Bush’s self-appointment as the ambassador of democracy in the Middle East continues to misfire with the Palestinian elections handing a clear majority of 76 of 132 seats in Parliament to Hamas, which is officially considered a terrorist organization by the United States’ government and Israel, as well as the EU and Canada. Hamas also does not recognize the state of Israel and its destruction is part of the organization’s charter, as are some other choice bits that are likely to make the peace process difficult at best:

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

Bush is calling for Hamas to change it’s charter. Don’t hold your breath. Though Hamas has made some hints that it intends to continue to negotiate with Israel through intermediaries, it is not altogether clear that Israel will be receptive. Israeli hard-liners may use the rise of Hamas as a reason to break off all talks, likely prompting another intensification of mutual violence.

More…

I just finished reading George Saunder’s novella, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. It is nothing like what you would expect, but yet is everything you could want in a political satire for our times. Instead of rushing headlong at the subject as I am wont to do (and did do in my own novella Homeland), Saunders started from a much more exploratory place and wound up with what is essentially a Dr. Suess book about genocide.

More from Saunders on how the book was written on the flip…