WHAT IS GOING ON OUT THERE FOLKS?

The news of the day:

Israeli special forces on Wednesday seized control of an Iranian vessel carrying arms intended for Hezbollah, in a daring pre-dawn raid not far from the coast of Cyprus.

The ship was believed to have set out from Iran and later docked in Yemen and Sudan before sailing through the Suez Canal. Its final destination was believed to be either Syria or Lebanon.

The Antigua-flagged ship was discovered during routine patrols conducted by the Navy, according to a communiqué from the Israel Defense Forces Spokespersons Unit.

It makes me wonder as my editor has been wondering for a while: what the hell are these guys doing? Last night there was the UN report on how dangerous the Hezbollah weapons are for the region's peace. And here they are: the IDF seizes THE weapons!, coming exactly from Iran and going to, surprise!, Hezbollah.

In the meantime, there is stuff going on behind the closed doors. Two European countries in the UNIFIL are sort of diplomatically, silently quarreling over who's to be in charge of the peace keeping mission. The Italians should leave the command in February 2010 together with some 1000 troops. The Spanish, who have been in charge of the south eastern sector and have been doing quite a good job there (visited their sector several times), are the ones willing to take the leadership. But wait, not so fast.
While the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had already received congratulations for the move, the little devil's tail had to come in. Netanyahu, the Israeli head of government, has requested most "secretly and personally" to prime minister Berlusconi to keep Claudio Graziano, the present UNIFIL chief, in place. The Spanish were furious. They still are.

The Spanish newspapers are blaming the Italians. The Italians are praising their general telling that it's only because of him that the tripartite meetings with the IDF, LAF and UNIFIL. He is friends with Michel Sleiman, the Lebanese president, and is also very much esteemed by the Israelis.

The Spanish still believe they are getting the command in February, sources from the embassy in Beirut say.

But, why all these games? Why should the Italians stay and what is wrong with the Spanish?

The quarrel helps a bit the Israeli case. The UNIFIL troops are to get fewer and fewer. Germany wants to withdraw, the Italians want to withdraw. Until now the Spanish and the French are the only ones who didn't get bored of this 30 year peace mission.

Meanwhile, the IDF seems to build up a pretext. I have this deja vu about weapons of mass destruction already. UN says Hezbollah has weapons, Iran is busy with its own internal opposition, Israel finds the weapons, makes a big deal out of it, although a month before the Germans found another ship and it didn't get so much publicity. Then there is some rocket fire once in a while in South Lebanon, Israeli planes fly over Beirut, and life goes on.

Or just seems to do so?

The only actor in this show who has not said anything and hasn't even moved a finger is none other than Hezbollah.