World View: Obama Administration Imposes New Sanctions on Hizbollah

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Obama administration imposes new sanctions on Hizbollah over Syria
• Japan recalls S. Korean ambassador in dispute over islands

Obama administration imposes new sanctions on Hizbollah over Syria

Hizbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah speaks to enthusiastic supporters (EPA)

Under intense political pressure to do more to stanch the flow ofblood in Syria, especially from the use of tanks, artillery andbombers against unarmed civilian neighborhoods by the Bashar al-Assadregime, the Obama administration has announced new sanctions on theHizbollah terrorist group. Readers may recall that in 2006 Israelfought a war against Hizbollah in Lebanon, and that Hizbollah receivesweapons and funding from Iran. The reason given for the new sanctionsis that Hizbollah has been providing operational and logisticalsupport to the al-Assad regime. However, the sanctions simply addHizbollah to a U.S. blacklist, so they’re purely symbolic and will notsatisfy those who are asking the U.S. to supply weapons to the Syrianopposition. CNN

Japan recalls S. Korean ambassador in dispute over islands

Japanese nationalism has surged following the visit by South Korea’spresident Lee Myung Bak to a group of disputed islands (Takeshimaislands in Japan, Dokdo islands in South Korea) in the Sea of Japan.The islands have been in dispute since Korea broke free of Japanesecolonial rule at the end of World War II. However, both sides havebeen relatively careful about inflaming the issue until now. Japanhas formally protested the visit, and has temporarily recalled itsSouth Korean ambassador for consultations, and to discuss appropriatemeasures in response. Japan also has island disputes with Russia andChina. And this is all in the context of China’s island disputes withjust about everyone. Japan Times andHankyoreh Media (Korea)

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