Afternoon links

Must read: Israel's pacifist tragedy

Barry Rubin makes a good point, as always.

George Freedman on the Arab uprisings, Israel and Hamas.

McCormick, the giant maker of spices, has stopped selling to Iran following a campaign by Jewish activists in Baltimore.

Commenting on my piece yesterday on the World Bank report about how ready the PA is for statehood, an author of a critique of the previous World Bank report on the topic points out serious flaws in their methodology.

Postwest expands on that same posting and more in "Just what the West needs: Another failed state."

Helen Thomas is speaking tonight at Loyola in Chicago. Maybe she'll address how anti-tank missiles are not disproportionate force against schoolbuses.

Bahais unveiled their new improved shrine at their headquarters in Haifa. I wonder if Thomas wants them to go back where they came from too?

(h/t Greg, Adam, Hadar, Ian)