In case you hadn't heard, yesterday France and the U.S. reached an agreement on a draft resolution calling for a ceasefire (without the word "immediate").

Reaction to the resolution. I have a dim view of this page, actually. Their "Mid-East press" seems to consist of four Israeli papers, The Jordan Times, and one London paper with an Arabic- ( Read more... )

Sweltering out there? Yup. It's global warming.

...[S]ince 1880 the duration of heat waves in Western Europe has doubled and the number of unusually hot days in the region has nearly tripled ( Read more... )

In response to the Supreme Court telling him the authorization of force Congress passed after 9-11 didn't actually create him emperor, Bush has submitted a new "terror detainee bill" which would let him do the things he was trying to do all along. i.e., hold anybody he likes for as long as he likes without any of the usual rights and protections ( Read more... )

... at least for two days.

Israel has called a temporary ceasefire in southern Lebanon to investigate the deaths of over fifty civilians.

Israel has agreed an immediate 48-hour suspension of air strikes over southern Lebanon to allow an investigation into the death of more than 50 civilians ( Read more... )

As soon as I heard Israel had told the Lebanese to evacuate to north of the Litani River, I wondered, based on reading some of Shiva's Water Wars, if access to the river might not be part of Israel's objective. Reading on in the book, it seems like it may be:

"It is necessary that the water sources upon which the future of the Land depends, ( Read more... )

Recent lowlights of Israel's "targeted" offensive on "terrorist infrastructure":

Israeli helicopter shoots a hole right through the cross on top of a Red Cross ambulance. Well, at least they're equal opportunity about it. They hit Red Crescent ambulances last week.

In previous conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel has struck ambulances ( Read more... )

... and no one told Shrub.

According to the L.A. Times, Israel set war plan more than a year ago.

"Of all of Israel's wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared," said Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University. "In a sense, the preparation began in May 2000, immediately after the Israeli ( Read more... )

The first letter is an account of the situation in Beirut by a young Lebanese woman named Rasha. She writes about racism in the evacuations, about her divergence of opinion with Hezbollah but her far greater anger with Israel, about what it's like living in this war zone. Agree, disagree, she's eloquent and impassioned, and presents a viewpoint ( Read more... )

Oh, I'm gonna get shit for that subject. Oh well. You'll see why I say that when you read how Israel is bombing milk and medicine factories. Are we supposed to believe Hezbollah has been stashing their rockets between the butter and the 2% in Lebanon's largest dairy? Saying that strains credibility is an understatement. Ditto for a Greek ( Read more... )

Kevin Drum explains why he isn't writing about this latest Middle East violence.
1. It sparks unusually vicious comment threads, something this blog hardly needs since comments here spin out of control often enough anyway. Needless to say, this phenomenon is fairly universal.

2. The fight between Israel and the Palestinians is over half a ( Read more... )