It's a Mixed Up Muddled Up Shook Up World

George Friedman wrote yet another brilliant-but-needlessly-wordy piece for STRATFOR. But that’s why you read blogs, isn’t it — to cut to the chase? Here it is:

Hamas appears to have plenty of rockets, and it will use them until Israel responds. Hamas will use the Israeli response to try to launch a broader Arab movement focused both on Israel and on regimes that openly or covertly collaborate with Israel. Hamas hopes above all to bring down the Egyptian regime with a newly energized movement. Israel above all does not want this to happen. It will resist responding to Hamas as long as it can, but given the political situation in Israel, its ability to do so is limited – and that is what Hamas is counting on.

Hamas might also be rightfully counting on an American administration highly-selective in enforcing its “responsibility to protect” doctrine. The idea of American warplanes defending Hamas positions isn’t all that far-fetched.