Hydrablog

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111902528.html
In Fort Hood aftermath, Pentagon opens two reviews
Threat-identification policies, quality of casualty care assessed
By Ann Scott Tyson and Ben Pershing
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 20, 2009 [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy: dod, Pentagon; JAG corps] [attack on troops in garrison] [now that people have had nearly 2 weeks, they are starting to think through some of implications] [followup] [the sad politicization of Fort Hood tragedy] [ditto] [*]
The Pentagon is launching an urgent review of whether military procedures hinder the identification of service members who pose a threat to their fellow troops.
As part of the 45-day investigation, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered an examination of whether Army policies and procedures played any role in failing to prevent

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:19 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/us/20inquire.html
November 20, 2009
Pentagon to Review Shootings at Fort Hood
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and DAVID JOHNSTON [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy: dod, Pentagon; JAG corps] [attack on troops in garrison] [now that people have had nearly 2 weeks, they are starting to think through some of implications] [followup] [the sad politicization of Fort Hood tragedy] [*]
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Thursday announced a Pentagon review of the shootings at Ford Hood, Tex., to help ensure, he said, that “nothing like this ever happens again.”

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:18 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/us/20terror.html
November 20, 2009
Air Defense Push Inspired by 9/11 Gets a 2nd Look
By THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT
COLORADO SPRINGS — The commander of military forces protecting North America has ordered a review of the costly air defenses intended to prevent another Sept. 11-style terrorism attack, an assessment aimed at determining whether the commitment of jet fighters, other aircraft and crews remains justified. [*] [good; they should always be reviewing cost-effectiveness]
Senior officers involved in the effort say the assessment is to gauge the likelihood that terrorists may succeed in hijacking an airliner or flying their own smaller craft into the United States or Canada. The study is focused on circumstances in which the attack would be aimed not at a public building or landmark but instead at a power plant or a critical link

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:17 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/asia/20clinton.html
November 20, 2009
Diplomatic Memo
Clinton Seen as Obama’s Key Link to Afghan Leader
By MARK LANDLER [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [incredible leaks in past week or so] [now Obama’s staff are fighting over it—or at least they are content to have that appearance?] [Gates threatened the gods’ wrath on leakers last week] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — It is far from clear that President Obama can depend on President Hamid Karzai to bring order to this violent country, but it is becoming clear that he will depend on Hillary Rodham Clinton to be his go-between in dealing with the mercurial Afghan leader.
In a visit to Kabul, during which she held a 90-minute, one-on-one session with Mr. Karzai

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:16 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111904061.html
Arrests in Chicago drive home global nature of terrorism threat
By Peter Slevin and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 20, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [home-grown, of a sort in any case, jihadis?] [he’s actually a Canadian but he lives here] [apparently were prepared to attack a third nation-state] [new profile?] [*]
CHICAGO -- David C. Headley, a peripatetic Chicagoan accused of scouting potential terrorism targets in India and plotting to kill two Danish journalists, was not always David C. Headley.
Until 2006, he was Daood Gilani, but he told investigators he had changed his name to raise

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:15 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903992.html
A softer approach to Karzai
New warmth from U.S. is acknowledgment that Afghan leader is needed as partner
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 20, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [incredible leaks in past week or so] [now Obama’s staff are fighting over it—or at least they are content to have that appearance?] [Gates threatened the gods’ wrath on leakers last week] [*]
When a team of senior U.S. officials led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton entered the presidential palace in Kabul on Wednesday for a dinner meeting, they had little indication of what Afghan President Hamid Karzai planned to discuss, or whether questions about corruption and governance would pitch their host into a foul mood.
But instead of revisiting old disputes, Karzai brought in several cabinet ministers to talk

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:15 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/us/18hood.html
November 18, 2009
Republicans Seek Inquiry on Fort Hood
By SCOTT SHANE and DAVID JOHNSTON [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy: dod, Pentagon; JAG corps] [attack on troops in garrison] [now that people have had nearly 2 weeks, they are starting to think through some of implications] [followup] [the sad politicization of Fort Hood tragedy] [*]
WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday called for an immediate Congressional investigation of what they called systemic intelligence failures before the shootings at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, saying the Obama administration was trying to block a full inquiry.
Democrats, after a briefing on the case for Congressional leaders, replied that with the Army and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the early stages of a criminal investigation,

