Bint Jbeil and Ahmadinejad blows hot air

Now, don't get me wrong, I am most certainly not Ahmadinejad's number one fan. In fact, I find him a trifle obnoxious. Nevertheless, when I read in today's 'Haaretz'  that his visit to Bint Jbeil is, according to the US and Israel, "an intentionally provocative move", I am left pondering on the meaning the word "provocative" here. All the more so, when the article then reminds us that "Iran has invested heavily in helping to rebuild the town."

No, the logic sort of eludes me on this one, and as long as Ahmadinejad contents himself with blowing off steam by blowing his own trumpet we shouldn't worry too much. Indeed, to point the finger is hypocritcal to the core, especially, when my thoughts drift back to the summer of 2006 and the IDF's own little sojourn into Bint Jbeil and, while their efforts to blow the place off of the map didn't quite succeed, it wasn't for the lack of trying. Now, that really was provocative, wasn't it? And if you don't get my drift, you might want to look at the picture of what the Iranians were left to rebuild after the IDF had left. Yes, Ahmadinejad in Hafai or Tel Aviv .... but Ahmadinejad in Bint Jbeil? Well, sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me and I do have to say that I much prefer the Israelis when they are blowing things out of proportion to when they are blowing places to smithereens.

Nevertheless, it would appear that our "newspeakers" in Jerusalem and Washington have their own definition of what is and what is not provocative. The suspicion that Iran might be able to acquire nuclear weapons and Ahmadinejad being invited to and visiting the Lebanon is provocotive, but Israel having nuclear weapons, indiscriminately bombing the Lebanon and then invading it is not a provocation.  One really wonders what planet these people live on! No, what should really worry us when Ahmadinejad sticks his fingers up at Israel, is that there is a collection of trigger happy nutters on the other side of the border who invariably don't content themselves with blowing rasperies or hot air back and there is more than enough evidence to suggest that the answer to where the blowing up will actually come from, is hardly blowing in the wind.