Nicholas Kristof on the Middle East and double standards:

Behind the Rage

Some 1,600 Palestinians have been killed since the latest round of violence erupted in the fall of 2000. In contrast, two million Sudanese have died in the ongoing civil war here, with barely anyone noticing.

Likewise, Syria blithely killed about 20,000 people in crushing an abortive uprising in the city of Hama in 1982. And Saddam Hussein, who has killed more Arabs than Ariel Sharon and all his Israeli predecessors put together, is somehow a hero for much of the Arab world.

What's going on here? After lots of soul-searching conversations with Arabs, I'm inclined toward a couple of conclusions....

Much of this has been previously pointed out. Specifically I remember P.J. O'Rourke writing for the Atlantic Monthy....

The Atlantic | November 2001 | Zion's Vital Signs | O'Rourke

There are worse things than war, if the intifada is indeed a war. As of this writing, 513 Palestinians and 124 Israelis had been killed in what is called the second intifada. About 40,000 people perished in the 1992-1996 civil war in Tajikistan that nobody's heard of. From one and a half to two million are dead in Sudan. There are parts of the world where the situation Dave and I were in is too ordinary to have a name.