Envoy Says Gadhafi Seeking End to Libya Crisis from AOL News
""From the Libyan envoy's comments it appears that the regime is seeking a solution," Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas said in a statement after the meeting in Athens."
Qaddafi Son Proposes Peace Plan, Diplomat Says from the New York Times
"Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s son Seif el-Islam is proposing a resolution to the Libyan conflict that would entail his father relinquishing power for a transition to constitutional democracy under his son’s direction, a diplomat with close ties to the Libyan government said Sunday, citing “eminent people” in Tripoli. But neither Colonel Qaddafi nor the rebels seeking his ouster appear ready to accept such a proposal, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity to divulge private conversations within the Libyan government."
Reporters in Tripoli find it’s a Big Brother World from the Washington Post
"so the days pass in the Big Brother world of the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli, where foreign journalists are obliged by the government to stay in conditions that can best be described as luxury imprisonment."
Is It Better to Save No One? (Nicholas Kristof) from the New York Times
"Critics from left and right are jumping all over President Obama for his Libyan intervention, arguing that we don’t have an exit plan, that he hasn’t articulated a grand strategy, that our objectives are fuzzy, that Islamists could gain strength. And those critics are all right. But let’s back up a moment and recognize a larger point: Mr. Obama and other world leaders did something truly extraordinary, wonderful and rare: they ordered a humanitarian intervention that saved thousands of lives and that even Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s closest aides seem to think will lead to his ouster."
Jim Jones: Libya War More in the Interest of Europeans than the U.S. from ABC News
"Former Obama National Security Advisor Says War Wasn't In the Vital Interest of America."
There is SOME truth to this -- and thus it is appropriate that the US hand off as much of the day-to-day operations to the Europeans as possible. It is high time the EU and EU members began ponying up on their own defense spending and stop relying on the US to bail them out.
Well, let's go around the horn and see what's happening in some of the other 'Arab Spring' hot spots:
The Larger Game in the Middle East: Iran (David Sanger) from the New York Times
"On a Tuesday afternoon in mid-March in the White House Situation Room, as President Obama heard the arguments of his security advisers about the pros and cons of using military force in Libya, the conversation soon veered into the impact in a far more strategically vital place: Iran."
Iraq's Political Fallout (Denise Natali) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Iraq seems primed to follow the path of other Middle Eastern states in turmoil. The weak central government is no more responsive to its populations than regimes in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, or Libya...Even though the morale of democracy is undeveloped or even nonexistent in Iraq, the power-sharing system embedded in the 2005 constitution has checked the re-emergence of dictatorship by disempowering Baghdad and delegating many powers to the provinces."
Syria Following the Script (Peter Harling) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"There is now every likelihood that Syrians, their hopes dashed, will again take to the streets. The regime must pass this last test, which is to avoid more bloodshed. Repression could help it survive or it could be tantamount to suicide -- but in either case, it would be an ignominious fate."
Jordan's Stubborn Regime Hangs in the Balance (Sean L. Yom) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"The Hashemite regime of Jordan is running out of time. Last Friday, a 2,000-strong opposition gathering in Amman dissolved into a spectacle of violence, leaving one dead and over a hundred injured. Although described by the Western media as the country's first repressive crackdown during this winter of discontent, the reality is more complex -- and more unsettling."
Al Jazeera: A Fresh Voice or Something a lot Scarier? (John Arlidge) from the Sunday Times [of London] via RealClearPolitics
"As revolution spreads across the Arab world, viewers everywhere are tuning in - and many say they like what they see. In the US, where, unlike Britain, no large cable or satellite operator carries Al-Jazeera's English-language channel, the number of viewers watching over the internet has increased by 2,500% since the Arab uprisings began; America's most influential website, the Drudge Report, screens it live. Consumers are petitioning US cable channels to sign up the service, and Comcast, Time Warner and Cablevision are in talks. One American who does have a live feed is President Obama. He watches in the White House, and Al-Jazeera is on 24/7 in the Situation Room."
Having been watching Al Jazeera English for a month or so now, I'll have to say they are not nearly as scary as FOX News. More to the point, as a filter for what's happening with the 'Arab Spring,' it is difficult to overstate the extent to which Al Jazeera is mediating the conflict for millions of Arabs. Unlike Bush's ham-handed PR efforts via Kaen Hughes et al., I think Obama appreciates the network's role in interpreting and translating US actions and intentions in the Middle East. This long-form examination here, though, tends to ignore the weaknesses in US news coverage in its "suspicious" look at Al Jazeera. As the first 24/7 news network to come out of the developing world, it is at least as "fair and balanced" as FOX News -- but I would say with higher journalistic standards.
