News Nuggets 497

Some dubious over-development going on in Dubai in the UAE!  From National Geographic.

The Online Threat: Should We be Worried About a Cyber War? (Seymour Hersh) from the New Yorker
"In the next few months, President Obama, who has publicly pledged that his Administration will protect openness and privacy on the Internet, will have to make choices that will have enormous consequences for the future of an ever-growing maze of new communication techniques: Will America’s networks be entrusted to civilians or to the military? Will cyber security be treated as a kind of war?"

The Kremlin Resets Russian Foreign Policy (Tina Burrett) from the Japan Times [in English]
"2010 has seen a change in Russia's relations with the West. The Obama administration came to office promising a "reset" in relations with Moscow, and in the past year, this new mood of cooperation has begun to deliver tangible results. Moscow and Washington are working together to reduce their nuclear arsenals, as well as to combat the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other states. And it is not just with the United States that Russia has seen a breakthrough in relations."

Resistance is Futile (Michael Green) from the National Interest
"Until Hillary Clinton’s “smart power” and “return to Asia” strategies, Asia’s future was on the way to becoming Asia’s past: a Sinic system that welcomed China’s rise. That was in November. But in a People’s Daily editorial this week, the theme was how China’s peaceful development and pursuit of harmonious society could create “win-win” relations with the United States in Asia. What happened?"

Holbrooke's Towering Ambition and Achievement from Politico
"Here is a word not always associated with Richard Holbrooke: subtle. But subtlety of sorts was one of the secrets of a man who counted as one of the most accomplished, most flamboyant, most impassioned and — after his death at age 69 Monday evening — most memorable American diplomats of recent decades, whose career was a living timeline that stretched from wars in Vietnam to the Balkans to Afghanistan."
HERE's another look at Holbrooke's influence from the New York Times.

China the Bully (Richard Cohen) from RealClearPolitics
"One of the more frightening aspects of China's persecution of Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned dissident and this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, is that the government never even bothered to frame him. That's the standard method used by totalitarian regimes to justify the unjustifiable, but China feels no need to placate the West or even caricature its system of justice, so it swiftly put his wife under house arrest, vilified the Norwegian Nobel Committee and censored any criticism of its own actions -- a display of ferocious petulance reminiscent of Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany or, in fairy tales, the thwarted Rumpelstiltskin stomping his foot into the ground."

Patronage as a US Force Multiplier from The Hindu [of India in English]
"From scholarships and training programmes for officers to promises of Green Cards and jobs for family members, America is doing whatever it takes to build a lobby for itself in India."

We've Only Got America A (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"Former President José María Figueres of Costa Rica has a saying I like: “There is no Planet B” — so we’d better make Plan A work to preserve a stable environment. I feel the same way about America these days. There is no America B, so we’d better make this one work a lot better than we’ve been doing, and not only for our sake."

Amateur Hour: VA Judge Makes Elementary Error In Health Care Ruling from TalkingPointsMemo
"Legal experts are attacking Judge Henry Hudson's decision on the merits, citing an elementary logical flaw at the heart of his opinion. And that has conservative scholars -- even ones sympathetic to the idea that the mandate is unconstitutional -- prepared to see Hudson's decision thrown out."

Why the Health Care Ruling Doesn't Worry Me (Jonathan Chait) from the New Republic
"If you strike the individual mandate but leave the rest, you have a system that could easily be patched up with a better mechanism to avoid free-riding. The real loser here is the health insurance lobby. "
If Hudson's argument ultimately carries the day, the big winners may not be conservatives but supporters of a single-payer system.  Boy, that sure would be ironic -- not that I want it to go there.  A bird in hand -- as they say.

Health-Reform Advocates Have Little to Fear from Judge's Ruling (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post
"The danger was that, in striking down the individual mandate, the court would also strike down the rest of the bill. That's exactly what the plaintiff had asked Hudson to do. But the judge pointedly refused, noting: "The Court will sever only Section 1501 [the individual mandate] and directly-dependent provisions which make specific reference to 1501." That last clause has made a lot of pro-reform legal analysts very happy."

Tax Bill: Now It's the Tea Party's Turn (Howard Fineman) from the Huffington Post
"Some key conservative activists and consultants claim that the bill could fail in the House because of growing grassroots opposition among Tea Party types - the mirror opposite of last week's Democratic concern about liberals torpedoing the same legislation."

Tag-team Smackdown (Clarence Page) from the Chicago Tribune
"His afternoon surprise with the former president gave visual support to a message conveyed by Obama's pending tax-cut compromise with Republican congressional leaders: This president is triangulating, trying to regain independent swing voters in much the same way Clinton did after his own midterm setback in 1994.  And who better to deliver that message than Clinton, the great triangulator himself?"

Obama Plans 2011 Staff Makeover from Politico
"At a time when Obama was getting roundly beat up by many of his own supporters for giving in too soon on his signature issue of limiting tax cuts only to those who make less than $250,000 per year, along came Elvis to re-enter the building, bite his lower lip, crank himself up to full empathy and help Obama reach out to the center without losing his liberal Democratic base."
Good news I think. 

It's Scary Out There in Reporting Land (David Cay Johnston) from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University
"When I was getting my last haircut, the noon news on the television—positioned to be impossible to avoid watching—began with a grisly murder. The well-educated man in the chair next to me started ranting about how crime is out of control.  But it isn’t. I told Frank, a regular, that crime isn’t running wild and his chance of being burglarized today is less than one quarter what it was in 1980. The shop turned so quiet you could have heard a hair fall to the floor. … “So why is there so much crime on the news every day?” Diane, who was cutting Frank’s hair, asked.  “Because it’s cheap,” I replied. “And with crime news you only have to get the cops’ side of the story. There is no ethical duty to ask the arrested for their side of the story.”"


POLITICAL BOOKS NUGGET!!
Deeper Looks at the Crisis of ’08 and the Oval Office: A Review of Capital Offense: How Washington’s Wise Men Turned America’s Future Over to Wall Street by Michael Hirsh, and Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House by Richard Wolffe from the New York Times

ENVIRONMENTAL NUGGET!!
Three Views of the Vertical Farm from the Economist [of the UK]
"GROWING crops in vertical farms in the heart of cities is said to be a greener way to produce food. The idea is that skyscrapers filled with floor upon floor of orchards and fields, producing crops all year round, will sprout in cities across the world. As well as creating more farmable land out of thin air, this would slash the transport costs and carbon-dioxide emissions associated with moving food over long distances. But the concept is still unproven."

GLOBALIZATION GRAPHICS NUGGET!!
Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes - The Joy of Stats from BBC Four via Utube.
David Brooks discusses this video clip HERE.

OUTER SPACE NUGGET!!
Spacecraft Reaches Edge of Solar System from Discovery News
"NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has reached the outside edge of the solar system.  Scientists think it will enter interstellar space in about four years."

