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Underneath the now famous Internet campaign, there is a movie. Which, it might be argued, is essentially over the minute the main title flashes on the screen. What film could possibly live up to that alarming phrase: Snakes on a Plane? It has the artless - not to say cheesy - directness of an old-fashioned bottom-of-the-bill B picture, promising thrills of a purely visceral kind: no aliens from outer space, no philosophical musings about man's place in the universe. All the movie has to do is show us a familiar, alarming menace - the aforementioned snakes - slithering around...
...main opponents, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, has come out against the Yasukuni visits, while another, Foreign Minister Taro Aso, wants to sidestep the issue by transforming the shrine into a state-sponsored memorial, instead of a religious one. But Tanigaki and Aso are only polling in the single digits, and the LDP stalwarts who will be voting in the party election tend to be conservative. Abe will have to decide eventually. Many observers assume that his past record means he will make the trip as Prime Minister at some point. But with Abe's proven conservative bona-fides, he might...
...nations. Why hasn't the world been more supportive of the Lebanese government in its efforts to strengthen that nation's administrative and military power? Harald Smedal Paradis, Norway It would be nice if once, just once, the world stood by Israel and supported its actions. This time the main criticism seems to be that Israel's reaction has not been proportional. What is proportional? Should Israel have kidnapped two Hizballah fighters in return? Would that have resolved anything? While there are extremists on all sides, the majority of Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese want to live in peace with...
...Israelis from taking Aitta Shaab, but it came at a price - the near destruction of a large part of the village. Houses of two or three stories lie pancaked like decks of cards; the burnt-out wrecks of cars destroyed by missiles are scattered up and down the main street. The simple cinder-block buildings are pitted with holes from flying shrapnel and machine gun bullets. The village will take months if not years to rebuild, but for these stoical residents, the pride of driving away the most powerful army in the Middle East takes precedence over more immediate concerns...
...Although the Israelis had departed Aitta Shaab, they are still present on Lebanese soil, mainly in apparently isolated patches of high ground no more than three or four miles from the border. The road leading from the north into Bint Jbeil, the largest Shi'ite town in the border district, passes through the Israeli army's area of operations. But there is no sense of cutting through Israel's front line. Indeed, there is no meaningful front line between Israeli forces and Hizballah fighters. A mile southeast of Beit Yahoun, a village straddling a ridge two miles north of Bint...