New Orleans of the Middle East
American families stuck in Lebanon are resorting to signs, much as stranded NOLA residents did after Katrina. Meanwhile, Israel took out the Beirut airport several days ago, and has now taken out the bridges that connect southern Lebanon to Beirut, where US evacuation plans depart from. According to MI Senator Stabenow and Congressman Conyers, there are between 5,000 and 7,000 Michiganders stranded in southern Lebanon.
He Hu Laughs Last, Laughs Loudest
See Update below--the open mike is not on the Hu side of Bush, it's on the Putin side. Thanks to EasyRider for checking my work and seeing the funkiness with the video.
Remember those slights Hu Jintao suffered when he visited the United States? The Taiwanese anthem, the Falun Gong protestor? I thought then that might be revenge for the way Bush was made to look like an idiot when he visited
The First Fourth Generation World War
Steve Soto posts an email exchange with Sam Gardiner that strongly supports a point I've been making.
A major piece of what I was being told was shocking. Iranand Syria were involved in the planning for the hostage takings. I waseven told where and when their planning meeting took place. Anindividual with former connections to the CIA told me the currentsituation is all is about the Iranian nuclear program.
What IF Iran Is Behind the Burgeoning Regional War?
Via hilzoy via Glenn Greenwald, I found this description of Mubarak's attempts to broker peace between Hamas and Israel.
"Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday told the Cairo daily AlAhram that he had drafted an agreement for the release of abductedIsraeli soldier Gilad Shalit, but that it had been scuttled by outsidepressure on Hamas.
Novak Loses the Narrative (Again)
As I've said before, the pro-Cheney forces are really hamstrung because they have to rely on Novak as the public face of their fight with Wilson. You've got a man whose charisma derives from his dark creepiness fighting for press attention against a classic American blonde beauty. (I keep seeing visions of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but at least Quasimodo was a sympathetic character.)
Add to that, Novak is really having