Well-Made World #6

• In November of 2006, Joseph Massad began drawing parallels between the United States's support of the Chilean military in the overthrow the Allende government, and the current aid being given to Fatah (or, to be more explicit, to the faction of security forces led by Mohammed Dahlan, the new US bulldog in Palestine), in ostensible preparation for a coup against the democratically-elected Hamas government. Tony Karon has picked up this thread in his blog, where he gives a lucid analysis of the recent disheartening violence in Gaza, and asks: is this the time for the "Palestinian Pinochet" to make his move?
• Israel's national infrastructure minister, meanwhile, has declared that all members of the Hamas government are potential assassination targets.
• "For years, Israel was proud of the democratic miracle of an obedient army that did not accumulate too much power and served the elected government loyally, even though the country was engaged in a continual existential war." A Haaretz editorial uses the example of the army's disregard for court decisions regarding the separation wall in the West Bank--as well as an ever-increasing (illegal) settlement rate there--to show why this is no longer the case.
• John Loose brushes us up on our Coleridge: 'In Xanadu did Kubla Khan/A stately pleasure dome decree'. The American embassy under construction in Baghdad is costing upwards of 700 million dollars, and is the size of the Vatican. One shouldn't be too given to wonder why this is the case.
• No Empires officially believes that no action of the US Army, sadly, can be too surprising. But a secret plot to kill the most popular Shia politician in Iraq? Is it the Americans taking a page out of the Israeli playbook? Regardless, for their aims, it is a remarkably short-sighted move. Patrick Cockburn reports.