Pacific Views

Weekend's Over; Everybody Look Busy

In which an Iranian diplomat obliquely summarizes why the Iraqi government trusts his government:

... [Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi] Qumi also warned the United States against playing out tensions in what he called “the nuclear file” in Iraq. “We don’t need Iraq to pay the cost of our animosity with the Americans,” Mr. Qumi said. ...

Ezra Klein: A native Californian on why he thinks California shouldn't have an early primary: it's all about the money. What about the Jewish influence on US politics? Pointing the way usefully towards Paul Krugman's review of Milton Friedman's work; interesting even if you're not an economist.

Asia Times: It isn't a big, showy, military type of thing, but India has a space program that they're making some decent progress in with homegrown technology. The Bush administration has not only let Pakistan entirely off the hook for their support of the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan, they seem to be extending favors to them that would make the US situation easier in the event of an attack on Iran, a country that had supported the Taliban's opposition in Afghanistan before the US invasion post-9/11. Ali Allawi, a member of the Shia exile community during Hussein's regime and later of the Iraqi Transitional Government, speaks about the intersection of Iraqi and Iranian political influences and the difficulties the US will face in trying to get Iraqi support for a confrontation with their natural allies in Iran. British forces in Afghanistan, having decided that there's no military solution to the Taliban insurgency, are trying to gain through 'soft power' what they couldn't do through bombing campaigns. A review of a book on the original lawless multinational, the British East India Company, pioneers in the field of merging war and trade.

Daily Kos: Yesterday's diary rescue has the usual good tidbits and a couple particularly relevant entries on state-level universal healthcare plans. The corporate media did a good job following Sen. Webb's impactful state of the union response with silence, as if they just didn't hear the pointed criticism of the structure of the economy. The Senate, long overdue, will investigate the credit card industry. How Iraq has become operation deathtrap. If you didn't make it to the D.C. war protest, you can watch vicariously; also here, here, here, here and here. What's right with Kansas.

BBC: The African Union has passed Sudan over for the chairmanship because of Darfur. Fijians respond to their country's latest, very quiet military coup. France's socialist candidate for the presidency has foot-in-mouth campaigning problems that have been inviting comparisons to George W. Bush. How the Brazil nut could save Brazil. Automobile fumes can stunt lung development in children.

Wampum: Oil royalty underpayment features prominently in the investigation of corruption in the Interior Dept. A bit about Iran's influential men, the people who will likely continue to be guiding affairs in that country after Ahmadinejad is out of office and in the event that Imam Khamenei's health continues its decline. A few words that weren't in the state of the union.

Juan Cole: More on the latest atrocities in Iraq and the "breathlessness" with which the paper of record seems to address what should seem like fairly routine trade arrangements between Iran and Iraq. A guest editorial from Elik Elhanan of Combatants for Peace discusses another way for Israel. The Vietnam comparisons are flying thicker and faster, a Shiite holy day will provide an opportunity for the occupation army in Iraq to show some judicious restraint and the Bush administration shows itself more touchy about obvious criticisms with every passing day.

For more, stop by The Sideshow and poke around for a bit.

Posted by natasha at January 29, 2007 07:28 AM | Recommended Reading | Technorati links |