OLD HABITS DIE HARD: Russia threatens Kosovo with military force.

IT’S A START: Golf courses will return to Cuba now that Fidel Castro is out of the way. Castro rid the island of golf courses after he lost a round to Che Guevara. (Yes, really.)

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: The New York Times says John McCain received a major boost in fundraising and support thanks to another New York Times article about his alleged affair with a lobbyist.

BUSTED: Congressman Rick Renzi (R-Arizona) is indicted for extortion, money laundering, wire fraud, and insurance fraud.

TURKISH GROUND TROOPS enter Iraqi Kurdistan.

ACE fact-checks Barack Obama.

CALLIMACHUS: Your Media At Work, Part 262.

YUGOSLAVIA IS FINALLY DEAD: Christopher Hitchens.

BEIRUT VETERAN Lee Smith writes a guest article for my Web site about the Arab world’s views of Barack Obama.

EUROPE’S BLACK HOLE: Stephen Schwartz is unimpressed, to put it mildly, with Serbia’s reaction to Kosovo’s declaration of independence.

America’s embassy in Belgrade is burning. Our flag has been torn down and set afire by the fearless Serbs. Americans should mute the repulsive gabble of the TV talking heads and just watch the spectacle, which speaks for itself. At least this is real history, not Serbian disinformation.

Let Serbs dance in the ashes of their undeserved reputation for honor and glory. They will be the black hole of Europe for a hundred years. Albanians kiss our flag and express their gratitude and love for us. Let us not forget who have been our honorable and truthful friends.

Read the whole thing.

THE NEXT SLUM? Christopher Leinberger at The Atlantic documents the frightening decline of some cul-de-sac suburbs in the wake of massive foreclosures. I’m glad I bought a house in the city while they were still cheap. (Hat tip: Callimachus.)

MICHAEL YON says more bloggers should consider trips to Iraq. I could not agree more.

BILL ROGGIO has more on Moqtada al Sadr’s ceasefire extension.

NO MORE WAR: Many of Hezbollah’s constituents aren’t happy with Hassan Nasrallah’s latest declaration of war against Israel. (Hat tip: Tony Badran.)

NOAH POLLAK: “Obama seems proudly intent on sending the United States wandering naively into the Middle Eastern bazaar.”

SADR’S REALISM: Two aids for Moqtada al Sadr say the truce between his Mahdi Army militia and the American forces will be extended.

THE OTHER “OTHER” ISRAEL. David Hazony: “It is widely believed that Israeli Arabs despise the Jewish state, actively support its enemies, and willingly constitute a kind of fifth column in the Jewish state’s population. This is backed up by the wild rhetoric of Arab-Israeli politicians, who frequently bend over backwards to voice their hatred of the country that hosts them. But is this belief true?“

A JOURNALIST FOR HEZBOLLAH’S Al Manar TV station was arrested and is accused of plotting a terrorist attack in Morocco, of all places.

RULES OF JOURNALISM: CNN tells its reporters how to write about Fidel Castro. “Please note Fidel did bring social reforms to Cuba – namely free education and universal health care, and racial integration. [sic] in addition to being criticized for oppressing human rights and freedom of speech.” Was he just criticized for oppressing human rights and freedom of speech, or did he actually, you know, oppress human rights and freedom of speech?

John Derbyshire is right: “Wherever there is a jackboot stomping on a human face there will be a well-heeled Western liberal to explain that the face does, after all, enjoy free health care and 100 percent literacy.”

BRACE YOURSELF: Moqtada Al Sadr’s ceasefire between the Mahdi Army and the Americans is set to expire Saturday in Iraq. If he doesn’t renew it (and he might not), it will be bad news for him, bad news for us, and bad news for Iraq.

ALI ETERAZ writes on the secular resurgence at the expense of Islamists in Pakistan.

A BOMB IN DENMARK completely destroyed a shop in Copenhagen following a week of rioting over cartoons and hash. Abe Greenwald comments in Commentary.

FIDEL CASTRO’S LEGACY debated on the left: Chris Bertram says “let’s hear it for universal literacy and decent standards of health care.” Armed Liberal says “ If the price of universal literacy is prison camps for writers, count me out.”

OBAMA’S ADVISORS are alarming people from Jerusalem to Beirut to Baghdad.

THANKS, GLENN, for giving Megan, Ann, and me the keys to the blog for a few days. We’ll try not to crash it.