Do-it-yourself Mideast peace?

Israel just signed a cease-fire with Hamas and is negotiating with Syria. It's also negotiating with Hezbollah seeking the return of the two soldiers whose capture set off the ill-advised (on Israel's part) 2006 war with Hezbollah. What's going on. This Register editorial suggests that it has a great deal to do with the weakened position the U.S. occupies in the Middle East thanks to the Iraq war. So the parties are doing their own negotiating. Any truce between Israel and a group still devoted to its destruction is fragile, but it's something. Maybe if the U.S. resists the impulse to guide and micromanage things will get even better.

Lebanese pot boiling

As I posted today on the Register blog, "Eye on the Empire," there are so many potential conflicts brewing in Lebanon that you need a scorecard. There's the upcoming presidential replacement vote in parliament -- they'll try again on Monday but a resolution is unlikely and without a resolution civil war is likely. Then there's Hezbollah holding maneuvers and saying it fully expects war with Israel soon -- and Israel holding maneuvers close to the Lebanese border and reportedly sending jets on reconaissance missions over southern Lebanese cities. And Syria meddling in the election process and the U.S. warning Syria not to. And the possibility that the UN "peacekeeping" force may be reduced in size, which could unleash various militias. Serious trouble is probably brewing, and there's almost nothing the U.S. can do about it.