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:14 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/world/asia/19prexy.html
November 19, 2009
Obama Says He Is Close to Afghan War Decision
By HELENE COOPER [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [incredible leaks in past week or so] [now Obama’s staff are fighting over it—or at least they are content to have that appearance?] [Gates threatened the gods’ wrath on leakers last week] [*]
BEIJING — President Obama said Wednesday he was “very close to a decision” on a troop increase for the war in Afghanistan and would make his case to the American people for his Afghan strategy in the next “several weeks.”
“I am very confident that when I announce the decision, the American people will have a lot of clarity about what we’re doing, how we’re going to succeed, how much this thing is going to cost,” Mr. Obama told CNN in an interview at his hotel in Beijing. Most important, he said,

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/us/19gitmo.html
November 19, 2009
Obama Says Guantánamo Won’t Close by January
By JACK HEALY [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [decisions surely made at highest NSC levels with heavy justice dept input] [federal judiciary] [Obama and his team know that the Jan dealine will be missed] [use psci355, 455, 469] [*]
President Obama acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that his administration would miss a self-imposed deadline to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by mid-January, admitting the difficulties of following through on one of his first pledges as president.
“Guantánamo, we had a specific deadline that was missed,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with NBC News in Beijing during his weeklong trip to Asia. Hours after he spoke, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. defended the administration’s decision to try five suspected

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:12 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/11/who_promoted_hasan.html
[accessed 11/20/09 10:06 AM]
The Washington Post Blogs
Post Partisan: Quick Takes by the Post's Opinion Writers
Who promoted Hasan?
Who promoted Peress? That was the question posed by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the indefatigable red-hunter of the 1950s, regarding an obscure army dentist named Irving Peress who was promoted from captain to major despite having refused to answer questions regarding his loyalty. That right-wing rallying cry ought to be revived, only this

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:11 PM | Permalink

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903666.html
'Pakistan has nothing to fear from India'
By Lally Weymouth
Sunday, November 22, 2009 [interview of Post editorial folks with India’s leader, PM Singh] [*]
NEW DELHI -- Wearing white robes and a blue turban, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared relaxed this week as he discussed his upcoming state visit to Washington. Singh, 77, will meet President Obama next week at a time when many Indians fear that Obama will focus less on India than did previous American administrations, particularly as the U.S.-Chinese relationship grows in importance. Singh sat down in his Delhi residence with Newsweek-Washington Post's Lally Weymouth to discuss terrorism, trade and why it is critical that the United States not abandon Afghanistan. Excerpts:
You are President Obama's first official state visitor. What would you like to accomplish in Washington?

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:10 PM | Permalink

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903435.html
Obama the undecider
By Michael Gerson
Friday, November 20, 2009 [oped] [it’s possible he’s nailed it] [it’s also possible more going on than we realize?] [for instance I concluded last week—and discussed it in my foreign policy class—that Obama made the decision and he’s doing Kabuki theater for some good reasons and some expideincy] [*]
In the beginning, the Obama administration directed a spotlight toward its careful, thoughtful decision-making process on Afghanistan. National security meetings were announced, photographed and highlighted in background briefings to the media. President Obama would apply the methods of the academy to the art of war -- the University of Chicago meets West Point -- thus assuring a skittish public that deliberation had preceded decision.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:09 PM | Permalink

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903470.html
Holder's reasonable decision
By Jim Comey and Jack Goldsmith
Friday, November 20, 2009 [oped] [note: Goldsmith was influential in Bush doj] [involved hospital-room visit ad GWU as I recall?] [on AG Holder’s recent decision of trials in Souther Disctrict Court of NY] [use psci 355,455] [*]
Reasonable minds can disagree about Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to prosecute Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other alleged Sept. 11 perpetrators in a Manhattan federal court. But some prominent criticisms are exaggerated, and others place undue faith in military commissions as an alternative to civilian trials. [absolutely] [it’s because most of the criticisms are political rather than substantive] [there’s no one who’s been more an advocate of defeating global-jihadis hydra that I; and I have no problem with the decision and actually think it’s best on balance] [*]
Mohammed is many things: an enemy combatant in a war against the United States whom

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:09 PM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/opinion/20fri2.html
November 20, 2009
Editorial
Iraq’s Election Law Morass
[editorial] [the stalemate machine in Baghdad] [its recent mess: a deal so the elections (scheduled for Jan 2010) can take place] [*]
Iraqis have quickly learned to play hardball politics. That was evident on Wednesday when one of Iraq’s two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashimi, who is a Sunni, vetoed an important election law at the last minute. [*]He demanded a change that would allocate more parliamentary seats for Iraqi Sunnis living abroad.
It is unquestionably better for Iraq’s political leaders to wage their battles through legislative maneuvering than in the streets. But their repeated delays in completing the election law (there have been nearly a dozen attempts) threatens their fragile

