Archive for July, 2006

This is the New York Times editorial today: A Right Way to Help Israel
First let’s just agree that the Times gets it right by saying that America gains nothing, and risks losing a lot, by staying on the sidelines. George Bush long ago decided to avoid getting involved in the Israeli/Palestinian dispute. … »

The stars are beginning to align around an increase in the minimum wage. The Republicans are under intense pressure from their moderate wing to do something that might shore up support in the Northeast where many of their seats up for re-election this fall are very vulnerable. The New York Times makes this… »

The failure of international talks to get a cease fire in the Middle east has been taken by the Israelis as tacit support for an expansion of their attacks on Lebanon. The New York Times has a report here: Israel Debates Strategy Shift After Truce Talks Fail
The problem with this is that it does… »

Sidney Blumenthal has an excellent article in Salon about American Mid East policy [if there is any]. Here it is: Domino diplomacy | Salon
Now this is scary. The problem I have with a “domiono” scenario such as this, is that it places the desired end result at such a distance from any… »

The Israelis are finding harder than they expected to dislodge Hezbollah. The fighting remains heavy according to the New York Times: Israel Suffers Bloodiest Day of Fight With Hezbollah
The Israelis will no doubt prevail in some sense. They will “sanitize” whatever area they want to and then will leave behind a scorched zone… »

Who are these idiots called Hezbollah? One of their spokesmen is now reported to have been taken aback by the Israeli response to the kidnapping of two soldiers. Here’s the report posted on Yahoo: Hezbollah Surprised Apparently Hezbollah, who does this kind of thing all the time just to tweak… »

Reuters reports that the Israelis were warned about the danger that their attacks represented to the United Nations force in the region. Here’s the report, via the New York Times: Irish Officer Warned Israel on Threat to U.N. Staff The Irish Foreign Ministry is the source being quoted so I imagine this is… »