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Well, Hamas has won solid controll of Palestine's parlament. Hmmm. So, Bush, what do you do when the terrorists HAVE democracy and are still in controll? Oops. Well, guess we have to add Palestine to our "To Do" list. Along with most the rest of the world. S'okay, constant and never-ending warfare should be good for the economy.
But I digress.
This is going to be extremly interesting to watch, for so many reasons. For one, I hadn't really realized that Palestine was a democtaric country (which kinda blow's Bush's Iraq excuse outa the water, don't it? There already IS a democratic muslim nation in the middle east. Funny, I don't see the others clamboring onboard that ship.). The way that I see this, it's either going to pan out very badly, or very well for the peace process.
I haven't done any research at all to confirm that I'm right, but I can't help but draw a paraelle to the IRA and northern Ireland. It's easy as hell to be violent and call for bloodshed when you have no one to answer too. However, once you rise to real power, and you have more to maintain within your nation and beliefes then ammunition stocks, it really puts things in perspective. You're not some fringe group, some repressed minority anymore. You're it. Your eff ups and snafu's arn't someone else's problem, they're yours, and you can't just go back to your hideout and sulk when s**t hits the fan.
Hamas has enjoyed "success" as terrorists. Well, no duh. It's easy to blow things up, and it's easy to say you're winning in your ideals everytime people on a bus die. With controll of the government, Hamas has been granted access to far better and far stronger weapons. However, they can also no longer hide behind Fatah to protect them fromn full-scale retribution. I'm sure they're going to find it a lot harder to destroy Israel when they and their allies can finally hit you back, and hit you back hard.
BAGnews has an interesting article up about the election, stating how now Hamas suporters no longer have to wear facemasks. Well, that makes sense, and I'm not sure how they're going to handle this turn. The reasons for the masks is two fold, it hides your identity, and obscures your humanity, instilling awe and fear into your viewers (SEE: Batman) Well, it's not easy to try to govern your people when you're obscured, scary, and annoynimous. With the disguises off, that even less protection you can afford for your actions. It's a very symbollic turn; while the mask blocks external viewing, it also blocks outward sight. Without them, will Hamas be more able to view the "entire" scope of the conflict?
I don't know weither the new Palestinial government will work for or hinder the peace process. I'm cautiously optomistic, though. HOwever, with a crest like this, it's hard to say. Seig Heil.
This will also pan out either very well or very poorly for the current administration. The bad guys just won, and they won at our game. So, what does this mean for Iraq and Afganhistan? Hamas just proved that power is gainable with this new system, and life will function. Sure, you can keep blowing up US soldiers, but what will that buy you? I've always maintained that the absolute smartest thing the insurgents could do is stop fighting and get a good day job: we'd be gone within the month and the country would be theirs. It may take a few election cycles, to be sure, but muslim PR has never really been a weak-spot of theirs. By winning power within a peaceful and democratic election, the US would be powerless to intervene. Promoting free elections, but only so long as the people we like win, is kind of a hard sell. It's a lock that Iraq's going to be a s**t hole for decades to come, regardless of how soon or late the US withdraws; the current crop of politicos have learned how to do things within the corrupt sleeze of the Hussein government, I doubt that's gone, especially with this intersteller administratin's guidance. rolleyes I wouldn't be suprises if there's a noticable drop in attacks and insurgent activicy, at least for a while. So long as nobody does anything stupid over the Palestine elections, anyways. Let's demonstrate that we're willing to play nice, if you are too.

Well, suck. Recently, I've picked up a new game, called Navy Field at www.navyfield.com . It's a decently fun game, and, up until about a week from now, free. However, the developers have decreed that, within the week, it's going to become a pay-to-play game, once your account reaches a certain level. $8/month for the basic (crappy) account, $12/month for the good version.
********.
I would maybe, maybe, pay $5 once for this game. There's nothing about it that's worth paying for. The graphics would have looked dated five years ago, much less now. Game play is limited to PvP, in one map. There's zero singleplayer options. I like the concept, but damn man, it's not even CLOSE to being retail yet. I'm so annoyed about this, they've take a game with a lot of good potential, and now they're going to ******** it down the drain. s**t. Well, it was fun for a few weeks.
"But, it's only $10 a month! That's less then what you spend for food in a day! What a whiner!" Hey, ********, I NEED food, I don't need a half-assed game. Tell you what. Since it's so cheap, feel free to pay my fee for me. And a few dozen others who don't feel like paying it, you stupid c**k. [/vent]
On the other hand, I was starting to get kind of bored with the game, anyways. It hard to care about it when you keep getting a**-raped by people 10+ levels above you. stare Gosh, that was fun. I got 120 xp, only need 5000 more.

Listening to: Dr. John - Right Place, Wrong Time