...and the World

• The Dutch held an election that only helped muddle things. NYT thinks that the right of center Christian Dems will be forced to tack left and smugly noted that anti-immigration efforts could be thwarted. That may be true but it seems to me that an anti-immigrant majority still holds if you read the more comprehensive WaPost story. Most telling is the anti-Burqa/anti-veil law controversy or lack thereof. Apparently no major Dutch figure opposed it.
• With a record number of civilian dead in Iraq it is easy to forget that there is another active front in the Global War on Terror. A spike of insurgent activity in Afghanistan has lead to over 2,000 USAF strikes in the past six months.
• Robert Novak reports that some Republicans and conservatives are upset that Rumsfeld was fired and/or the way he was canned. Some Republicans and conservatives are obviously idiots.
• American - Greek ties are getting a little frosty.
• Lebanon is a mess. People are getting ticked off and US influence is ebbing.