Morning News Roundup

• Obviously leading the news is the thwarted terrorist attack on the Holland Tunnel. Though CNN won't say it outright, it looks as if this was an Al Qaeda attack, or at the least affiliated with the organization. Lebanese officials have, on our behalf, arrested a man suspected to have a hand in planning the attacks...wait as I write this, it looks like it was a plot to attack multiple tunnels in the New York area, perhaps four all told. In an unsurprising move, NY Sen Chuck Schumer is moving to monopolize the story, a classic example of how he "Schumers" (yes, that's a verb) things, people, events, etc. Best part of the Times story? When Schumer says, with no apparent irony, "intelligence did its job" - no thanks to your party, Chucky boy.
• Everyone's calling the Mexico race for Calderon, but Obrador doesn't seem to understand the concept and is calling for a recount. What the nation needs is to move on, not get mired in months of uncertainty with tensions highlighted by bitter partisan divisions. Obrador needs to understand when the deed is done, move on, and go make a movie about global warming or something.
• Violence in Gaza has further escalated, with 21 Palestinians and one Israeli killed yesterday in what's been described as the fiercest fighting thus far. Palestinian terrorists have continued to lob missiles into Israel, giving the Israeli offensive great raison d'etre beyond simply liberating the kidnapped IDF soldier. Most importantly, Hamas has ordered Palestinian security forces into the fray, tantamount to a declaration of war. The Post reports that

  Khaled Abu Hilal, the spokesman, said those forces, which number more than 70,000 men and are dominated by the rival Fatah party, had a "religious and moral duty to stand up to this aggression and cowardly Zionist invasion."

  This could potentially be beneficial if it serves to further estrange Fatah from Hamas. But what the Israelis need to indicate, both through this offensive and through a media barrage, is that the lives of the average Palestinian are being made more miserable by Hamas's intransigence and continued use of terror tactics. I'm also starting to wonder whether or not this offensive will effectively nullify the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza last year - perhaps the return will be without settlers and purely military in nature, but I think it's clear that the Palestinians have squandered an opportunity to prove to Israel and the world they're capable of statehood, domestic unity, and an end to violence.
• In one of my favorite stories of the week, one I haven't blogged on, the US continues to use Georgia as an anti-Russian foil, publicly embracing a regime that has been an incessant thorne in Putin's side. Now Georgian President Saakashvili is claiming, likely with good reason, that

  Russia is trying to undermine his government in hopes of intimidating democracy activists from rising up against corrupt regimes like the one he toppled three years ago.

  Post-Rose Revolution Georgia hasn't been all that I've hoped for, and I'm sure many others feel that way; but it is a lot better than its predecessor regime and their presence as an exemplar of both democracy and an end to Russian meddling (Earth to Vlad: the USSR is over. You no longer own all of Central Asia), and it is a regime we should continue to stand by not just for political gain but because it validates much of our rhetoric on the importance of democracy. All of this comes prior to the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg, so Bush is just needling Putin, but I reiterate: this kind of public support must become a mainstay even when the world's attention os focused elsewhere.
• Please take a moment to remember the victims of terror who perished a year ago. Let us harden our resolve and continue our struggle against the reactionary, nihilistic forces of Islamofascism and their violent efforts to destroy both Western liberalism and the civilization upon which it is founded. This is not merely about petropolitics or American culture - it is truly a clash of civilizations between freedom and oppression, liberty and totalitarianism. Never in our history as a shining city upon a hill and a global exemplar have we faced such an existential challenge. God bless all those who died.