Category: News

WP. Putin, faced with Russia's own 9/11, is a quandry. Sergei Markov, a political analyst with close ties to the Kremlin, said the deadly outcome of the school standoff had left Putin at a loss as to how to respond beyond the former KGB colonel's instinct to strengthen police powers and centralize control over government… Continue reading WP

CSM. Polls show the war on terror remains his (Bush's) strongest asset, with the president beating Kerry by as much as 20 points on that count. But by offering such a single-minded focus, the Bush campaign is also effectively counting on the fact that terrorism will trump all other issues – such as the economy… Continue reading CSM

NYT. From 2000 through 2003 the median household income fell by $1,500 (in 2003 dollars) – a significant 3.4 percent decrease. That information becomes startling when you consider that during the same period there was a strong 12 percent increase in productivity among U.S. workers. Economists will tell you that productivity increases go hand-in-hand with… Continue reading NYT

The Dichotomy of a Presidency. George W. Bush’s speech last night was a perfect microcosm of his presidency. He laid out an ambitious and praiseworthy foreign policy based on principles of democracy and freedom. Conversely, he expounded on a domestic agenda that sells out small government ideals in favor of increasing the size of the… Continue reading The Dichotomy of a Presidency

CSM. US standing with Arabs hits an all time low. This is the reason that bin Laden's guerrillas have an unlimited pool of recruits to draw from. It also indicates that this war is going to get much, much worse over the next decade or two. Just two years ago, Zogby found that 76 percent… Continue reading CSM

A direct parallel with the Vietnam war and the USSR's misadventures in Afghanistan is that we are likely backing weak governments that may never be strong enough to survive on their own. AT does a round-up of the problems recruiting soldiers for the armies that back those governments. [John Robb's Weblog]

I'm almost finished reading Imperial Hubris by the CIA's Anonymous. Excellent book and well worth reading. It fits with Global Guerrillas tongue and groove. [John Robb's Weblog]

Peddling a “Clinton recession”. Many of us remember the Clinton years as a time of unparalleled prosperity, when 22 million people found new jobs and the federal government took in record surpluses in tax revenue. But in speech after speech this week, Republicans have excused George W. Bush's poor economic record by suggesting that the… Continue reading Peddling a “Clinton recession”

According to News.Com, Philadelphia is considering a city-wide wireless network. Wow. That would instantly make Philly the place to be. I never thought I could possibly say that. Here's another thought for Republicans to consider. Imagine if the trillion dollars we're pouring into Iraq infrastructure had been put into providing across-the-board wireless in every major… Continue reading According to News.Com

WSJ. Negroponte hits the claxon over Iraq. John Negroponte, who arrived at his post in late June, described the dire security situation in a lengthy cable sent last week to his superiors at the U.S. State Department. The new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, arguing that the insurgency there has become more protracted than anticipated, wants… Continue reading WSJ