News Nuggets 496

Some pretty hairy moments with a plane and a storm near Billings, Montana some weeks ago.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

Richard Holbrooke Dies: Veteran U.S. Diplomat Brokered Dayton Peace Accords (Rajiv Chandrasekaran) from the Washington Post
"Longtime U.S. diplomat Richard C. Holbrooke, whose relentless prodding and deft maneuvering yielded the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the war in Bosnia - a success he hoped to repeat as President Obama's chief envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan - died Monday in Washington of complications from surgery to repair a torn aorta. He was 69."
Some good reflections on the his life and career come from Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times and Richard Cohen of the Washington Post.

Stockholm Bombing: Why was Sweden Targeted? from The Week
"The Scandinavian country is rattled by its first suicide bombing. What have the Swedes done to provoke Islamic terrorists?"

Moscow Clashes Put Authorities in a Quandary from the Washington Post
"Street melees here over the past few days, sparked by the killing of a soccer fan and fueled by nationalists' hatred of immigrants from the Caucasus, have caught the police and other authorities unprepared for an upsurge of rage that appears to reflect a larger sense of anger in Russian society."
 
America Should Give Assange a Medal (Gideon Rachman) from the Financial Times [of London]
"…many Americans want to see Julian Assange locked up. Instead, they should give the man a medal. Of course, it is embarrassing and awkward to have all these secret diplomatic cables published. Mr Assange certainly seems to be no fan of the US. Nonetheless, he and WikiLeaks have done America a massive favour, by inadvertently debunking decades-old conspiracy theories about its foreign policy."

Report: Grand Jury Meeting in Assange Case (Justin Elliott) from Salon
"This report from Julian Assange's attorney, if accurate, marks a major escalation in the Obama administration's war on WikiLeaks:"

Several interesting, on-point commentaries on the health care court decision yesterday:
District Court Rules Against Individual Mandate (Jed Lewison) from Daily Kos
"Essentially, the Court ruled as follows:
    •    That the imposition of an individual mandate to purchase private insurance went beyond Congress' historic Commerce Clause power, which is not extended by the existence of the Necessary and Proper Clause
    •    That the mandate could not be reframed as a "tax," as it was not designed to raise revenue but rather to penalize behavior.
    •    That the individual mandate was severable from the remainder of the law, and therefore the entirety of HCR won't be struck down.
    •    Moreover, that there was no compelling reason to block other enforcement of HCR in the interim, as the case makes its way through the courts."

Americans Care About Creating Jobs, Not Cutting Spending (Jed Lewison) from Daily Kos
Interesting polling responses to what's most important now and how to deal with the deficit.

Is the Hudson Ruling Good News for Health Reform? (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post
"District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson, a George W. Bush appointee, has, as expected, ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional. So why are health reformers so unexpectedly pleased? There are two reasons, but first, let's put this into context."

The GOP's Self-Destructive Jihad Against Healthcare Reform (Andrew Leonard) from Salon
"A judge rules part of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. Republicans should be careful what they wish for"

What Happens When the Jobless Give Up? (Nina Easton) from Fortune Magazine
"What happens to a nation's collective psyche when millions of once-productive people remain out of work for months or even years? What happens when unemployed husbands resign themselves to relying on a wife's income, when unemployed wives feel trapped at home, when twenty- and thirtysomethings calculate that they'd rather live off their parents than face a cut-throat job market, when middle-aged men and women stop searching for jobs after realizing they're hopelessly lost in a haze of rapid-fire technological change?"

Pundits: Tax Cut Deal a Political Victory for Obama (Max Fisher) from the Atlantic
"Here's what people are saying--despite the first bit of liberal outrage, many think Obama may come out on top."

Tax Fight on the Right?  Not all Republicans Support the Tax Deal with Obama (Robert Costa) from National Review
"Clinton’s comments hint at growing discontent on the right over the deal, which was brokered by Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell. While a broad swath of the GOP has backed the compromise, conservative lawmakers appear to be proceeding uneasily"

What if Rank and File Dems Strongly Support Tax Cut Deal? (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"…two new polls out today do seem to confirm that rank and file Democratic voters strongly support the compromise, putting them at odds with Congressional Dems and left-leaning critics in the media."

Inside the GOP 'Civil War': Four Fierce Conflicts from The Week
"It didn't take long for Republican unity to break down after the party's historic victory in the midterms."

Why the GOP Clings to Illusions (Daniel Larson) from The Week
"Many Republicans believe things about Barack Obama that are obviously false. Here's why."

INTER-GALACTIC NUGGET!!
Planet Bling: Red-hot world discovered that could be covered with mountains made from diamonds from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
Astronomers have discovered that a huge, searing-hot planet orbiting another star could be covered in mountains made of diamonds. The planet, a gas giant named WASP-12b, contains an unusual amount of carbon making it the first 'carbon-rich' world ever observed.

FUTURISTIC NUGGET!!
Holidays of the Future: A Glimpse at How Tourists Might Travel in 2030 from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Like cruise ships in the sky, the 'zero-impact' floating holiday resorts would have bars and restaurants on board and could glean energy from the surrounding natural elements to power them from resort to resort. A special airship garden would even provide fresh fruit for the rooms."

AFRICAN AMERICAN NUGGET!!
Black Segregation in US Drops to Lowest in a Century from the Associated Press via the Huffington Post
"America's neighborhoods became more integrated last year than during any time in at least a century as a rising black middle class moved into fast-growing white areas in the South and West."

HOLIDAY NUGGET!!
Seven Simple Practices to Really Enjoy the Holidays (James Baraz) from the Huffington Post
"To really enjoy the holidays, it's helpful to understand that true well-being is directly related to how contracted or open your mind feels. Contraction means stress. Openness allows you and others to feel your care and love. For true well-being, try these simple practices that will keep you connected to healthy mind states and help you really enjoy the holidays:"

News Nuggets 495

The plan for the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  See the Saudi Arabia Nugget below.  From the New York Times.

The African Miracle: How the World's Charity Case Became its Best Investment Opportunity from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Africa has outgrown the gloom and doom. Far from the misery-stricken place so often portrayed, Africa today is alive with rising urban centers, a growing consumer class, and sizzling business deals. It's a land of opportunity."
Who knew?

A Surprising Success in Cancun from the Economist [of the UK]
"The Cancún  conference has beaten expectations by producing new, if modest, agreements"

Reality Check (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"The failed attempt by the U.S. to bribe Israel with a $3 billion security assistance package, diplomatic cover and advanced F-35 fighter aircraft … has been enormously clarifying. It demonstrates just how disconnected from reality both the Israeli and the Palestinian leaderships have become.  Oil is to Saudi Arabia what unconditional American aid and affection are to Israel — and what unconditional Arab and European aid and affection are to the Palestinians: a hallucinogenic drug that enables them each to think they can defy the laws of history, geography and demography."

The Shadow War (Christopher Dickey) from Newsweek
"Someone is killing Iran’s nuclear scientists. But a computer worm may be the scarier threat."

