No cessation

"Talks Fail on Mideast Truce" goes the headline to the Washington Post's story on the outcome of the Rome conference on the Lebanese-Israeli conflict.

Nonsense. From the US perspective, the headline should be, "Talks a Stunning Success." Rice left precisely with what she wanted: international paralysis, almost entirely because of US intransigence.

The result: Israel can go on beating Lebanon to death, with seeming impunity.