Every presidential campaign will be going full tilt until the last minute before midnight Saturday. That’s the deadline for first-quarter fundraising–and the first objective measure of how well they are doing at building the financial infrastructure to compete in a 2008 election where many experts say it will take $75 million or more just to [...]

This excellent piece by Edward Wong, the story of the casual assasination of a Sunni woman, is heartbreaking. It speaks to the difficulties in stopping the ethnic cleansing of neighborhoods, even though the Shiite militias have gone to ground. Note that the Iraqi troops involved are Kurds, not Arabs. Kurds are not native Arab-speakers, which [...]

Direct from the Judean Hills, a discussion middle east peace prospects. Is it possible that the United States is actually discouraging the Israelis from talking to the Syrians? (Of course it is.) Also from the Judean Hills, an exclusive interview with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Update: They don’t want American politicians talking to the [...]