Things are more complicated than they look—in the world generally, and especially in Iran. As the intransigents in Iran and Denmark alike line up for a depressing and potentially apocalyptic "clash of civilizations," conferences on inter-religious dialogue are held in response to the crisis in both countries. True, the "dialogue" seems to have been rather harshly proscribed at the Iran conference, and the Danish one seems to have been very low-profile. Still, a glimmer of hope that they were held. We wonder: were they at all coordinated? From Iran's official agency IRNA, March 19:

We always maintained Bush and his gang want high oil prices, not low. But Greg Palast, as usual, is long on hype and short on information and analysis. He won't even quote the full sentance of his leaked document before he condescendingly tells us "There you have it." And he is overlooking the fundamental question of control of oil. The price, the buyers, the sellers—all that is peripheral compared to the question of control which determines the rest. And as long as the US is in control of Iraq, no other world or regional power will have access to that oil except on Washington's terms. So the critical factor behind the Iraq adventure is not the price of oil any more than it is AIPAC's notorious "influence." Look instead to: 1.) the longterm threat to US global dominance represented by China's military-industrial rise, 2.) continued rivarly with Russia (watch Belarus), and 3.) the rift with the Saudis since 9-11, and the need to have a counter-balance to Arab-OPEC petro-hegemony (Palast's secret document notwithstanding). And while the Bush gang may not care about oil going to waste in insurgent attacks, they are assuredly not happy about the prospects of increasing chaos that could pose a challenge to US control of Iraq...

A March 23 commentary from Lebanon's Daily Star:

A foolish new attraction to oppressive Arab nationalism

By Rayyan al-Shawaf

We are at a critical juncture in the history of the Middle East and North Africa. The continuing and oftentimes violent debate over Iraq's national and religious identity has revived the fortunes of diehard Arab nationalists, who are now clamoring for a return to the old formula where Iraq was identified as a purely Arab country.

How heartwarming to see the new Pontiff lining up with Europe's current Islamophobic zeitgeist. From the London Times, March 20:

Vatican change of heart over 'barbaric' Crusades
The Vatican has begun moves to rehabilitate the Crusaders by sponsoring a conference at the weekend that portrays the Crusades as wars fought with the "noble aim" of regaining the Holy Land for Christianity.

A March 7 report from Denmark's notorious Jyllands-Posten, translated and reprinted with evident glee by the openly Islamophobe Agora:

The Quran reported to the Police

By Kent Olsen, correspondent to Jyllands-Posten in Berlin

As we observed in the recent case in Nazareth, the choice of religious targets by the "mentally ill" is not so apolitical as it seems. If nothing else, it reflects a zeitgeist. From Reuters, March 25:

Thai Muslim killed after smashing Hindu god image
BANGKOK — A mentally-ill Muslim smashed a landmark Hindu statue in central Bangkok, worshipped by people of many religions, and was then beaten to death, police said on Tuesday.

Of course while the increasingly paranoid world media lavish attention on Israel's imaginary hold over US foreign policy, the Israeli state's real crimes against the Bedouin ethnic minority go virtually unreported. This March 22 alert from the Association for Defence of Bedouin Rights in Israel (received by e-mail) does not even appear to be on the Web:

He knows how to play to a heartland audience. It's the Jews who are gonna make me sacrifice your sons on the killing fields of Iran. Never mind that Iran's growing sway over the Baghdad regime poses a threat to US control of Iraq and its critical oil resources. From AFP, March 21, via London's Asharq Alawsat: