Heel, Tony, Heel

There can be few sights more embarrassing than watching British PM Tony Blair, once again, attempt fruitlessly to live up to his promise that the US-UK "alliance" somehow gives the British Empire-turned-Emirate some influence over the use and abuse of American power. Blair's sad little dance around his desire -- and everyone else's -- to see an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and the US insistence on giving Israel its head only heightened the impression that he has turned the "special relatoinship" between London and Washington into one between a country squire and his overeager retriever. While Israel is let off the leash to go and mangle innocent neighbors, Tony is called sharply to heel.