THOUGH I DON'T LIKE to break into my weekends with blogging, I nevertheless read probably a dozen news sites each day, even on Saturday and Sunday, and thus sometimes run across items I think are important. Usually on the weekends I let these go by. But this weekend (in three instances thanks to Lucianne.com) there were four items so significant to our understanding of current events, I am linking to them all today, for the benefit of people who might otherwise have missed them. First is an informative essay on a telling distinction between Islam and Christianity: the essential role that violent conquest plays in the former, spelled out here. Next is a related report from Taipei Times addressing the possibility (as I did last week) that Islamic terrorists are already conspiring to attack U.S. tsunami relief workers, for which go here. Third is David Frum's vital critique of the growing irrelevance of the United Nations, detailed here. Last, from the conservative Weekly Standard, is a pull-no-punches discussion of the Bush Administration's outrageous blundering in Iraq, linked here.
Yes, this is a lot of reading, especially at one time, but I suggest you take as long as you need to absorb it, for the portrait you will then acquire will be not only useful but perhaps invaluable.
And by the way, I apologize for posting so belatedly: involvement with another project kept me away from my keyboard far longer than I had anticipated.