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:08 PM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/opinion/18simon.html
November 18, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
Why We Should Put Jihad on Trial
By STEVEN SIMON [oped] [1 of 2 authors of the excellent book, Age of Sacred Terror] [on the recent AG Holder announcment of federal courts for gitmo 5] [use psci469; info on internal ideological battle below] [*]
THE Justice Department’s decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, in a federal court in New York City has elicited several criticisms. Most are pointless, but one — the idea that it will give a terrorist a platform from which he could stir up support in the Muslim world for his radical views — is well taken. [*]
First, let’s dispose of the straw men. John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House, accused the Obama administration of “treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue” — as

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:07 PM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/science/earth/20climate.html
November 20, 2009
Industrialized Nations Unveil Plans to Rein in Emissions
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL and NEIL MacFARQUHAR [global] [Europe, Asia, Americas, global South] [given the marked lack of progress in preparation of Copenhagen, leaders at APEC summit simply decide to put off important decisions until later] [use psci350] [global commons] [*]
With less than three weeks remaining before negotiators gather in Copenhagen to hammer out a global response to climate change, a rapid-fire succession of countries are unveiling national plans that serve as opening bids for reining in heat-trapping emissions. [*]
“The list of what is on the table is rather long,” said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the sponsor of the meeting, which runs from Dec. 7 to 18 in Copenhagen.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:06 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/americas/20honduras.html
November 20, 2009
Honduran Leader Says He’ll Briefly Step Down
By MARC LACEY and GINGER THOMPSON [Honduras] [Central America] [July coup attempt and reaction] [Obama foreign policy] [US and OAS on same page but with ample complications] [namely, position similar to Cuba, Venezuela, … causing troubles for Obama administration] [followup] [*]
MEXICO CITY — As the presidential election draws near in Honduras, the de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti, and the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, continued their political jockeying on Thursday, with Mr. Micheletti announcing that he would briefly cede power to increase the vote’s legitimacy and Mr. Zelaya insisting that the election be pushed back. [*]
In announcing that he would hand over power to his cabinet ministers for a week beginning on Nov. 25, Mr. Micheletti made it clear that he had no plans to cede power to Mr.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/asia/20namibia.html
November 20, 2009
China Helps the Powerful in Namibia
By SHARON LaFRANIERE [China] [Beijing] [NEAsia] [China has long had ambitions in Africa] [China has insatiable thirst for resources (especially energy) and Africa has them in abundance and little governance to protect them from highest bidder] [followup] [we’ve seen some backlash against China’s voracious appetite but only minor] [*]
BEIJING — Like parents everywhere, mothers and fathers in Namibia, an impoverished southern African nation, worry about college costs and opportunities for their children. The Chinese government has stepped forward to help — for a select and powerful few.
So far this year, the Beijing government has secretly awarded scholarships to study in China to the offspring of nine top officials, including to the daughter of Namibia’s president, Hifikepunye Pohamba. Two young relatives of Namibia’s former president and national patriarch, Sam Nujoma, also received grants.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/europe/20union.html
November 20, 2009
Low-Profile Leaders Chosen for Top European Posts
By STEPHEN CASTLE and STEVEN ERLANGER [Europe] [EU3] [continued work on EU governance] [twofold structure: European common foreign policy; European common fiscal-monetary policy] [forward progress?] [*]
BRUSSELS — Leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union on Thursday night chose Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian prime minister, as the European Union’s first president, [*] and Catherine Ashton of Britain, currently the bloc’s trade commissioner, as its high representative for foreign policy. [*]The vote was unanimous.
Both officials are highly respected but little known outside their own countries. After the European Union’s eight-year battle to rewrite its internal rules and to pass the Lisbon Treaty that created these two new jobs, the selection of such low-profile figures seemed to

