Media recognition of the stunning diplomatic victory of Bush and Blair -- and even Gadhafi -- in Libya's trilateral disarmament agreement yesterday comes slow. Most of the major newspapers covered it as a news story, although both local Twin Cities newspapers buried it. Editorial boards mostly ignored it, with a couple of major exceptions. For instance, the Daily Telegraph in the UK had no problem proclaiming it as a major vindication of the Bush/Blair global strategy in the War on Terror:

The stick has been applied, now a carrot must be offered as an incentive to other rogue nations, like Iraq. As for Mr Bush and Mr Blair, with Saddam captured and Libya tamed, it cannot be denied they have had brilliant end to a difficult year. The world is gradually becoming a safer place. Both their approval ratings should reflect that.

The title of this piece is "A Safer World," which is no doubt intended as a retort to the Dean campaign and its apologists like the Star-Tribune editorial board. Even the New York Times admits that its previous editorials were in error, although they mean the editorials encouraging Bush to drop the sanctions against Libya earlier this year:

Over the past five years, by turning over two suspects for trial, acknowledging its complicity in the Lockerbie bombing and paying compensation to victims' families, Libya finally managed to persuade the United Nations Security Council to lift the international sanctions that had shadowed its economy and its international reputation for more than a decade. Those sanctions were lifted in September. This page recommended lifting American sanctions as well, but President Bush left them in place pending further steps, most notably Libya's decision to end its unconventional weapons programs. It is now clear that he was right to do so. The added American pressure worked just as intended.

Other editorial boards appear to be AWOL on the Libya announcement. Small wonder.

Blogs for Bush has a number of good posts on this subject; be sure to read them all. And Power Line is as stunned as I am about the New York Times editorial. And SWLIP is seeing odd flying animals.

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