Tirades Against Nobel Aim at Audiences in China from the New York Times
"A lone Chinese blogger posted the image of a chair on the country’s most popular microblogging site. Within minutes, it had been deleted by a censor’s unseen hand. That small gesture of solidarity with Mr. Liu, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence for “subversion of state power,” is largely emblematic of China’s sweeping effort to quash any expression of sympathy for a man whose plight has captivated the world."

The Empty Chair from the Economist [of the UK]
"They would have expected that their boycott of the award ceremony in Oslo on December 10th would invite comparisons in the West between China and the Soviet Union, which responded with similar fury to the award of the prize to Andrei Sakharov in 1975. It is unlikely they fully realised that their behaviour would be equated even more prominently with that of Nazi Germany."

Social Media Will Help Fuel Change in the Middle East (Arianna Huffington) from the Daily Star [of Lebanon in English]
"Al-Qaeda and its sympathizers were early adopters of the web and have made destructive use of its unparalleled ability to connect people. But a new, countervailing trend is emerging: more and more of the Middle East is getting wired. As a result, we can now change the conversation to the impact of technology and social media on peace, not just on terror."

In Tax Benefits to the Middle, Political Lift for Obama from the New York Times
"a hefty portion of the $858 billion tax package will benefit middle- and upper-middle-income Americans — precisely the demographic that felt neglected the last two years…"

Strike-out or Home Run for Obama? (Rami Khouri) from the Daily Star [of Lebanon in English]
"By dropping its insistence on an Israeli freeze in settlement construction as a prerequisite for moving ahead, confirms several important things.  It proves, first, that the United States can be decisive, persistent, realistic, patient, pragmatic and humble – all admirable and important qualities in a mediator. The problem now, however, is that the US also has proven again that the most important attribute of a negotiating process, success, is also one that it has never mastered in recent years."
It seems to me that Daily Star of Lebanon is making a play for being the New York Times of the Middle East.  Today's two postings from that source suggest that they are striving for a global, not just a local, readership.

What Progressives Don't Understand About Obama (Ishmael Reed) from the New York Times
"If President Obama behaved that way, he’d be dismissed as an angry black militant with a deep hatred of white people. His grade would go from a B- to a D.  What the progressives forget is that black intellectuals have been called “paranoid,” “bitter,” “rowdy,” “angry,” “bullies,” and accused of tirades and diatribes for more than 100 years."
I SO agree with this author's argument about those who criticize Obama's cool, calm demeanor.  I've never seen the politician who could combine being "black" and being "angry" in a way that somehow improved their standing with skeptical white voters.

Get Over It, Liberals: Principles Matter, but Not as Much as Progress (Robert Shrum) from The Week
"The progressive resistance to the Obama deal on tax cuts is both unreasoning and unreasonable. Unreasoning because the opponents, whose anger is congealing into adamantine ideology inside the Democratic Party, are pulling out a cascade of objections but offering up no practical alternative. Unreasonable because what the president achieved — which in reality should be called an economic recovery package — is a fundamentally progressive deal."

Independents Day (Charlie Cook) from the National Journal
"The tax deal is just the kind of compromise that independents wish Washington would do more often." 

Centrist, Conservative Dems Up in Arms Over Liberals' Tax Deal Backlash from The Hill
"Although the resolution solidifying the revolt was approved by House Democrats Thursday "nearly unanimously," in the words of sponsor Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), a handful of centrist members are already up in arms."

Julian Assange's Lawyers 'Preparing for Possible US Charges' from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Legal team for WikiLeaks founder says Washington may be planning to invoke Espionage Act to indict their client."

Rep. King introduces anti-WikiLeaks Bill from The Hill
"Incoming House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Pete King (R-N.Y.) introduced a bill Thursday aimed at stopping WikiLeaks by making it illegal to publish the names of military or intelligence community informants. The bill is a companion to the Senate version unveiled last week."
Quite predictable.  Here's what's also predictable: If some version of this law passes, look for someone like Assange to challenge it right away.  Then look for it to ultimately go the Supreme Court.  Then don't hold your breath waiting for a re-affirmation of the Pentagon Papers case.  Never mind the Wikileaks stuff -- I can't imagine the Roberts Court affirming that precedent.

Despite Anger from Left, Dems Brush off 2012 Obama Challenge from The Hill
"Despite Democratic fury with President Obama, senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that he does not think Obama will face a serious primary challenge from the left.  "I really don't," Axelrod said."
It would be the height of folly for any Dem to seriously challenge him in '12.

Tea'd Off (Christopher Hitchens) from Vanity Fair
"Forfeiting a both-houses Republican victory, rational conservatives ignored or excused the most hateful kind of populist claptrap (e.g., the fetid weirdness of Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Project). The poison they’ve helped disseminate will still be in the American bloodstream when the country needs it least."

HOLLYWOOD BOOK NUGGET!!
European Exotic: A Review of Biographies of Hedy Lamarr from the New York Times
"Stephen Michael Shearer and Ruth Barton argue that Hedy Lamarr was more interesting than her lackluster place in film history would suggest."

CHINA BOOK NUGGET!!
Staying Power: Mao and the Maoists from the New Yorker
"This persistence of Mao in official discourse and popular imagination may seem an instance of ideological pathology—the same kind that makes some Russian nationalists get misty-eyed about Stalin. … But then a non-ideological view of Mao has rarely been available in the West, even as he has gone from being a largely benign revolutionary and Third Worldist icon to, more recently, sadistic monster. This is largely due to China’s ever shifting place in the Western imagination. Three new books … attest to the difficulty of definitively fixing Mao’s image, a project that amounts to writing a history of China’s present."

SAUDI ARABIA NUGGET!!
Laying Out Cities, Saudis See Window to Modernity from the New York Times
"…an enormous arched gate capped by three domes rises out of the sand like the set for a 1920s silent film fantasy. It is, instead, a fantasy of contemporary urban planning, the site of what one day will be King Abdullah Economic City, a 65-square-mile development at the edge of the Red Sea."

LIBRARY NUGGET!!
Seven Amazing Libraries (PHOTOS) from the Huffington Post
"We've gathered together images of amazing libraries before and now we're back again. From Cornell University to a castle in France, here is a collection of 7 more outrageously beautiful libraries."
Check out the earlier post as well!

News Nuggets 494

A prairie dog at the Salzburg Zoo.  From the Huffington Post

US and Allies Plan More Sanctions Against Iran (David Sanger) from the New York Times
"Three days after the first nuclear talks with Iran in more than a year adjourned with no progress, President Obama’s chief nuclear adviser said on Friday that the United States and its allies planned a new round of sanctions against the country in coming weeks, part of an effort to test “how high Iran’s pain threshold is” and force the country into suspending its production of nuclear fuel."

On Myanmar, U.S. and China Worked Closely, Cables Show from the New York Times
"China seems to share American frustrations with the junta, secret cables show, and Americans diplomats are critical of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader."

