Let's take a time out

for a Geo Political update.

The current state of affairs in Lebanon is fairly well documented. It seems as though the time table for an Israeli invasion of Lebanon is in days; possibly hours. Syria and Iran will be watching/have to be watched very closely for their response to this. Also, it will be interesting because the actual Lebanese forces, which for the most part have been uninvolved to this point, are sure to at the very least defend their country from a foreign army.

Now there is this news from Somalia. It seems that Ethiopia has sent troops into that country to supposedly bolster the allied government. The Ethiopian government denies the troops prescence in Somalia. Meanwhile, Somalia Islamic leaders are calling for a "holy war"(I leave the contradiction discussion for later.) against Ethiopia.

Let's go to the map. As you will see by looking at the map you have nice cauldron of activity within a 1500 mile radius, with Beirut as the center, or in a radius that would cover New York City and Los Angeles with Lincoln, NE being the epicenter. Fun!

So, what the heck does all of this mean? It means the next 72 hours will see some of the most hustling diplomacy the world has ever seen. Hopefully. You have an area of the world that is absolutely critical to the world's economy(Bought gas lately?) which could quickly become embroiled in an all out shooting war that would probably start with Lebanon and Israel and could quickly involve Iran, Syria, Somolia, Ethiopia and Saudia Arabia. And who knows maybe Pakistan and India will decide have at each other, just so as not to feel left out.

I know this isn't exactly "happy Friday" fair but I felt it is worth mentioning. I will save any "How did we get here?" and "Why is it getting worse?" for the comments sections. That is if we get any.