UP-FRONT INTERVIEW NUGGET!!
Ready for the Fight: Rolling Stone Interview with Barack Obama (Jann Wenner) from Rolling Stone Magazine
"The president, in the Oval Office, discusses his job, the opposition and the coming campaign."
Israel's Top General Says Iran Unlikely to Make Bomb from Reuters
"Israel's military chief said he does not believe Iran will decide to build an atomic bomb and called its leaders "very rational" - comments that clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assessment."
CIA Drone Strike Kills Top Al-Qaeda Operative Who was Trained by Osama Bin Laden - as FBI Director Pledges to Help Stop Islamist Insurgency from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Mohammed Al-Umda, trained by Bin Laden, was killed in weekend strike. FBI chief vows to help crush insurgency and spoke with Yemen's president Yemen President Hadi says he's committed to working with U.S."
Ousted Chinese Leader Is Said to Have Spied on Other Top Officials from the New York Times
"... the hidden wiretapping, previously alluded to only in internal Communist Party accounts of the scandal, appears to have provided another compelling reason for party leaders to turn on Mr. Bo. The story of how China’s president was monitored also shows the level of mistrust among leaders in the one-party state. To maintain control over society, leaders have embraced enhanced surveillance technology. But some have turned it on one another — repeating patterns of intrigue that go back to the
beginnings of Communist rule."
How much wiretapping was actually done? Are there ... transcripts? I'll bet there are. Are they just of visitors to Chongquing? Or were they done elsewhere in the country? Bo Xilai could be sitting with a LOT of dirt on his Communist Party compatriots.
Libya Bans Religious Parties from Politics from Al Jazeera English
"National Transitional Council issues law banning parties based on religion, drawing concern from Islamic organisations."
Arab Youths Have Just Started to Act (Rami G. Khouri) from the Daily Star [of Lebanon in English]
"If you want to know why I remain optimistic, you need only have been with me during the past few weeks when I had two particularly uplifting encounters with young men and women from different parts of the Arab world, often including engagement with their counterparts from the United States and Europe. "
Europe’s Gathering Economic Storm (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"With Socialist leader Francois Hollande likely to become the next president of France, Europe’s hot populist anger is about to confront the cold austerity measures required by the euro zone, with a predictable result: a storm that rattles the foundations of the European economic house. Financial traders and treasury ministers are debating this week just how much damage this political-economic collision will bring."
Austerity Drives Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Now Britain into Recession. Next? (Meteor Blades) from Daily Kos
"Britain, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland are all now in recession. The Netherlands and France have not yet succumbed, but weak economic data have roiled their governments, contributing to the collapse of the Dutch parliamentary coalition and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's loss in the first round of voting over the weekend. Behind it all is European austerity policy, the very stuff Republicans in the United States have been promoting for the past three-plus years."
Greece’s Election Supernova (John Psaropoulos) from the Daily Beast
"With Greek elections looming, the country’s mainstream political forces are melting down and splintering into smaller, more radical factions, all of which are vowing to deliver Greece from its EU bailout terms."
Bullying the Nuns (Garry Wills) from the New York Review of Books
"The Vatican has issued a harsh statement claiming that American nuns do not follow their bishops' thinking. That statement is profoundly true. Thank God, they don't. Nuns have always had a different set of priorities from that of bishops. The bishops are interested in power."
Behind the Right's Phony War on the Nonexistent Religion of Secularism (Rick Perlstein) from Rolling Stone Magazine
"That's the way, in my experience, the ecology of right-wing smears works: Insane horror stories – Clinton is running cocaine out of an Arkansas airport! Barack Obama had gay sex in the back of a limo! – bubble up from the collective conservative Id at the outset of an election year; professional conservatives in Washington identify the ones that seem most promising and launder them through the suckers in the "balance"-hungry mainstream media; and presto, before you know it, it's death-panel-palooza, 24/7."
The 'Clinton Party' Wins In Pennsylvania: Is 2016 Next? (Howard Fineman) from the Huffington Post
"We have three leading political parties in America today: Republican, Democratic and Clinton. The last is a mom-and-pop operation, with a Chelsea. It's been 12 years since they had a president in office, but they still keep score, tend to their base and ponder what to do next with their political, financial and charitable clout."
I cannot imagine the Clintons would be playing this game if Hillary wasn't seriously looking at running in 2016.
City Slickers: The Growth of Urbanized Areas Could Shift Some States from Red to Blue Over Time (Reid Wilson) from the National Journal
"In political vernacular, “urban” issues have long been code for policies of primary concern to minorities. In coming decades, that stereotype will start to look outdated as Americans of increasing diversity move to the nation’s big cities. That migration is affecting our politics."
QE2 NUGGET [of a sort]!!
Resplendent in Red! Queen Brightens the Gloom as She Names Gloriana, the First Royal Barge to be Built in 100 Years from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh today braved heavy rain and driving winds to name a spectacular barge built to mark the Jubilee. The royal couple travelled to the East London dock where Gloriana is currently moored, awaiting the moment when it will make its way to Wandsworth Bridge on the Thames from where it will lead the Jubilee pageant on 3 June."
JUST what the taxpayers of the UK have been demanding lo these many years! It looks great -- but I'll have to say her timing is terrible! Her country just went tripping back into recession, and, for all the world, she seems to be playing a "Chinese empress Tz'u-Hsi" thing here with a royal barge.
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