News Nuggets 450

A bamboo forest in Japan.  From National Geographic.

The Future of Power (Joseph Nye) from Project Syndicate
"The main dilemma that the international community faces is how to include everyone and still be able to act. The answer is likely to lie in what Europeans have dubbed “variable geometry.”"

China is Using Strong Language; Could that Mean it's Weak? (Jeffrey Wasserstrom) from the Daily Star [of Lebanon in English]
"A closer look reveals that President Hu Jintao’s words and deeds are often shaped by a mixture of insecurity and cockiness, and that Chinese officials alternate between playing up and playing down their country’s rise."

Obama's War with the Pentagon (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"The clash between the White House and the military brass over the Afghan war will grow more intense under the new national security adviser. Peter Beinart on the knife fight ahead."
This is a very important story, one that has not been receiving enough attention.

Obama's India Visit (Editorial) from the Asia Sentinel [of Hong Kong in English]
"Obama's visit could not only help clear cobwebs of misunderstandings but also help the two sides define the parameters of a more global, and thus more strategic, US-India partnership. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Obama is attaching "immense importance" to his India visit and his administration has fleshed out an "ambitious agenda" to take bilateral relations to the next level."

China's Nobel Threats Backfire from the Daily Beast
"Beijing is a growing power, but blocking news of jailed rights activist Liu Xiaobo’s Peace Prize projects weakness—and warning that the honor would be seen as “an unfriendly act” may have helped him win."

Beijing Values the Nobels. That's Why This Hurts (Julia Lovell) from the Independent [of the UK]
"The Beijing government has seen the prize – like Olympic medals and entry to the World Trade Organisation – as an important source of international "face", as the chance to win global recognition as a modern world power. Since it first emerged, however, China's Nobel Complex has been mired in controversy."

More Black People Jailed in England and Wales Proportionally than in US from the Guardian [of the UK]
"New study finds seven times more black people per population are in prison – in the US number is just four times as many."
The issue of race will be one of Europe's biggest challenges for the 21st century.

Political Columnists Think America Is In Decline. Big Surprise. (David Bell) from the New Republic
"By comparing America to Rome and warning us about our imminent decline and fall, writers like Friedman think that they are issuing a necessary wake-up call; sounding an alarm in terms that cannot be ignored. But are they?"

America's Perpetual Decline (Megan McCardle) from the Atlantic
"It's worth remembering that the other declinists were powerfully convinced of their own argument.  The human brain is programmed to look for what is new, and what is dangerous.  That means that we're prone to ignore all the strengths of the American economy that are still there."
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/10/americas-perpetual-decline/64206/
For the most part, I share McCardle's opinion about the "declinists" in our midst.  Here's a related article from Daniel Drezner at Foreign Policy Magazine.

Shadowy Players in a New Class War (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post
"The 2010 election is turning into a class war. The wealthy and the powerful started it. This is a strange development. President Obama, after all, has been working overtime to save capitalism. Wall Street is doing just fine, and the rich are getting richer again. The financial reform bill passed by Congress was moderate, not radical. Nonetheless, corporations and affluent individuals are pouring tens of millions of dollars into attack ads aimed almost exclusively at Democrats."
I completely agree with Dionne about the class warfare.  The difficulty is that virtually no one is unambiguously on the side of low-income people.

GOP Gives Climate Science a Cold Shoulder (Ronald Brownstein) from National Journal
"His strong words make it easier to recognize that Republicans in this country are coalescing around a uniquely dismissive position on climate change. The GOP is stampeding toward an absolutist rejection of climate science that appears unmatched among major political parties around the globe, even conservative ones."

Dems Define Success Down (Major Garrett) from National Journal
"House Democrats are increasingly confident that they are going to beat back the Republican onslaught and keep control of the chamber -- even as they suffer massive losses across the country."

Democratic Upswing (Tim Fernholz) from the American Prospect
"TAP talks to the president of a progressive think tank who sees signs that November won't be so bad for Democrats after all."

Is 2010 the Year Voters Turn Polls on Their Heads? (Walter Shapiro) from Politics Daily
"The expectation of a GOP tidal wave is so ingrained in the media and politically sophisticated voters that it is easy to imagine the morning-after headlines: "In Stunning Rebuff to Republicans, GOP Only Picks Up 93 House Seats.""

Cable News Chatter is Changing the Electoral Landscape (Kurtz & Tumulty) from the Washington Post
"The increasing polarization of cable news is transforming, and in some ways shrinking, the electoral landscape. What has emerged is a form of narrowcasting, allowing candidates a welcoming platform that helps them avoid hostile press questioning and, in some cases, minimize the slog and the slip-ups of retail campaigning."

POLITICAL BOOKS NUGGET!!
Anatomy of an Uprising (Alan Brinkley) from the New York Times
"Trying to describe the ideas of the Tea Party movement is a bit like a blind man trying to describe the elephant. The movement, like the elephant, exists. But no one, not even the Tea Partiers themselves, can seem to get hands around the whole of it."