Start your day with a dose of fear, foreign policy style

Sidney Blumenthal has a horror story posted on Salon that mentions a couple of troubling facts about the world around us--there's that nasty business with North Korea, and the word 'war' is being used openly in the widening Israeli-Palestinian conflict-- with a little help from Syria and a lot from Lebanon (Israel just attacked the Beirut airport and imposed an air/sea blackade). I might as well add the heightened antagonism between nuclear powers India and Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai (aka Bombay) attacks that killed at least 200.

How is the US dealing with these situations? Apparently, we're not. China holds all the cards (and a few hundred billion in American IOUs) in dealing with North Korea and has threatened sanctions with a Security Council veto. The Middle East peace process ground to a halt when Bush first entered office. And negotiations with North Korea ended because, although it effectively contained the regime, BushCo didn't want to do anything "like Clinton."

As an added bonus, Blumenthal points out that Fearless Leader was unfamiliar with terms like "Shiite" and "Sunni" even after invading Iraq.

You know what? Just forget the article. Have another cup of coffee and find some pictures of fuzzy puppies on the Web instead.