Happy day-after-Bastille day

I forgot to note this year's Bastille day on the blog, though I did remember to toast the French Revolution yesterday, with champagne and friends. Salut!
 

Empirical questions

I read this in the NY Times, and again quoted in Haaretz:

A distinction must be made between legitimate resistance and uncalculated adventures undertaken by elements inside (Lebanon) and those behind them without recourse to the legal authorities and consulting and coordinating with Arab nations," a statement carried by the official news agency [Saudi Press Agency] said.

These elements should bear the responsibility for their irresponsible actions and they alone should end the crisis they have created.

There are important issues for political theory to address in this crisis: the proportionality of force, the status of non-state armed organizations, the place of national sovereignty when a state has no effective control over its territory. But who started this latest brawl is beyond question when Saudi Arabia itself blames Hezbollah.
 

Where least expected

The Jewish presence in Puerto Rico is about 0.0001% of the population. Why, then, do I hear nothing on the radio but anti-Semitic drivel that could have been lifted straight from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? This morning some nameless commentator was arguing that the reason for the United States veto of the latest Security Council resolution was that the Jews control education, government, and the media through their international financial machine. WTF?