Afghanistan's Role in Osama bin Laden Raid (Bruce Riedel) from the Daily Beast
"The raid against Osama bin Laden was driven in part by the knowledge that the U.S. cannot rely on Pakistan in the fight against al Qaeda—and that we must have a base in Afghanistan to do the job, writes Bruce Riedel."
Did Pakistan Know bin Laden was ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’? (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"More than a week after the Abbottabad raid, the nagging question remains: How could the Pakistanis not have known that the world’s leading terrorist was hiding in what some analysts have argued was practically a gated community for their military? It’s a puzzle that embarrasses Pakistani officials just as much as it angers Americans."
Bad Bargains (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"So Osama bin Laden was living in a specially built villa in Pakistan. I wonder where he got the money to buy it? Cashed in his Saudi 401(k)? A Pakistani subprime mortgage, perhaps? No. I suspect we will find that it all came from the same place most of Al Qaeda’s funds come from: some combination of private Saudi donations spent under the watchful eye of the Pakistani Army."
President to Renew Muslim Outreach from the Wall Street Journal
"President Barack Obama is preparing a fresh outreach to the Muslim world in coming days, senior U.S. officials say, one that will ask those in the Middle East and beyond to reject Islamic militancy in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death and embrace a new era of relations with the U.S."
Smart, timely move on Obama's part. This is the COMMUNITY ORGANIZER president in action here! Lots of sources are warning of retaliation from Al Qaeda and other extremist groups. Under Republicans, the response would have been to say "BRING IT ON!" or to move from orange to red on the terrorism threat level-ometer. Now, Obama and his team have certainly put out warnings -- but this response tells you much about how you really deal with these terrorist groups: words and actions designed to actually decrease the broad-based resentment that infects much of the Muslim world. This NEVER would have occurred to Bush or any on his team!
Rooting for Khamenei in Iran (Geneive Abdo) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"It was part of a test of wills between the Ahmadinejad loyalists, especially those in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the ruling clerical establishment over ideology, religion, the survivability of the Islamic Republic, and Iran's influence in Arab states now in transition. Khamenei appeared to believe that the cocky, alarmist Ahmadinejad, who in recent months had been boldly advancing an Iran with minimal clerical influence run by the IRGC and inspired by Iranian nationalism, not Iranian revolutionary Islamism, had to be slapped down."
Working In Shadows: Best U.S. Policy Toward Iran? (Mike Shuster) from NPR's Morning Edition
Last in a three-part series: "I think there's a perception that shunning Iran, ignoring Iran, is not an option," Sadjadpour says. "Bombing Iran or military engagement with Iran would exacerbate a lot of these challenges. And so the option we're left with is this kind of more creative in-between option of covert war and sabotage and economic coercion."
Living Dead: Why is Syria Going Up in Flames? (Theo Padnos) from the New Republic
"Those six words—“the people want to topple the regime” (in Arabic: al shab ureed askat al nizam)—have a rhythm like a soccer chant. But their real power is in their shamelessness. Arabic is a language of beautiful circumlocution. Young people are supposed to show respect toward those of higher status by repeating their elaborate courtesies. “The people want to topple the regime” is a stab in the heart of all of that."
Breathless in Egypt (Mark LeVine) from Al Jazeera English
"Everyone is so busy running from meeting to meeting, interview to interview, that they have "almost no time to breathe", as one activist put it. The breathlessness felt by so many activists is ultimately one of the most positive aspects of the change that has enveloped Egypt since February 11. "I used to have a nice life, but now I'm working 20 hours every day," one of the founders of the April 6 movement explained - with a mix of pride and exasperation."
In some ways a corollary to the excellent, against-the-MSM-narrative item I posted the other day from the Nation.
Exit Bin Laden (David Remnick) from the New Yorker
"It is hard to recall Obama’s announcement without also recalling the bizarre political context of the days immediately preceding it…"
Sons of the Revolution: Can a Ragtag Civilian Army Defeat a Dictator? (Jon Lee Anderson) from the New Yorker
"When I asked Osama how he had learned English, he said, “I’m from Martinsville, Virginia.” He was Libyan, but his wife, Suzi, was half American. A onetime Libyan Arab Airlines engineer, Osama had, with Suzi, raised four children in Benghazi."
An interesting long-form examination of the on-the-ground feel to the Libyan uprising!
Killings and Rumors Unsettle a Libyan City from the New York Times
"The dead men, Nasser al-Sirmany and Hussein Ghaith, had both worked as interrogators for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s internal security services, known for their brutality against domestic dissidents. The killings, still unsolved, appeared to be rooted in revenge, the families said, and have raised the specter of a death squad stalking former Qaddafi officials in Benghazi, the opposition stronghold."
To be expected. Dictators often surround themselves with sadistic thugs. Occasionally, they end up in the International Criminal Court in the Hague. More often, they end up in some wheat field or back alley gutter with two bullets in the head.
More Than a Résumé (Timothy Egan) from the New York Times
"Turns out, having a community organizer in the White House Situation Room was not a bad thing. Perhaps better than a senator who was afraid to offend an ally. And surely better than a governor who couldn’t even finish her one job with actual responsibilities. Among other things, the most critical 40 minutes of the Obama presidency prove a point backed by history: judgment and temperament are far more important than a résumé."
Obama Becomes 'Moxie President' (Roger Simon) from Politico
"Democrats are weak, and Republicans are strong. Democrats are the Mommy Party, and Republicans are the Daddy Party. Republican presidents will protect us because they are muscular on national defense. Democratic presidents put our lives at risk because all they care about is peace at any price. Or at least that’s what Republicans have told us in election after election. But even if it were ever true, it won’t be true in 2012."
