A Valuable Contribution to Snark Studies

Too busy today to find something subtly obnoxious enough to earn the esteemed designation of "DAILY SNARK."

That said, one David Denby has explored the past and present of the comments that make us snicker. Denby's new book, aptly titled Snark, dives into the squalid world of back-handed replies, the very moments when, as an observer, one can't help but let laughter break the silence of an awkward circumstance.

Dearest reader(s): I haven't yet had the time to read Denby's publication in full. But I assure you that once I do, I will think of something really snarky to quip about. And that's a promise.

In this past Sunday's New York Times Book Review, Walter Kirn offered the book's basis but could have been snarkier. But clearly Denby doesn't like snarky comments as much as I do. Kirn's critique:

Snickering at power has it uses, whatever Denby imagines drives the snickerers, and however he belittles their spitting prose. Playing polite, though, exacts a higher price — and one that Denby seems strangely willing to pay for the sake of . . . what? It’s hard to know. One almost wonders if what he so deplores about what he calls “the hunting of the snark” is that, invariably — given his obtuseness about the necessity of irreverent laughter, even if it’s rude, unfair or lamebrained, in revealing or merely helping to abide perceived arrogance and fraudulence — someday the snark would come for books like his.

Ok, maybe this guy Kirn is snarkier than we thought...


Suggest tomorrow's Daily Snark at The Seminal.

The Daily Snark

Introducing a new feature on this blog that has too many images and not enough words:

The DAILY SNARK

Today's award goes to an ace reporter who had the patience to sit through an entire press conference with State Department spokesman Robert Wood. This dutifully snarky reporter inquired about the geographical boundaries of Dennis Ross's new diplomatic post:

QUESTION: Have your ace geographers been able to determine what Southwest Asia is and thereby figure out what exactly Dennis Ross’s mandate is?

MR. WOOD: I’m so shocked that you asked that question. Let me give you my best – our best read of this. From our standpoint, the countries that make up areas of the Gulf and Southwest Asia include Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen, and those are the countries.

At least Wood snarked right back at him.

Follow the DAILY SNARK at The Seminal.

Cutest Biblical Zoo Ever

Read this post at The Seminal.
Sadly my scanner is broken, so this post is an inspired from an insider tip.

Xinhua 'reports':

Israeli girl Gali Avni Magen plays with Sylvester, an 8-week-old Sumatran tiger cub, in her home in Zur Hadassa near Jerusalem February 20, 2009. Sylvester, who was abandoned by its mother, is being raised by Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo's veterinarians, one of whom is Gali's mother. According the zoo's spokesperson the Sumatran tiger is an endangered species with only about 400 living in the wild.

• Special prize for anyone who can find tiger appearances in the Hebrew bible. And I know you can do better than grabbing a quote from the story of Noah and his ark.

Still no answer to the 3 am call...

View this cartoon at The Seminal.

Stay tuned for more on Hillary's listening tour.

sketch book: Still Life at the Wonderland Ballroom

presented by the dispatch and external affairs unit of mideast by midwest, in honor of those who relish in field trips about the town with a pad of paper and pen (crayons ok too).

In DC, has anything changed since Obama took office?

Perhaps only renewed interest in Ben's Chili bowl...


* This cartoon can also be enjoyed at The Seminal. *

Coalescing a Coalition: Gold Meddling in Israel

This cartoon can also be viewed at The Seminal.


Who's the winner?
Netanyahu, Lieberman, Barak, and Livni all reach for the gold.

Israel's Latest Stalemate: Blogosphere Election Update

A quick run down of what's what after a not-so-super tuesday:

Read this post at The Seminal.

• Haim Watzman offers his First Thoughts at South Jerusalem:

"Whether Livni or Netanyahu forms a government, it will be a weak and divided one. New elections, within a year or two, seem a likely bet.

• Writing for LA Times, M.J. Rosenberg unravels the Israeli right. Yesterday at Talking Points Memo, M.J. imagined Livni Beating Netanyahu.

• Rosner was live-blogging on Jerus Post – nothing remarkable.

• In The Nation, Neve Gordan points to the dearth of peacemakers in Israel: it's all up to Washington now.

• Emile Hokayem sees more of the same in the upcoming regime change: "Regardless of who heads it, the new Israeli government will invest much time and energy in countering the inflated Iranian threat."

• Jeffrey Goldberg was reporting the latest exit polls and not saying much else exciting.

• Daled Amos writes about Avigdor Lieberman's influence, mostly quoting Marc Lynch (like most bloggers out there pretending to have a grasp of Arab public opinion).

• Joe Klein blogs at TIME:
  

"I would say that this is an exciting election because of its closeness and uncertainty, but no one in Israel seems very excited. They are faced with familiar choices who have failed in the past--Netanyahu, Bara[ooops-c]k--or uncertain ones (Livni) or populist resentment (Lieberman)."

• Real Clear World live blog offers hour by hour analysis of yesterday's competition. The latest interesting comment:
  

"One other factor in play: Apparently ballots from Israel's frontline soldiers have not been part of the exit-poll data. How they voted may at the end tip the final count somewhat."

With 99% of the vote in, maybe that's irrelevant at this point.

• Steve Clemons' article on HuffPo ("Give us Netanyahu. Please") is still getting a lot of play. Listen to Steve on Neil Conan's Talk of the Nation (NPR).
  

• Stephen Walt (Foriegn Policy) asks,

"What do we do if the "two-state" solution collapses?": Lots of smart people have been focusing on the Israeli elections and trying to make sense of their immediate implications for the peace process.... I want to focus on a different issue, which is likely to be more important in the long run.

It's this: what do we do if a "two-state solution" becomes impossible?

• Gideon Rahman at Financial Times writes,

The likeliest scenarios in descending order seem to be: 1) A Likud-led government led by Netanyahu and dependent on votes from Lieberman and the religious parties. The snag is that the religious parties loath the pork-eating Liebermanites - and may call down a thuderstorm on them. 2) A Livni-Lieberman-Labour coalition - but this is an uneasy ideological coalition. 3) A grand coalition bringing together Kadima, Likud and Labour. All of these options seem pretty unstable, so Israel may well have elections again quite soon. This, after all, is their fifth election inside ten years.

• Glenn Greenwald at Salon writes about his interview with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti.

I'm predicting another long day at the think tank - will keep you posted.

Israel's Baracks: Another Dose of Hope and Change

This cartoon can also be viewed at The Seminal.

For the lead contenders in tomorrow's Israeli elections, Barack Obama is on everybody's minds. Who can work best with BHO? Who will challenge him? Who is Jerusalem's junior senator from Illinois?

- Yossi Alpher discusses the present absence of Palestine in the Knesset elections.
- Steve Clemons exclaims, with a grain of salt, "Give us Bibi, Please."
- Jonathan Cook points to Israel's rightward shift, as many Palestinians plan to spend the day at home.
- Arik Ben-Zvi at TNR notes that Israel's radical right is back with a vengeance.
- Negotiator extraordinaire Aaron David Miller isn't sure Israeli elections matter.

... will this cliffhanger be too close to call?