Category: Paleoblogs

Defense Secretary Sends Stern Message About Accountability WP, 3/3/07 DKo: Shouldn’t they investigate the reporters for divulging the Army’s methods and resources for protecting the wounded? Jail the Walter Read reporters! WP Article Edgewise Readers. I’m duplicating this to make Edgewise links show up in the WP pages for both of their stories. They display…

Army Secretary Ousted Second Firing Follows Walter Reed Revelations; Bush Vows a Probe, WP, 3/3/07 DKo: Shouldn’t they investigate the reporters for divulging the Army’s methods and resources for protecting the wounded? Jail the Walter Read reporters! WP Article

In light of stories like this one, I can’t resist reprising part of an Edgewise post from 11/9/06. Of course, it’s still just a start, and this week’s zig can be next week’s zag. First, the current story: The White House Gets Neighborly in the Middle East, WP, 2/28/07 “On Jan. 11,…Rice…explain[ed] why ‘those who…

[T]he neocons seem ready now to start acting unilaterally again [against Iran]….[A] grand bargain wouldn’t serve America’s purpose in the middle east…” DKo, 2/23/07 Well, there is “America’s purpose in the middle east,” and there are the neocons–increasingly two different animals. “America’s purpose,” (as defined by the ruling elites, and represented by the Iraq Study…

Diplomats Seek Way to ‘Reengage’ Iran, WP, 2/27/07 Really? They’re not “seeking” very hard. Try this: 1. START TALKS, without preconditions. 2. If you can’t make a deal, STOP TALKS. The WP article

I think an attack on Iran has to be pre-opposed, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. Sufficient in itself is the presence of American “hostage-troops” in Iraq. The vulnerable supply-lines from the south–and their personnel–would be ravaged by Iranians and Iraqi Shiites, including much of the Iraqi Army, cutting off the rest of…

U.S. holds out North Korea deal as model for Iran, Reuters …White House spokesman Tony Snow called the deal a “template…” But this is the precisely the template the US has refused! We talked with North Korea, both in the six-party talks and in bilateral meetings, without preconditions. We could start Iranian talks tomorrow morning,…

The specific wording of a widely reported statement by Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, following his recent meeting with Secretary Rice, might actually become significant at some point. “Olmert said any Palestinian government must accept the three conditions laid down by the ‘Quartet’ of Mideast mediators…” Previously, it was also Hamas itself that had to accept…

Pentagon sets rules for terrorism suspect trials WASHINGTON (Reuters), 1/18/07 – The Pentagon on Thursday gave broad discretion to judges to decide what evidence may be presented against suspected…Taliban members facing trial in the new military commissions court system. DKo: So, suspected terrorists and suspected Taliban members may be regarded interchangeably. And, indeed, that is…

To me, this was the most disgusting part of the FBI’s campaign against Dr. Martin Luther King. It is pretty well known by now that the FBI had bugged King’s hotel rooms, and had recorded explicit sexual episodes. They used these tapes against him for years, and even played them for selected journalists. I heard…

Anger Mounts Over Deployment of Kurdish Forces to Baghdad By Nidhal al-Laithi and Marsi abu Tareq Azzaman, Iraq, 1/7/07 Kurdish leaders have decided to deploy their own militias in the fighting now taking place in Baghdad….This will be the first time Kurdish armed groups will fight in Baghdad, and specifically against their co-religionists, Arab Sunnis.…

“Mortgage rates jump on strong labor market, inflation pressures “WASHINGTON (Reuters) 1/11/2007— Average interest rates on 30-year mortgages crept upward in the latest week to 6.21% from 6.18%, according to a survey by finance company Freddie Mac on Thursday.”

Three Bush Foreign-Policy Hypotheses I won’t undertake to substantiate these, just to offer them as hypotheses. 1. We (i.e., the Bush administration) are refusing talks with Syria and Iran, because we are afraid the talks would succeed. 2. We are afraid of the talks succeeding, because we’d have to renounce regime-change. (It is diplomatically untenable…

Barak Obama is, among other things, a unique personal phenomenon, a political happenstance. And that is frightening in a way, because America is a country where, as with both of the Kennedys, you can kill an idea.

“This documentary visits Ingmar Bergman, one of the 20th century’s greatest film directors…” http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1167037-bergman_island/about.php Only the 20th century! I’m not afraid to say it–I think he was one of the greatest film directors of all time!

“The administration also does not plan to alter its strategy of isolating adversaries Iran and Syria, despite mounting pressure…” —NYT, 12/1/06 DKo: We are very close to standing alone, as we isolate Iran, Syria and, in effect, the entire world.