Ecopolitics: Why Japan Risks Its Place In the World to Hunt Whales

Now some Israelis are wondering whether the hole might play into their hands. After the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, Israeli hawks argued that Israel was no longer responsible for Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants—a view human-rights groups opposed. With the hole open, Gazans are now at least temporarily looking to Egypt for basic needs. Though Egypt made some effort to close the gap, some Israelis think Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is signaling a willingness to loosen the border. "This is a blessing in disguise," says one well-placed Israeli source. With Egypt providing life's necessities, "we can forget about [Gaza] and throw away the key."

—Kevin Peraino

Immigration: A Silently Rising Tide
Most of the Republican Party's presidential hopefuls have all but declared war on the United States' illegal-alien population. But a surge in the number of immigrants from one Latin American country has gone largely unnoticed: Cuba. Over the two years ending in September 2007, nearly 77,000 Cubans entered the United States, driven in part by dwindling hopes for change under Acting President Raúl Castro, according to the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. The influx is larger than at any time since the early 1970s, and double the number of the last large-scale maritime exodus from the island in 1994.

Today 90 percent of undocumented Cubans come across the Mexican border. Under Washington's "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans intercepted at sea get sent home, while those who reach U.S. soil can apply for resident status. Enhanced U.S. patrols in the Straits of Florida means crossing to the Yucatán Peninsula is more likely to be successful.

GOP candidates are uncharacteristically quiet about all this. With a key primary in Florida this week, they are loath to antagonize the powerful Cuban-American bloc there by talking about the arrivals, much less complaining about them.

—Joseph Contreras