(Untitled)

[bronnyelsp]

And then the New York Times jumps in to bolster my point:

Comments

article part 1

[luckyoldsun]

[caption] The Hezbollah station was on at a restaurant in Damascus, Syria. Moderate voices are being drowned out by a rising tide of anti-American sentiment

article part 2

[luckyoldsun]

Before 2003, the hardest step for any Islamist movement was recruitment, noted Mohamed Salah, an expert on Islamic extremist movements who writes for the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat from Cairo. Moving someone from being merely devout to being an extremist took a long time. No longer, he said. Moderate Arab governments, which have pursued peace with Israel for nearly 30 years, have seen that policy undermined among their publics by Hezbollah’s ability to strike at Israel

part 3

[luckyoldsun]

King Abdullah of Jordan initially criticized Hezbollah when the fighting erupted nearly a month ago, but in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday he was dismissive of American plans for a “new Middle East.” The monarch said he could “no longer read the political map” of the region because of black clouds gathering from Somalia to Lebanon.

That kind of attitude may prove beneficial, reformers say, allowing more breathing space for public debate as leaders try to quiet public anger. But they doubt moderates will find much of a platform.

“There is no room on the street for a moderate like me,” said Mr. Qudah, the civil engineer in Jordan. “We are all against Israel attacking Lebanon, but I am also against hitting cities in Israel where there are civilians. If I tried to say the things in public that I am telling you on the phone, I might be beaten. In a war like this, the extremists alone own the streets.”

Mona el-Naggar contributing reporting from Cairo for this article.

Re: part 3

[bronnyelsp]

Well done, and boo sucks on me for not noticing that mistake!