I posted the following at Instapundit on Tuesday.

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OH, PLEASE: The Syrian government says it’s counting ballots.

SOUTH SUDAN'S disastrous first year.

U.S. BOMB EXPERTS are trying to figure out if Al Qaeda’s upgraded and recently seized underwear bomb would have slipped through security if it had gotten that far. There’s no metal in it, so the body scanners would need to catch it. And maybe they wouldn’t. The TSA needs to spend more time looking for terrorists and less time looking for objects. A terrorist without a bomb or even tweezers is much more dangerous than an 80 year-old nun with a snow globe.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD on Israel’s new government.

The new centrist coalition relegates extreme parties to its fringe, increases Netanyahu’s maneuverability on everything from Iran to the economy to the peace process, and allows him to embark on much-needed electoral reform to reduce the influence on small extremist parties. But just as crucially, the new government will also put greater internal pressure on Netanyahu to deal with the Palestinians (Kadima and Mofaz are on record in support of a more conciliatory approach). It is a mixed picture for Obama. On the one hand, this government may be a little easier to work with on Palestinian issues; on the other, it may be politically easier for the Israelis to launch an attack against Iran.

UPDATE: Roger L. Simon admires Mead, but dissents from his conclusion: "It depends on the Palestinians, or a significant component of them, actually wanting a two-state solution. Sadly, there is little evidence of that. Less and less, in fact."

GET REAL: Vladimir Putin is not a victim.

WAAAAAY BEHIND THE CURVE: Kofi Annan warns of possible civil war in Syria.

ASGHAR FARHADI’S Academy Award-winning film A Separation has been released on DVD. It didn’t get a wide theatrical release since it’s in Persian (Farsi), but it’s absolutely worth seeing even if you don’t like reading subtitles. You’ll get a riveting and extraordinarily well-acted view of Iran beyond the politics, but sophisticated viewers will notice subtle political messages that are too understated for Tehran’s monkeyish government censors to notice. Government censors never seem to understand literature and film, and it’s always a pleasure to see what artists can sneak past them. Trailer here.

#COMMUNISMFAIL: Extraordinary photos of East Berlin before and after the wall came down. (Hat tip: Ricochet's Peter Robinson.)

NO SPRINGTIME FOR CAIRO: 61 percent of Egyptians choose Saudi Arabia as a model for religion and politics while only 17 percent would like to emulate Turkey.