Gyroscope

Der Spiegel On-Line reports how well the Bush administration is doing at isolating Syria as a rouge regime. (excerpted)

The yellow Hezbollah flag has been raised all over Damascus -- flying from cars, draped over balconies and plastered on the sides of buildings all over the city. Images of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah are likewise omnipresent: tens of thousands of posters and placards depicting the Hezbollah leader have flooded the city.

Young men download Nasrallah's sermons as ring tones for their cell phones, and even Christians light candles for the Shiite leader in church.

an expert close to the Syrian Foreign Ministry who asked not to be identified. "Why should we help?" he asks. "Let the West head for its own doom thanks to its policies -- that's exactly what's happening now."

it looks right now as if the regime in Damascus could emerge from the current crisis as a winner. Syria has already established itself as an influential regional power. And for the first time since the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005, an official representative of a European government has travelled to Damascus. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos met with President Assad.
Syria could once more increase its influence in Lebanon too, following the forced withdrawal of its troops in the aftermath of Hariri's death. The anti-Syrian government in Beirut has been weakened and Syria's ally Hezbollah has been strengthened massively, at least ideologically.

Ha’aretz points out the stunning success of noble forces in degrading the slimy terrorists in Lebanon (excerpted)

The large number and the location of the casualties that the Israel Defense Forces sustained Wednesday indicate that the army does not yet control the narrow strip along the border, although this stage of the ground operation was supposed to have been completed already.

Although the army had conquered the town, Hezbollah men were hiding in underground bunkers well camouflaged from the outside. The bunkers had been stocked with large quantities of food, enough to last for weeks, and ammunition, including antitank missiles and, in several cases, short-range rockets.

The bunkers are connected to electricity and, according to one report, are air conditioned. When the fighting dies down, Hezbollah fighters emerge from the bunkers and set up ambushes for IDF soldiers and armored vehicles.

The Council on Foreign Relations (weekly email newsletter) points out what is happening elsewhere while Bush is reforming the Middle East

This summer, fighters loyal to a group of Islamic courts rolled into Mogadishu, routing the warlords who had served as power brokers in the capital since Somalia's last stable government collapsed in 1991. The emerging fundamentalist leadership in the violence-plagued African nation has raised U.S. fears that Somalia could become a haven for terrorists much like Afghanistan was.

And, Billmon alerts us to the news that all Americans are totally united and determined, focused intently ever since 9/11 to sign up for whatever the Dear Leader wishes us to do.

Some 30 percent of Americans cannot say in what year the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington took place, according to a poll published in the Washington Post newspaper.

And then of course, there was the stunning domestic endorsement of Bush in Connecticut as reported by Daily Kos

In one corner, you had a bunch of unpaid volunteers, Internet rabble-rousers, and an inexperienced politician whose highest post had been County Selectman.

In the other, you had the three-time Senator, former vice-presidential candidate, visible party statesman, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer, the other popular CT senator Dodd, most of Organized Labor, the women's groups and the environmental groups, most of traditional Democratic party support, paid lobbyist support, paid armies of GOTV staff, the slick ad money, the top DLC consultants, and a 3 to 1 budget gap.
I'm sorry. That's not David vs. Goliath. This isn't even the NBA champions versus a rec league team.That's more like an ant vs. my shoe.

And the shoe lost.

Yes, its just so fitting that the supporters of Bush label their opponents as the defeat-o-crats; while Bush goes from success to success.