The New Rules: Setting the Terms for a US-China Grand Bargain (Thomas Barnett) from World Politics Review
"Lacking an obvious evil to fight, we are left with only an obvious collective good to preserve: globalization. This fortunate reality nonetheless encourages zero-sum thinking: China's inevitable rise is America's inevitable decline. Instead of a world to be shared and shaped, expert voices increasingly warn of a world to be divided and destroyed by wars over resources.To present an alternative to such zero-sum thinking, I've spent the past several months working with the Beijing-based Center for America-China Partnership."
Wikileaks Says Iran's Khamenei Has Cancer from Reuters
"U.S. diplomatic cables released by online whistle-blower WikiLeaks include remarks from an Iran source in 2009 saying Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has terminal cancer, French daily Le Monde reported."
WOW!! This is huge. Ahmadinejad can't survive without Khamenei! No wonder Obama has been trying to hold off on any military action on Iran (along with all the other reasons we've documented here).
WikiLeaks Cables: How China Lost Patience with North Korea (Simon Tisdall) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Chinese are willing to accept Korean reunification, secret cables show – but they want the US to take the lead."
More here:
WikiLeaks Row: China Wants Korean Reunification, Officials Confirm (Simon Tisdall) from the Guardian
"Chinese officials speak after Guardian US embassy cables reveal Beijing is leaning towards acceptance of reunification under Seoul's control"
Wikileaks Provides the Truth Bush Obscured (Richard Cohen) from the Washington Post
"The (Sunni) Arab world loathes and fears Iran on sectarian grounds and also because it espouses a revolutionary doctrine of the sort that kings and dictators find disquieting.
This is the world George Bush left us. It exists everywhere but in his book, where facts are either omitted or rearranged so that the war in Iraq seems the product of pure reason."
Why Obama's Iran Engagement "Worked" (Commentary) from RealClearWorld
"There's two things to note about this. The first is that it disproves a widely circulated talking point about the Obama administration's Iran policy - that it was some kind of naive foray, all carrot and no stick."
Iran Dealt Losing Hand In Gambia Gambit from Radio Free Europe
"As enemies go, it is hardly in the realm of the Great Satan. Yet the tiny West African republic of Gambia has just added its name to an exclusive club whose other members have more obvious reasons for enmity toward Tehran. In a move few saw coming, the country suddenly announced on November 23 that it was cutting economic ties with Iran and gave Iranian officials 48 hours to leave."
NATO and Russia Mend Fences After Years of Tensions from Time Magazine
"The Russian ambassador to NATO, Dmitri Rogozin, told TIME on Tuesday night that the divisions of the past two years, when official ties with NATO have been frozen, helped uncover the "red line" that the alliance is unwilling to cross. "
China Welcomes Growing African Trade, But Not the Africans That Facilitate It from the Christian Science Monitor
"By some counts, at least half the foreigners living in the Chinese trade hub of Guangzhou are Africans. Many face hassles ranging from visa expiration to police raids."
China's inhospitality to non-Chinese immigrants will seriously undercut it's long-term competitiveness -- particularly once the one-child policy begins hammering the workforce in a couple of decades from now.
China Shops at Pottery Barn (Douglas Paal) from the National Interest
"Under the urban mythical Pottery Barn rule, if you break it, you own it. China took ownership of North Korea’s behavior when it stood between Pyongyang and punishment by the United Nations Security Council for its sinking of the South Korean corvette, Cheonan, last March, with the loss of forty-six lives. China is the last lifeline to North Korea."
While I appreciate the sentiment, the sorry truth is that (like the super powers during the Cold War) China's capacity to tell North Korea "what to do" is quite limited.
Ireland Unveils Harshest Cuts, Tax Hikes in History from the Associated Press via Huffington Post
"The austerity plan axes thousands of state jobs, trims welfare benefits and pensions, and imposes new taxes on property and water. In all, it seeks to cut euro10 billion ($13.3 billion) from spending and raise euro5 billion ($6.7 billion) in extra taxes from 2011 to 2014."
Five Myths About Cutting the Deficit (William Gale) from the Washington Post
"As we go about reducing the deficit, who will pay which taxes? How will we defend our country? And how will we treat our elderly? Unfortunately, questionable thinking and outright distortions by critics from across the political spectrum are getting in the way of these and other difficult decisions."
Pentagon Study: Gays Could Serve with No Harm from the Associated Press
"Officials familiar with the 10-month study's results have said a clear majority of respondents don't care if gays serve openly, with 70 percent predicting that lifting the ban would have positive, mixed or no results. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings hadn't been released."
THIS is the study many GOP lawmakers have said they are waiting for to judge how they will vote on repeal. Let's see what they say now.
Michelle Obama's White House, 'Not Camelot' from Politico
"The return to the White House of an attractive couple with two young children on a tide of idealism placed an impossible burden on both the president and his wife."
A Hobbled Pelosi Keeps on Playing (Joshua Green) from the Boston Globe
"Pelosi has been an uncommonly effective legislator, who already secured her place in history by winning the broad expansion of health care that eluded her many predecessors; and this was only the most prominent of the many important bills she pushed through that have made the 111th Congress the most accomplished in a generation."
The Biggest Vulnerability for Each GOP Presidential Hopeful (Aaron Blake) from the Washington Post
"We dissect the single biggest (known) vulnerability for each of the 10 top GOP contenders, based on interviews with smart people both inside and outside of the campaigns:"
Don't Run Sarah! (Mark McKinnon) from the Daily Beast
"Mark McKinnon finds Sarah Palin a captivating figure. He’s also dead-set against her seeking the White House in 2012. The ex-Bush adviser on why Palin would lose—and damage her party."
DON'T listen to this guy's beltway BS, Sarah! GO FOR IT!!
Palin: ‘Obviously, We’ve Got To Stand With Our North Korean Allies’ from ThinkProgress
"Palin misspoke, but this was hardly the first time. While malapropisms can and should be forgiven for frequent public speakers, it’s worth remembering what happened the last time America elected a candidate known for gaffes."
One is misspeaking if you're clear that South Korea is our ally, not the North. It's more than just misspeaking if what you say reflects a weak grasp of the world situation. For Palin, it is largely the latter -- and she misspeaks in the latter fashion almost every day.
AFGHAN WOMEN"S NUGGET
Veiled Rebellion from National Geographic Magazine
"Afghan women suffer under the constraints of tribalism, poverty, and war. Now they are starting to fight for a just life."
ROMAN CIVILIZATION NUGGET!!
Genetic Tests May Prove Theory of China's Lost Roman Legion from the Sydney Morning Herald [of Australia]
"Genetic testing of villagers in a remote part of China has shown that nearly two-thirds of their DNA is of Caucasian origin, lending support to the theory that they may be descended from a ''lost legion'' of Roman soldiers."
More on this lost legion in China can be found HERE and HERE.
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