* Hard to believe–even in a land that defies reason routinely–that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki remains adamant about running for a third term. Given his divisively sectarian policies that helped create a viable Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), couldn’t he step down and take one for Team Iraq, whose only chance of remaining sovereign and avoiding a larger bloodbath is for Maliki to get the hell out of Baghdad?
* This is hardly the forum to hash out the entangled, labyrinthian history of Jews and Palestinians. It’s as frustrating as it is tragic, including the recent murders of kidnapped teens that have ignited further rage and retaliation.
This time, however, there is a local connection with 15-year-old Tariq Abu Khdeir, a Palestinian-American from Tampa, on the receiving end of a beating before being arrested by Israeli police officers in East Jerusalem. The U.S. State Department is now investigating–as well as hoping to help defuse the escalating tension. Surely among its likely questions to Israeli authorities: After beating this kid, and we all saw the wince-inducing images, you then put him under house arrest as well?