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:04 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/europe/20briefs-MoldovaBrf.html
November 20, 2009
World Briefing | Europe
Moldova: Army Enlists Onions and Garlic to Ward Off Swine Flu
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. [Moldova] [Russia] [former USSR] [Vlad and his proclivities represent a lot of Russians who don’t care for the way the world has changed since 1991] [in new assertive Russia] [Russia ethos] [use psci350] [use ir text] [Moldova’s rather novel approach to pandemic?] [*]
The Moldovan Army is issuing garlic and onions to help its soldiers ward off a growing epidemic of swine flu in Eastern Europe, The Associated Press reported Thursday. The chief medical officer for the Defense Ministry, Col. Sergiu Vasislita, was quoted as saying each soldier would get the equivalent of one small onion and two garlic cloves added to his diet as an immune-system boost. Moldova has about 6,500 troops.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:03 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/europe/20moscow.html
November 20, 2009
Russian Priest Killed in Church
By SOPHIA KISHKOVSKY [Russia] [former USSR] [Vlad and his proclivities represent a lot of Russians who don’t care for the way the world has changed since 1991] [in new assertive Russia] [Russia ethos] [use psci350] [use ir text] [followup] [very early to make conslucions but they suggest possibility of radicalized Muslim as shooter] [*]
MOSCOW — The Rev. Daniil Sysoyev, a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church who was known for promoting missionary work among Muslims, was shot and killed in his parish church late Thursday night, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:02 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/europe/20briefs-UkraineBrf.html
November 20, 2009
World Briefing | Europe
Ukraine: Putin Soothes Dispute Over Price of Sending Fuel
By CLIFFORD J. LEVY [Russia] [Ukraine] [Russia-Ukraine relations] [former USSR] [Vlad and his proclivities represent a lot of Russians who don’t care for the way the world has changed since 1991] [in new assertive Russia] [Russia ethos] [use psci350] [use ir text] [followup] [Russia’s version of pipeline politics] [*]
Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia took a more conciliatory stance toward Ukraine on Thursday in negotiations over the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory. Mr. Putin suggested that Russia would be willing to renegotiate transit agreements [*]so that they would be more favorable to Ukraine. He made his comments after a meeting in the Ukrainian city of Yalta with his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia V. Tymoshenko.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:01 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903902.html
CIA detainees again an issue in Lithuania
SECRET PRISON IS ALLEGED
Parliament to investigate
By Craig Whitlock
Friday, November 20, 2009 [Lithuania] [Russia-Lithuania relations] [the Baltic states] [part of Russia’s “Near Abroad”] [first, it was Estonia then Lithuania then?] [yesterday blogs began reporting Lithuania one of the places where CIA had black sites (they were reportedly closed in 2006?)] [use ir text] [use psci 350] [*]
VILNIUS, LITHUANIA -- Twice in the past three years, the Lithuanian Parliament investigated reports that the CIA secretly imprisoned al-Qaeda leaders in this Baltic country. Both times, legislators concluded that there was no evidence. [supposedly it was in a fancy horse stable/riding club] [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 01:00 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/middleeast/20iraq.html
November 20, 2009
Iraq Sentences Sunni Leader to Death
By JOHN LELAND [-ir] [hydra] [insurgency] [renewed sectarian tensions and fault lines] [“surge”] [clearly, positive indicators that surge worked-working] ]Shi’a parties in charge of parliament where they are majority] [followup] [while malcontents attempt to re-ignite civil war, the Shi’a majority govt governs?] [*]
BAGHDAD — A leader of a Sunni Awakening Council was sentenced to death for kidnapping and murder on Thursday, setting off charges that the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government was trying to weaken the Sunni movement, [*]which is credited with much of the reduction of sectarian violence here since 2006.
The Sunni leader, Adil al-Mashhadani, who led the Awakening militia in the impoverished Fadhil neighborhood of Baghdad, was arrested in March on charges of terrorism. His arrest

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/asia/20afghan.html
November 20, 2009
Karzai Sworn In for Second Term as President
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and MARK LANDLER [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban other insurgencies] [recall, however, that it really began in 2008] [Karzai’s 2nd term, with all its corruption and ineffective governance, begins] [followup] [see today’s govt for important piece on Karzai-Clinton relation] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — Tainted by a flawed election and allegations of festering corruption in his government, President Hamid Karzai was inaugurated Thursday for a second term, promising to remedy the country’s problems and to have the Afghan Army assume full control of security within five years.
Speaking in Dari and Pashto, Mr. Karzai reached out to the country’s two largest ethnic

