We have recently been warning of the imminent emergence of a Taliban state in central Iraq. Today the New York Times op-ed page catches up with us. From "What Osama Wants" by Peter Bergen, a senior fellow of the New America Foundation and author of The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda's Leader, Oct. 26:

A total withdrawal from Iraq would play into the hands of the jihadist terrorists. As Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, made clear shortly after 9/11 in his book Knights Under the Prophet's Banner, Al Qaeda’s most important short-term strategic goal is to seize control of a state, or part of a state, somewhere in the Muslim world. "Confronting the enemies of Islam and launching jihad against them require a Muslim authority, established on a Muslim land," he wrote. "Without achieving this goal our actions will mean nothing." Such a jihadist state would be the ideal launching pad for future attacks on the West.

Historian Allen Barra provides some all-too-revealing historical perspective on the New York Times op-ed page, Oct. 26:

One hundred twenty five years ago, three lawmen - Marshal Virgil Earp and his brothers Wyatt and Morgan - and their friend Doc Holliday walked down Fremont Street (today Highway 80) in the silver-mining boom town of Tombstone, Arizona, and into a lot behind the OK Corral to confront four "cow-boys" (as cattle thieves were then called), the brothers Ike and Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury.

Mexico's President Vicente Fox, trying to put a good face on things as he leaves a bitterly divided country as his legacy, boasted to a meeting of businessmen at the National Chamber of Industry that the crises of Chiapas and Atenco were essentially resolved, and that the Oaxaca crisis would be soon. He asserted that the new Mexico City airport opposed by the Atenco farmers would be built. (La Jornada, Oct. 24) Regarding Chiapas (a conflict Fox had pledged to resolve "in 15 minutes" on the campaign trail in 2000), presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar Valenzuela asserted, "There has been no act of violence in Chiapas in six years." (Milenio, Oct. 25)

The Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) issued a "call for a popular peaceful insurrection" Dec. 1 if the state's governor, Ulises Ruiz, has not stepped down by then. The call steps up pressure on president-elect Felipe Calderon, already facing pledges from the left-opposition to resist his Dec. 2 inauguration with civil disobedience actions. Under the slogan "Si Ulises no se va, Calderón no pasará" (If Ulises does not go, Calderon will not pass), APPO pledged to organize a general strike throughout the state of Oaxaca. The statement said that even if the state's striking teachers vote to return to classes, new strikes will extend to other labor sectors. The statement also demanded federal criminal charges against Ruiz for the assassinations of several APPO activists since the movement for his ouster was launched earlier this year. (La Jornada, Oct. 25 via Chiapas95)

File under "Well, duh." From Reuters, Oct. 22:

HOUSTON - Halliburton Co , the world's No. 2 oilfield services group, on Sunday posted a 25 percent rise in earnings, beating Wall Street forecasts, on robust spending by producers on oil and gas output, particularly in North America.

Can you say deja vu? How about chutzpah? From BBC, Oct. 24:

North warns against Ortega vote

Ex-White House aide Oliver North—at the centre of a 1980s scheme to finance Contra rebels in Nicaragua—has warned the country not to return to the past.

Arthur Neslen on the UK Guardian's Comment is Free blog Oct. 25 outlines various intellectual responses to the ascendance of the frightening Avigdor Lieberman to the Israeli cabinet. One which he overlooks is the "smokescreen" response, put forth by the lefter-than-thou who maintain that the Israeli "moderates" are actually the greater threat because they lull the naive into a false sense of security. Perhaps Nelsen can be forgiven for overlooking this tendency, as some of these ideologues have actually found Lieberman's ascendance unworthy of comment, as if warning of the danger he represents somehow lets Olmert and Peretz off the hook.

If this turns out to be true, we wager the beneficiary will be Iyad Allawi. From UPI, Oct. 23:

CAIRO -- Iraqi army officers are reportedly planning to stage a military coup with U.S. help to oust the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.