News Nuggets 443

443 

A view of the Manhattan waterfront in 1946.  See yesterday's History Book Nugget.  From the New York Times.

Abbas: No Quick Decision on Future of Middle East Peace Talks from Haaretz [of Israel in English]

"Despite threats to quit negotiations over Israel's resumption of settlement building, Palestinian president keeps hope of compromise alive."

This is very good news.  It also suggests that Abbas thinks progress is being made through the talks.  If no progress was being made, I suspect he would have used this issue to take a walk.

In the Footsteps of the Kaiser: China Boosts US power in Asia (Walter Russell Mead) from the American Interest Online

"Is China the best friend of American power?  Beijing’s recent missteps in Asia — moving ahead with reactor sales to troubled Pakistan and crudely threatening Japan over the arrest of a

Chinese fishing captain — are swiftly solidifying America’s Asian alliances."

I often disagree with Mead's views on recent history -- but this was too good to pass up!  The illusion to the strutting egotism and insistent desperation to be taken seriously and to be consulted on all global matters was SO TRUE for Germany under the Kaiser.  The comparison with modern China is quite interesting.

North Korea's Celebrations Amiss from The Diplomat

"Kim Jong-un looks set to replace his father as North Korea’s leader. But what does another Kim mean for its people?"

A related item appears here:

North Korea and the Perils of a Third Kim Regime from the Editorial Board of the Christian Science Monitor

"The ruling elite of North Korea meet this week and may anoint a successor to Kim Jong-il -- possibly his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, who was made a military general. This leadership transition, however, won't go easily. China needs to stop propping up a weak, violent regime."

Anti-Iran Computer Bug Had Powerful Backers from the Guardian [of the UK]

"Stuxnet computer code designed to infect industrial plants created by well-funded hackers, says Symantec Corp expert."

More detail on the Stuxnet worm is here:

Six Mysteries of Stuxnet from Foreign Policy Magazine

"Langner guesses that Stuxnet is aimed at Bushehr, Iran's civilian nuclear power plant, which is slated to go online this fall. Langner's case rests largely on the fact that Bushehr runs Siemens software and that Russian contractors would have had access to the facility -- and that they would have used USB drives to set up the system."

Delhi's Dirty Reality? from The Diplomat

"In a careless and inappropriate remark, Bhanot suggested that Indians and foreigners have different standards of cleanliness, causing public dismay and hand wringing. However, if the truth be told, it may not have been far off the mark."

NOTE: The Diplomat has a surprising range of interesting articles on Asia, many others of which are worth checking out. 

The Ten Companies That Will Signal The End To The Recession from 24/7 Wall Street

"24/7 Wall St. took a look at ten large companies whose success will prove that the recession has ended for most Americas – consumers and businesses alike. None of them are rapidly growing. Most are relatively mature. This makes them a good litmus tests for showing an improvement in economic growth because rapidly expanding companies such as Apple can give off false signals."

Many Wanted Health Care Law to Do More from Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

"A new Associated Press poll finds that Americans who think President Obama's health care law should have gone further outnumber the ones who think the government should stay out of health care by 2 to 1."

I have LONG suspected as much.  NOTE: The AP link was defective when I tried to use it at Political Wire.  Salon has more discussion of the poll HERE.

New Polls Give Dems Something to Smile About (Mark Blumenthal) from the Huffington Post

"It may just be the bouncing ball of randomness at work but new polls in California, Nevada, Ohio and Kentucky released over the weekend gave Democrats something to smile about, or perhaps just a little less to wince at."

AUTOMOBILE/POLITICS NUGGET!!

The Worst Drivers in America from the Daily Beast

"What was more surprising: how the breakdown between states with more dangerous drivers and safer drivers fell almost completely along the lines of the 2008 McCain-Obama election, with the Republicans again coming up on the short end. Nine of the 10 worst-performing states went for McCain, while nine of the 10 best performers voted for Obama. (Delaware and Rhode Island were the respective outliers.)"