Stress Fractures...

Once again, we bring the word via The Mighty Billmon, who asks the direct questions we were hinting at a week or two ago regarding the stability of the regimes in Damascus, Riyadh, Cairo and Amman.

I don't know -- maybe things would have to get infinitely worse before Arab soldiers would turn their guns on their officers, or Mukhabarat attack dogs would sink their teeth in the throats of their masters. Maybe the pain and humiliation of watching Lebanon destroyed by American bombs dropped from Israeli planes isn't enough. But the puppets themselves are showing signs of a growing unease. They know how much depends on the loyalty of the hired help -- or at least its continued willingness to obey orders.

I think this is the central issue that our foreign policy wogs should be obssessing about right now, because the fact that there are still nominally working governments in these capitals is one of the last lynch pins preventing a real World War III from starting.

And if the leaders of those governments get to a point where they have to choose between openly supporting Hizbollah or face an increasingly restive population, not to mention security services, which side do you think they will come down on?

mojo sends