Beauty Contests

In the striving for attention since the Lebanese-Israeli conflict, one thing is clear: Hizbullah's star has risen, and people from many Sunni areas are looking at these Shia warriors with admiration. There is a ""rising popularity of the Shiites as almost the only power standing in the face of US and Israeli threats in Lebanon, Iran, and even Iraq," according to columnist Salama Ahmed Salama. Between the propaganda stand of Hizbullah talking defiantly until the end of hostilities, and the leadership role of Ahmedinejad charismatic and willing to take on the West, it is not surprising that there are rumblings coming out of Al Qaeda.

Zawahiri has been very busy the last two weeks issuing warnings to the US, Israel, and the countries of the Persian gulf. Conflicts between Sunni and Shia extremists is in high pitch in Iraq. Fatwas are flying. Clerics are warning their followers about the threat of Shia theology sneaking in under various guises. Adam Gadahn has been paraded out once again to preach to the infidel Americans. France, who has been strongly against the Iraq war and worked hard to broker a cease fire in Lebanon has been threatened by Zawahiri, who called upon Algerian extremists to punish France.

If any of this is more than talk, once again, we will see the West be scapegoated and used as a proxy in their own wars...If the Shia star is shining, the Sunni cannot be far behind to prove its worth.