Morning News Roundup (22 Aug)

Just a quickie this morn as I'm heading back to Seattle.

Middle East Sturm und Drang

• During yesterday's press conference, President Bush announced a $180 million increase in U.S. aid to Lebanon -- to $230 million -- in an effort to counter the millions of dollars that Hezbollah is distributing to rebuild housing and feed people in the areas devastated by Israeli attacks. But ThinkProgress notes:
  

  While Bush made sure to hype the increase in the U.S. commitment to Lebanon (from the original $50 million), this amount still pales in comparison to U.S. spending in Iraq. $230 million is less than what the administration spends each day in Iraq ($267 million). A recent study by Foreign Policy/CGD also shows that out of the world’s 21 richest countries, the U.S. ranks just 19th in foreign aid. Iran, on the other hand, has reportedly said that it would provide Hezbollah with an “unlimited budget” for reconstruction.
  
  Bush today said he understands that “failed states in the Middle East are a direct threat to our country’s security,” but in reality, the administration is too bogged down in Iraq to seriously commit aid to other states.

• Glossy new billboards touting Hezbollah's "divine victory" over Israel line Beirut's highways. The capital's famed nightspots are full again with scantily clad students drinking to make up for a month lost to war. Leaders of the country's political dynasties appear nightly on live television, urging their weary constituents to rebuild, forgive and move on.
  
  But this rosy image of resilience, a week after a U.N.-brokered cease-fire brought a halt to Israeli airstrikes, masks a growing realization among Lebanese that the next battle Lebanon faces probably will be among its own.
  [...]
  In Lebanon's latest war-ravaged landscape, age-old tensions that were never properly addressed are more raw and public than ever. Many Christians grumble aloud that Israel should have "finished the job." Sunni Muslims are caught between satisfaction at seeing Israel taken down a notch and the terror of being sidelined by Hezbollah, an Iranian-bankrolled Shiite Muslim force. Shiites, who form the backbone of Hezbollah's support base, were the conflict's biggest victims, losing relatives, homes and jobs.
  
  Many Lebanese from all backgrounds fear that Hezbollah, now the most powerful political and military force in the country, will inch back to its early goal of establishing Islamic rule over Lebanon. [McClatchy News Service, formerly Knight Ridder]
  
  
• Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday ruled out peace negotiations with Syria and rejected criticisms of the Lebanon war as reserve soldiers expanded their protests over the government's handling of the conflict.
  [...]
  More than 100 protesters, many of them Israeli reservists, staged a demonstration Monday in Jerusalem over shortfalls in the army operation. Another group of paratroops addressed an open letter in the Haaretz newspaper to Olmert, complaining about indecisiveness in the military's top ranks. Hundreds of soldiers signed the letter. [WaPo]

Climate Crisis

• A two-day gathering of scientists -- mostly greenhouse skeptics -- in Stockholm in mid-September will focus on: “Global Warming - Scientific Controversies in Climate Variability”. The gathering will feature presentations by such skeptical luminaries as S. Fred Singer, Sallie Baliunas and Willie Soon. Not all scientists are enthusiastic about the conference. Tom M. L. Wigley, a top climate researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, wrote: "You may be well meaning, but I think this meeting idea is flawed. You seem to be making the same mistake as the popular press, who often give equal weight to minority views. It is true that the so-called 'skeptics' sometimes raise interesting points, but they are usually either on the fringe, or are quickly shown to be wrong. The normal process of scientific publishing through the peer review process will eventually sort the wheat from the chaff. I doubt that many mainstream scientists who work in the climate change area will want to come to your meeting. Certainly, it is not something I would want to participate in." [DeSmogBlog]

Domestic Potpourri

• The president's approval rating has ticked up ever so slightly in a new CNN poll -- he's at 42 percent now -- but that's about the end of the good news for him there. Fifty-four percent of Americans say the president isn't honest or trustworthy; 58 percent say he doesn't inspire confidence; and 51 percent say he doesn't understand complex issues.
  
  Case in point: Iraq. Just 35 percent of CNN's respondents say they support the U.S. war in Iraq, the lowest level of support for the war CNN has ever measured.
  [...]
  At his press conference Monday morning, George W. Bush said he's doing what he thinks is right. "And if, you know, if people don't like me for it," he said, "that's just the way it is." [Salon's War Room]
  
  
• Speaking of Dear Leader's feisty press conference, a picture really does say a thousand words:
  
  

Obama's Corner

• Obama-mania is sweeping the nation of Kenya, particularly the long-marginalized west, which is preparing a hero's homecoming for the half-Kansan, half-Kenyan senator, who began a 15-day, five-nation African tour over the weekend.
  
  Construction workers are racing to complete the new science lab at the recently rededicated Senator Obama Secondary School. A play based on his best-selling autobiography recently took the stage at Kenya's National Theater. Sales of long-popular Senator beer, which locals dubbed "Obama" after his election, have doubled since June, brewery officials said. [LATimes]

And finally... our pal Ward Sutton's latest cartoon is up at the Village Voice.