August 14, 2005

THE ATTACKS ON LONDON HAVE HAD A FAVORABLE EFFECT ON WORLD OPINION ABOUT ISRAEL:

Over the past few weeks, we have been witness to a remarkable phenomenon. Suddenly, in the wake of last month's suicide bombings in London, we hear of news broadcasts from Paris to London to New York in which terrorism analysts announce vociferously that their countries must follow Israel's tracks in everything having to do with contending with suicide bombers.

...the West, and particular the Europeans, are now looking to Israel for assistance in defending against their homegrown jihadi networks. ... perhaps it goes without saying, until suicide terror came to them, they were quick to condemn every single action – from the erection of roadblocks to administrative detentions to military sweeps of terror dens – that the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) have taken to preempt and prevent suicide bombers. Now, when they themselves are suffering from the same fate, they are quick to ignore their previous criticism and come to Israel for help.

More of this is in order.

The “No Clear Finish Line” Argument re: Iraq

Headline from the Washington Post:

In Iraq, No Clear Finish Line
Timing Is Muddy For U.S. Pullout

This gives rise to questions such as: 

• Should the Washington Post stop publishing because it has "no clear finish line" for reversing its own drop in circulation? 
• Should scientists stop working on a cure for cancer because the "timing is muddy" for completing the job? 
• Would the WaPo seriously suggest that people should stop seeking things if they don't know in advance the precise date on which the job will be completed?

Surely not. The WaPo is just accelerating its own march to irrelevance, and hence circulation losses, by such meaningless and absurd objections. 

NANOTECH MAY PROVIDE THE CURE FOR CANCER. This is so cool I'm going to take a second to describe it. It so happens that cancer genes are covered with gizmos that grab onto a vitamin called folate. Scientists made some nanotubules -- little tiny tubes smaller than a cancer cell -- and covered them with folate. They found that in a lab dish, the nanotubules stuck to cancer cells, and not to healthy cells. Then they zapped the dish with near-infrared laser light, which heated up the nanotubules, and killed the cancer cells, without touching the healthy cells. This sounds very promising.