US bolsters Lebanese Army as stand-off continues "The United States intervened directly in the crisis in Lebanon for the first time today, flying six military aircraft carrying ammunition into Beirut to help the country's Army battle against Islamic extremists holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp." International cohesion aimed at preventing further internal disintegration The US is playing an active role in many parts of the world in order to safeguard its interests. Two questions arise from a long term perspective: 1. Are the present interventions effective, is there some benificial economic and legitimatory by-product or is the result more disorder and hostility towards the world's strongest power? 2. For how long will the US be able to continue to intervene on the present scale, in view of the widening contradiction between political ambitions and economic realities (problem of "imperial overstretch") and domestic problems?