A March 23 commentary from Lebanon's Daily Star:

A foolish new attraction to oppressive Arab nationalism

By Rayyan al-Shawaf

We are at a critical juncture in the history of the Middle East and North Africa. The continuing and oftentimes violent debate over Iraq's national and religious identity has revived the fortunes of diehard Arab nationalists, who are now clamoring for a return to the old formula where Iraq was identified as a purely Arab country.

How heartwarming to see the new Pontiff lining up with Europe's current Islamophobic zeitgeist. From the London Times, March 20:

Vatican change of heart over 'barbaric' Crusades
The Vatican has begun moves to rehabilitate the Crusaders by sponsoring a conference at the weekend that portrays the Crusades as wars fought with the "noble aim" of regaining the Holy Land for Christianity.

A March 7 report from Denmark's notorious Jyllands-Posten, translated and reprinted with evident glee by the openly Islamophobe Agora:

The Quran reported to the Police

By Kent Olsen, correspondent to Jyllands-Posten in Berlin

As we observed in the recent case in Nazareth, the choice of religious targets by the "mentally ill" is not so apolitical as it seems. If nothing else, it reflects a zeitgeist. From Reuters, March 25:

Thai Muslim killed after smashing Hindu god image
BANGKOK — A mentally-ill Muslim smashed a landmark Hindu statue in central Bangkok, worshipped by people of many religions, and was then beaten to death, police said on Tuesday.

Of course while the increasingly paranoid world media lavish attention on Israel's imaginary hold over US foreign policy, the Israeli state's real crimes against the Bedouin ethnic minority go virtually unreported. This March 22 alert from the Association for Defence of Bedouin Rights in Israel (received by e-mail) does not even appear to be on the Web:

He knows how to play to a heartland audience. It's the Jews who are gonna make me sacrifice your sons on the killing fields of Iran. Never mind that Iran's growing sway over the Baghdad regime poses a threat to US control of Iraq and its critical oil resources. From AFP, March 21, via London's Asharq Alawsat:

This commentary in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly gets it just right. The incredibly sad irony is that Al-Ahram's editors obviously didn't read it! The introdek they appended to it assumes the piece is making the same tired point about how the Jews control US foriegn policy. In fact, Massad, to his great credit, is making the opposite point: that the Jews are taking the hit for US imperial interests.

The countdown continues: how long before the idiot left in the West starts rallying around Lukashenko? From AP, March 24:

MINSK, Belarus - Police stormed the opposition tent camp in the Belarusian capital early Friday and rounded up hundreds of demonstrators who spent a fourth night protesting President Alexander Lukashenko's victory in a disputed election. A Canadian freelance journalist was among those in custody.