Send in the yogic flyers!

Things are not looking good for Israel or Lebanon these days. Where can we go from here?

Well for one thing, we need to get serious about a cease fire (link):

The reality is, at some juncture sooner than many of us realize, Olmert will probably want a cease-fire deal pretty badly too. So rather than see America's reputation continue to plummet through the region (Condi's comments about the disaster unfurling in Lebanon constituting part of the "birth pangs" of a new Middle East might have even made Karen Hughes blush, so poorly chosen the verbiage--and the de facto Israeli bombing halt of Beirut that coincided with her visit was no great shakes in the public diplomacy wars either) for the achievement of, at best, uncertain ends, or risk even more American forces coming under attack in Iraq as a result of Sadrists and perhaps others becoming even more radicalized by the unfolding situation in Lebanon, I believe it is incumbent on the Administration to listen to its allies both in Europe and the Arab world and move with utmost urgency and speed to get a cease-fire deal negotiated no later than very early August.

It certainly will not help our rep to be trailing Israel in our efforts to end this violence. But even when (or perhaps I should say even if) a cease fire is coming, what happens after that? Probably civil war in Lebanon (link):

When Israel and Hezbollah reach a ceasefire at last, round two of this conflict will commence in short order. No one knows if the Lebanese will be able to keep the gun out of politics after all that has happened. A tiny minority of Lebanese (with help from the remaining Syrian agents) can burn the country to the ground all over again.

“What will become of us?” is the question on everyone’s mind. No one can know what will happen after Israel lifts its siege and the temporary national unity flies apart into pieces. And it will fly apart into pieces. The only question is how far the pieces will fly and how hard they'll land.

Cheery. Meanwhile, our black-and-white view of foreign policy is neither making friends nor influencing people (link):

Support for Hizbullah is growing in the Arab world with every day that it confronts Israel.... Rice had to scratch Egypt off her itinerary because of swelling support for Hizbullah there. In Arab countries with a large Shiite community, sectarian sentiment is being fueled by the fighting in Lebanon.

Wednesday's peace talks in Rome failed because of overt pressure by Condi Rice to block an immediate call for cease fire. That means the Bush administration has now openly assumed the political liabilities and consequences that will stem from Israel's crushing campaign in Lebanon. Add that to the legacy of the still unfinished war in Iraq and we can pretty much guarantee record profits for American defense contractors for the next two or three generations.

The last, best hope? Levitation through Transcendental Mediation (link)!

Yogic flying ... is the purported ability to levitate through the advanced practice of transcendental meditation, or TM.

Proponents of the art say world peace can be achieved by thousands of simultaneous yogic flyers spread across the globe.

Here in Israel, according to a formula that says the square root of one percent of a country's population is the number needed to tap into a collective consciousness robust enough to create a "shield of invincibility," 265 people are needed.

Unfortunately,

But Zelinkovsky's squadron, which includes architects, health workers and pensioners, many of whom are also teachers of TM, now numbers only about 20 after falling from a peak of 65 last week.

This, he explained with the conviction of the converted, is why Israel's war with Hezbollah, which has already left hundreds dead, has not stopped.