Embarrassment over "We Have The Way Out"

Microsoft and Unisys suffered some embarrassment when it was discovered that a high profile jointly-promoted site proposing Windows as an alternative to Unix had actually been running on BSD and Apache -- both "free" software.  The site was taken down for two days and came back online after it was migrated to Windows2000 and IIS.

Israel and Palestine .... and the US

Israel couldn't hold its patience in check and finally "invaded" Palestine.  Where do Palestine, Israel and the US go from here ?  It had been obvious for some time that Yasser Arafat couldn't (and, probably, wouldn't ?) control the suicide bombers.  Whatever Israel and the US have kept saying, Arafat wasn't responsible because he wasn't directing the individual suicide bombers.  But, then again, there was no visible alternative leader to the Palestine Authority and Israel and the US had to keep pointing fingers at Arafat --- they really didn't have a choice there.  But military action right in Palestine ?  The image of a defiant Arafat and an Arafat threatening to commit suicide, surrounded by Israel soldiers isn't going to help the peace process ; it will do untold harm to Israel itself in the long run.

And, why oh why, does everybody (including Palestine and Israel ?) look to the US for a solution.  The US is NOT a Global SuperCop. The US may have been providing support (moral and physical) to Israel but it cannot solve the problem  [can the US ever solve the India-Pakistan disputes ?].  Look to the UN and get a mandate from the UN to setup an international "peace-keeping" force which would actually HAVE to be an occupying army.  Let the region be occupied by some other forces for a decade till things cool down.  The US wants out of Bosnia and Kosovo and isn't going to be involved in Afghanistan --- get the UN in.  Aah !  If only the presence of UN forces solved disputes !  No, the UN can't solve the dispute either --- but it might take some action to cool the region for a few years.  Hopefully new regional leaders could emerge and they could look at the dispute differently.

There are times when Bush would be right to distance the US from other countries -- the US can assist countries [economic assistance to a developing country] but must not get involved in their disputes as a third-party to the dispute.  Separate economic involvement from political and military involvement.