Israel on the Brink?

This could portend (greater) trouble:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was rushed into surgery at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem late Wednesday night, after intra-cranial bleeding was detected, following what doctors described as a “significant stroke.”

There was no immediate assessment of the damage he may have suffered. Doctors said earlier that the prime minister was receiving breathing assistance as his condition was assessed.

This is still breaking news, so read the above story and this next one with great caution:

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was taken for surgery on Wednesday after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage, the director of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital said.

“The diagnosis is cerebral hemorrhaging. In light of this, the prime minister has been taken to the surgical ward,” Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef told reporters. Sharon was in critical condition and may not recover, a senior political source said.

“It looks very bad. I don’t know if he will recover,” the source said.

If this means Sharon is out as PM or leads to his being out, things will deteriorate over there. In my Of-Course-I-Don’t-Know opinion, of course.

I remind you again of the breaking nature of this story. And I remind you of how bad the media just got the outcome of the mining disaster last night. I went to bed having read breaking news that only one of the thirteen miners died. And I get up this morning to learn that only one of the thirteen miners survived! I’m curious to see if anyone will take up this drumbeat: “The media lied!”

You know, like they’ve been doing about President Bush and pre-war intelligence?