Obama’s El Paso Coup on Immigration (Lee Hockstader) from the Washington Post
"In reiterating his vision for immigration reform today — a vision essentially identical to his predecessor’s — President Obama spoke truth to power, the power in this case being congressional Republicans. The president’s speech in El Paso isn’t likely to make any difference to Republicans, who can and will continue to block any serious overhaul of immigration policy, which is to say anything that solves the problem of 11 million undocumented immigrants. But it may make plenty of difference to Hispanics, the nation’s biggest and fastest-growing minority, in reminding them who’s got their backs."
Republican Rift Widens on Medicare from The Hill
"A deep rift is opening wider and wider in the Republican Party over controversial proposals to cut Medicare. Senate Republicans have decided to avoid jeopardizing their chances of capturing the upper chamber in next year’s elections and will not echo the House GOP’s call for a major overhaul of the popular health entitlement for seniors."
Boehner’s Unreality Check on the Deficit (Ruth Marcus) from the Washington Post
"The incoherent, impervious-to-facts economic philosophy undergirding his remarks on the debt ceiling."
The GOP of Tatooine (Eugene Robinson) from the Washington Post
"With the nation transfixed by the daring raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the first GOP presidential debate transpired last week with relatively little notice. For Republicans, that’s the good news. The bad news is that for those who did pay attention, the debate brought to mind — and I’m just trying to be honest here, folks — the famous bar scene from “Star Wars.”"
It's easy at this stage to have a few laughs at the GOPs presidential agonies -- but I'm increasingly coming to the view that the party WILL come up with a ticket -- and that it will be a serious one.
2016: the Real Republican Race (Paul Harris) of the Guardian [of the UK]
"The GOP field for a runner against Obama in 2012 is seriously lacklustre. But that's because the real talent is sitting this one out"
This has been my view for some time.
Tea Party Puts the Screws to House Republicans Over Debt Ceiling from the Atlantic
"With TV ads, petitions and grassroots lobbying, tea party organizers are gearing up to send an absolutist message to Capitol Hill: Don't raise the debt ceiling under any circumstances. Tea party activists have already clashed publicly with some of the 87 GOP freshmen they helped elect last year, and they're warning that Republicans who don't keep their fiscal promises will pay a political price."
Muskets in Hand, Tea Party Blasts House Republicans (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"Ryan, chairman of the House budget committee, proposed budget cuts so severe his plan has been described as a suicide note. Boehner, the House speaker, rushed the budget to passage before Republicans grasped the potential fallout from their vote to replace Medicare. Yet even this was not enough for the tea party."
GOP Litmus Test: Sharia Opposition from Politico
"As potential GOP candidates jockey to distinguish themselves heading into primary season, there seems to be at least one issue on which they widely agree: Sharia law is a continuing threat to the United States."
Huckabee Advisor: Obama is a Soviet Spy (Tim Murphy) from Mother Jones Magazine
"...as the former Arkansas governor mulls another White House run, the incendiary remarks and outright paranoia of one of his close advisers serve as a reminder that Huckabee's greatest asset—his relationship with the religious right—may also be one of his greatest vulnerabilities."
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/mike-huckabee-janet-porter-soviet-spy
South Carolina: Trial by fire for GOP Presidential Lineup from the McClatchy News Service
""We don't want to hear about how they can win." That feistiness defines the Republican mood in this state, traditionally the first Southern presidential test. As a result, South Carolina is poised to become not only a test of how conservatives judge GOP candidates, but also how much the party's hard right will influence the GOP presidential nomination."
The Trump Campaign is Dead (Alex Pareene) from Salon
"Donald Trump's fake presidential campaign is finished. Not officially (or ... unofficially, or however you classify the de facto end of a fake campaign), but in the only venue that matters when you're still not even close to an actual caucus or primary: the press."
Wisconsin District Election May Give Clues to Recalls (Sean Trende) from RealClearPolitics
"I had previously been skeptical that Democrats would be able to take over the state Senate this summer. I'm still skeptical, though less so than before. Two things have improved prospects slightly for the Democrats."
HISTORY OF SEX NUGGET!!
Paris for Perverts: The "Erotic Archaeology" of the Belle Époque (Tony Perrottet) from Slate
"A short stroll from the glittering Right Bank boulevards took me to Rue St. Denis, a street that has been synonymous with prostitution in Paris since the Middle Ages and still has its share of streetwalkers lounging alongside African street vendors. Rue Blondel was even less reputable, a narrow alley where mature ladies of the night and muscular transvestites hover in the doorways, sporting regulation leopard-skin tights and plunging bustiers."
OUTER SPACE NUGGET!!
NASA Boat Would Sail on Saturn's Moon Sea from Discovery News
"NASA is looking at sending a probe to explore the methane oceans of Titan."
Sailing on a sea of methane -- wow. Hard to get one's brain around that.
LOCAL ENVIRONMENT NUGGET!!
Report: Shale Gas Drilling 'Contaminates Drinking Water' from the BBC
"Shale gas drilling operations increase the risk of nearby drinking water becoming contaminated with methane, a study has suggested."
REALLY!? I'm shocked!
WORLD WAR I BOOK NUGGET!!
Howling Down Lord Lansdowne: A Review of Adam Hochschild's To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918 (Margaret Macmillan) from the National Interest
"WE ARE nearly at the one hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of WWI, and American journalist Adam Hochschild’s new book, To End All Wars,is a harbinger of what will undoubtedly be a major retrospective. His aim, he says, is to look at the people caught up in the conflict, particularly in Britain, at those who supported it and at those who opposed it. What were they loyal to? Family, friends, nation, ideals, principles? He has assembled a rich and varied cast of characters..."
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