Bowing to political reality the folks at Dubai Ports World pulled the plug on their takeover of commercial operations at some American ports. I'm not surprised. After that 60-2 vote in a House committee the other day the handwriting was on the wall. Congress was going to block the deal, probably with a veto-proof majority. It is a big defeat for the President, not because he was a big advocate of the deal (he was informed of the deal only when the media began reporting it), but because he strongly came out in defense of the deal, even threatening a veto, and his own party ran away from him like scalded dogs. I think we can officially say that the President is politically weak and may be only a few months away from being a complete lame-duck (if the Democrats regain control of Congress in the November elections). This is very bad news for a country at war.

David Ignatius says the deal was pulled off the table when Karl Rove decided it couldn't be supported. He says the UAE is a good ally and getting better, and that this whole controversy is very bad for our reputation in the Middle East.

The spiritual leader of Iran is weighing in on the nuclear controversy, essentially backing up the earlier statements made by members of his government. Of course, the Ayatollah is really the political power in the land as well as the spiritual power, so this is not surprising.

The Pentagon has a plan to deal with a civil war in Iraq, should it come to that. Charles Krauthammer thinks the Kurds may be the faction that can break the political logjam and get an Iraqi government in place, which would go a long way toward keeping the nation from descending into a civil war.

Finally, on a lighter note, all true Sopranos fans (like me) can rejoice. After more than a year and a half of waiting, the mob drama will resume on Sunday night at 9 PM on HBO. The new season is getting good reviews. Here is the view from the left (the New York Times) and the right (the Weekly Standard). All parts of the political spectrum can agree, the Sopranos kicks ass.