The pundits' platitudes do nothing to solve this crisis

If the Brits think it's bad over there, they should get a load of what we have to endure on a nighty basis.

Everybody, 1- 2 - 3 ...The Press and news media Suck!

Guardian Unlimited Guardian daily comment The pundits' platitudes do nothing to solve this crisis:

If the first casualty of war is truth, the second is comment. While soldiers fight, diplomats struggle and civilians die, the commentariat is having a poor Middle East conflict. 'Solutionists' dribble out their six-point plans for peace and interventionists behave as if all the world were fools and only they wise. I almost prefer the propagandists.

The format is familiar. It starts with an eye-catching list of atrocities attributed equally to the Israelis and Hizbullah, followed by nuanced sympathy for each in turn. Having thus established his impartiality, the writer continues with a dollop of historical bromide in which the west is to blame, as prelude to a 'proposal' as pat as it is implausible. Last comes a thunderous demand that all show various abstract qualities 'if peace is to return' - and the west's moral supremacy made evident.