McCain: 'We are very close' on START from Politico
"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) lent a nudge of support to the stalled START treaty Friday, saying he hopes the Senate will consider it next week before the end of the lame-duck congressional session.
“We are very close,” he said in a speech Friday at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, urging leaders to take a broader look at the U.S.-Russia relationship and questioning attempts by President Barack Obama and his two predecessors to “reset” it."

An Obama Foreign Policy Win in South Sudan (Michael Gerson) from the Washington Post
"The Obama administration, elsewhere challenged by Iranian nuclear ambitions and North Korean brinkmanship, is on the verge of a major diplomatic achievement in Sudan. Barring technical failures that delay the vote, or unexpected violence, South Sudan will approve an independence referendum on Jan. 9. Six months later, a new flag will rise, a new anthem will be played. It is a rare, risky, deeply American enterprise: midwifing the birth of a new nation."
I hope Gerson is correct -- my fear is that it is just neocon happy talk. I think this is going to get much messier when it comes down to it.

Cables Reveal Resentment at Chinese Influence in Africa from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"China has strengthened its economic and political ties in Africa in recent years in an effort to open up new markets and secure much-needed raw materials. The leaked US diplomatic cables reveal that Africans are growing increasingly resentful of China's aims and methods."

China and the Nobel Committee: Explain in Vain from the Economist [of the UK]
"The Norwegians will be hard-pressed to match the atmosphere of farce that was achieved by a hastily organised ceremony in Beijing yesterday. Ostensibly, the Chinese ceremony was designed to honour the recipient of the newly established “Confucius peace prize”. The winner was Lien Chan, a rather dowdy senior Taiwanese politician…Indeed, a statement from Mr Lien’s office said that he had never heard of such an award and had no plans to accept it."
OMG!! What a farce!!  What's with this totalitarian regime that it can't get its propaganda shit together?!  Half-baked doesn't even begin to capture...

Dutch Panel Found 2,000 Church Abuse Claims from the New York Times
"The Roman Catholic Church, battered by sexual abuse scandals from the United States to Belgium, is facing a new set of damaging allegations in the Netherlands. Figures released Thursday by an investigative commission showed that almost 2,000 people had made complaints of sexual or physical abuse against the church, in a country with only four million Catholics."

Obama's Very Good Week (David Brooks) from the New York Times
"Cluster liberals (like cluster conservatives) view politics as a battle between implacable opponents. As a result, they believe victory is achieved through maximum unity. Psychologically, they tend to value loyalty and solidarity. They tend to angle toward situations in which philosophical lines are clearly drawn and partisan might can be bluntly applied."

The Swindle of the Year (Charles Krauthammer) from the Washington Post
"Barack Obama won the great tax-cut showdown of 2010 - and House Democrats don't have a clue that he did."
WOW! I think this is TWICE this year Charles has made an appearance among the nuggets.  May miracles never cease!  And, boy, does he sound off!

Obama Finally Stands His Ground (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of President Obama.  I'm not particularly proud of the tax-cut deal he and the Republicans negotiated. But I'm proud that he has finally stood firm against the likes of Peter DeFazio."

The 'Real Jew' Debate (Roger Cohen) from the New York Times
"The view that American Jews supportive of Israel but critical of its policies are not “real Jews” is, however, widespread. Israel-right-or-wrong continues to be the core approach of major U.S. Jewish organizations, from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations."

Why Japan Keeps Whaling (Anthony Fensom) from the Diplomat
"Every year, Japanese whaling provokes international outrage, resulting in huge damage to the country’s image. So why does it keep doing it?"

Memo to the Left: Hands Off Obama (Colbert King) from the Washington Post
"Warning: If the Democratic left does to Obama in 2012 what it did to incumbent President Carter in 1980 via Ted Kennedy's damaging Democratic presidential primary challenge - or what the Republican right did to incumbent President George H.W. Bush in 1992 with Pat Buchanan's entry into the GOP primary - the Democratic party as a whole will find itself paying a steep price for years to come. That's a promise, not a threat."

States Get Their Way and Lose Rail Money from the Wall Street Journal
"Gov.-elect Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Gov.-elect John Kasich in Ohio campaigned on pledges to stop passenger-rail projects in their states. On Thursday, they got their wish.  U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood rescinded nearly $1.2 billion that had been allocated to Wisconsin and Ohio for new train lines. Wisconsin, which received $810 million for a passenger train between Madison and Milwaukee, will have to forfeit the entire amount. Ohio must give up $385 million of the $400 million allocated for a train connecting Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland."
Talk about DUMB!  PLEASE don't invest in the future of my state!  Make sure other states get that money and that they will be much more competitive than my rust belt backwater!!  It would be one thing if by denying the money that taxpayers were saved from footing the bill -- but the money is simply being re-directed to other states, giving those new recipients more juice for THEIR rail programs!!  IN-credible!!  But -- boy, these two GOP governors just gave their dem challengers in 2014 some serious ammunition!!  The saddest part of all: with dopes like this in charge, it is almost certain that WI and OH will still be deeply mired in recession in four years.

COLD WAR NUGGET!!
Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine from Wired Magazine
"The technical name was Perimeter, but some called it Mertvaya Ruka, or Dead Hand. It was built 25 years ago and remained a closely guarded secret."

WATERGATE NUGGET!!
In Tapes, Nixon Rails About Jews and Blacks from the New York Times
"While previous recordings have detailed Nixon’s animosity toward Jews, including those who served in his administration like Henry A. Kissinger, his national security adviser, these tapes suggest an added layer of complexity to Nixon’s feeling. He and his aides seem to make a distinction between Israeli Jews, whom Nixon admired, and American Jews."

News Nuggets 493

Sumatran Rhinoceroses from southeast Asia.  An extremely rare animal among an entire family (rhinoceroses) of rare animals.  I had never seen anything like these guys before.  They reminded me of images of some of the long-extinct large mammals from mesozoic America.  From National Geographic.

In China, Confidence Clouded by Apprehension (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"The paradox of a rising China - a country that wants to play a bigger role in global affairs but suffers from a combination of lethargy and stage fright - was on display here at a conference with Chinese officials."

Liu Xiaobo: Nobel Peace Prize Widens China Conflict (Gordon Chang) from the Daily Beast
"There was an empty chair at today's Nobel ceremony because of China's crackdown on dissidents. Gordon G. Chang on why the event can't hide the rifts in China's supposedly "harmonious" society. "

Chief Obstacle to Iran's Nuclear Effort: Its Own Bad Technology from the Christian Science Monitor
"Continuing technical challenges mean Iran is still probably 3 to 5 years away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. Diplomats should exploit that leverage."
WHO CALLED IT!?!

Wikileaks Cables Expose an Ideological Israel-Iran Conflict (Aluf Benn) from Al Haaretz [of Israel in English]
"The leaked cables reveal that the Israeli-Iranian conflict is about more than the nuclear issue. It is a sweeping ideological conflict. And history teaches that such conflicts end only when one side has been knocked out."

