According to a column in the Jerusalem Post the result of the Israeli-Hezbollah war is an unmitigated disaster for Israel and the United States. I agree. Hezbollah is now stronger politically in Lebanon and more popular across the wider Muslim world than it has ever been. The Lebanese government is weaker and its army will almost certainly not be in any position to enforce a disarmament of Hezbollah. Iran can feel more confident in its own measures to guard against any air campaign waged against it by Israel or the United States. The Islamofascists win another round.

Fascistic is the right word to describe them.

Mark Steyn also believes they have the advantage in not being tied to any nation state.

Tigerhawk has started a discussion about militarizing the West to meet the threat. As part of the discussion he correctly delineates the intellectual divide between those on the pro-war Right who believe that a bigger war is on the horizon, and those on the anti-war Left who continue to believe that negotiations can lead to peace. He links to this piece from Michael Ledeen, who re-prints an interesting analysis of the intellectual divide.

The thinking of the Left about the problem of Islamofascism is best exemplified by this piece in the Guardian.

Seymour Hersh links the Israeli action to our own military thinking concerning Iran.