Israel v. Gaza, again

Love the first reader comment:

"Ah, children. They blow up so quickly."

 

Fantastic line. Kudos to whoever.

 

Bomb about to land:



http://wapo.st/UEiOGq

 

Cease fire is over:

 

Bit of a tangent, but on the issue of moral conundrums faced by governments battling terrorism, good long piece (as opposed to "longform" piece) in the Times this week about European nations basically bankrolling al Qaeda these days because they pay ransoms. The United States and the UK do not, which is why U.S. citizens kidnapped by al Qaeda are frequently executed. But also why al Qaeda does not frequently kidnap U.S. or British citizens.

 

It's funny because of the look on the kid's face.

 

Spoiler, that should come as a shock to no one: France is the leading payer of ransoms to al Qaeda.

 

Aid to Mali, YF. Aid to Mali.

 

That was an impressive piece of reporting. I kept wondering what it was like to be the reporter, interviewing the former hostages, and thinking, the whole time, "You know, I actually think your government should have let you die a horrible death. That's just me, though."

 

They spend their money saving their citizens' lives.

We spend our money bankrolling revolutions in other countries.

Diff'rent priorities.

 

The point is that if countries stopped paying ransoms, then al Qaeda would stop kidnapping, and would lose its primary source of income.