Pretty ridiculous: More than three quarters of the U.S. Senate, including 38 Democrats, have signed on to a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implicitly rebuking the Obama Administration for its confrontational stance toward Israel. The letter, backed by the pro-Israel group AIPAC, now has the signatures of 76 Senators and says in part: …
Foreign Affairs
Loco
For the past couple of weeks, Mexico has been threatening to cut off over 24 million cell phone users, and it looks like it might actually happen (or is happening). Last year, the Mexican Congress passed a law mandating that every cell phone user had to register their phone, using the Mexican equivalent of a …
Getting What He Deserves
About time: U.S. military officials tell NBC News that the U.S. Army will court martial a lieutenant colonel who refuses to deploy to Afghanistan because he considers orders from President Obama to be “illegal.” Army doctor Lt. Col. Terry Lakin believes Obama does not meet the constitutional requirements to be president and commander-in-chief, because he …
The Dullness of Being Right
Andy Bacevich had yet another interview with Bill Moyers the other day, and the video and transcript are now online. Bacevich makes a succinct and reasonable case for why our Afghan adventure should be ended, and what we should do instead: First of all, we need to assess the threat realistically. Osama bin Laden is …
If They Can Do It
So can everyone else: It’s not just the troops’ uniforms that are green: The U.S. military says its investments to conserve energy and water are beginning to pay off, with benefits for cost, national security and troop safety. The Army has cut water usage at its permanent bases and other facilities around the world by …
A Horrible Tragedy In Poland
This is awful: A plane carrying the Polish president and dozens of the country’s top political and military leaders to the site of the Soviet massacre of Polish officers in World War II crashed in western Russia on Saturday, killing everyone on board. President Lech Kaczynski’s plane tried to land in a thick fog, missing …
China’s Currency
How big of a deal is this: The Chinese government is set to announce a revision of its currency policy in the coming days that will allow greater variation in the value of its currency combined with a small but immediate jump in its value against the dollar, people with knowledge of the consensus emerging …