Looking around
A few things have grabbed me this morning - not least the feeling that all the focus on Lebanon has eclipsed the situation in Gaza, where an Israeli offensive has been underway - albeit at a lower level than in Lebanon - since an Israeli soldier was taken by militants on June 25. That's two weeks before Hezbollah captured two soldiers in a raid into northern Israel.
The reminder from Gaza was reports that several people including a child had been killed in an Israeli operation in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Another conflict that Lebanon has pushed from the front pages is Iraq. But today we have another indication of the serious problems there: Britain's outgoing ambassador in Baghdad has warned Tony Blair in a confidential memo that civil war is a more likely outcome than democracy in Iraq.
But this article in The Times of India got us wondering if we shouldn't be asking a bigger question: are the current conflicts hardening some people's feeling that religion is more important than nationality?
Let us know what you think - not just on these topics but about the other things that piqued my interest this morning:
Moshe Yaalon writes in The Washington Post that the rules of war have been completely abandoned in the latest conflict in the Middle East.
And in The Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash highlights the disconnect between pushing democracy in the Middle East and then refusing to deal with Hamas and Hizbollah, both members of democratically-elected governments.
But my favourite talking point (but one that we're unlikely to discuss today) is people in the UK being punished in criminal courts for "recklessly" transmitting HIV to sexual partners. Should people face jail for their acts or, as the Guardian writer argues, is Stigma the real assassin?
Something we're aware we haven't covered - and feel we should but can't quite squeeze in - are the elections in the DR Congo - one blogger asks why politicians have to complain so much about fraud given the risk of social unrest. But now there are suggestions of a runoff between the two main candidates.
Is there anything you think we're missing. If so, please let us know.
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