re: "The soft nihilism of low expectations"
First: How blowing up civilians is waging effective war against Hezbollah is beyond me. They are not being destroyed, as they're decentralized, and the families of the dead now hate Israel.
Second: Mr. Morrissey advocates the "eye-for-an-eye" school of expectations: if they can do it, so can we. Lowered expectations all around. But at least they are equally low. That's about as nihilistic as it gets.