Monday afternoon roundup

- The great Natan Sharansky says it's too early to give up on democracy here, and the Washington Post agrees.

- Jack Kelly says the main question going forward is going to be whether or not Islam is compatible with freedom.

- Ralph Peters of the New York Post looks at the story on the ground in Iraq here. Seems the "civil war" mantra, just like the "brutal Afghan winter" before it, is a lot more smoke than actual fire. One thing that's increasingly not just smoke is this.

- Finally, the leader of the US Libertarian party has passed away. If nothing else, he made the political discourse more interesting. See here.