Marwan Barghouti, the highest ranking Palestinian on trial in Israel for terrorism, defended the past three years of violent intifada yesterday by warning that if Israel failed to deliver independence to the Palestinians it would have to accept Arabs as equal citizens.

In recent weeks U.S. officials have made a series of remarkably unfriendly statements against the government of Venezuela, and its President Hugo Chavez. This breach of diplomatic norms can only serve to worsen relations between the two countries. It also provokes resentment in Latin America - in the same way that the Bush administration’s decision to disregard the United Nations and invade Iraq lowered our standing throughout the world.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva views the recent collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks at the Mexican tourism resort of Cancun as a great geopolitical victory for Brazil. “We scored an exceptional goal,” he said, using a soccer metaphor to describe the outcome.

We mourn with greatest sadness the death today of Professor Edward W. Said. We extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to Edward Said’s family, and we share our profound sense of loss with the large community that loved him.

Once again it’s funny mirrors time. The world watches the events taking place in Palestine, and Western media see one process taking place while the Arabs generally see another. Interpreting these events is largely a matter of how you view the relationship between the USA and Israel. A few weeks ago I heard a well-known British columnist say he was sick of being told that the Palestinian/Israeli conflict was the ‘litmus test’ for how people can expect the American Imperium to influence the world. Yet “Freedom for Palestine” was the demand on millions of the banners in the anti-war demonstrations that swept the world last February.

If you don’t want people to lash out at you violently, don’t provoke them. If you want to prevent terrorist attacks, don’t make new enemies. Sound advice. But hardly macho. And the Bush administration’s approach to fighting terrorism is decidedly macho. You won’t find Bush’s team addressing the grievances of the victims of US foreign policy—the bombing victims, the injured, the disabled, the bereft, the dispossessed, the refugees. You won’t find its members laying awake at night worrying that some Afghans and Iraqis are so incensed at what the US has done to them, their neighbours, their friends, and their family that they’ve sworn never to rest until they exact revenge.

The chances of a decisive US army military victory in Iraq is as slim as that of Israel winning against the Palestinians. Victory, in some types of war, is indeed decided by the firepower of the warring parties, the ranking of an army in comparison to its counterpart, and the effective use of air force. In the case of the US war against the Iraqi resistance, none of these aspects is of much relevance.