What a Day It Has Been...

It's been a busy day, so a bit of round robin if I may:

On a serious note, Emanuele Ottolenghi has some interesting points to make about the Hamas election.

What victory does to Hamas is to put the movement into an impossible position. As preliminary reports emerge, Hamas has already asked Fatah to form a coalition and got a negative response. Prime Minister Abu Ala has resigned with his cabinet, and president Abu Mazen will now appoint Hamas to form the next government. From the shadows of ambiguity, where Hamas could afford — thanks to the moral and intellectual hypocrisy of those in the Western world who dismissed its incendiary rhetoric as tactics — to have the cake and eat it too. Now, no more. Had they won 30-35 percent of the seats, they could have stayed out of power but put enormous limits on the Palestinian Authority’s room to maneuver. By winning, they have to govern, which means they have to tell the world, very soon, a number of things.

Do read on...

On a not so serious note, Al Gore once again warns of what can happen when elections are restricted solely to oil company employees...

"The election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta," Gore said Wednesday while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

"And the financial interests behind the tar sands project poured a lot of money and support behind an ultra-conservative leader in order to win the election . . . and to protect their interests."

...is glad there weren't enough oil company employees to facilitate "ultra-conservative" steps to pull out of Kyoto...

"Hopefully that will not happen thanks to the minority victory," Gore said of Canada's involvement in Kyoto.

...and reminds that scrutiny by a free press is the problem:

Gore believes the issue of the oilsands and the sway he contends the industry holds with Harper didn't garner news coverage during the election because "media concentration has taken a toll on democratic principles around the world, and Canada is no exception."

Scary.

Lastly, John Kerry wants a filibuster. Great idea. I hope he pushes it.