In the wake of the hangover over their latest national embarrassment on the world stage, John O’Sullivan asks if Britain is finally becoming un-Dianified.

An interesting discussion on women in combat, and a discourse on the last microcosm of the Cold War, on the Korean peninsula.

Robert Turner says that Nancy Pelosi could be prosecuted under the Logan Act (subscription required). It seems like an open-shut case to me, but this Justice Department would never do it, of course.

It’s an ongoing mystery to me, actually, why the Bush Justice department treats Democrats with kid gloves. Berger gets a slap on the wrist, Jefferson still hasn’t even been indicted. Doesn’t exactly sound to me like the legal arm of a fascist regime.

[Update]

It seems to me that if the Bush administration was clever, the president would magnanimously issue a preemptive pardon to Madam Speaker (for this one incident, not blanket), but not to any of the Republicans who went. It would make the point without the Justice Department having to do anything at all, and it would be hilarious to watch the donkeys scream about it.

But, of course, the Bush administration isn’t noted for cleverness.

Maybe the Democrats believe that Iraq has nothing to do with Al Qaeda (they do, after all, believe lots of nutty things), but they don’t seem to have persuaded Al Qaeda.

Claudia Rossett isn’t very impressed with Nancy’s Excellent Adventure, either.

[Update at 4:30 PM EDT]

Austin Bay says that this isn’t “shuttle diplomacy”–it’s muddle diplomacy.

Claudia Rossett isn’t very impressed with Nancy’s Excellent Adventure, either.

[Update at 4:30 PM EDT]

Austin Bay says that this isn’t “shuttle diplomacy”–it’s muddle diplomacy.

Claudia Rossett isn’t very impressed with Nancy’s Excellent Adventure, either.

[Update at 4:30 PM EDT]

Austin Bay says that this isn’t “shuttle diplomacy”–it’s muddle diplomacy.

Regardless of her headgear during her excellent adventure to Syria, the Washington Post agrees with me that Nancy Pelosi is an idiot. The kind that Uncle Joe Stalin used to call a useful one, for the Assad regime.

“What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel,” said a statement quickly issued by the prime minister’s office. In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that “a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel.” In other words, Ms. Pelosi not only misrepresented Israel’s position but was virtually alone in failing to discern that Mr. Assad’s words were mere propaganda.

As Glenn writes:

If Bush and Cheney were really evil, they’d both resign and stick the Democrats with a Pelosi Presidency for the next two years. The Democratic Party would never recover. Alas, neither would the country.

Krauthammer, on the nutty notion that the “real” war is in Afghanistan, and not in Iraq:

Thought experiment: Bring in a completely neutral observer — a Martian — and point out to him that the United States is involved in two hot wars against radical Islamic insurgents. One is in Afghanistan, a geographically marginal backwater with no resources, no industrial and no technological infrastructure. The other is in Iraq, one of the three principal Arab states, with untold oil wealth, an educated population, an advanced military and technological infrastructure which, though suffering decay in the later Saddam years, could easily be revived if it falls into the right (i.e. wrong) hands.

Add to that the fact that its strategic location would give its rulers inordinate influence over the entire Persian Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Gulf states. Then ask your Martian: Which is the more important battle? He would not even understand why you are asking the question.

Nancy seems to have no problem with misogynists, as long as they’re not western misogynists.