Odds and Ends

IVE TRIED AND FAILED three times to get into the village of Ghajar which straddles the Lebanese-Israeli border, but a blogger named Israeli Nurse managed to get in and document the ridiculous situation unfolding there.

ADAM THE TRAVELER reminds me how startling and overwhelming it is to visit an Arab country—in this case Syria—for the first time.

BARRY RUBIN commemorates the sixth anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death by reminding us how utterly repulsive and destructive he was.

LEE SMITH notes how today’s anti-anti-Islamists follow the footsteps of yesterday’s anti-anti-Communists.

JOSH BLOCK in Foreign Policy says if the Obama administration seriously wishes to confront Iran, it must defend our anti-Iranian allies in Lebanon.