Who Is Strumpette?

Got that, Tim, Bob, George, Wolf and Chris?

Of course, Bill Kristol is very public about wanting more aggressive action against Iran.

At Slate, Shmuel Rosner wonders whether democracy is such a great thing in some places:

"What's happening in Lebanon is a reflection of one of the most troubling aspects of the democracy project: the tendency to celebrate democracy without regard for stability.

"Israelis were always suspicious of American idealism about the tough neighborhood they live in. The hawkish Ariel Sharon and the dovish Yitzhak Rabin had similar feelings about Arab systems of government: It's better to deal with a strong, authoritative, reliable leader than risk the complications of a free and chaotic Arab society.

"But the Bush doctrine complicated matters for wary Israeli leaders. To maintain good relations with the American administration, it became necessary to live with Arab democracy. It was the bitter pill one has to swallow to keep the doctor happy, even if the price was clear and high. . . .

"A new phenomenon called 'Arab democracy' was born -- that is, a democracy in which the militias are part of the government and in which the government is too weak to control the militias. Hamas has a majority in the Palestinian parliament and controls the government; Hezbollah holds 25 of the 128 seats in the Lebanese parliament and controls at least two ministries. But in both cases, the weak leadership is unable to rein in the armed militants, who are effectively controlled by outside destabilizing forces, namely Syria and Iran."

A Beirut blogger called Cedarseed (via Andrew Sullivan) tries to explain the role of Hezbollah (or HA) in Lebanon:

"It occured to me that a lot of people may have no idea why the Shia in the south support the HA so strongly. The HA, being far from stupid, spent years being the benefactors of the population of the south that was otherwise largely cut off from the rest of the country. They built homes for them, organised schooling, hospitalised the needy, brought them spiritual support. . . . At the same time, the only thing those simple people (way too illiterate and monolinguistic to have access to many sources of information) ever saw from Israel were bombs falling on their heads. . . . So exactly how do we explain to these people that the HA who fed, treated, schooled and sheltered them are the bad guys, and that Israel is not evil incarnate? As you can see, they've been told being bombed makes them heroes -- and they believe it."

American Prospect's Greg Sargent unloads on a Sunday WashPost piece:

" David Broder and Dan Balz have published a lengthy piece on the state of partisanship in this country that is striking in its utter uselessness. The piece purports to be a big-picture look at the fact that despite a brief period of post-9/11 national unity, partisanship is alive and well and national security remains the paramount issue at the center of the intense polarization that dominates politics today.

"Yet Broder and Balz fail to tell you the single most important fact about today's hyper-partisan environment: Things are this way because the Republican Party's leading officials and strategists want things to be bitterly polarized and have done everything in their power to ensure that the electorate remains bitterly divided ." (Emphasis added.)