UNDATED: his path.

UNDATED: his path.
August 1
Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, Japan, on Lebanon violence:
In the early hours of Sunday, an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanon village of Qana killed about 60 civilians, including at least 37 children.
The civilian death toll in Lebanon continues to rise in the face of the unrelenting Israeli onslaught that began July 12. Even though Hezbollah continues to fire missiles into Israel across the Lebanese border, we are outraged by Israel's military excesses.
In the wake of Sunday's fiasco, Israel announced a 48-hour suspension of airstrikes. But 48 hours is clearly not enough time. Israel should extend the duration.
The U.N. Security Council has a heavy responsibility to fulfill in guiding this moratorium so that it evolves into a permanent truce.
What defies our comprehension is the attitude of the United States. While we give Washington credit for exerting pressure on Israel into suspending the airstrikes, we take strong exception to its refusal to denounce Israel in the UNSC president's declaration. Also baffling is Washington's wariness about calling for an immediate cease-fire.
If nothing is done, the international solidarity that has already been shaken badly by the mess in Iraq will simply crumble. Anti-American sentiment will further escalate, and the hoped-for "democratization of the Middle East" will remain nothing more than a pipe dream. ...
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On the Net:
http://www.asahi.com/english
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August 1
Corriere Della Sera, Milan, Italy, on the deployment of a multinational force in Lebanon:
The debate on a multinational intervention in Lebanon has recently intensified due to a stall in the conflict, with neither of the two combatants able to reach their objectives.
While Israel has not been able to eliminate the military capabilities of the extremist Shiites, neither has Hezbollah been able --despite the hundreds of missiles-- to humiliate Israel or become the champion of the Arab world.
The international community, worried by the lengthening of hostilities, has thus an incentive to do something before the conflict grows by uniting the Lebanese front with the Gaza one or involving foreign actors such as al-Qaida and Iran.
However, the type of military intervention -- foreign and multilateral -- that is being discussed in diplomatic circles requires that an authentic cease-fire already be put in place.
Anything else would be an outside imposition of peace, a peace enforcement mission, that would require political and military resources that are not available at the moment.
One must not harbor hopes that this conflict can be solved simply through foreign intervention. ...
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On the Net:
http://www.corriere.it
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August 2
The Haaretz Editorial, on the Lebanon conflict in an Iranian context:
The war in Lebanon has diverted Israeli attention from the important resolution the UN Security Council passed Monday regarding the Iranian nuclear program. Resolution 1696 calls on Iran to stop enriching uranium by the end of the month, or else face sanctions. ... Nonetheless, this is the first time the Security Council has made such a resolute demand of the Iranian regime, and called on it to choose between suspending its nuclear plan and clashing with the international community.
The Security Council decision's timing is significant, coming in the midst of the war between Israel and Hezbollah. ... Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has argued that Iran initiated the crisis in the North to divert attention from its nuclear program.
One can argue over the degree of Iranian influence in Lebanon, in general, and in the current war, in particular. What is important is that Iran itself created the link between Lebanon and the nuclear program when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that the delay in declaring a cease-fire in Lebanon would make it difficult for his government to accept the European-American offer to resolve the nuclear dispute. ...
Israel, which sees the Iranian nuclear program as the gravest of threats to its existence and security, must not ignore the connection between the battlefields beyond the Blue Line and the uranium enrichment facilities in Natanz. The defeat of Hezbollah in the current conflict will serve as a stop sign for Iran, which has become stronger over the past year while oil prices have risen, America has remained entangled in Iraq, and the diplomatic efforts to neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat have been weak. ...
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On the Net:
www.haaretz.com
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August 2
The Times, London, on Cuba's political flux.
Both on the island and abroad, people are preparing for change. Few doubt that the communist system will die with SeIor Castro. The collapse of the Soviet Union made its continuation ever more precarious -- and cautious market reforms a few years ago so quickly began to unravel the entire structure that the frightened government quickly backtracked. For now the economy is in stasis. But entrepreneurs know well the pent-up demand for change, for imports, luxuries and links to the outside world, and are already preparing to seize the moment when the U.S. embargo is lifted.
Some fear that the country could quickly return to 1959, becoming a playground of the American rich, where weak governments are dominated by gambling interests and corrupt businessmen. There is, indeed, a danger of change coming too explosively and of a new mafia taking advantage of a communist collapse, as in much of Eastern Europe. But that is to ignore everything that has happened since the fall of Batista. Cuba is more robust now. For all the repression, religious persecution and assault on human rights, the Cuban people have three advantages on which to build a future: an education system that has given them literacy and qualifications; a credible national health system; and a cultural pride, seen in the flowering of the arts and music. ...
Rumors abound and hopes are rising. But nothing should be assumed. SeIor Castro has survived past health scares. He could yet stagger on.
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On the Net:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk