Speaking in tongues

The news from Lebanon and Israel is much easier to take when it's written in Franch. Le Monde refers to what English-speakers call the Middle East as Le Proche-Orient, or the Near East, which has enough whiff of anachronism to make it paletable. But even with my limited ability to read Le Monde en Francais (enhanced, BTW, by the wonderful on-line translators) the news is grim. And I have this horrible vision of members of the fanatical wing of the religious right rubbing their hands in glee and hoping that that Armageddon has come at last. And the rest of us just sit here....