Alqaeda AND Iran! Sounds scary.

* Ron (at Raw) tries to reconstruct the Leverett op-ed.

* there have been some very interesting developments in the Duke Rape Case - in particular, jeralyn censored the word 'p*nis' on her site (but not vagina)

* Gregory Levey:

Many American Jews, it seems, have similar feelings. Eighty-seven percent of them voted Democratic in the recent midterms -- the highest number since 1994 -- belying the oft-repeated claim that the Bush administration's staunch support for Israel would move the traditionally Democratic Jewish vote toward the Republicans. The fact is that most American Jews, and many other American supporters of Israel, do not see eye-to-eye on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the most hawkish, knee-jerk Israel supporters in the U.S. government -- even if their presumed leadership, represented by AIPAC, often appears to do so. Moreover, AIPAC's influence in Washington may soon begin to decline, as a powerful new alliance of left-leaning friends of Israel has begun to emerge, with the express aim of reshaping U.S. strategy on the region's most intractable problem.

If the Bush administration decides to seriously reevaluate its strategy in the Middle East in the wake of the Iraq Study Group's recent report -- and among its recommendations is prioritizing a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- it will have to deal with a minefield of interest groups. That will surely include AIPAC, a juggernaut that the New York Times has called the "most important organization affecting America's relationship with Israel."

[]

AIPAC suffered a relatively small but symbolic defeat this past year -- one that may prove to have been a turning point. Earlier in the year, AIPAC put all its muscle behind a congressional bill called the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, which even some pro-Israel observers called "draconian." Going beyond even the Bush administration's own hard-line stance on the Hamas-led Palestinian government, it would have essentially cut off all American contact with any element of the Palestinian leadership, and hampered the U.S. government's ability to strengthen Palestinian moderates.

* mizgin:

"Yes, it's widely known that Turkish Hezbollah is an arm of the Turkish Deep State. And you should bear that in mind that when you read that "authorities" say Turkish Hezbollah is issuing terror threats.

Deep State is getting ready to strike again."

* from the article that Mzgin links to - AP:

"A Kurdish Islamic militant group with reported ties to al-Qaida is re-emerging in Turkey after six years underground — and has started issuing vague but worrying threats, authorities say.

Turkish Hezbollah's rise parallels developments across the broader Muslim world, where the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon are believed to have served as powerful recruiting tools for radical Islamic groups.

Turkish Hezbollah, which takes its name from the better-known Lebanon-based Hezbollah but has no formal links to it, was largely eradicated six years ago when its leader was killed and more than 6,000 of its members were arrested in a massive police crackdown.

Like the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Turkish group allegedly is backed by Iran."

Alqaeda AND Iran! Sounds scary.

the article ends thusly:

"There are concerns that members of the group could be manipulated by larger powers.

"I am most concerned about Turkish Hezbollah being used as an instrument to cause trouble to Turkey in this game of the Middle East, where the United States has messed up badly and Iran is developing very intelligent strategies," Ulsever said."

as the kids these days say: heh.