News Nuggets 840

DAYLEE PICTURE: A hiker in the Scottish highlands.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT PUNDIT-OF-THE-DAY!!
Un-American Activities: Santorum's Efforts to Go 'Beyond his Base' (George Packer) from the New Yorker
"Several things are worth noting here. The first is that, in today’s Republican politics, one reliable way to reach beyond the Christian base is by whipping up nationalistic hysteria with language lifted straight from the McCarthy era. If criminalizing all abortions and nullifying all gay marriages are a little too sectarian for you, surely you’d like to try some old-fashioned traitor-hunting. (Santorum has also accused Obama of “sid[ing] with evil” in Iran, a country with which he plainly wants to go to war.) The second is that this kind of gutter rhetoric is so routine in the Republican campaign that it’s not worth a political journalist’s time to point it out.  ... And the third, related point is that, once demagogy and falsehoods become routine, there isn’t much for the political journalist to do except handicap the race and report on the candidate’s mood."
Packer is DEAD-ON with every word in this analysis.  I recommend reading the whole thing.

Iran Currency Plummets: A Sign US Sanctions are Taking Hold? from the Christian Science Monitor
"The value of Iran's currency fell 10 percent Monday following President Obama signing new sanctions against Iran's central bank Saturday. Europe is also considering a ban on Iranian oil."

Iran Warns US Carrier to Stay Out of Persian Gulf from MSNBC
"Iran will take action if a U.S. aircraft carrier which left the area because of Iranian naval exercises returns to the Gulf, the state news agency quoted army chief Ataollah Salehi as saying on Tuesday. "Iran will not repeat its warning ... the enemy's carrier has been moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill. I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf," Salehi told IRNA."
Ok -- and how will the US respond to this "warning"?  Obama will have to ignore it.  What is Iran going to do if the carrier returns?  They have no effective anti-carrier technology that I know of.  Will they try and "start something"?  I'm skeptical -- but it's certainly possible.  I suspect what's driving this up-tick in rhetoric is that Iranian authorities know that if the next phase of sanctions really take hold, their economy and their regime are in deep sh#$.  A calibrated dust-up with the US might stave off internal dissent and raise the stakes for the global economic recovery such that powers in Europe and elsewhere will shrink from strongly enforcing the sanctions.

Iran’s Self-Defeating Saber-Rattling (Amir Taheri) from the New York Post 
"Unable to seek a diplomatic way out of the crisis, the mullahs appear to have opted for the Samson option, threatening to inflict as much damage as possible. “We will stop the flow of oil, crippling the global economy,” writes the Iranian daily Kayhan. “When the price of oil hits $200 or £400 a barrel, we shall see who are the losers.” Two questions remain: Could Iran close the Strait of Hormuz? And if it could, would that push oil prices through the roof?"

Iran’s Empty Threats (Richard Weitz) from The Diplomat
"Iran’s military could probably make life uncomfortable for the U.S. in the Strait of Hormuz. But the downsides far outweigh the advantages of trying."

Taliban Says it Will Open Qatar Office for Talks with U.S. from the Washington Post
"The Taliban announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to open a “political office” in Qatar to hold talks with the United States, the first time the militant group has confirmed it has an interest in negotiating with Washington."

How to be a Dictator (Alastair Smith) from the Economist [of London]
"The recipient of three grants from the National Science Foundation and author of three books, he was chosen as the 2005 Karl Deutsch Award winner, given biennially to the best international-relations scholar under the age of 40. He is co-author of “The Dictator’s Handbook: How Bad Behaviour is Almost Always Good Politics” (2011)."

Panetta to Offer Strategy for Cutting Military Budget from the New York Times
"In a shift of doctrine driven by fiscal reality and a deal last summer that kept the United States from defaulting on its debts, Mr. Panetta is expected to outline plans for carefully shrinking the military — and in so doing make it clear that the Pentagon will not maintain the ability to fight two sustained ground wars at once."
IF TRUE, this is a big deal.  The US has maintained a 2-war posture since World War II.  Now, is he for real?  I doubt it.  I suspect this is largely a political move to pressure House Republicans concerning the debt deal that was struck last summer.

