UP-FRONT INTERNATIONAL NEWS!!
U.S. Does Not Believe Iran is Trying to Build Nuclear Bomb from the Los Angeles Times
"The latest U.S. intelligence report indicates Iran is pursuing research that could enable it to build a nuclear weapon, but that it has not sought to do so."
I've been following this story pretty closely -- and it is my sense that US intel on Iran's program is excellent, extraordinary really. As I have noted here at times, it is my sense that Obama and his intel people are almost as current on Iran's nuclear program developments as Iranian leaders are themselves. This news strikes me as the administration's effort to push back against the war mongering that seems to be increasing lately.
Syrian Leaders Listed by UN for Crimes Against Humanity from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Panel of UN experts says senior Syrian officials, including, it is claimed, President Assad, could face investigation."
Syria's 'Srebrenica': Situation Grows Increasingly Grim in Rebel Stronghold of Homs from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"Two foreign journalists died in a Syrian government shelling on Wednesday while reporting from the rebel stronghold of Homs. Hounded by snipers and hunger, activists are comparing the bombardment to genocide and begging the West for help."
U.S., Allies Set to "Challenge" Assad to End Siege from CBS News
"The Obama administration, under renewed pressure to help end the violence in Syria, is working with allies on a united, international "challenge" to the Assad regime, demanding that Syria stop the siege on the central city of Homs within days and allow immediate medical and humanitarian aid to flow directly to aid agencies trying to help the city's battered civilians."
Can the Taliban Avoid Fracturing Over the Qatar Peace Talks? (Yousafzai and Moreau) from the Daily Beast
"Afghan insurgent leaders struggle to keep their men aboard for negotiations with the U.S. Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau on unrest in the ranks."
Can Montana's Supreme Court Decision be Used to Overturn Citizens United? from Americablog
"The U.S. Supreme Court was asked to overturn the Montana ruling, and decided instead to issue a stay pending review. That's where it gets interesting. The whole thing turns on three sentences added by Justices Ginsberg and Breyer to the SCOTUS ruling that placed a hold on the Montana ruling (pdf; my emphasis):"
A very interesting analysis of Ginsberg and Breyer's clever thinking on the case.
Big Turnaround in Support for Auto Bailout: Majority Now Says Rescue Plan was Good for Economy from Daily Kos
"According to Pew's latest survey (conducted February 8-12 and 16-20 with a margin of error of ±3%), 56 percent of the American public now believes the auto bailouts were mostly a good thing for the economy. Just 38 percent disagrees, a huge shift from October, 2009 when 54 percent thought the bailouts were mostly bad for the economy and 37 percent thought they were good."
There will be a similar shift eventually with Obamacare.
New York Court Affirms Towns' Powers To Ban Fracking (Lena Groeger) from the National Memo
"In a decision that could set a national precedent for how local governments can regulate gas drilling, a New York state court yesterday ruled for the first time that towns have the right to ban drilling despite a state regulation asserting they cannot."
Right-Wing Media Group Pledges To Strip Birth Control Out Of Health Plan After Providing It For Years from Think Progress
"Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center, is providing a sneak preview to the kind of discrimination employees will experience if the amendment becomes law."
GOP Fears Rise Over 2012 Tone, Message from Politico
"In 2008, after Republicans were routed in the presidential and congressional elections, there was widespread consensus within elite GOP circles about the party’s structural problems: The Republican voter base was too old, too white, too male and too strident for the party to prosper long term in a country growing ever more diverse. Four years later, many of the same GOP leaders are watching with rising dismay as the 2012 presidential campaign has featured excursions into social issues like contraception and a sprint by the candidates to strike the toughest stance against illegal immigration, issues they say are far removed from the workaday concerns of the independent voters Republicans need to evict Barack Obama from the White House."
BOY. If folks in "elite GOP circles" thought this in 2008, what further demonstration do you need that these circles have almost no influence on the course of events?
Republican Race's Volatility is Historic (Alex Roarty) from the National Journal
"Calling the 2012 Republican presidential primary the most volatile for the GOP in generations isn't political hyperbole - it's empirical fact."
Poll: GOP Primary Bleeds Romney (Burns and Haberman) from Politico
"The folks at Purple Strategies have a poll out this morning that tests the mood of the electorate in a dozen general-election swing states, and validates concerns among Republicans that the drawn-out primary campaign is seriously compromising Mitt Romney's candidacy:"
The Arizona CNN Debate's Republican Unreality Show (Ana Marie Cox) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Ana Marie Cox: By fighting to out-conservative each other on social issues, this cranky crew just gifted Obama a win on jobs and the economy."
Santorum is a Social Conservative on Steroids, and that Troubles Some Voters from the McClatchy News Service
"...the same steely resolve that boosts him with the Republican Party's sizable social conservative bloc could also be a huge liability among moderate voters — and among independents that a GOP candidate would need to win the general election."
Santorum's Gamble Reveals Huge Blind Spot (J.P. Green) from the Democratic Strategist
"Republican myopia regarding Latino voters is turning out to be a huge blessing bestowed on Democrats, as some recent statistics indicate:"
Cox gets a two-fer today.
The Paradox of Rick Santorum's Conservative Beliefs (Ana Marie Cox) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Santorum's supporters denounce the government's religious interference, but it's their mantra that feels like oppression."
Republican Fratricide from the Economist [of London]
"The Republicans did not want their primary season to look like a
coronation. That, to say the least, is no longer a danger. It is now clear only that a large share of the party’s conservatives just do not like Mr Romney. This traps the party in a fratricidal exercise that could continue for months, if not all the way to the party convention in Tampa in August."
A cartoon from the Economist:
POST-WWII NUGGET!!
Bretton Woods Uncovered (a Scoop, of Sorts) (Jeremy Warner) from the Daily Telegraph
"Students of economic history are in for a treat. An official studying deep in the bowels of the US Treasury library has recently uncovered a prize of truly startling proportions – an 800 page plus transcript of the Bretton Woods conference in July 1944, the meeting of nations which established the foundations of today's international monetary system."
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