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/asia/20mood.html
November 20, 2009
Pakistani Politics Take on a Nationalist Tone
By SABRINA TAVERNISE [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [Pakistan’s robust role in transnational war, villany, complications?] [followup] [Pakistan’s ongoing offensive against transnationals in NWFP] [followup] [more nationalism: only few things that bind disparate Pakistanis together, including hatered of India] [*]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — These days, politics here look more and more like a movie Pakistanis have seen before.
Anti-Americanism is peaking. Enemies of the state lurk around every corner, if the nationalist media is to be believed. President Asif Ali Zardari could hardly be more unpopular. Political insiders make a sport of handicapping how long it will be before he falls.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:58 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/asia/20pstan.html
November 20, 2009
Suicide Attack Is Pakistani City’s 7th in 2 Weeks
By ISMAIL KHAN and SAHAR HABIB GHAZI [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [Pakistan’s robust role in transnational war, villany, complications?] [followup] [Pakistan’s ongoing offensive against transnationals in NWFP] [followup] [the ongoing fight between Paksitan’s govt and Pakistan’s Taliban] [yesterday’s external reported insurgents melting away?] [*]
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide blast near the judicial complex here on Thursday killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 30 others, a senior police official said.
The official, Sahibzada Anis, said in Peshawar that a suicide bomber had stepped out of a taxi and tried to make his way to the main gate of the courthouse complex after being stopped for a security check. When a police officer ran at the man to challenge him, the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:57 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/europe/18moscow.html
November 18, 2009
Nationalists Suspected in Russian Activist’s Death
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ [Russia] [former USSR] [Western Europe: Britain, Germany, elsewhere] [new assertive Russia] [Russia ethos] [use psci350] [use ir text] [followup] [rash of Kremlin enemies who were killed 2005-2006… and residuals] [*]
MOSCOW — A young antiracist campaigner who frequently clashed with Russian nationalists has been killed in Moscow in what investigators and analysts suggest is probably part of an increasingly violent conflict between ultranationalists and groups that oppose them.
The 26-year-old victim, identified by antifascist groups and Russian news agencies as Ivan Khutorskoi, was shot in the head in front of his apartment building in eastern Moscow on

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:56 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/18/world/AP-Piracy.html
November 18, 2009
Pirates Again Attack Maersk Alabama
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:51 p.m. ET [Somalia] [the chaos in Somalia] [East Africa; south of Horn] [relatively stable state until 2007-2008 when wheels came off] [looked somewhat like a state toying with failed-state status] [more piracy] [followup] [*]
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday for the second time in seven months and were thwarted by private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship who fired off guns and a high-decibel noise device.
A U.S. surveillance plane was monitoring the ship as it continued to its destination on the Kenyan coast, while a pirate said that the captain of a ship hijacked Monday with 28 North Korean crew members on board had died of wounds.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:55 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/world/middleeast/19nuke.html
November 19, 2009
Minister Says Iran Won’t Ship Uranium Abroad
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN [Iran] [confluence of June elections with much else] [the intense internal dynamics of the various factions and Iran’s nuclear-enrichment processes-plants] [early indications of policymaking logjam in Tehran?] [followup] [additional evidence that Iran cannot muster necessary will to persue peace with West] [*]
CAIRO — Iran’s foreign minister said that his government would not ship its stockpile of low enriched uranium out of the country, making him the highest ranking official so far to declare that Iran would renege on a deal aimed at defusing a confrontation with the West over its nuclear program.
“We will definitely not send our 3.5-percent enriched uranium out of the country,” Manouchehr Mottaki, the foreign minister, told the semi-official ISNA news agency in

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:54 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/europe/18britain.html
November 18, 2009
Brown Vows to Continue War Effort in Afghanistan
By JOHN F. BURNS [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban other insurgencies] [recall, however, that it really began in 2008] [reportedly, Karzai govt to investigate corruption] [followup] [PM Brown shows again how “special” the US-UK relationship is] [*]
LONDON — As President Obama moves closer to a decision on the United States military’s request for more troops in Afghanistan, the British government has made an unflinching commitment to continue its role as the second largest troop provider in the 43-nation coalition fighting the war.
In the face of opinion polls suggesting that British public opinion has moved sharply against the war in the face of rising British casualties, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/europe/18training.html
November 18, 2009
Training of Afghan Police by Europe Is Found Lacking
By JUDY DEMPSEY [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban other insurgencies] [recall, however, that it really began in 2008] [reportedly, Karzai govt to investigate corruption] [followup] [apparently the Euro training mission of Afghanis has foundered!] [*]
BERLIN — Two and a half years after it was started, the European Union’s police training mission in Afghanistan is understaffed, lacks adequate security and transportation, and has yet to develop a uniform training program, [*] according to diplomats and security experts involved in the mission.
“The E.U. mission is a logistical nightmare,” said Piotr Krawczyk, a security expert at the Polish Institute of International Affairs and former deputy head of the Polish Embassy in

