Elections Blog

Here is the STRATFOR summary of yesterday’s murder in Lebanon:
Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel was killed Nov. 21 in a Beirut neighborhood where a pro-Syrian party is known to have a large presence. As Gemayel was an outspoken critic of Hezbollah and a member of Lebanon’s anti-Syrian movement, Syrian intelligence likely staged the shooting as [...]

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…though whether Hezbollah and Syria can throw up enough obstructions to prevent it is still in the air:
The agreement by the U.N. and the Lebanese government, announced last week by Annan, would create a tribunal outside Lebanon with a majority of international judges and an international prosecutor. Annan said having more international than Lebanese judges [...]

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With the midterm elections seemingly repudiating the number one ‘neocon’ foreign endeavor, the War in Iraq, and the selection of Robert Gates as the new Secretary of Defense, the danger is that we will turn our back on idealistic foreign policy, and that would be a mistake.  Walter Isaacson has more:
[...]

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…and for those who like a newsmagazine that is a little (well, okay, a LOT) more intellectual than the standard TIME/Newsweek/U.S. News triumvirate…the Economist, now available for free (well, almost - just like Salon, you have to watch an ad first - big whoop!)…

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I don’t agree with everything Sam Nunn says here, but I respect the man, and I respect the fact that he is doing what he can to stop the nuclear menace:
North Korea is a crisis in itself, but it is also a sign of a growing worldwide nuclear threat. More nations are acquiring and seeking to [...]

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It is with a heavy heart and a tightening of the chest that I note that today’s scheduled UN vote on North Korean sanction is in danger of being torpedoed by Russia and China:
Despite winning key concessions, Russia and China raised new objections that could delay a vote Saturday on a U.N. Security Council resolution [...]

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I’m talking about Bernard-Henri Lévy, and on a slow news day, this article is an interesting diversion:
On the Left Bank of the Seine, the smoke of Gauloises and rays of warm autumnal sunshine merrily entwine in a cafe made famous by Sartre and Camus. Bernard-Henri Lévy, France’s most celebrated thinker, has dispensed with lunch and [...]

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You can feel the love blooming in the air:
Mr. Chávez, while addressing world leaders at the United Nations, flagged “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance,” which Mr. Chomsky published in 2003, as a must-read. Mr. Chomsky said he was glad that Mr. Chávez liked his book, but he would not describe himself as [...]

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This dedication goes out to Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, who is really having a bad couple of weeks, what with his anti-Semite campaign against George Allen, and now his incredibly self-serving, preposterous inability to say one good thing about his own President, even when said President is under attack by the thuggish buffoon Hugo Chavez:
I just [...]

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The original Odd Couple, or Dumb and Dumber? You make the choice…

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The ABC report that Pakistan had basically conceded a safe haven to the Taliban is being vehemently denied today:
Pakistan’s decision to withdraw military troops from a key northern region at the center of the U.S.-backed war on terror does not indicate a change its commitment to hunt down Osama bin Laden, according a senior Pakistani [...]

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…and it’s time for Obrador to call off the dogs:
Felipe Calderon became president-elect of Mexico on Tuesday, two months after a disputed election, when the nation’s top electoral court voted unanimously to reject allegations of fraud and certify his narrow victory.
His leftist rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, had said he would not [...]

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Ultimatums sure aren’t what they used to be:
EUROPEAN Union foreign ministers agreed today to take two more weeks to try to clarify Iran’s stance on halting sensitive nuclear work after Tehran ignored a UN deadline to stop uranium enrichment.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, in Europe early [...]

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Well, another bit of welcome news today:
President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that France will contribute 2,000 troops to an international peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, responding both to international pressure and new U.N. pledges about protection and command of the troops.
Chirac’s announcement in a nationally televised address followed days of intense negotiations with the United [...]

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By decree, that is:
After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. 
No word yet on whether the object ‘Markville’ will be allowed to take its place…

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Thomas Sowell:
It is hard to think of a time when a nation — and a whole civilization — has drifted more futilely toward a bigger catastrophe than that looming over the United States and western civilization today.
Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran and North Korea mean that it is only a matter of [...]

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Edward Luttlak, writing in the Jerusalem Post, says the critics such as myself are not taking the long view of latest war:
In the immediate aftermath of the 1973 October War, there was much joy in the Arab world because the myth of Israeli invincibility had been shattered by the surprise Egyptian crossing of the Suez [...]

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FINALLY - some good news on the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire:

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to recommend Monday that the rules of engagement of the enhanced UNIFIL force to be deployed in Lebanon include opening fire on Hizbullah where necessary, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
While UN Security Council Resolution 1701 mandated an enhanced UNIFIL force [...]

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Perhaps all of those calling for the head of Donald Rumsfeld should be focusing on removing Condi from the State Department. That’s my reaction upon reading this:
For the past month the United States has worked urgently to end the violence that Hezbollah and its sponsors have imposed on the people of Lebanon and Israel. [...]

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Delusions are everywhere regarding the new cease-fire; witness this asinine commentary being issued by our own State Department:

The UN-declared cease-fire in Lebanon, if fully implemented, would be a strategic setback for Iran and Syria because it strengthens democracy in Lebanon and stabilizes the border with Israel, the State Department said Monday.
“You will not have [...]

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