Clinton Still Showing her Survival Instincts (Joan Vennochi) from the Boston Globe
"Her performance as secretary of state defies some of the stereotypes about how a Clinton operates. It hasn’t been all about Hillary — or, about Bill. Once she joined Obama’s team, her tenure was devoted to shaping and promoting Obama’s message. ... eing secretary of state also showcases other Clinton strengths."
For a Woman to Reach the White House, the 2012 Elections Will be Key (Debbie Walsh and Kathy Kleeman) from the Washington Post
Perhaps the torch is passing to a new generation of political women — but whose arms are outstretched? Highly visible names in national politics — Bachmann, Giffords, Gillibrand, Haley, Palin, Pelosi — mask the reality that progress in electing women has stalled."
Momentum Shifts Toward Democrats in PR Battle over Shutdown from The Hill
"Momentum in the partisan messaging battle over who’s to blame if the government shuts down has shifted in recent weeks to favor Democrats, according to political experts."
I personally do not think that this shift is "new" -- it may be new to those reporting from inside the beltway. I think DC pundits and lawmakers have missed the larger narrative that has been shaping up around GOP governance, and this larger narrative has been shaped by the extreme rhetoric and heavy-handed politics of GOP governors, mostly in the upper midwest. The anti-labor legislation and the larger budgetary nihilism of the governors of WI, MI, IN, OH, and PA have been getting A LOT of attention from voters in the region, much more attention than the budget battles in DC. If the federal gov't shuts down, it will simply re-inforce the broader narrative already in place in these key 2012 battleground states that the GOP is actually going to make workers' lives MUCH WORSE, not better. The GOP in these states is COUNTING ON the electorate's short memory and that by November of 2012, they will have forgotten, moved on, whatever. I think they are gravely mistaken on this front. Both public and private workers have deeply personalized and internalized many of the impacts of this recession -- and the GOP has done nothing to dispel the growing perception that the Republican Party only cares about large corporations and the wealthy, the middle class and workers be damned.
Deal Makers: An Improving Economy Makes a Government Shutdown Less Likely than Ever (John Dickerson) from Slate
"Not only do both sides have to agree on how much to cut and where to cut it, but each side hopes to improve its negotiating position by declaring in public that the other side is being misleading or inflexible. In this sea of uncertainty, let's haul out the scales and see what we know."
How the Golden Years Disappeared (Marc Freedman) from Salon
"At 50, I made a startling realization: I was burning out, but nowhere near retirement -- and I wasn't alone."
Wisconsin University to GOP: Sorry, Your Demand for Walker Critic’s Emails is a Bust (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"It looks like the Wisconsin GOP’s demand for the private emails of a Wisconsin professor -- in apparent retaliation for his criticism of Scott Walker’s proposal to roll back bargaining rights -- may be proving a total bust."
Prediction: the GOP's surrogates will regret doing this. There are many conservative academics out there at public universities who will now be targeted for FOIA fishing expeditions by left-leaning groups. What goes around comes around.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal Proposes Massive Tax Cuts For The Rich, Big Tax Hikes for Middle Class from Think Progress
"While negotiations over the tax bill are far from over, it appears that Deal and his Republican colleagues are standing behind a template that is becoming all too familiar for right-wing legislators: cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans and then demand that middle class and working class Main Street Americans pay out more in tax hikes or in reduced spending to health care, education, and other important investments."
Remembering Martin Luther King as a Man, Not a Saint from the Washington Post
"King will become further enshrined in our public memory in August, when the four-acre memorial to him officially opens on the Mall. The King we remember will remain frozen in time: Aug. 28, 1963, the day he delivered the Dream Speech. But the King who came to Memphis in April of 1968 was a very different man from the one we’ve come to venerate. "
AMAZING TURTLE NUGGET!!
'Sacred' Turtle Captured In Vietnam's Hoan Kiem Lake from the Huffington Post
"The reptile is estimated to weigh about 440 pounds (200 kilograms) and is one of the world's most endangered freshwater turtles. There is one other turtle of the same species, known as Rafeteus swinhoei, in Vietnam and two others in a Chinese zoo. But its value to the nation has nothing to do with how rare it is."
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY NUGGET!!
Lost for 2,000 years... Could This be the first Portrait of Jesus? from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"The portrait was found on a lead booklet, slightly smaller than a credit card, which lay undiscovered in a cave in a remote village in Jordan overlooking the Sea of Galilee. It was part of an astonishing hoard of 70 books found there, each with between five and 15 cast lead pages bound by lead rings."
An odd story for what it leaves out. What do the little books actually say? Also -- the provenance of these books certainly seems murky.
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