…to see whether the Red Sox will make a significant deal by the end of today’s baseball trading deadline, a couple of items worth noting in the so-called “Global War on Terror” from here and there.

* It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the civilian deaths supposedly caused by that Israeli air strike in Qana were in some way manufactured by Hezbollah. My guess is their story will completely fall apart in the next day or two. Of course, this will not stop these bloodthirsty sickos from using Lebanese civilians as human shields to stoke the propaganda wars, as this Lebanese blog shows. (Hat tip: NRO’s The Corner)

* Look for a meaningful Israeli ground excursion in the next day or two. My guess is the Israelis suspect they’re losing the propaganda war and that, if they’re going to carve out a Hezbollah-free zone in southern Lebanon for themselves, they better get to it quick. STRATFOR seems to agree (Hat tip: Wrethcard at The Belmont Club).

* Michelle Malkin thinks not enough attention has been paid to the so-called “mentally ill” Pakistani who went on a rampage at the Seattle Jewish Center last Friday. I guess the question becomes when is a crime considered, or not considered, “terrorism”. Personally, I think (and I have to fault the Bush Administration for this) we’re all too hung up on what is terrorism and what is not. Any criminal act of violence, whether planned or carried out, domestically or internationally, needs to be treated in the same fashion. When American interests are harmed, or in danger of being harmed, whether it’s by so-called terrorists or not, it needs to be prosecuted in the most effective way possible.

* I think former House Speaker New Gingrich is right on target when he says we are in the early stages of World War III. David Postman of the Seattle Times writes:

Gingrich said in the coming days he plans to speak out publicly, and to the administration, about the need to recognize that America is in World War III.

He lists wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, this week’s bomb attacks in India, North Korean nuclear threats, terrorist arrests and investigations in Florida, Canada and Britain, and violence in Israel and Lebanon as evidence of World War III. He said Bush needs to deliver a speech to Congress and “connect all the dots” for Americans.

He said the reluctance to put those pieces together and see one global conflict is hurting America’s interests. He said people, including some in the Bush Administration, who urge a restrained response from Israel are wrong “because they haven’t crossed the bridge of realizing this is a war.”

“This is World War III,” Gingrich said. And once that’s accepted, he said calls for restraint would fall away:

“Israel wouldn’t leave southern Lebanon as long as there was a single missile there. I would go in and clean them all out and I would announce that any Iranian airplane trying to bring missiles to re-supply them would be shot down. This idea that we have this one-sided war where the other team gets to plan how to kill us and we get to talk, is nuts.”

There is a public relations value, too. Gingrich said that public opinion can change “the minute you use the language” of World War III. The message then, he said, is “‘OK, if we’re in the third world war, which side do you think should win?”

It’s about time a leading American politician came out and said what Gingrich is saying. There are dots that need to be connected out there, and when ones does, it becomes clear that there indeed is a world-wide, undeclared war already being waged between radical Islam and the modern West. And, not surprisingly, we are starting to see new political alliances being forged for political and psychological gain – for example, the recent trade agreements forged between Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which will only help escalate tensions between East and West.