Another Summer of Violence in Lebanon?

MEMRI suggests there's reason to worry that Hizbullah, Syria, and Iran (all essentially the same entity) are going to raise some more hell in Lebanon this summer. Obviously they haven't simply come out and said as much, but there are fragmentary reports that when put together paint a rather sinister picture. If I were a government minister in Tel Aviv, I might find this a rather perverse opportunity for action; this is especially true if one acknowledges a closing window of opportunity before Iran develops nuclear weapons. IDF forces could topple the Little Ass(ad) regime in Damascus without too much trouble, and any overt Iranian reaction may be limited by the presence of US warships off the coast. Of course if it so much as lifts a finger, Israel will be castigated in the media and the UN.

Mayor Livingstone: Muslims More Law-Abiding

"Red Ken" whitewashes Islamic terrorism, gives cover to extremism.

Thoughts on Glasgow and London

While no one is talking about the race of the two (?) thugs who rammed their SUV into Glasgow airport, it's pretty obviously Islamist terror; even the New York Times (!) admitted as much, reporting that bystanders heard one of the two men shouting "Allah, Allah!" while throwing punches and on fire. This last point makes me wonder whether these were wannabe suicide bombers whose nerve failed, or whether they were "homicide" bombers who were just incompetent.

I'll also be interested in the specific demographics of these two plus anyone arrested in connection to the unsuccessful London car bombings. Were these Arabs, "Arabized" South Asians, converts? Immigrants or citizens? Homegrown or veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan, or Chechnya? Based on bitter experience, I'd suggest the following profile: Pakistanis corrupted by Wahhabism, likely British-born, and perhaps not with any real experience of jihad but no doubt influenced by al-Qaeda (Lord Stevens, Britain's terror chief, said as much).

Meanwhile, Gordon Brown has shown that he like his predecessor can string words together, proclaiming that "We will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life." But, and pardon me for being so damnably contrarian, isn't the reality that homegrown terrorists (as was the case in the 7/7 bombings, several other thwarted plots, and likely this one as well) have come to be in part from an undermining of their British way of life? That mushy multiculturalism has already taken hold to such an extent that these immigrants (or their children) can reject a British identity and wrap themselves in an Islamic, often Wahhabist, identity and ideology? What Brown should have said is that they will not be intimidated and they will work to restore their British way of life.

Bombing Thwarted in London

You've heard about it by now, I hope: police have located and disarmed one (two?) car bombs in London. This comes on top of a post on a jihadi website, promising attacks. PJM has a good roundup here.

Of course the Left believes it's just a story, just trying to scare the people. Islamic terrorism = bogeyman.