Superpowerless: Why the United States can't do as much as you think in Afghanistan and the Middle East (Fred Kaplan) from Slate
"It's clear now to even the wildest-eyed optimist that the recent Middle Eastern uprisings might not augur a spree of democratic revolution. Where they will lead is uncharted territory, but one thing they seem to signify, for now, is a further breakdown of the world order, a fracturing of global power into still more jutting and jagged shards, another round of the unraveling that started when the Cold War ended."
The EU: Choosing New Friends from the Economist [of London]
"The European Union is struggling to help Arab revolutionaries."
The New Silk Road: China's Energy Strategy in the Greater Middle East (Christina Lin) from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
"China is establishing footholds in Central Asia, the "Four Seas" region, and the Persian Gulf, stepping up its military ties to protect this "string of pearls." Beijing has placed particular emphasis on countering Western energy partnerships with regional governments and aligning with pariah states such as Iran and Syria."
Cowering Before a Sunflower Seed: Why China is Not a Great Power (David Rothkopf) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"One unfailingly good indicator of a nation's real strength is the nature of the enemies or adversaries it fears. Truly great powers do not fear small threats or, if they come to, they diminish themselves and lift up the small."
Shutdown threat tests Obama Leadership Style (Dan Balz) from the Washington Post
"His advisers see all of this as part of a larger strategy aimed at minimizing potential damage to the economy by keeping the government running and avoiding a partisan blowup that could vastly complicate what everyone expects will be an even tougher set of negotiations over next year’s budget and the future of federal entitlement programs."
Wisconsin Election Surprise: David Prosser Gains 7,500 Votes After 'Human Error' In Waukesha County (VIDEO) from the Huffington Post
"In a dramatic turn of events on Thursday, the Waukesha County clerk announced that the vote total announced for Tuesday's Wisconsin Supreme Court race had been mistaken -- and that the corrected numbers changed the outcome of the entire election."
I have felt for several days that too much was being made out of this Supreme Court election, and I was satisfied that the Dems made it very competitive. I was concerned that a Dems victory here would introduce some triumphalism and/or over-gloating and perhaps even some complacency for the REAL fights to come: the recall petitions. Without commenting on the merits of what has actually happened with these miraculously conceived 7,000+ votes, this development INSURES that Dems will remain motivated for the months to come, a good outcome in my view.
Here's Daily Kos's take on what happened:
Why Prosser needed EXACTLY +7500 votes.... from Daily Kos
"In WI, a recount at state-expense is triggered if an election is within .5% if the candidate requests it, and we have a fully verifiable paper trail to audit election results. That means in this election with approximately 740k for Kloppenburg and 739k for Prosser, the vote gets recounted at state-expense if the election is within ~7400 votes."
Some Books for a Wisconsin Revolution from Salon [from February]
"Who would have thought that a government grant from the W Administration would have such legs and inspire Tunisia, Egypt, Madison, and Libya? But it did. In 2002 the US Institute for Peace funded a 189 page book by a 30 year US Army veteran for the Albert Einstein Institute. Robert L. Helvey wrote this free, downloadable book entitled On Strategic Non-Violent Conflict: Thinking about the Fundamentals. I know. It doesn't have a catchy title like Gone With the Wind, but it did the job."
The GOP's Economy Problem (Andrew Leonard) from Salon
"As the unemployment picture improves, voters may tire of Republican hardball tactics. Case in point: Glenn Beck."
The Tea Party's Budget Freakout (Patricia Murphy) from the Daily Beast
"Grassroots activists in the organization are losing patience with GOP leaders over the budget battle—and Patricia Murphy reports that not even John Boehner is immune to their wrath."
MASTERPIECE THEATER NUGGET!!
Upstairs Downstairs Returns to PBS’ Masterpiece (Jace Lacob) from the Daily Beast
"After 36 years, Upstairs Downstairs returns to American television on Sunday with new characters and the original co-creators checking into 165 Eaton Place."
WORLD WAR II NUGGET!!
Finding the Japanese Boy Who Had Saved his Grandfather During World War II from the Washington Post
"An act of compassion in the dark annals of war: Tim Ruse’s grandfather survived the grueling Bataan Death March during World War II, only to find himself starving to death in a Japanese prison camp. Ruse knew that a Japanese boy had helped keep his grandfather alive. Now, seven decades later and armed only with a grainy photo, he made it his mission to find him."
SOFTWARE NUGGET!!
Now You're Talking! from Slate
"Google has developed speech-recognition technology that actually works."
AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY BOOK NUGGET!!
Peeling Away Multiple Masks: A Review of MALCOLM X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable from the New York Times
"In his revealing and prodigiously researched new biography, “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention,” Manning Marable — a professor at Columbia University and the director of its Center for Contemporary Black History, who died just last week — vividly chronicles these many incarnations of his subject, describing the “multiple masks” he donned over the years, while charting the complex and contradiction-filled evolution of his political and religious beliefs."
There are a number of good book reviews in this weekend's Sunday New York Times Book Review. See HERE and HERE.
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