Why the Middle East Needs Back-channel Diplomacy (Mike Herzog) from the Telegraph [of the UK]
"Without the use of a back-channel, the Israelis and Palestinian will not be able to properly engage, writes Mike Herzog."
I SO agree with the general point here.  If/when peace comes to the Israelis and Palestinians, it will leave the peoples on both sides DEEPLY unhappy.  The concessions each side will have to make will NOT be popular.

Another Nuclear Pact With Russia Close to Approval (Peter Baker) from the New York Times
"While President Obama focuses his energy on pressing the Senate to sign off on a new arms control treaty with Russia, another nuclear pact with Moscow is securing final approval after more than four years with virtually no notice but potentially significant impact."

Stuxnet Worm Still Out of Control at Iran's Nuclear Sites, Experts Say from FOX News
"Iran's nuclear program is still in chaos despite its leaders' adamant claim that they have contained the computer worm that attacked their facilities, cybersecurity experts in the United States and Europe say."

North America: New Energy Kingdom (Neil Reynolds) from the Globe and Mail [of Toronto]
"The American Petroleum Institute reports that the United States produced more crude oil in October than it has ever produced in a single month, “peak oil” or not."

Obama's Silent Majority (Steve Kornacki) from Salon
"Liberal commentators and activists and interest group leaders may be seething over Obama, but their rage has not trickled down to the Democratic voters (and, in particular, the Democratic voters who identify themselves as liberals), even though they've been venting their grief for the better part of two years."

Tax Cut Bill: WH, Lawmakers Reach New Compromise from the Associated Press via the Huffington Post
"The White House and key lawmakers cleared the way Thursday night for swift Senate action to avert a Jan. 1 spike in income taxes for nearly all Americans, agreeing to extend breaks for ethanol and other forms of alternative energy as part of the deal."

The Realpolitik Behind the Tax Deal (Robert Creamer) from the Huffington Post
"Behind any big historic political bargain there are usually big, bottom-line self interests. The case of the tax deal negotiated by the Democratic White House and Republican Leadership is no exception."

Selective Outrage: The President’s Liberal Critics Need a Reality Check (Walter Fields) from NorthStar News
"We do understand the tremendous burden that this President carries because of the mess he inherited and the weight of being the nation’s first Black President. It is not the perspective of many white liberals who are now crying foul over Mr. Obama’s tax-cut deal with the Republicans. There seems to be no pleasing them."

Why Obama is Breaking Up with Democrats (David Swerdlick) from The Root
"Obama's not a progressive, Democrats are all talk and 2012 is right around the corner. If you need proof that President Barack Obama got what he absolutely had to out of the tax-cut deal he made with congressional Republicans, listen to the sound of silence coming out of Sarah Palin's Twitter feed."

CMU Study: Sexual Orientation in the Military a Subject Long Researched
"“One of the interesting things we discovered is that the military has investigated the issue of sexual orientation in its ranks for close to 100 years,” said Timothy Haggerty, now director of Carnegie Mellon's Humanities Scholars Program."

Poll: Americans Want Action on the Deficit, but Oppose Most Proposals to Cut It (Bruce Drake) from Politics Daily
"an overwhelming majority of Americans believe it is a major problem and almost none of the most widely mentioned proposals to cut the red ink by reducing spending or raising taxes get majority support from the public."
No surprise. 

Obama and the Left, 2012 Version (Michael Tomasky) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Mercifully (and take note, those of you who think the Kos site is full of loonies), "I don't want a primary challenger to Obama" was winning when I cast my vote. This whole talk is deeply silly."

Every Man His Own Historian (Stanley Kutler) from Truthdig.org
"The right’s twist of history to please its backers and fuel its agenda is a vigorous enterprise. Serious history, serious scholarship and serious discussion of facts and ideas are dismissed with tunnel vision. In Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass,” Humpty Dumpty scornfully said “when I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”"

Most Scientists in the Country are Democrats. That's a Problem (Daniel Sarewitz) from Slate
"[Democrats] have convinced themselves that they are the keepers of the Enlightenment spirit, and that those who disagree with them on issues like climate change are fundamentally irrational. Meanwhile, many Republicans have come to believe that mainstream science is corrupted by ideology and amounts to no more than politics by another name. Attracted to fringe scientists like the small and vocal group of climate skeptics, Republicans appear to be alienated from a mainstream scientific community that by and large doesn't share their political beliefs. ... How would a more politically diverse scientific community improve this situation?"

I just had to go off on this one!  This guy so misses the point.  Most scientists are Democrats because they have been driven out of the GOP!  My uncle is a world renowned nuclear physicist.  In areas such as foreign policy and economics, he is more aligned with Dick Cheney and the Club for Growth than with any liberal I could name.  He had voted Republican most of his adult life UNTIL the 1990s.  With Bush 43 he stopped voting with the GOP at all.  As was widely reported, under Bush many top gov't scientists (many of them colleagues of my uncle) had political "minders" who escorted them around to make sure they wouldn't say anything that countered the Bush "line" on scientific matters.  It was like something out of the Soviet Union!  HOW can you expect scientists (a highly networked and collaborative discipline) to look passed that?!  

         The author of this item also misses a larger point: for 40+ years, since the shellacking Goldwater got in 1964, the conservative wing of the GOP has systematically worked to undercut most of the "knowledge industries" that routinely presented evidence that ran counter to the conservative narrative.  The main-stream media was first on their list.  But in the 1970s and 1980s they moved on to the social sciences - everything from sociology to psychology and most other ss disciplines besides have been (in the eyes of ideological conservatives) completely discredited.  
        In the 1990s, conservatives moved on to history, environmental studies, and any thing with "global" or "multicultural" in its title.  And, with the 21st century, they have moved on to economics.  The vast majority of economists turned away from Reagan's "trickle-down" policies years ago and have thoroughly de-bunked the "Laffer curve," the idea that the best economic policy is to simply keep cutting taxes.  GOP lawmakers and TV talkers have been in complete denial about this.  
        And, now they have their sites set on scientists.  Whether the issue is evolution, stem cell research, or global warming, it has been CENTRAL to the conservative agenda for lo these many decades to discredit any institutional information sources that counter the underlying narratives that guide decision-making on the right.  Instead, what you've gotten over the years is the building up of a right-wing media machine that can be counted on to spout a richly textured conservative counter-narrative, one that NEVER has to confront the peer-reviewed findings of actual scientists, real historians or world-class economists.  What you get instead is FOX News, Glenn Beck University, and museums and theme parks devoted to creationism.  Scientists have not converted to 21st century versions of LBJ.  It has been ideological conservatives who have driven these people away. 

