News Nuggets 758

Balloons flying over Cappadocia in Turkey.  From National Geographic.

As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around Globe from the New York Times
"Their complaints range from corruption to lack of affordable housing and joblessness, common grievances the world over. But from South Asia to the heartland of Europe and now even to Wall Street, these protesters share something else: wariness, even contempt, toward traditional politicians and the democratic political process they preside over. They are taking to the streets, in part, because they have little faith in the ballot box."
A disturbing -- and sad -- development.  

Libya; The Losers (Max Rodenbeck) from the New York Review of Books
"The contrast between the sallow, whispering prisoners and their ebullient captors could scarcely be more striking. Behind the desk in Tuhami Khaled’s former office, with a trim black beard and a pistol holstered over desert combat fatigues, sits thirty-six-year-old Khaled Garabulli. The fellow revolutionaries who saunter nonchalantly in and out, sporting motley bandanas, shades, and firearms, treat him with jovial deference."

China’s Dictator Complex (Minxin Pei) from The Diplomat
"Chinese policymakers are often assumed to be the archetypal practitioners of realpolitik. But their coddling of dictators is counter-productive."

How Obama Excelled and Bill Clinton Disappointed During the Palestinian Statehood Showdown (Yossi Klein Halevi) from the New Republic
"This is also a time of inversion of expectations: Barrack Obama, Israelis’ least favorite president, emerges as the defender of truth, while Bill Clinton, whom Israelis adored, joins the distorters. Here is what the week, and some of its main players, looked like from Jerusalem:"
Now -- I will have to say I don't fully buy what this commentator is selling.  It reeks of the "Israel as victim" meme.

College Graduation Rates Are Stagnant Even as Enrollment Rises, a Study Finds from the New York Times
"The numbers are stark: In Texas, for example, of every 100 students who enrolled in a public college, 79 started at a community college, and only 2 of them earned a two-year degree on time; even after four years, only 7 of them graduated. Of the 21 of those 100 who enrolled at a four-year college, 5 graduated on time; after eight years, only 13 had earned a degree."

For David Plouffe, a Top Obama Adviser, a New Strategy and Old Doubts from the Washington Post
"While Plouffe appears to be pushing Obama toward a more partisan approach, doubts linger over whether he has sufficiently gotten over the last election to win the next one."

Hard Bargain (Hendrik Hertzberg) from the New Yorker
"Memo to Thomas Friedman: Compromise is not an option. Obama’s real choice is between a Grand Surrender and a Grand Fight…"

The American 'Allergy' to Global Warming: Why? (Charles Hanley) from the Associated Press
"... other powerful evidence poured in over those decades, showing the "greenhouse effect" is real and is happening. And yet resistance to the idea among many in the U.S. appears to have hardened. What's going on? "The desire to disbelieve deepens as the scale of the threat grows," concludes economist-ethicist Clive Hamilton."

Why No GOP Candidate Can Soothe The Angry Elephant (Benjy Sarlin) from Talking Points Memo
"After all, isn’t there a candidate out there — somewhere, anywhere — who is simultaneously electable, consistently conservative, and an easy sell to the Tea Party and establishment alike? Nope."

Another aspect of this phenomenon:
The GOP’s Messiah Complex (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"Christie’s powerful Tuesday night speech will inspire even more conservatives to view him as their savior. Too bad he’s bound to break their hearts, argues Michael Tomasky."

Defiant Team Perry's Plan: Hit Harder from Politico
"Rick Perry’s widely panned debate performances? Just a hiccup. Any major changes in debate prep? None planned. His unexpected and deflating Florida straw poll loss last weekend? Not a big deal. Even as some of his supporters grow anxious, the Texas governor’s top aides insist they have no plans for real or even symbolic changes to their campaign. The only pivot they’ll make, they say, is to become more aggressive with Mitt Romney."
WOW!  This could get really interesting.

Five Things Conservative Voters Would Hate About Chris Christie from New York Magazine
"Conservatives know the New Jersey governor is a straight-talker who slashes budgets and takes on the public unions and yells at people on YouTube. Which is all great, obviously. But on some issues, Republican primary voters would be in for a rude awakening."

Chris Christie Has Plenty of Reasons to Say No from the National Journal
"Latecomers to the presidential party have a history of flaming out."

Christie Our Savior (Dave Weigel) from Slate
"Why this week's Republican messiah is no better than last week's."

What is it About Herman Cain That's Got GOP So Gaga? from the McClatchy News Service
"... he appeals to many rank-and-file Republicans with a deep voice and direct message that's based on his record as a successful businessman, a can-do delivery that doesn't knock other Republicans and a proposal for a flat tax that touches deep in the Republican DNA of loathing for the Internal Revenue Service."

THIRD REICH BOOK NUGGET [of a sort]!
The First In-depth Look at a Nazi 'God of Death' from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"As the chair of the Wannsee Conference and head of the Reich Main Security Office, Reinhard Heydrich was the personification of the cruelest aspects of Nazi Germany. But the first scholarly biography of him finds that a combination of shame, love and luck -- rather than purely inherent evil -- led him to pursue a path of Nazi terror."