Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke of creating a "new Middle East" during her ever-so-brief foray into Middle East shuttle diplomacy on Monday. It is a noble goal, and, as we watch the tragedy of the Lebanese civilian population being caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah, it is a goal that is surely highly desirable. It is also a goal that has become central to the democracy agenda of the Bush administration. But there are times when the rhetoric just seems too far from reality to make any sense, and this may be one of those times.
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1533: Pope Clement VII excommunicates England's King Henry VIII after his first marriage to Catherine .
Middle-East Arab News and Opinion - Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities
A boast by the leader of Hezbollah that he commands 100,000 fighters came as a surprise to many Lebanese, not least because it was addressed to a domestic audience rather than the militia’s archenemy Israel. Experts say the figure, which exceeds the size of Lebanon’s army by about 15,000 troops, is an exaggeration. But Hassan…