News Nuggets 445

A European lynx being released into the wilds ... of Germany's Harz Mountains.  See the Big Cat Nugget below.  From Der Spiegel. 

"Service to others is the rent we pay for living on this earth." the just-deceased actor, Tony Curtis.  See the Obituary Nugget below.

America: Once Engaged, Now Ready to Lead (Robert Kagan) from the Washington Post
"A year ago, the talk was of the post-American world. Obama seemed to be the post-American president, resigned to doing the best he could with the bad hand he'd been dealt. Today, officials exude more optimism. "
Is it a good thing when a neo-con like Kagan is saying this stuff?  Parts of his analysis I agree with and other parts are simply unrepentant, misplaced Bush bullshit.

What China Needs to Learn (Minxin Pei) from The Diplomat
"Japan wasn’t blameless in the recent spat. But Beijing must understand that great powers sometimes need to show restraint. The measure of a great power is not how it flexes its muscles, but how it refrains from doing so."
Pei's on-the-money here.

The Japan Syndrome ... for China? from Foreign Policy Magazine
"China's teetering on the verge of its own lost decade, and a meltdown in Beijing would make Japan's economic malaise look like child's play."

As the Worm Turns (David Kay) from the National Interest
"The more one digs into what are the likely origins and motivations behind the “Stuxnet” computer worm, the more it comes to resemble a cross between an Agatha Christie mystery and a Frederick Forsyth thriller."

Coalition Picks Maliki in Move That May End Iraq Stalemate from the New York Times
"Mr. Maliki’s renomination to the post he has held since 2006, …, was a breakthrough after nearly seven months of bare-knuckle, back-room bargaining that have followed the country’s election on March 7."

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished (Kevin Drum) from Mother Jones Magazine
"According to CBO reports, the stimulus has created 3.5 million jobs and kept unemployment about 1 to 2 percent lower than it otherwise would have been, and apparently it's accomplished this efficiently and with minimal waste. It's a testament to what happens when you take good policy seriously."

Catholics Face Vocal 'Mutiny' Over Teachings on Gay Marriage from Huffington Post
"new corps of increasingly vocal Catholics is urging a "mutiny" against the hierarchy, in the words of one activist, particularly on gay marriage and related matters."

First Thoughts: Assessing Rahm (Chuck Todd, et al.) from MSNBC
"He played a key role in the Democrats racking up more legislative achievements than Washington has seen since the Great Society or the New Deal. His half-a-loaf-is-better-than-no-loaf approach produced big results, even if those results weren't widely embraced by a public during a time of 10% unemployment."
Being a president's chief-of-staff almost always requires a hard-nosed political realist who is willing to piss off the powers-that-be-elsewhere.  Dating back to the days of Nixon, chiefs-of-staff have tended to be tough as nails rottweilers, and Rahm was no exception.

Exit Rahm.  Left Turn Ahead (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"On his last day as chief of staff, Emanuel said that he believes “the whole country is better” for his service. Peter Beinart on the left turn Obama will take under Emanuel's successor Pete Rouse now that the liberal-baiting Rahm is gone."

Are Democrats Waking Up? (Charlie Cook) from the National Journal
"A new poll suggests Dems may turn out in higher numbers than expected."

Democrats will hold the House and Senate (Robert Shrum) from The Week
"For Democrats, it's Rove time: Rally the base and save Congress."

NEWSWEEK Poll: Anger Unlikely to Be Deciding Factor in Midterms (Andrew Romano) from Newsweek
"Self-described "angry voters" no more likely to vote; Democrats trusted more than GOP on key issues."

OBITUARY NUGGET!!
Tony Curtis, Hollywood Leading Man, Dies at 85 from the New York Times
"Tony Curtis, a classically handsome movie star who earned an Oscar nomination as an escaped convict in Stanley Kramer’s 1958 movie “The Defiant Ones,” but whose public preferred him in comic roles in films like “Some Like It Hot” (1959) and “The Great Race” (1965), died Wednesday of cardiac arrest in his Las Vegas area home. He was 85."
A GREAT actor … and a pretty decent human being as the quote at the top of today's post suggests.

WORLD WAR I NUGGET!!
World War I to Finally End for Germany This Weekend from CNN
"Germany and the Allies can call it even on World War I this weekend. On Sunday - the 20th anniversary of East and West Germany unifying about a year after the Berlin Wall fell - Deutschland will make the last in a series of reparation payments that has spanned more than nine decades."
This story is both hilarious and deeply sad at the same time.  Such a wrong-headed relic of World War I.

GERMANY NUGGET!!
An Inside Look at the Reunification Negotiations from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, nobody expected Germany to be reunified less than a year later. New documents released by the Foreign Ministry in Berlin shed new light on the dramatic negotiations that led to East and West Germany becoming one."
Check out the series of articles Der Spiegel has been running HERE on "20 Years of a United Germany."

BIG CAT NUGGET!!
Predatory Cats Return to the Harz Mountains in Germany from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"For the past decade, conservationists have been releasing zoo-bred Eurasian lynx in Germany's Harz mountains, with the goal of returning them to their natural habitat. The lynx, once targeted by hunters because they threatened farm animals and local game, disappeared from the region nearly 200 years ago."