Once again, the machinery of diplomacy has been asked to wait while the machinery of war runs its course. Talks between Israel and Lebanon, arranged by American mediators and set for Rome this month, have been pushed to October — delayed not by disagreement at the table, but by the absence of any table at all while airstrikes continue across southern Lebanon. It is an old and painful rhythm: the calendar of negotiation bending to the calendar of conflict, each postponement a quiet admission that the ground has not yet stilled enough for words to take hold.