News Nuggets 980

DAYLEE PICTURE:  A hibiscus in Honolulu.  From Smithsonian Magazine. 

Center of Gravity in Oil World Shifts to the Americas (Juan Forero) from the Washington Post
"From Canada to Colombia to Brazil, oil and gas production is booming, with the U.S. emerging less dependent on supplies from an unstable Middle East."

Downturn Catches Up to China from United Press International
"The global economic slowdown has begun to take a serious toll on the Chinese economy, a senior official said this week. ... A recent survey concluded that more than half of China's 70 largest cities were experiencing falling property values. Both the construction and retail sectors have suffered from slowdowns. Further, the country's purchasing managers index in April fell to 49.3 with figures under 50 representing a contraction -- a sobering statistic for an economy that relies heavily on exports. A slowdown in China can quickly haunt other economies, as well."

The Vietnam Solution: How a Former Enemy Became a Crucial U.S. Ally in Balancing China’s Rise (Robert Kaplan) from the Atlantic
" On my visit there last year, I found a country seized not only with the imperative of economic development but also with the challenge of finding a modus vivendi with its age-old neighbor and hegemon—a challenge that it increasingly looks to the United States, its onetime adversary, to help meet. That may demand that Americans, at least, shift their historical perspective and try to see the world through Vietnamese eyes."

Jamming Tripoli: Inside Moammar Gadhafi’s Secret Surveillance Network (Matthieu Aikins) from Wired Magazine
"...these activists would suffer greatly at the hands of Gadhafi’s spy service, whose own capabilities had been heightened by 21st-century technology. By now, it’s well known that the Arab Spring showed the promise of the Internet as a crucible for democratic activism. But, in the shadows, a second narrative unfolded, one that demonstrated the Internet’s equal potential for government surveillance and repression on a scale unimaginable with the old analog techniques of phone taps and informants."
A very interesting long-form story!

Europe's Biggest Fear: A Run They Cannot Stop from the Economist [of London]
"Fears of a full-scale bank run in Greece have not yet materialised. But the possibility of a deposit run in Europe's peripheral states is still very much alive. It is also the thing that policymakers are least prepared for. "

Five World Events That Could Swing the U.S. Election (Uri Friedman) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are slugging it out over the economy, but the world may have a trick or two up its sleeve."

SpaceX via Twitter: the Everyday Miracle of Modern Technologies from the Guardian [of the UK]
"There's so much we already take for granted about the digital revolution that's rocked our world. But it can still strike awe."

President, to President, to President (Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy) from the Los Angeles Times
"POTUS' best confidant may be his predecessors."

Five Issues that Divide Conservatives and the American Military (Heather Hurlbert) from Alternet
"Behold the cognitive dissonance of conservatives who ritually stand up in front of the public and say they want to "listen to the commanders.""

Obama Stumbles? Why the President’s Right to Talk About Bain (Joe Klein) from Time Magazine
"I  suspect that these Bain attacks are working. Indeed, I suspect the reason that the Obama campaign–and the President himself in an extraordinary moment at the NATO press conference last week–are so adamant about pursuing this tactic is that it (a) lays the predicate for the anti-Romney campaign to come and (b) has been extremely effective with focus groups. And so, what we may be seeing here is the exact opposite of a stumble."
Another critique of the Politico "Stumbles" article is HERE from the New Republic.

Dear Washington, Nothing Has Changed About the Election (Jamelle Bouie) from the American Prospect
"It’s an election year, so it’s simply a fact that pundits will latch on to every gaffe as if voters were actually paying attention to the minutiae of presidential politics. But it’s always good to remember that they aren’t, at all."

Obama's Last Line of Defense: Women (Ronald Brownstein) from the National Journal
"The new round of national and state surveys this week generally showing President Obama clinging to a tenuous advantage over Republican Mitt Romney reinforce the conclusion that socially liberal, upscale white women may stand as the president's indispensable line of defense in his struggle for reelection. "

Billionaire Finds New Role in Effort to Defeat Obama (Rutenberg & Zeleny) from the New York Times
"{Ricketts] is involved in another effort slated for this summer, a documentary film based on a widely criticized book, “The Roots of Obama’s Rage” by Dinesh D’Souza, which asserts that Mr. Obama is carrying out the “anticolonial” agenda of his Kenyan father."
This guy just can't take a hint.  Like Ricketts' other fiasco involving Rev. Wright, this one has even more potential to completely backfire.  Another appropriate gift from Citizens United to its parents, the GOP.

How to Cure the Crazy (Jonathan Bernstein) from Salon
"The return of Donald Trump forces the question: Is there anything the GOP can do to recover from insanity?"

The Conception of the Birther (Todd S. Purdum) from Vanity Fair
"The “birther” controversy is newly in the headlines, but its umbilical cord stretches deep into our history."

Obama Has a Mean Streak and He Turned It on Romney This Week (Lloyd Grove) from the Daily Beast
"The president, for all his cool, has a mean streak—just ask Hillary Clinton—and this week he turned it on Mitt Romney, writes Lloyd Grove."
I have heard a lot of conservative critics' bogus story lines about our president -- but this is a new one: "Oh, Obama is SO mean!"  He sort of called Mitt Romney a "cow pie" and other nasty things! Boo hoo.  When the GOP whine-o-meter gets this high, it tells me that Obama's attacks must be landing. I guess now Obama can morph into a fascist, marxist, muslim, atheist, MEAN wimpy totalitarian -- who is just like Jimmy Carter!   As an aside, I actually think Obama could benefit from the perception that he really IS mean.  

AZ-Sen: ‘Political Greek God’: Even Republicans Think Carmona Has a Chance In Arizona (Pema Levy) from Talking Points Memo
"“Political Greek god,” “amazing” and “tremendous” are all words used to describe Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Richard Carmona — by Republicans."