The political siege in Honduras—ousted president holed up the Brazilian embassy, the electricity and water shut off, the army surrounding him outside—has been extended, courtesy of Burger King. (And the human-rights workers who got past the army to make a delivery—but who wants Burger King when you're on hunger rations?)

Just as Mr. Zelaya’s removal from office on the morning of June 28 in a most atypical coup d’état has stuck to no script — he was sent packing in his pajamas by soldiers who carried both automatic weapons and a court-issued arrest warrant — the crisis that followed has left veteran diplomats, foreign policy experts and even the participants themselves scratching their heads...

• J.L. Duron

But the clock is ticking. Looming before all the actors is the presidential election called for Nov. 29. The vote, if it is allowed to proceed, compounds the pressure on negotiators to resolve the crisis quickly while it paradoxically offers an expedient way out, an electoral do-over that would allow Honduras to simply drop the curtain on the whole drama and move on.

Tempting as that may be, leaders in the hemisphere are united in their fear that allowing the coup to stand sets a dangerous precedent in a region where coups have too long been the norm. The State Department suggested this month that it might not accept the election results if the Micheletti government remained in power to administer them. Other governments in the region, including Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, have issued even more iron-clad threats.

• J.L. Duron

In other Burger King news, Forbes says buy, buy, buy!