Hot air ballooning over Bagan, Myanmar. From National Geographic.
Libyan Rebels Breakout Toward Tripoli from the Associated Press
"Libyan rebels Monday broke out toward Tripoli from the opposition-held port of Misrata 140 miles to the east, cracking a government siege as fighters across the country mounted a resurgence in their four-month-old revolt against Moammar Gadhafi."
Soldiers in Syria Defect from the Global Post
"Syrian troops defy orders to kill unarmed protesters during latest offensive in Jisr al-Shughour."
The Balance of Power is Shifting in Syria from the Economist [of London]
"The tide may slowly be turning against President Bashar Assad."
Syrian Infighting Suggests Assad's Grip on Power is Slipping (Simon Tisdall) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Army may be calling the shots as Syria slides towards civil war or an intervention by Turkey"
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Forms Coalition with Liberal Party from the Washington Post
"“We want a parliament that represents the entire nation, with all its political tendencies and forces,” he said. The coalition of the two parties is the start of what Erian said the parties hope will be a far-reaching alliance with other groups and independent candidates."
This is POTENTIALLY a very important development. Up until now, it looked like the Islamic Brotherhood was hitching its wagon to the military authorities that are running the interim gov't in Egypt. This development suggests that the parliament elected in September MIGHT represent a broad coalition of religious, liberal and independent groups -- rather than a conservative-religious-military coalition. We'll see.
Iran Without Nukes (Roger Cohen) from the New York Times
"As Hamid Dabashi of Columbia University wrote in July, 2009: “Tehran, I believe, is ground zero of a civil rights movement that will leave no Muslim or Arab country, or even Israel, untouched.” He added, “The moving pictures of Iranians flooding colorfully into the streets have forever altered the visual vocabulary of the global perception of ‘the Middle East.”’ Seldom were there more prescient words."
Is It 1989 in the Arab World — or Is It 1918? (Morton M. Kondracke) from Roll Call
" spent most of May playing tourist in Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Moscow and St. Petersburg, seeing sights missed on visits as a journalist. But there was no escaping this lesson: It has taken the Europeans centuries to arrive at stable democracy. The Russians are nowhere near it yet — quite the opposite. So, what about the Arabs?"
The Brinksmanship in the South China Sea (Steve LeVine) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Over the weekend, Hanoi urged its former enemy -- the United States -- to help pull the row back from the flashpoint, reports the Financial Times' Ben Bland. In this case, the U.S. will oblige -- to a degree."
The High Price of the New Beijing (Ian Johnson) from the New York Review of Books
"The old buildings had never been beautiful—over the years, many had acquired garish additions and all were in bad repair—but they had an authenticity about them that was unmistakable. As I walked, I couldn’t find one of them. In their place was something akin to a movie lot."
This long-form article captures much more than this quote indicates.
U.S. Congressional Delegation Sets Off Political IED in Iraq from McClatchy Newspapers
"The U.S. Embassy sought Saturday to distance itself from a highly contentious "fact-finding mission" to Baghdad led by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., that led Iraq to demand the entire congressional delegation leave the country."
I know Rohrbacher was asked to leave -- but it now seems his *entire delegation* was asked to hit the bricks. Wow! You have to ask yourself what was really going on here. This reeks of political theater designed for a *domestic US audience.* I dismiss out of hand the idea that Rohrbacher cared a wit about the Iranian suspects. His added dig at Maliki concerning paying back US taxpayers for the cost of the war strikes me as something put in to MAKE SURE that Maliki hit the roof. But where's the pay-off for the lawmakers? Stay tuned.
Controversial McKinsey Health Care Study Creates Major Dissent At Firm from Talking Points Memo
"The consulting firm McKinsey & Company was thrust into the political spotlight Tuesday after it published a study -- at odds with the expert consensus -- finding that, once fully implemented, the health care reform law will drive huge numbers of employers to drop or dramatically restructure their companies' health care benefits. ... the article the firm published was not intended to give the subject matter the same authoritative treatment as more thorough studies on the same topic -- particularly those conducted by numerous think tanks, and the Congressional Budget Office, which came to the opposite conclusion. And that's created a clamor within the firm at high levels to set the record straight."
This kind of manipulative BS drives me nuts! The initial headliner will get page 1 -- the poor quality of the study will come 10 days later and be pg B-22.
Hillary Clinton Takes Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, Under Her Wing from the Australian
"Somewhere between Abu Dhabi and Lusaka, the US's most powerful diplomat sat down with her closest aide last week and talked of straying husbands, predatory women and internet sex."
Republicans Against the War: The Ranks Grow (Robert Dreyfuss) from the Nation
"it’s interesting that Huntsman is pushing President Obama for a faster pullout from Afghanistan: “When you look at Afghanistan, can we hang out until 2014 and beyond? You can, if you're willing to pay another quarter of a trillion dollars to do so.". … it’s really important that this is happening inside the GOP."
GOP Forsakes Middle to Aid Rich (Juan Williams) from The Hill
"We are beginning to get a clear sense of what the Republican Party’s platform will be heading in 2012 — endless tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. Everyone else is on his own. No more Social Security. No more Medicare. No more retirement. What has happened to the once Grand Old Party?"
How Republican Governors Could Help Obama in 2012 (Norman Ornstein) from the Washington Post
"...there is another indicator of Obama’s prospects, one that may boost his chances in the key swing states that will determine the 2012 electoral majority: the deep and growing unpopularity of the Republican governors and state legislatures."
Bachmann Calls For Huge Corporate Tax Cut Alongside Tax Increase For The Working Poor from Think Progress
""A system in which 47% of Americans don’t pay any tax is ruinous for a democracy, she says, “because there is no tie to the government benefits that people demand. I think everyone should have to pay something.”"
GERMAN HISTORY BOOK NUGGET!!
Exorcising Hitler: The Occupation and Denazification of Germany by Frederick Taylor from the Guardian [of the UK]
"A vivid and compelling account of Germany's postwar years debunks many myths about the country's road to redemption."
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