Further adventures in useless grandstanding; and a short break

Here's Khaled Meshaal, washing his hands of responsibility and rejecting outright any ceasefire that doesn't begin with total Israeli capitulation in Gaza. We might not have expected anything more from Hamas -- suicidal policies beget suicidal rhetoric, and that, it seems, eventually becomes suicidal action.

But you would think that the UN would have a suggestion with a bit more creativity to it, one that could be lauded as having at least one foot on the ground. But no, here's the truly extraordinary Ban Ki Moon:

"I strongly urge Israeli leadership and government to declare a ceasefire unilaterally," Ban said in Ramallah. "It's time to think about a unilateral cease-fire from the Israeli government."

Allow me to translate. "it's my job to stop the killing, but since my entire organization is intellectually bankrupt when it comes to the Middle East, here's our best plan:
Step 1 - Israel stops shooting
Step 2 - ?
Step 3 - Peace!"

I can't overstate it. The UN is supposed to be the diplomatic center of the world. Its job is to develop realistic, workable solutions to conflicts as they arise. A unilateral ceasefire meets neither of these criteria. It has as much a chance of being accepted by the Israeli leadership as it does of persuading Hamas to forgo further armed resistance.

I'll be waiting for news from Cairo, but with Meshaal traipsing about the region, proudly rejecting proposals before he has even seen what they say, I don't know that anyone can hope for much from Egypt. Collateral damage: the Syrian track, which daily seems more remote as Erdogan and Assad continue to alienate a country (see both those articles for what I'm talking about) that was their negotiating partner a little more than a month ago.

In the meantime, I'm going to take a short break from Gaza (if I can), because it's really just driving me nuts. What's Obama doing? Anybody know?