollah positions as possible and has expanded the ground campaign, but we're on our way. Israel has okayed a ceasefire, Lebanon is bound to, and I think, if I read correctly, that Nasrallah has accepted the resolution and ceasefire. So once it is in effect, hopefully all the fighting will stop. I find it unlikely, but I'm left to cling to hope. Neither side is gaining anything from this attack, especially Israel. Lebanon is left with approximately $2 billion in infrastructure damage and Israel looks like a civilian killing-machine.

During the broadcast, they talked a lot about the underlying causes of terrorism and extremism because of the "homegrown" terror suspects. Christiane and Peter Bergen have been working on that CNN Presents special "In The Footsteps of Bin Laden," or something and so she was kind of given the job of explaining. There was a lot of interesting information in the segments she did. Like the man, a cleric I think, who said that Bush doesn't really understand what terrorism is all about. He said that Bush says it is a war on the western way of life, but really it's about American and British foreign policy and how they effect the regions these people come from or where they feel their roots are and where their people are from. A religious "jihad" is a cover. The use of jihad itself is a perversion of the word by terrorists and the media. Jihad stems from a word that literally means "strive." Jihad is not a "holy war," but rather an inward struggle to practice one's faith. Something I find particularly interesting about the Islamic faith is the principle of ijtihad, which also comes from the same root as jihad, but means to make a decision based on personal interpretation of Islamic law in the Qur'an. It encourages the idea of personal faith, instead of being told what to believe and not questioning. I love that idea. Go read The Trouble With Islam by Irshad Manji. Absolutely amazing and eye-opening to more of the underlying causes of violence in the Middle East. She explains it better than I could ever hope to.

One thing you always find from the friends, family and neighbours of those currently being investigated for any crime is that they will always say that they were so quiet and the last person to ever do something like that. The London plot is no different. But, I think the reaction of many of those close to the people who've been arrested is very indicative of a larger social problem. The father of one of the suspects said that "they went to pray" and because of this, they were guilty. Whether it is actual or perceived, I think a lot of those who are of Arab descent or are Muslim feel persecuted by the larger population. They feel alienated from the rest of society. A comment like that, saying that it was their faith that made them suspect, shows a much larger problem. I see a lot of hatred directed towards Muslims and Arabs within my own community, so I can only imagine how it would be in a much larger city with a large populatuion of immigrants. This is something that needs to be fixed before it gets worse. If we allow the discrimination and hate directed at Arabs to continue, I think that things will get much worse for everyone. If you treat someone as second-class, they will rise up. Maybe that's what we're seeing now.