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Friday Skim
Opinionator —
... Iraq. What really brought Iraq’s Sunni insurgency to an end was not extra US troops but fear on the part of the Sunni that they were being ethnically cleansed by the Shia majority. It is difficult to see the Taliban being defeated so long as they are able to base themselves across the border in Pakistan. It is also unlikely that the Pakistani army will ever abandon the Taliban as one of its few assets in the region, particularly at a time of increased tension with India. Commentary : Noah Pollak offers nine conclusions from the Israeli invasion of Gaza, including: “Cast Lead ...
Did Israel win in Gaza?
Power Line —
I took stock of Israel's recent military action in Gaza in this post and during the Power Line show on PJTV. Noah Pollak does the same in this post at Contentions.
Pollak's take is quite similar to mine, though more detailed and probably better informed. He concludes that "for Hamas, the war was a major setback, but not a devastating one." it was not a devastating setback "only because Israel decided not to make it so." That is, "the political leadership did not allow the IDF to continue advancing until Hamas's leadership, ensconced in ...
Summing up Operation Cast Lead
Israel Matzav —
Summing up Operation Cast Lead Noah Pollak has done a good job of summarizing the conclusions from Operation Cast Lead (Hat Tip: Powerline ). I have one small bone to pick with Noah and that's this conclusion: 8. Throughout the war, Hamas demanded that Israel lift its blockade of Gaza. The war is over, and Israel isn’t lifting the blockade . Hamas hoped to use the war to generate international pressure on Israel to alleviate the blockade, but instead such pressure (at least so far) is coalescing around the need to prevent Hamas from benefiting from ...
The Daily Grind
Weekly Standard Blog —
... David Paterson is just messing with all of us?
Obama: Hey, you know what the struggling auto industry needs? An expensive new mandate!
L.A. Times inching closer to commissioning "Obama as Michelangelo's David" replica.
Pelosi: You know what'll help the economy? Birth control.
25 People Behind the Meltdown. Oddly enough, not every single one of them is Republican, as the Obama campaign would have had you believe.
A Gaza post-mortem as Hamas goes back to plotting the brave resistance and ...
Ging-ho
Yourish.com —
... He may well be right, but I doubt it. Hamas was shown to be unable to stand up for those it governed. They’re not up to the task of fighting Israel. Noah Pollak concluded based on anecdotal evidence: ...
Lynch-ing Israel
Yourish.com —
... Lynch opposed Israel’s effort to defend its citizens. But here’s one of his conclusions:
There’s no question that Gaza has weakened the hand of moderates and strengthened more extremist voices across the political spectrum.
No question? This is a mantra, supported by absolutely no evidence. It’s just an outgrowth of the “there’s no military solution to terrorism” faith.
Noah Pollak wrote in his Gaza post-mortem:
The political fallout among the Palestinians remains to be ...
