Assignment Desk

Every journalist knows of stories that they are too busy, lazy, or drunk to actually write. I will leave it to your imagination which one of these obstacles has prevented me from turning the following ideas into articles. Who knows, maybe some of them will still see the light of day. But, for now, I leave them up for your consideration.

• Word Problem: Alastair Crooke argued that Western powers must be willing to talk with radical Islamic forces, including al-Qaeda. Without challenging the ideological assumptions of Islamist movements, he claims, the West's application of force is futile. Meanwhile, Michael Young takes Crooke to task for failing to accurately define radical Islam or distinguish between the different types of political Islam.

  Is there any merit to Crooke's argument? What would a civilizational dialogue between George W. Bush and Osama Bin Laden sound like? What are the thresholds, if any, that radical Islamist movements need to meet before Western powers engage them?

  Sources: Alistair Crooke, Michael Young, Dennis Ross, Henry Kissinger

• Flagging Interest: The Dutch Embassy has apparently taken down the flag outside of their embassy. This attempt to fly under the radar would perhaps have been more successful if the embassy wasn't located in a prominent building called The Netherlands Tower. Oops.

  Why is the Dutch flag stored somewhere in the building's netherlands? No, that horrible pun would probably not make it into the piece. Are there other embassies which have adopted a lower profile in recent months? Do they know something we don't?

  Sources:Dutch Embassy, other embassies in and around Beirut

• The Day After: The Arab Summit is set to kick off, sans a representative from Lebanon. Half of the Arab heads of state are skipping the trip to Damascus, in protest of Syria's interference in Lebanon and alliance with Iran. It remains to be seen what business the Arab Summit can address with only low-ranking representatives from some of the regional heavyweights, and the importance given to the issue of Lebanon's vacant Presidency.

  Many political developments (or lack thereof) in the past month were explained as manuevering related to the summit. With it finally out of the way, the Arab states could move into a period of greater conflict -- or reconciliation. What are the signs that could determine the direction of regional politics in the medium-term? Bonus points for uncovering information about the much-awaited Syrian "investigation" into Mugniyah's assassination.

  Sources:Marwan Hamadeh, Paul Salem, Joshua Landis, Mohammed Habash