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Hizballah After Lebanon’s Election: Down But Hardly Out

The temptation to make too much of Hizballah’s failure to unseat Lebanon’s Western-backed government in Sunday’s election is obvious. For past three years, the Shi’ite Islamist movement has been on a roll, withstanding an Israeli invasion, then paralyzing the U.S.-backed government, eventually humiliating its militias in a street confrontation, in the process winning veto power over cabinet decisions. Many had feared that the election would see the Iran-backed movement lead an opposition coalition to victory.

Iran’s Missile Test: A Message to Obama and Netanyahu

Iran’s latest missile test may have less to do with advancing its military capability than with getting a last word in on Monday’s conversation between President Barack Obama and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After all, the weapon whose test-firing was announced Wednesday by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the election campaign trail does not significantly extend the reach of others already in Iran’s arsenal. Instead, it appears to have been a ballistic message, to Iranian voters as well as to the U.S

In Lebanon’s Election, a More Pragmatic Hizballah

The young men in gold-collared gowns collecting their certificates as beaming parents looked on could have been at any graduation ceremony in the U.S., except perhaps for the fact that the commencement speaker appeared via a video link from an undisclosed location, so as to avoid assassination. That, and the fact that the graduates’ job prospects are probably far better than those of their Western peers right now, by virtue of the fact that most are trained guerrilla fighters

Obama on the World Stage: What Power Means

“Power is getting people or groups to do something they don’t want to do,” writes Leslie H. Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, in his new book, Power Rules. It seems an aggressively simplistic thought for a member of the foreign policy priesthood.

Iranian lawmaker hopes ‘Americans change their strategy’

Iran’s powerful parliament speaker said Monday the Islamic nation hopes the United States changes its approach to the Middle East, and called the Obama administration "an exceptional opportunity for Americans." “I don’t want to be pessimistic. I hope the Americans change their strategy and respect the nations,” said Ali Larijani in a wide-ranging interview with CNN affiliate Cuatro TV in Spain