Bin Laden Document Trove Reveals Strain on al-Qaeda from the Washington Post
"Over the past year, the al-Qaeda leader fielded e-mails from followers lamenting the toll being taken by CIA drone “explosions” as well as the network’s financial plight, according to U.S. officials who have completed an exhaustive review of the trove of bin Laden files collected at his compound after the May 2 U.S. raid that killed him."
What Does A 'Post-American World' Look Like? (AUDIO) (Fareed Zakaria) from NPR's Fresh Air program
"Zakaria, the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS and an editor at large for Time magazine, charts the fall of America's dominance and the simultaneous rise of the rest of the world in his book The Post-American World: Release 2.0, which shows how the collapse of communism and the Soviet empire — as well as the rise of global markets — has leveled the playing field for many other countries around the world."
The Libya Campaign from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"Four months into the NATO air campaign, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi is still in power, protected by loyalists and mercenaries. Americans are weary of war, and patience in Europe is also wearing thin. But NATO must not give up."
What’s on the Libyan Rebels’ Shopping List? (Robert Zeliger) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Say you're a poorly trained rebel army battling the ruthless military and hired thugs of a dictator who has said he'd fight to the last drop of blood, you'd probably need some help. So, what would be on your wish list of supplies from the international community?"
Iranian Rhetoric and Reality (Paul Pillar) from the National Interest
"Why Ahmadinejad's bark is worse than his bite."
Despite Pakistani Denials, U.S. Keeps Drone Operations Inside Country (Yochi J. Dreazen) from the National Journal
"“It’s business as usual,” a U.S. official familiar with the matter said. “There have been no operational changes there.” The comments contradicted earlier remarks from Pakistani Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, who told The Financial Times in an interview published on Friday that Islamabad had forced the CIA to stop using Shamsi for drone strikes and to withdraw its personnel from the facility."
Why Hezbollah Had a Really Bad Week (David Schenker) from the New Republic
"... if 2006 was a divine victory, this week’s Special Tribunal on Lebanon (STL) indictments of four Hezbollah officials and affiliates in connection to the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, may prove a divine defeat."
What Does France Think About DSK’s Release? (Robert Zeliger) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Some will certainly embrace Strauss-Kahn as a martyr ... on the cross of the U.S. justice system, but some in France seem less willing to give him a hero's welcome. The charges in New York led to other allegations against the former IMF leader that made him out to be -- at the very least -- a cad."
Unemployment: No Extended Benefits For People Laid Off From Now On from the Huffington Post
After this week, workers laid off through no fault of their own will not be eligible for any of the generous extended unemployment benefits layoff victims have received from the federal government since 2008. States typically provide the first 26 weeks of unemployment insurance and Congress has provided extensions during every recession since the 1950s. But the current extensions, which give the unemployed an unprecedented 73 additional weeks of aid in some states, are set to expire at the beginning of January."
This is catastrophic news for the unemployed. Right now the AVERAGE length of a person being unemployed (among those actually still looking in the job market) is 40 weeks -- and that is just the average! Doubtless, the GOP will hold any increase for ransom in order to safeguard (at the very least) bigger tax breaks on jets and tax cuts for hedge fund managers.
A Small Note on the Stimulus Debate (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"This is actually a fairly familiar thing from my years as a pundit: the surest way to get branded as not Serious is to figure things out too soon. To be considered credible on politics you have to have considered Bush a great leader, and not realized until Katrina that he was a disaster; to be considered credible on national security you have to have supported the Iraq War, and not realized until 2005 that it was a terrible mistake; to be credible on economics you have to have regarded Greenspan as a great mind, and not become disillusioned until 2007 or maybe 2008."
A President, Not A Governor -- When It Comes to Gay Marriage (Andrew Sullivan) from the Atlantic
"The job of loyal opposition is to push and corral and complain and inveigh and pound the bloggy table a few times to get a point across. But look: it worked. Here's what they have done, and it ain't nothing."
Hendrik Hertzberg of the New Yorker has a similar assessment HERE.
The New Antiwar Republicans (Jill Lawrence) from the Daily Beast
"Three presidential candidates want a faster exit from Afghanistan, and so does much of the public. Jill Lawrence on why their 2012 rhetoric will boost the pressure on Obama."
Herman Cain's Top Iowa Staff Resigns from Politico
"A few days after two senior aides in New England, the other shoe drops on Herman Cain in Iowa:"
It has been fascinating to watch the almost weekly political implosions that have been occurring in the second and third tier GOP presidential fields. As with Newt, the Donald, Mitch Daniels, the quarterly purges at Queen Sarah's entourage, etc. What makes these intense meltdowns potentially interesting is that several of these campaigns (Gingrich, Daniels, Palin) were staffed up by pretty SERIOUS GOP campaign talent and experience. Historically, such folks DON'T hitch their wagons to plummeting stars -- and yet they did just that. I'm wondering how broadly and deeply this insider miscalculation is within the remaining campaigns that are still standing. My guess: pretty pervasive. Just as an aside, given the bad judgment many of these folks have already shown, I find this item to be a problem indicator if you are a cheer-leader for the nascent Rick Perry campaign.
No End in Sight as Minnesotans Grapple With State Shutdown from the New York Times
"Right up to the midnight deadline on Thursday, Minnesotans, who have been known to boast of their professional, efficient government, had held out hope that the state’s divided leadership could reach a deal on how to solve a looming budget deficit. But in the end, the fundamentally different fiscal approaches of the Republicans and the Democrats here did not change, and Minnesota began its broadest shutdown of services in state history with no end in sight."
LOCAL HEALTH CARE NUGGET!!
Harsh Medicine : Few Winners in UPMC/Highmark Battle (Chris Potter) from the Pittsburgh City Paper
"UPMC, as you've surely heard, has announced that in 2012 it will not renew its contract with Highmark, which insures more than 3 million Western Pennsylvanians. The reason: Highmark is seeking to merge with the Western Pennsylvania Allegheny Health System (WPAHS), UPMC's rival hospital network. UPMC says it can't be expected to do business with a direct competitor, although UPMC operates a health plan that's been encroaching on Highmark's turf for years."
POLITICAL FILM REVIEW NUGGET!!
Sarah Palin Sneak Preview: The Agony of The Undefeated (Pete Vonder Haar) from the Houston Press
"t's also difficult to reconcile her alleged toughness with the aura of victimhood that hangs over the section devoted to the 2008 campaign. ... What's more puzzling, from someone seeking the GOP's nomination, is how often the wagging finger of blame points to Republican leadership like Senator Mitch McConnell, Speaker John Boehner and even former President George W. Bush..."
I KNEW IT!! WHO CALLED IT?! It has been the subtext for everything Palin has been doing this year -- she has no great animus against Obama or the Dems. Her targets are the GOP establishment!
FAMOUS WORLD WAR II BOOK NUGGET!!
How Great Escape Veteran Described Famous Break-Out in Letter Found in First-Edition Book from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"A first hand account of the World War II jailbreak that became known as The Great Escape has come to light in a book donated to Oxfam."
MAN-MADE TREES NUGGET!!
Supertrees in Singapore: Giant Concrete and Metal 'Plants' Create a Manmade Woodland from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
See picture below.
"...the vast woodland in Singapore is actually entirely manmade, stretching up to 50 metres into the sky. The imposing trees have colossal concrete trunks weighing hundreds of tonnes. While thousands of thick wire rods have been used to create artificial branches and canopies."
Wow! These are really ... spacey -- like something from Logan's Run or a slightly dystopic 1970s Robert Heinlein novel!
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