The Democrats have released their platform for the Fall campaign. It is a grab-bag of domestic issues, like raising the minimum wage. Unfortunately for them, no one will pay any attention to it, as the election is shaping up to be a referendum on George W. Bush and the war in Iraq, and the larger war on terrorism. House Republicans know this, so they took their first shot, in the wake of the Zarqawi hit, by debating a "no withdrawal without victory" resolution, which passed easily, drawing over 40 Democrats to the "yes" side. The reason this is a political victory for the GOP is that the unpopularity of the war as seen in poll numbers is driven not only by the desire of some to get out of Iraq, but also by some who are unhappy that the war is not being fought more vigorously. If the GOP can make a credible case that they are the party that will fight the war as vigorously as necessary to achieve victory, then that will bring some of those disaffected voters back to their side. That should be enough to prevent a Democratic takeover of the House.

Unfortunately, bad news from Iraq will be the deciding factor, like this story about two missing American soldiers. If they show up in a hostage video in the next few days, that will be very bad news, indeed.

Arnaud de Borchgrave has an interesting piece in the Washington Times about the ideological founder of the Islamist movement, a man de Borchgrave compares to Karl Marx.

The Islamists have triumphed in Mogadishu, and are expanding their control throughout southern Somalia. Their victory has finally brought peace to Mogadishu, according to this article from the Washington Post. Of course, as I have said many times before, one way to achieve peace is through the victory of one side over the other. Wars oftentimes end in just that way.

While Iran's President is hinting at an easing of the nuclear crisis concerning his country, according to this article in the New York Times, in the same edition there is this story of the North Koreans, who have apparently decided it is time to test another missile, which might have the range to reach the United States.

Ralph Peters re-draws the map of the Middle East. His prescription for a final settlement of the ethnic disputes might be reasonable, but the only method I know to achieve such a fundamental re-drawing of national boundaries would be a massive, global war (like World War I led to the re-drawing of the map of Europe in 1919).