How US Intends to End War with Taliban (Ahmed Rashid) from the Financial Times [of the UK]
"After more than two years of internal disputes and rivalries, the Obama administration is for the first time united on stepping up its secret talks with the Taliban. It also wants to start wider talks with regional countries such as Pakistan, which hold the key to a peaceful settlement as the US and Nato prepare to pull out their troops by 2014."
Time to Up the Ante on Egypt (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"We should spend less on Afghanistan and more on Egypt."
A two-fer from Ignatius today:
Syria’s Assad, Caught Between Reform and Repression (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"With his regime hanging by a thread, Syria’s President Bashar Assad faces two interlocking challenges this week that will determine his political fate: He must somehow calm the centers of protest, and he must convince the public that he means what he promised about reform."
Not going to happen. I am coming to the view that Assad himself is not fully in charge right now, that hard-liners are increasingly directing events. I suspect that the manic quality of the gov't's actions reflects an increasingly split Ba'ath Party leadership.
A Day After Crackdown in Syria, Activists Regroup (Anthony Shadid) from the New York Times
"A day after the Syrian regime crushed one of the biggest demonstrations yet by protesters in Homs, a cautious calm fell over the city Wednesday as activists prepared for demonstrations on Friday."
Inside Iran: the Art of Resistance (Jason Rezaian) from the Global Post
"With street demonstrations in Iran effectively crushed, music, photography and painting are now a leading way to express a desire for change."
NSC Security Advisor Samantha Power and Her Subjects (Jacob Heilbrunn) from the National Interest
"Today this Wilsonian doctrine is sold as a form of atonement for past wrongdoings—that, unless we intervene decisively in what is often a civil war to tip the balance of the scales to one side, America will once again have blood on its hands. Never again, in other words, will become ever again. IT WOULD be hard to think of a more ardent promoter of this doctrine than Samantha Power."
Cape Wind, First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm, Building Plan Approved from the Associated Press via Huffington Post
"A federal agency approved a construction and operations plan for the Cape Wind project off the Massachusetts coast, clearing the way for work to begin on America's first offshore wind farm as early as this fall, U.S. Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar announced Tuesday."
The GOP's Budget Backfire (Kirsten Powers) from the Daily Beast
"Not only are Republicans wasting time with the Paul Ryan proposal, their cynical gambit on the even more drastic House Republican Study Committee came back to bite them. They may be under pressure to keep campaign promises about balancing the budget—but they're running a huge risk of electoral disaster with their overreach."
The Decade the GOP Hopes You've Forgotten (Steve Kornacki) from Salon
"If this anti-tax adamance -- and the dire warnings of what life in a post-tax hike America would look like -- sounds familiar, it's for good reason. Republicans issued the exact same warnings the last time a president proposed addressing exploding deficits (in part) through tax increases on the wealthy. This was back in 1993..."
Poll: Best Way to Fight Deficits: Raise Taxes on the Rich from the McClatchy News Service
"Alarmed by rising national debt and increasingly downbeat about their country's course, Americans are clear about how they want to attack the government's runway budget deficits: raise taxes on the wealthy and keep hands off of Medicare and Medicaid."
In WI, What Prosser's Victory Means for the Recall Elections (Sean Trende) from RealClearPolitics
"Wisconsin clearly remains a bright "purple" state. This reality has significant implications for the upcoming recall elections, which we can now examine in more detail..."
Here's an up-date:
Four Wisconsin Recall Petitions Filed, Control of State Senate Now a Toss-Up (Chris Bowers) from Daily Kos
"Four recall petitions have now been filed against Republican state Senators in Wisconsin: Dan Kapanke (April 1), Randy Hopper (April 7), Luther Olsen (April 18), and Sheila Harsdorf (April 19, today). The petitions will likely all be challenged by the Senators against whom they were filed, but given that the petitions all exceeded 140% of the minimum amount required and were closely examined before being submitted, all the challenges will fail."
I think Trende is closer to the mark here in arguing that actually REPLACING the GOP lawmakers will be very hard to pull off.
The GOP’s Donald Trump Birther Problem is of its Own Making (Adam Serwer) from the Washington Post
"The GOP’s elite anti-birther backlash against Trump is now in full swing, as Trump rises in the polls and everyone tries to figure out whether his candidacy is legitimate or Andy Kaufman-esque political performance art. George Will is warning that Trump could “make a shambles of the Republican debate just by being there,” while Charles Krauthammer proclaimed that Trump is the GOP’s Al Sharpton."
The Right's First Trump Attack (Lloyd Grove) from the Daily Beast
"The Club for Growth came out swinging at the Donald, casting him a liberal big-spender. Lloyd Grove talks to Trump about why he’s drawing fire—and how he doesn’t know who his assailant is."
Trump did NOT help himself with this vacuous response he gave on MSNBC concerning the "Right-to-Privacy"'s link to Roe v. Wade:
Pro-Lifers: Donald Trump Doesn't Understand How Pro-Life Works (VIDEO) from Talking Points Memo
"Trump apparently thinks he can split the difference, and appeared to have no understanding of the connection between the view of a right to privacy and the abortion debate. "I guess there is, I guess there is," Trump said when Guthrie asked if there's a Constitutional right to privacy. "And why, just out of curiosity, why do you ask that question?" Guthrie informed him of the connection to abortion, but Trump seemed surprised that the two went together... The pro-life establishment was not impressed."
New York City, let me introduce you to Kansas. Kansas, this is New York City. There is SO much about Trump that won't translate to the rest of the country. This is only the beginning.
Huntsman: He Worked for Obama. Can He Beat Him? (Jeff Zeleny) from the New York Times
"On paper, given his affiliation with Mr. Obama, Mr. Huntsman would seem to be facing a tough time in a primary where anti-Obama sentiment is expected to run high. But in a crowded field, with many Republicans signaling dissatisfaction with the candidates thus far, his supporters hope he could get beyond short-term challenges with a long-term pitch of electability."
He has nothing to lose by throwing his hat in.
BLOGGER PROFILE NUGGET!!
Glenn Greenwald: Life Beyond Borders (Fred Bernstein) from Out Magazine
"With his provocative columns and scathing political commentary, the journalist has never shied away from controversy. We step into his complicated world."
I routinely find Greenwald to be annoying -- but there is no denying that he is one of the most brilliant, encyclopedic, and prolific bloggers out there. In many ways, he has become the conscience of the progressive blogosphere, constantly reminding liberals (and everyone else) where we are not being true to what we profess.
HISTORICAL CRIME NUGGET!!
FBI Dossier Reveals Chilling Profile of Jack the Ripper... Shame It was Released 100 Years Too Late from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"A secret FBI dossier, which has just been declassified and made public, reveals how one of its acclaimed secret agents - and a pioneer of criminal profiling - attempted in vain to unmask the serial killer."
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