Wednesday morning digest

- Well, Ariel Sharon's Kadima party has won a plurality in the Israeli election, albeit an underwhelming 28 out of 120 seats in the Knesset. Many commentators are seeing the probability of a centre-left Kadima/Labour coalition as a major step towards a two-state solution in the region. I think they're dreaming. The bottom line for Palestinian leadership, be it Hamas or Fatah, is a Palestinian state without any autonomous Jewish political entity in the region. Some Palestinians will go so far as to say that they support the right of Jews to live in a future Palestinian state but I believe that they do not and will never recognize the right of Israel to exist either as a neighbour or in any other form. Despite Kadima's showing, the experience of Camp David in 2000 will be repeated over and over again because the Palestinians will not settle for anything less than the complete removal of the state of Israel from the map.

- I have a new hero in Nicolas Sarkozy, French Minister of the Interior. In response to the riots in France, he gave a big pat on the back to the riot police. See here:

Later in the day, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy later invited some 200 police officers, some still wearing their protective gear, to the Interior Ministry for wine and snacks.

"I'm proud of you," he said. "Mission accomplished."

Now that's balls.

- Speaking of protests, there is much ado in the US regarding the rights of illegal migrants. I don't get it. There are legal avenues toward immigration. If you want to become an American, you should be expected to follow the law. If you don't, you should be thrown out. What good is the law if it is not applied?

- It should be noted that CAIR last week called for the release of Abdul Rahman. Their clarity is in stark contrast to that of our own Canadian Islamic Congress, which said that if he was to be put to death for converting to Christianity it would be the coalition's fault.

- This blogger makes some good points about how the media often consider themselves to be the guarantors of the proper functioning of society. The arrogance of the press never ceases to amaze. I thought we elected Bill Graham and Lucienne Robillard to lead the Official Opposition, not the likes of Craig Oliver, Julie Van Dusen and Carolyn Dunn.

- Finally, is this what the greatest love of all has come to? What a mess.