2012-Pres.: Can Daniels Contend for the Presidency? (Mona Charen) from RealClearPolitics
"National bankruptcy, on the other hand, "is a mathematical certainty" if we don't change course ... and fast. "The America that we have known is profoundly threatened."  It's because the stakes are so high that Daniels has let himself be cajoled into considering a presidential run himself."/10/can_mitch_daniels_contend_for_the_presidency.html
As I have said here many times, Daniels is one of the few GOP potentials for 2012 who Obama needs to watch out for.  He comes off as much more authentic than most of the rest.  Here's a conservative's take on Daniels' candidacy.

OUTER SPACE NUGGET!!
Best Cosmic Mindblowers of 2010 from National Geographic News
"Wrap your brain around National Geographic News editors' picks of some of the odder astrophysics concepts introduced in 2010."

News Nuggets 492

A lionfish among glassfish in Egypt's Red Sea.  From National Geographic.

Gregg, GOP Ready to Get Behind START from the National Journal

"With a tax deal imminent, some Republicans say that it's time to get behind the New START pact."

The Truth About China's GDP (Caitlin Dickson) from the Atlantic

"Li Keqiang, a senior Chinese official and rumored front runner for the prime minister's chair, is quoted in the cable as having referred to the country's GDP numbers as "man-made" and "therefore unreliable." The Telegraph reports that "Chinese officials have repeatedly been found to have artificially inflated their local GDP figures in order to win face and hit their targets,""

HERE's the original story from the Telegraph of the UK.

This is quite an interesting story -- how much of the "China as coming economic giant" story is inflated rhetoric?  As Thomas Friedman has noted, the "electronic herd" has a way of paying countries back for just this kind of duplicity.  What else have they been lying about?

A Sound Trade Deal with South Korea from the Editorial Board of the New York Times

"There are compelling reasons why Congress should approve a free trade agreement with South Korea. Here are two: South Korea is the 12th largest economy in the world and it is a strategic ally of the United States in a very dangerous neighborhood."

Everything You Need to Know About the Bush Tax Cut Deal (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post

"...an actual, negotiated deal, in which the two parties sit in a room and give things up, and compromise on positions they'd taken in public, and walk out with a deal that accomplishes more than was strictly necessary? I didn't see that one coming.  The deal has something to annoy everyone -- but also something for everyone."

No Deficit of Courage (Jon Meacham) from the New York Times

"In the same way that Mr. Obama struck his deal to secure lower tax rates for the middle-class and win an extension of unemployment benefits, Mr. Bush gave on tax rates to get “pay as you go” rules — meaning that no further spending could be approved without compensating budget cuts or revenue increases. It was the beginning of the fiscal discipline that helped create the budget surpluses of the 1990s.  While Mr. Obama’s immediate concern is stimulus and Mr. Bush’s was deficit-reduction, both gave way on issues critical to the true believers within their parties."

The Tax-Cut Deal is Actually a Win for Democrats (Jonathan Bernstein) from the New Republic

"Oh, it’s clear that Barack Obama and the Democrats are making a trade they didn’t want, and in that sense are losing. But they’re winning something, too.  Actually, the best way to think of this is in the context of a post that Klein wrote (if I recall correctly) last spring, in which he noted that Republicans could have had whatever they wanted on health care in exchange for their votes."

Actually It's a Pretty Good Deal… (Steve Kornacki) from Salon

"The compromise, in other words, gives Obama a chance to take further action to boost the economy and bring unemployment down -- and the more he can do that, the better his chances (and his party's chances) will be in 2012."

A Second Stimulus (David Leonhardt) from the New York Times

"The apparent deal over the Bush tax cuts highlights why the Democrats probably had to accept the extension of all the Bush tax cuts. No politician is likely to use this word — at least no Democratic politician — but the deal amounts to a second stimulus bill."

Obama: President; McConnell: Sucker (Andrew Sullivan) from the Atlantic

"Notice something about all of this? They all now realize that Obama has been a little shrewder than they took him to be."

The Deal Breakers: Democrats Should Embrace Obama's Compromise from the Editorial Board of the Chicago Tribune

"It also seems to have escaped them that under the circumstances, the president did a better-than-expected job of advancing Democratic priorities in a climate that is anything but hospitable. If their own economic theories are correct, he also improved his party's chances of rebounding in 2012."

While the Trib editorial board is ideologically to the right, what it says matters given that I think that (as with the Dems) GOP lawmakers are going to raise their own stink about this deal.

The Anger of Barack Obama (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post

"Faced with increasing criticism from liberals over his decision to compromise with Republicans on a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts, Obama openly chastised the party's base -- warning them of being "sanctimonious" and reminding them that "this country was founded on compromise"."

Obama Tax Deal Should be Supported (Simon Rosenberg) from NDN

...my initial take is that he got more than he is being credited for, and the GOP was exposed as having a very weak economic hand which spells trouble for them in the consequential economic debates to come."

WikiLeaks and Assange Pretend There are No Consequences (John Kass) from the Chicago Tribune

"Though I'm a First Amendment absolutist, I wouldn't have published those stolen U.S. State Department cables. Still, he and others have the right to publish the news.  But Assange — or the newspapers that published the documents — don't have the right to pretend there are no real consequences."

British Court Denies Bail to Assange in Sex Inquiry from the Guardian [of the UK]

"In a hearing that lasted just under an hour, Mr. Assange said he would fight extradition. But despite the presence in court of several prominent people ready to vouch for him, he was called a flight risk and ordered to remain in custody until a further court session on Dec. 14. His British lawyer, Mark Stephens, told reporters Mr. Assange would appeal the denial of bail."

Legal Tangle Tightens Around Wikileaks, Julian Assange from the PBS Newshour

"The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is just one of the many problems he and his secrets-exposing website now face as the U.S. explores possible prosecution on espionage charges. Gwen Ifill talks to Jeffrey Smith, former CIA general counsel, and Abbe Lowell, who has defended clients on espionage charges."

Why Julian Assange Is No Daniel Ellsberg (Todd Gitlin) from the New Republic

"Ellsberg's release of the Pentagon Papers was a great democratic act that helped clarify for the American public how its leaders had misled it for years, to the immense detriment of the nation’s honor. By contrast, Wikileaks’s huge data dump, including the names of agents and recent diplomatic cables, is indiscriminate. Assange slashes and burns with impunity."

The Dark Side of the Web (Margaret Wente) from the Globe and Mail [of Toronto]

"Julian Assange has all the makings of a 21st-century folk hero. He has single-handedly humiliated a great power by exposing its dark secrets and hypocrisies…. There’s just one problem with this heroic picture. Julian Assange has made the world a far more dangerous place."

The Strange Justifications of Wikileaks' Julian Assange (Trish Durkin) from The Week

"No matter what he says, he is not about exposing the abuse of power. He is about thwarting the exercise of power ."

Don't Primary Obama, Change Congress (Joan Walsh) from Salon

"I think pondering a primary challenge to Obama is suicidal, and reflects a certain fecklessness on the left."

Five Reasons Sarah Palin Will Run (Matt Latimer) from the Daily Beast

"Her poll numbers are off, and some GOP bigwigs have come out against her. But Sarah Palin's fan base could care less. Matt Latimer on what her followers see in her."

