Back with some links
To say I've been lax updating this blog would be roughly equivalent to saying that a corpse is lax with respect to hygene. Indeed, this entire blog may soon metamorphose into a running commentary on my laxity, with apologies thrown out between empty postings.

Truth be told, the bulk of my efforts are currently directed at editing the Daily Star's op-ed page, with the remainder devoted to cranking out articles owed to patient people several generations ago. And all this in a hot summer climate that is as conducive to reflecting about politics as would be a Tyson half-nelson.

In that case, perhaps I can at least link readers to some of the Star's commentaries that strike me as off the beaten track, though I'm assuredly playing no favorites:

Chuck Freund has written a fine piece on Leon Uris's death and how his book Exodus shaped perceptions of Israel for a long time. Chibli Mallat was in Germany last week for a Bertelsmann conference and brings back this comment on a George Weidenfeld proposal. Turkey specialist Philip Robins offers this view of four contending Turkish approaches to the US. And Nermeen al-Mufti offers this interesting look at Iraq's Turkmens, though she didn't do this for us, but for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting