monster ink

There's been lots of words written about Mr. Arafat since his long-overdue, Franco-like slip into the abyss, but I thought the New Republic had it just right about what kind of man he was.

Yasir Arafat could not even die straightforwardly. His final days were like all his days, cloaked in concealment and conspiracy, hostile to truth, pitting factions against one another for the sake of his own cult.

A natural death, unlike the first King Abdullah of Jordan, unlike Anwar Sadat, was what Arafat most ardently wanted, the objective to which he again and again subordinated the interests of his people. He lived in fear of the gangster culture that he created. He was the very model of unheroic leadership. His admirers praised him as a survivor, but it was his own survival for which he will finally be known. Rarely has a figure so much littler than history loomed so large in it.

What I always noticed about Arafat was the way he never blinked.

Like a snake in a kafiya.

this can't be a good sign

Did you ever wonder what Muslim kids in the West are up to? It may be worse than you think.

born again democrats?

I am pixilated by this thought that Republicans are the new Democrats (Democrats of my youth, anyway).

The parallel construction is that neo-conservatives are the new radicals, so it really isn't surprising to find two old flaming leftists (Christopher Hitchens and David Horowitz) siding with the red states, though Hitchens makes no secret of his discomfort.

I feel their pain.

(Both interviews were taped before the election. )

fallujah

The battle for Fallujah is on.

Check out this site out for an interesting and confident account of what seems to be in store the few thousand insurgents who have decided to stay in the city and fight.

I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.