**scroll for updates…Condi Rice cancels Asia trip to keep watch on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s fight for life…Sharon will remain in medically induced coma until Sunday***

Jim Geraghty notes various reports on Sharon’s condition–one outlet saying he has died (unconfirmed)…UPDATE: Via Breitbart/AP 1040am EST “Stable but serious.”

Austin Bay weighs in on the death of Israel’s “New Center” and is tracking the latest news developments.

Israpundit’s David Gerstman rounds up photos and reactions.

Dafydd at Big Lizards looks at what’s next: After Arik.

Paul Mirengoff at Power Line: Back to business as usual?

Daniel Pipes predicts: After Sharon, Israeli Politics Will Revert to Its Past

Kobayashi Maru tackles the Iran question. So do Kenneth Timmerman, Pamela at Atlas Shrugs, and ShrinkWrapped, who invokes “The Garden of the Finzi-Continis.”

Caroline Glick at the Jerusalem Post:

Wednesday night ushered in a new era in Israel’s political history. As we watch and worry as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dangles between life and death, one thing is absolutely clear. Sharon’s massive cerebral hemorrhage on Wednesday night spelled the end of his political career. Sharon will never return to lead the State of Israel. He will never make a full recovery.

Whatever one’s views of Sharon’s policies and the quality of his leadership, no Israeli can feel anything but sorrow at Sharon’s abrupt demise. A nation’s sudden and dramatic separation from its leader is never a good thing. It is all the more debilitating when the leader in question is as popular and powerful as Sharon.

…The task that now besets our political leadership and the Israeli people as a whole is to focus on the country’s present challenges — for they suffer no delay.

Without a doubt, the greatest challenge facing the State of Israel today is Iran’s nuclear weapons program…

Daveen Gartenstein-Ross at The Counterterrorism Blog: Political Uncertainty in the Wake of Ariel Sharon’s Stroke

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