Back in March, the London Economist forecast an Arab-Israeli explosion.
The magazine noted that Russia and the U.S. had reached a standoff in Europe and Southeast Asia, but that both had meanwhile been supplying Middle East nations with "a pretty remarkable list" of arms. It predicted that the superpowers would stay out of a Middle East war, however, because "their own soldiers and their ideological honor are not immediately at stake."
Characteristically, the Economist has not bothered to congratulate itself. As the editors see it, accurate prophecy is merely a byproduct of the...