Don't Despair Over Results of Egypt's Elections (James Glassman) from Forbes Magazine
"... this is a time not for despair but for optimism and patience. As Leon Wieseltier wrote in The New Republic, “Democratization is not an event in the life of a society; it is an era: a protracted turbulence." ... When people can choose their leaders, they usually make good decisions, including the decision not to make war on their neighbors. But people do not always make those decisions immediately."
I totally agree with Glasman here. Critics of Obama's approach to Egypt and Tunisia seem to implicitly argue that Obama should have used our influence to save Mubarak - or something like that. In my view, the situation was not only too far gone for the US to do anything that would have ultimately changed the eventual outcome, meddling to save him would have only made our long-term prospects in the Middle East worse. Such critics seemingly learned nothing from America's experience in the 20th century where such meddling rarely achieved the stated goals and routinely led to decades-long "blowback" the consequences of which we are still dealing with today. Just watch the GOPers who have been asked "what would they have done differently in Egypt?" What you get is Cold War era gibberish or silence. Like most Muslim-dominated countries, even under ideal conditions, it will take decades for them to work through some transitional process before they get anything that looks like a western-style democracy.
The 'Silent War' with Iran (Stephen M. Walt) from Foreign Policy Magazine
" It appears that we have gone beyond just talking about military action to actually engaging in it, albeit at a low level. In addition to waging cyberwar via Stuxnet, the United States and/or Israel appear to be engaged in covert efforts to blow up Iranian facilities and murder Iranian scientists."
The Trick to Sabotaging Iran (Yoel Guzansky & Emily B. Landau) from The Diplomat
"Covert operations may offer the best way of slowing Iran’s nuclear program without all-out war. But how long can they last?"
Stealth Drone Highlights Tougher U.S. Strategy on Iran from the Washington Post
"The CIA’s use of surveillance drones over Iran reflects a growing belief within the Obama administration that covert action and carefully choreographed economic pressure may be the only means of coercing Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, current and former U.S. officials say."
Two Worlds Clash in Russia (Op-Ed) from the New York Times
"Young Russians are angry and ready to show it."
Globalization has Turned on its Western Creators (Jeremy Warner) from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"From the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements of the US to the rise of populist politics in Europe, the globalisation backlash is everywhere."
Israel is Losing its 'Base' in the Democratic West (Ari Shavit) from Al Haaretz [of Israel in English]
"It's the democratic West that set up Israel and ensures its survival. Even when hostile legions besieged us, the stable base of the West's support defended us."
All the G.O.P.’s Gordon Gekkos (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"For the current orthodoxy among Republicans is that we mustn’t even criticize the wealthy, let alone demand that they pay higher taxes, because they’re “job creators.” Yet the fact is that quite a few of today’s wealthy got that way by destroying jobs rather than creating them. And Mr. Romney’s business history offers a very good illustration of that fact."
The Good Politics of Gay Marriage (Ruth Marcus) from the Washington Post
"Now is the time for President Obama to complete his evolution on the subject of same-sex marriage. Supporting the right of all Americans to marry the person of their choice would be the right thing to do. Strange as this may sound, it might also be good politics."
Obama's Medium Cool (Todd S. Purdum) from Vanity Fair
"One rap on Obama is that he’s too aloof and cerebral, that he just can’t “connect.” There’s truth in that observation—but don’t discount the ability of the G.O.P. presidential contenders to make him look like a regular guy.
Republicans Less Enthusiastic About Voting in 2012 from Gallup
"Republicans' enthusiasm about voting in the election for president next year has decreased, with 49% of Republicans and independents who lean Republican now saying they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting, down from 58% in September. This narrows the gap between them and Democrats, 44% of whom are more enthusiastic than usual, essentially the same as in September."
You can only stay enraged for so long.
Many Candidates Are MIA in the 2012 Iowa Caucuses (Howard Kurtz) from the Daily Beast
"Most GOP candidates would rather hit the cable-television circuit than slog through dozens of small towns. Howard Kurtz reports on the slow demise of the legendary caucuses."
Post-mortems on the caucus system are quite premature in my view. Caucuses were not only quite alive and well in '08, they were key elements in Obama's victory. The current GOP crowd prefers cable outlets over caucuses because none of them would hold up when exposed to actual voters for any length of time. At some point in the future, a serious pool of GOP candidates will return.
Eugene Robinson has a related take on the same issues:
Politics as Reality TV (Eugene Robinson) from the Washington Post
"I guess I was wrong. I thought Republicans surely would have come to their senses by now. Instead, they seem to be rushing deeper into madness."
Democrats: Mitt Romney Is Doing Exactly What We Want Him To Do from Talking Points Memo
"In his attempt to stave off Newt Gingrich’s surge, Mitt Romney is rapidly transforming himself today into the chief defender of Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan. Democrats are somewhat taken aback — this is the Romney they were hoping for all along."
Newt’s Surge and the Looming GOP Panic (Jonathan Capehart) from the Washington Post
"The self-assured former speaker of the House who I and others wrote off when his campaign imploded in June is most assuredly back. But whether Gingrich can turn his poll vault into an actual campaign that wins states and takes the nomination remains to be seen."
Gingrich Is Inspiring—and Disturbing (Peggy Noonan) from the Wall Street Journal
"The first potential president about whom there is too much information."
The Coming GOP Gingrich Freakout (David Frum) from the Frum Forum
"Today’s question is: will the Gingrich balloon deflate like all the previous Not Mitt balloons? The answer is: yes of course–but given that these balloons take typically 6-8 weeks to shrivel, the impending Gingrich bust may not arrive soon enough to save Romney. No question though, it will arrive in time to freak out the Republican party."
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