CAREER NUGGET!!

Thirteen Great Careers for College Grads from the Huffington Post

"All of the jobs listed have above-average median annual pay rates, and all are expected to experience above-average growth between 2008 and 2018. Jobs that are expected to have few openings in the coming year were not included."

US News and World Report has their own Top-50 List HERE.

News Nugget 491

The continental trench as it looks off of Silfa, Iceland.  From National Geographic.

Let's Not Make a Deal (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"It’s all or nothing, they say: all the Bush tax cuts must be extended. What should Democrats do?  The answer is that they should just say no. If G.O.P. intransigence means that taxes rise at the end of this month, so be it."
Yes, Mr. Krugman -- and when was the last time you got some legislation through Congress?  Krugman's column so showcases for me the essence of the liberal critique against Obama right now -- liberals want a party leader who will go to the mat for their principles.  While understandable, what is missed in this equation is a simple fact often lost in the current hyper-partisan environment: someone has to govern!  The extension on jobless benefits is essential right now!  Given the unprecedented economic, military and other unprecedented crises the country faces right now, the demand to place governance over partisan or ideological street fights has never been greater!  In our system, this means compromising.  With justification, liberals are mad as hell about the outcomes of the mid-terms.  But this doesn't change the fundamental condition the US is in right now.  It seems clear to me that Obama has decided that he is going to give precedence to governing.  It also seems that right now he is routinely the only one in the room who is doing this.

Obama's Korea Gambit Might Just Pay Off (Gerald Seib) from the Wall Street Journal
"In early November, President Barack Obama ended a trip to South Korea without a much-anticipated free-trade deal—and with the prospects of a broader free-trade agenda sliding rapidly downhill.  Last week, a South Korean trade delegation came to Washington and agreed to the deal on terms the Koreans wouldn't even discuss, much less accept, in Seoul.  The rapid change wasn't just startling. It was one of the most important international economic developments in recent years."

Iran and the Bomb (Hendrik Hertzberg) from the New Yorker
"In the past decade, we have been drawn into two wars on Muslim soil. Neither has ended. We cannot afford a third…"

Not Dead Yet (Christopher Dickey) from Newsweek
"One of the great ironies of the latest WikiLeaks dump, in fact, is that the industrial quantities of pilfered State Department documents actually show American diplomats doing their jobs the way diplomats should, and doing them very well indeed."

Shell Shocked (Ron Moreau) from Newsweek
"U.S. troops aren’t the only ones in Afghanistan who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. It also afflicts Afghan civilians—and the Taliban, too."

Leaks Backfire by Exposing Hidden US Virtue (Al Hunt) from Bloomberg News Service
"WikiLeaks is one of those stories where the passions of the moment blind us to the more important lesson. … All miss the mark. … Still, rather than exposing ineptitude, the secret documents actually reflect well on U.S. policy and diplomacy."
I don't like the word "virtue" in this context -- but otherwise Hunt is on the mark here.

Early Struggles of Soldier Charged in Leak Case from New York Times
"…while that dispute rages on, with the Pentagon having recently demanded that WikiLeaks remove all secret documents from the Internet and hand over any undisclosed materials in its files, Private Manning is being held in solitary confinement at Quantico, Va., under suicide watch."
HERE's the original story announcing Pfc Manning's arrest back in June from Wired Magazine.

Read Cables and Red Faces from the Economist [of London]
"… experts also miss a larger point: they themselves are part of the elite inner-circle that WikiLeaks wants to break open so that Everyman can judge for himself. … But any gains will come at a high cost. In a world of WikiLeaks, diplomacy would no longer be possible. The secrecy that WikiLeaks despises is vital to all organisations, including government—and especially in the realm of international relations."

What Repeal of DADT Will Mean (Eve Conant) from Newsweek
"Critics worry that the policy change could affect unit cohesion and be a distraction at a time of war. So it’s worth asking: what would repeal really entail? A quick guide:"
This is a good inquiry -- if a bit premature.  I'm quite skeptical that supporters of repeal have the necessary clout right now to achieve it anytime soon.

Saudi Women's Veil Versus Modernity from Emirates 24-7 [of the UAE in English]
"Mufleh and Mohammed are among many Saudi men who have never seen the face of their wives as they insist on sticking to ancient tradition of keeping their face covered even in front of their relatives or husbands in defiance of ongoing changes brought about by the advent of oil and a massive foreign influx."
I am not one to leap to accusations of misogyny -- but this behavior strikes me as somewhere beyond misogyny to a culture-specific type of gender nihilism.  Whacked.  I don't know what else to say!

Sarah Palin versus Republican 'Blue Bloods' from the Christian Science Monitor
Is the establishment GOP ganging up on Sarah Palin? In the ongoing drama that is Palin’s political reality show, score this past week “Blue bloods 3, Palin zip.”

CIVIL WAR NUGGETS!!
Buchanan: Too Little, Too Late (Jamie Malanowski) from the New York Times
If you have an interest in Civil War history, the Opinionator column of the NY Times has had as a regular feature a really GOOD series of articles on the coming of the Civil War -- al as part of the 150th anniversary of the war!  This is the latest item -- but I urge you to check out the entire series.  They're only into the end of the Buchanan administration -- so there will be hundreds of columns to come!

WHALING NUGGET!!
Sea Shepherd Departs for Seventh Antarctic Whale Defense Campaign: Operation No Compromise from Sea Shepherd News
"After months of preparation, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has officially set sail for their 2010-11 Antarctic Whale Defense Campaign, Operation No Compromise. This year’s fleet is the strongest to date including veteran vessels the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker, with the addition of the newly-acquired trimaran Gojira, Japanese for Godzilla, with the necessary speed and power to outrun the whalers and put an end to their shameful activities.  Sea Shepherd will also deploy a more capable helicopter this year."

ANOTHER WHALING NUGGET!!
Has the Japanese Whaling Fleet Surrendered? from the Sea Shepherd News
"Could the whale wars be over? Things are looking very good in that direction! The whalers may be close to capitulation.  It is December 1st, at least on the Japanese and Australian side of the International Date Line, but the Japanese whaling fleet remains in port."

BOOK NUGGET!!
Book Review: 'Going Home to Glory' by David Eisenhower with Julie Nixon Eisenhower from the Los Angeles Times
"David Eisenhower's graceful memoir is both a warm personal recollection of his grandfather and a cogent summary of Dwight D. Eisenhower's place in the American political spectrum."

RUSSIAN HISTORY NUGGET!!
Rare Window Into Life of Tsarist Russia from the BBC
"A rare window into life in imperial Russia is due to open on Monday, when hundreds of letters, postcards, photographs and even menus from the court of Tsar Alexander III are put up for auction in Geneva."

News Nuggets 490

A giant wisteria tree in the Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi Prefecture in Japan.  From National Geographic.

Luger: Prospects Improve for OK of Arms Treaty from the Associated Press
"The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he's more optimistic now about ratification of a nuclear weapons treaty with Russia."

