Mecca at night during the Haj. From National Geographic.
British, French Helicopters Strike Gadhafi Troops from the Associated Press
"British Apache and French attack helicopters struck targets for the first time in NATO's campaign in Libya, hitting Moammar Gadhafi's troops early Saturday near a key coastal oil city, the alliance said."
Rebel Fighters Make Gains in Western Libya from Al Jazeera English
"Opposition fighters make major advance towards capital, after claiming series of victories against Gaddafi forces."
Talking to the Taliban: The Only Route to Lasting Peace from Newsweek
"Talking to its enemies is not something that has ever come easily to America, a country that believes in good and evil, black and white, with few shades of gray. Nevertheless, that’s the way most wars end. And as President Obama has at last acknowledged, it’s the way the 10-year war in Afghanistan must and should end."
Libyan Limbo: Six Reasons Why it's Been So Tough to Get Qaddafi to Quit from Foreign Policy Magazine
"As the war in Libya drags on, the United States faces a familiar predicament: Why, despite possessing overwhelming military superiority over any foe, does it have such a hard time using the threat of force to push much weaker dictators around?"
Inside Iran’s Fight for Supremacy (Robert Dreyfuss) from The Diplomat
"Claims of witchcraft and sorcery, firings and reinstatements – who will win the battle of wills between the Supreme Leader and President Ahmadinejad?"
Hamas Fumes as Egypt Cuts Rafah Crossings to 400 a Day (Khaled Abu Toameh) from the Jerusalem Post [of Israel in English]
"Decision to limit passengers in terminal came as surprise, is unreasonable, Hamas border police official says; Islamists wonder if Abbas behind limitation."
Interesting. Back to normal at the Gaza-Egypt border. Everyone was predicting this great flowering of relations between the new Egyptian gov't and Hamas. How long did it last? 72 hours? Clearly, Egyptian authorities seem in no hurry to become Hamas's "new best friend."
What Is Hugo Chávez Up To? (Joshua Kucera) from the Wilson Quarterly
"Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez has set alarms ringing with his efforts to create a global anti-American coalition."
In Mongolia, a Different Smell Of Jasmine (B. Raman) from Outlook India
"As it happened in Tibet, the Chinese calculation that the economic development of the province and prosperity would make the Mongolians reconcile themselves to the loss of their nomadic way of life have proved wrong."
As part of our occasional primers on defense spending/defense policy, this one is REALLY worth checking out:
Relax: China’s First Aircraft Carrier is a Piece of Junk (David Axe) from Wired Magazine
"There are good reasons for the Pentagon’s calm. For starters, Shi Lang, pictured above, could be strictly a training carrier, meant to pave the way for bigger, more capable carriers years or decades in the future. But even if she is meant for combat, there’s probably little reason to fear Shi Lang. A close study of the 990-foot-long vessel — plus the warships and airplanes she’ll sail with — reveals a modestly-sized carrier lacking many of the elements that make U.S. flattops so powerful."
James Fallows of the Atlantic has interesting comments on this piece HERE.
China’s Glorious New Past (Ian Johnson) from the New York Review of Books
"Over the past few decades, Chinese cities have seen their historic centers erased by a generic vision of modernization: broad boulevards and highways, office towers and luxury flats. In Datong, that vision had its day in the 1990s and 2000s. Now, this old-fashioned coal-mining city is on the cutting edge of a new urban development strategy: recreating an imagined, glorious Chinese past."
When Big Ideas Die (Michael Hirsh) from the National Journal
"In Europe, the Arab world, and, yes, even the United States, major historical eras may be coming to an end."
GOP’s Debt Fight Strategy Backfires (Steve Bell) at FrumForum
"More than any other event of the past four months of talk on the debt extension, last night’s quotes revealed the true state of affairs. Three things seem obvious."
TWO sad domestic policy commentaries on our time:
1. What is a College Education Really Worth? (Naomi Schaefer Riley) from the Washington Post
"Colleges and universities have allowed their value to slip by letting students call this an undergraduate education. There is no compelling understanding among students of why they are there."
2. The Return of Back-Alley Abortions (Michelle Goldberg) from the Daily Beast
"In states across the country, women are being arrested for the crime of ending their own pregnancies—though they have a constitutional right to do so in a doctor’s office. Michelle Goldberg on a worrisome new trend."
The Painful Price of "Compassionate Conservatism" (Steve Kornacki) from Salon
"Why is the GOP base so insistent on forcing its elected officials to take positions that could endanger Republican control of the House? ... in '92. In other words, it was ideological betrayal and the presence of a nuisance candidate that cost them the White House, nothing else. No introspection needed here. The trajectory of Clinton's first two years in office only bolstered this sentiment."
Will Jewish Voters Abandon Obama in 2012? (Alan I. Abramowitz) from the University of Virginia Center for Politics
"... regardless of whether the president was breaking new ground in his speech, how realistic is the belief that a substantial number of Jewish voters would abandon their traditional loyalty to the Democratic Party out of concern over Obama’s support for the state of Israel? Based on an analysis of Jewish public opinion and voting behavior over the past two decades, the answer to this question appears to be that such a scenario is not very realistic for at least three reasons."
Wisconsin Dems to Announce That They Will Try to Recall Scott Walker (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"There’s a long way to go, and the goal seems like a very tough one to reach, but Wisconsin Democrats are set to go for it: They will announce at their annual convention later today that they intend to launch an effort to recall the ultimate target — Scott Walker himself."
Romney Means Business: With a Slow Economy, Can Mitt Romney's Pitch Work? (John Dickerson) from Slate
"...presumably one of the strengths Romney's campaign is hoping to sell to voters is his clear-eyed, realistic decision-making. The problem is that politicians can't say aloud what businessmen acknowledge in private. Certain kinds of jobs are going to disappear. Hard choices are going to be required. Economic hardship, even if short-term, is going to result. ... There's rarely a political upside to saying bracing truths from the campaign trail ... And the political incentive to traffic in optimistic platitudes, if not outright misdirection, does not diminish once you are elected. The question then becomes not whether Mitt Romney can transfer the lessons of the business world into the public arena, but whether any politician can."
Indeed, it is my understanding that much of Romney's success as a businessman came from buying up companies, tearing them up, inducing huge layoffs, and "making them profitable." I'm skeptical that voters will be in any mood for economic solutions that include this kind of treatment.
Palin Meets The Debt Ceiling (Gulp) (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Beast
"One reason I don't believe today's Republican party should retain the word conservative is its relationship to institutions. Conservatives respect the institutions of government, even if they try to limit its power. ... I do not believe it should be used as a piece of blackmail at the expense of the American and the global economy. In fact, this may be the riskiest un-conservative posture the GOP has yet advanced."
A concise, on-the-money direct hit on what isn't working about the current GOP.
WEINERGATE NUGGET!!
Despite himself, Jon Stewart is having a field day with Weiner's weiner! See the first three segments of Thursday's show.
HOLOCAUST HISTORY NUGGET!!
Hitler’s First ‘Official’ Plan to Murder Millions of Jews Bought by Holocaust Organisation from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"The first known document in which Adolf Hitler wrote about the 'irrevocable removal' of Jews has been bought by a Holocaust museum in Los Angeles. The 1919 diatribe charts his plans for their extermination a full 21 years before the massacres began in Russia and in death camps in occupied Poland."
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