Writing in Salon yesterday, Peter Galbraith goes into great detail about Iran's new role as regional hegemon. The L.A. Times reported on Mahmoud Ahmedinajad's growing popularity throughout the Middle East, a result of his steadfast opposition to the U.S.'s continuing occupation of Iraq. I think the latter story is particularly significant in that it suggests the troubling prospect of a scenario in which the U.S.

STILL A PROBLEM. One of the more interesting aspects of the criticisms of Mearsheimer and Walt's The Israel Lobby is the way that, despite the authors' specific and strenuous disavowal of the idea of a "Jewish conspiracy," some critics still accuse the authors of describing a "Jewish conspiracy." (Am I supposed to hold the book sideways, or read it by the light of the full moon in order to translate "there is no conspiracy" into "there is a conspiracy"?