Covert War Against Iran's Nuclear Aims Takes Chilling Turn from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Sophisticated cyber-worms, motorcycling assassins: but who is behind the increasingly sinister campaign against the Iranian energy program?"

How to Fight and Win the Cyberwar (Mort Zuckerman) from the Wall Street Journal
"We should think of cyberattacks as guided missiles and respond similarly—intercept them and retaliate."
As usual, Mort Zuckerman brings forth the "neocon" take on an important topic.  I think his view reflects a dramatic shift that is taking place among policy makers and military-industrial-complex types about the future of the nature and shape of cyberwar.  Given the Stuxnet worm in Iran and what Wikileaks has been up to [just to name two instances among many], look for this conversation to get much more public.  Hopefully, it will go in more creative directions than Mort takes here.

Wikileaks' Wall Street Bombshell (Charlies Gasparino) from the Daily Beast
"With Assange's next release apparently targeting Bank of America, traders fear a subprime lending scandal will be exposed. Charlie Gasparino talks with someone who has read the leaked files."

From WikiLemons, Clinton Tries to Make Lemonade from the New York Times
"When American diplomats get together these days, there is lots of dark talk about the fallout from the sensational disclosure of secret diplomatic cables. Will angry foreign governments kick out ambassadors? Will spooked locals stop talking to their embassy contacts? Behind all the public hand-wringing, however, there is another, more muted reaction: pride."

Cables Depict Range of Obama Diplomacy from the New York Times
"…engagement can take many forms, from friendly to wary, naïve to cunning, and it was never quite clear how the term would translate from a campaign sound-bite to a practical approach to the world. Now we know, from the granular picture of engagement-in-action that emerges from that trove of 250,000 Wikileaks cables, many from the first 13 months of the Obama presidency. Mr. Obama’s style seems to be: Engage, yes, but wield a club as well — and try to counter the global doubts that he is willing to use it."

After the Leaks, the Shakeup (Philip Shenon) from the Daily Beast
"In the wake of the WikiLeaks cable disaster, Team Obama plans to reassign key U.S. embassy personnel—pulling those who were compromised and could be in danger."

WikiLeaks Cables Reveal How US Manipulated Climate Accord from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Embassy dispatches show America used spying, threats and promises of aid to get support for Copenhagen accord."
Imperialist strong-arming, lying, and heavy-handed manipulation -- for the cause of curbing global warming.  To me this story speaks to the complexity of trying to make broad generalizations about the US's role as an imperial superpower.

WikiLeaks Founder Threatens to Release Entire Cache of Unfiltered Files from the Globe and Mail [of Toronto]
"At the centre of a tightening web of death threats, sex-crime accusations and high-level demands for a treason trial, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange threatened to unleash a “thermonuclear device” of completely unexpurgated government files if he is forced to appear before authorities."
The arrogant SOB.  From the most casual contacts to long-term imbedded sources, they will all be compromised.  Who cares the thousands of lives who will be placed in danger or the non-US, non-diplomatic careers and lives that will be up-ended if he does this?  From the beginning this was all about him -- there was never any great "first amendment" principle being upheld or some new era of "openness" being advocated.  These releases were all an expression of his own personal pique with the US.  [See the Trudy Rubin piece below] Now he's going to lash out.  If he follows through. he's toast.  The first amendment (as articulated in the Pentagon Papers case) does not protect this kind of behavior.  Indeed, his styling of this threat [if you read the article] brings him further into a realm of illegality that few countries will tolerate.  Indeed, what is predictable now is a cyber version of the Patriot Act.  Just as an aside: if he does this I suspect this will put Pfc Bradley Manning, Assange's original source for the leaks, into a WHOLE NEW CATEGORY of legal danger.  Thanks Bradley for all your help!

Julian Assange, Information Anarchist (Gordon Crovitz) from the Wall Street Journal
"Whatever else WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has accomplished, he's ended the era of innocent optimism about the Web. As wiki innovator Larry Sanger put it in a message to WikiLeaks, "Speaking as Wikipedia's co-founder, I consider you enemies of the U.S.—not just the government, but the people."  The irony is that WikiLeaks' use of technology to post confidential U.S. government documents will certainly result in a less free flow of information. The outrage is that this is Mr. Assange's express intention."
While there are several points Crovitz makes that I don't agree with, his general point about less free flow of information I think is spot on.

Worldview: Disclosure Without a Cause (Trudy Rubin) from the Philadelphia Inquirer
"WikiLeaks' recent document dump was reckless and of limited value, and the group's founder has expressed dubious motives."

And more from a completely different front in the increasingly complex world of global cyberwar:
Vast Hacking by a China Fearful of the Web from the New York Times
"That cable from American diplomats was one of many made public by Wikileaks that portray China’s leadership as nearly obsessed with the threat posed by the Internet to their grip on power — and, the reverse, by the opportunities it offered them, through hacking, to obtain secrets stored in computers of its rivals, especially the United States."

What Don't Ask, Don't Tell Protects (Brendan Tapley) from the Daily Beast
"The military's outlawing of gayness has made it one of the last bunkers of safe male bonding. Brendan Tapley on what motivates Don't Ask, Don't Tell's supporters."
I'm not sure I buy the author's argument -- but it's an interesting psycho-historical speculation.

CA-Att Gen: 'Female Obama' Must First Tackle California (Nicole Allen) from the Atlantic
"Northern Californians have long been chattering about Kamala Harris, the Indian and African American San Francisco DA who tackled the city's prison industrial complex and recidivism rates with a vengeance. But now that she's won a protracted vote-count for state attorney general, Harris is drawing national attention. And Democratic star-spotters are liking what they see."

CAR NUGGET!!
The Best New Electric and Plug-In Cars from Newsweek
"Plug-in cars. Prius killers. Diesels that don’t stink. Automakers are in a race to earn their green stripes."

ANCIENT ROME NUGGET!!
Shoe Designer Wants to Restore Roman Colosseum but Not Do the Work from Italy Global Nation (IGN)
"The founder and chief executive of luxury shoe company Tod's said he is willing to spend 25 million euros to sponsor Italy's effort to restore the 2,000 year old Roman Colosseum. The catch is the Italian government must scrap a rule that restoration sponsors have to organise the work."
They're considering putting billboards up IN THE COLOSSEUM to help pay for the big-buck renovations!?  That's whacked!

BOOK NUGGET!!
100 Notable Books of 2010 from the New York Times
A wonderful collection of 2010 books!  Might give some folks some Christmas gift ideas!

MARS NUGGET!!
'Postcards from Mars': 15 Amazing Pictures of the Red Planet (PHOTOS) from the Huffington Post
"NASA's amazing Spirit and Opportunity rovers have survived (and generally thrived) on Mars for more than 25 times their expected lifetimes, returning spectacular images and other data that are helping scientists literally rewrite the textbooks about Martian history."
The pictures are amazing!