Sunday Reading

For analysis of the situation in Palestine this past week, few observers are cannier than Helena Cobban at Just World News.

And from the liberal Israeli side, Daniel Levy on 'Plan B.'

True or false? Syria is an economic basket case, with no prospects of moving away from a bloated, inefficient state socialist framework, and is a house of cards ready to fall at any moment? Joshua Landis has some suprising indicators.

Roger Morris on Bob Gates, the CIA, and the politics of counter-revolution at Tomdispatch.com.

Josh Marshall on how all 'insurgents' in Iraq are suddenly being dubbed 'al-Qaeda'. He could have noted that actually they now seem mostly to be 'senior al-Qaeda.'

Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com takes Josh's point and runs with it: on how everyone we fight now is 'al-Qaeda.'

Abu Aardvark on why maybe we shouldn't expect too much from those tribal leaders in al-Anbar province who are allegedly uniting against the Salafi Jihadis there.

Steve Clemons on how Colin Powell and Condi Rice's staff are playing a key behind the scenes role in the push to shut down Gitmo. Steve doesn't mention, but I will, that it is no accident that African-Americans should be especially troubled about keeping people in cages with no formal charges and no right to a lawyer.


Did greed or ambition cause Rudy Giuliani to quit the Iraq Study Commission after he had signed on to it?

Digby revealed.