Happy Days Are Here Again! (Matthew Yglesias) from Slate
"Don’t believe the naysayers: An economic recovery is right around the corner."
I believe when I see!

Did Psychopaths Take Over Wall Street? (William Cohen) from the Bloomberg News Service
"Clive R. Boddy, most recently a professor at the Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University, says psychopaths are the 1 percent of “people who, perhaps due to physical factors to do with abnormal brain connectivity and chemistry” lack a “conscience, have few emotions and display an inability to have any feelings, sympathy or empathy for other people.” ... Boddy says psychopaths take advantage of the “relative chaotic nature of the modern corporation,” including “rapid change, constant renewal” and high turnover of “key personnel.” Such circumstances allow them to ascend through a combination of “charm” and “charisma,” which makes “their behaviour invisible” and “makes them appear normal and even to be ideal leaders.”"

Why the Death Penalty Is Slowly Dying (Adam Cohen) from Time Magazine
"Little by little, governors, state legislatures, judges and juries are quietly deciding not to support capital punishment"

In Forthcoming Memoir, Arlen Specter Reveals Turmoil Beneath Exterior from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"But in his new memoir "Life Among the Cannibals," set for publication in late March, Mr. Specter, 81, acknowledges more than a few psychic bruises ..."

George W. Bush Barely Mentioned in GOP Campaign from the Associated Press via the Long Island Press
"It was an odd, almost discordant moment in a GOP contest where Bush, a two-term president who left office just three years ago, has gone all but unmentioned. While the candidates routinely lionize Ronald Reagan and blame President Barack Obama for the nation’s economic woes, none has been eager to embrace the Bush legacy of gaping budget deficits, two wars and record low approval ratings – or blame him for the country’s troubles either. “Republicans talk a lot about losing their way during the last decade, and when they do they’re talking about the Bush years,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont-McKenna College."
If you're W or a mucky-muck from his time in office, this kind of response should be of deep and abiding concern.  If his OWN PARTY won't defend their legacy, how do they expect historians in the future to do so?  There are reasons why Lincoln, TR, FDR and Reagan live large in America's popular history: they each spawned a generation or more of people who (from the start) venerated their times in office and trumpeted their accomplishments -- usually for decades after the fact.  I see no such constituency emerging in defense of Bush's time in office, not from the GOP establishment nor from the conservative public generally.  Of course, in my view, their non-response is more than fully warranted!

Iowa's Field of Mediocrities (Harris and Burns) from Politico
"The candidates say it on debate stages. Voters say it at campaign rallies. It is a staple of Republican rhetoric that 2012 is the most fateful election in decades — a big and perilous moment around which national destiny will hinge. Here’s what does not get said as often: This big moment on history’s stage is being filled by politicians who so far have looked way too small for the occasion."

Is Romney the Next Kerry? (Joseph Curl) from the Washington Times
"Mitt Romney and John F. Kerry are two Boston blue-blood multimillionaires, spending summers in their island estates and winters in their mountain mansions; both are recidivist flip-floppers with long records of often indefensible 180s; and each was going up against a supremely unpopular — the catch word is “beatable” — president."

Santorum, Final Anti-Romney, Poised for Victory (Timothy P. Carney) from the Washington Examiner
"Most talk of “momentum” in politics is the lazy prattle of pundits portraying the electorate as some sort of enchanted body possessed by a single spirit. But with Rick Santorum’s boom in Iowa, the lazy prattle is proving correct."

ARAB SPRING BOOK NUGGET!!
“Liberation Square”: A Thrilling Account of Egypt’s Revolution (Laura Miller) from Salon
"From Facebook martyrs to camelback attacks, a Cairo reporter gives a street-level view of history in the making."

MUSIC NUGGET!!
Mozart vs. the Gangstas: How Classical Music is Changing Young Lives from Time Magazine
"El Sistema's most famous product is L.A. Phil director Gustavo Dudamel himself. When the Venezuelan took over the orchestra in 2009, he began to replicate El Sistema and got the L.A. Phil to invest in YOLA. The program now offers instruction as many as four days a week to some 500
under-privileged kids in underserved areas of the city — most of them Latino or African American."