01/26 Morning Report

In Lebanon, soldiers are deploying to quell the violence between Hezbollah and the western-backed government. Hezbollah officials are worried enough that they agreed to a curfew.

Yet all sides recognized that the country could be stumbling dangerously in the direction of civil war. Government officials and Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, appealed for calm and allowed security forces to enforce the first blanket curfew in the Lebanese capital in 11 years.

The last civil war was Muslim versus Christian. This one would be Sunni versus Shiite. No matter what, the prospect is not good.

On the subject of Muslim and Palestinian violence, go read what Linda had to say over at Something…And a Half of Something. It will give you another viewpoint on things in Iraq. It’s also well worth your effort.

There is an interesting trend, that has some pretty ugly consequences for national governments. World courts are now taking up legal issues that should be decided by the nations themselves. Russians and Americans have directly run afoul of this trend. There are even instances of other governments trying this tactic. The French tired to get the UN to go after Rwanda’s President because French law didn’t allow the French to do anything. It’s a bad trend.
(…can anyone say “New World Order”?...even on a secular level this doesn’t look encouraging…)

In the Senate, Republicans are refusing to compromise with Democrats on an anti-Iraq resolution. In fact, the appearance of several such resolutions reveals a lot about how divided the Senate is on the subject. This will take some time to play out. But, watch the political positioning going on to prepare for the 2008 elections—on both sides. The key in ’08 will be the moderate voters again. And, whoever can be seen as the more moderate camp will win.
(…the situation is much more up for grabs than the media will EVER let on…the right must pull together and organize…as the left did after Clinton left office…)

And, lastly...something really...well...