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/world/asia/19clinton.html
November 19, 2009
Clinton Presses Karzai on Eve of Inauguration
By MARK LANDLER [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban other insurgencies] [recall, however, that it really began in 2008] [reportedly, Karzai govt to investigate corruption] [followup] [tomorrow’s govt has interesting piece about SecSate Clinton-Karzai] [cross in govt] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — In what amounted to a stern pep talk by a nervous partner, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived here on Wednesday to exhort President Hamid Karzai and his government to do a better job of cracking down on corruption in Afghanistan. [if that’s all she did, the US is in trouble] [she should have had major existential talk] [*]
Mrs. Clinton’s unannounced visit, on the eve of Mr. Karzai’s inauguration to another term,

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/world/asia/19karzai.html
November 19, 2009
Afghans Angry With Leadership See Few Options
By ALISSA J. RUBIN [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban other insurgencies] [recall, however, that it really began in 2008] [Karzai govt to investigate corruption?] [followup] [sadly, it may be way too late] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai begins a second term on Thursday as a leader badly damaged by a tainted election, strained relations with his allies and a record blighted by ineffective management and corruption.
His inauguration at this pivotal moment — eight years into the Afghan war as the United States is weighing a new battle strategy — raises the question of whether Afghans and American officials can expect any better from him over the next five years, as well as

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 12:41 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/asia/18pstan.html
November 18, 2009
Pakistani Military Encounters Little Fight as Militants Flee
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and ERIC SCHMITT [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [Pakistan’s robust role in transnational war, villany, complications?] [followup] [Pakistan’s ongoing offensive against transnationals in NWFP] [followup] [the ongoing fight between Paksitan’s govt and Pakistan’s Taliban] [what’s the significance? Are th jihadis really weak or is it rope a dope?] [*]
SARAROGHA, Pakistan — This windswept, sand-colored town in the badlands of western Pakistan is empty now, cleared of the militants who once claimed it as their capital. But its main brick buildings, intact and thick with dust, tell not of an epic battle, but of sudden

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/us/17brfs-INDICTMENTSI_BRF.html
November 17, 2009
National Briefing | Midwest
Michigan: Indictments in F.B.I. Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Obama white house] [111th congress, still 1st session a little longer] [bureaucracy, congress] [IC, and law enforcement] [the balance with civil liberties guaranteed by America’s constitution (Bill of Rights)] [America’s struggle to get it right when it goes after people in US for religious beliefs that compel believers to make political decicions based on religious ideology] [followup] [*]
Eleven people have been indicted in the F.B.I.’s investigation of a Detroit mosque leader who was fatally shot nearly three weeks ago. Ten of the 11 are charged with conspiring to possess and sell stolen goods, from computers to furs. They were first named in a criminal complaint in late October. The complaint also named the mosque leader, Luqman Ameen Abdullah, who was described as having a violent, antigovernment ideology. His allies deny

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 07:05 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/us/17visa.html
November 17, 2009
Taint of Corruption Is No Barrier to U.S. Visa
By IAN URBINA [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [immigration policy in the US and the clashing interests] [immigration reform and related issues in US presidential-domestic and foreign policy] [bureaucracy: DHS,…] [*]
Several times a year, Teodoro Nguema Obiang arrives at the doorstep of the United States from his home in Equatorial Guinea, on his way to his $35 million estate in Malibu, Calif., his fleet of luxury cars, his speedboats and private jet. [*]And he is always let into the country.
The nation’s doors are open to Mr. Obiang, the forest and agriculture minister of Equatorial Guinea and the son of its president, even though federal law enforcement officials believe that “most if not all” of his wealth comes from corruption related to the extensive oil and gas reserves discovered more than a decade and a half ago off the coast of his tiny West

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 07:04 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111603662.html
U.S. to attend conference held by war crimes court
Administration will engage with ICC but not join it, official says
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy] [US long-time participation in UN (and other IOs) a la war-crimes tribunals and the like] [followup] [see July 9 2009 when Stephen Rapp made liaison for US with international law] [*]
For the first time in nearly eight years, the United States will participate in a conference with members of the International Criminal Court, a decision that signals growing U.S. support for a war crimes tribunal the Bush administration once shunned. [*]
Stephen J. Rapp, the U.S. ambassador at large for war crimes, told reporters in Nairobi on Monday that the "United States will return to engagement with the ICC." But he said that the United States has no intention of joining the court in the forseeable future and that it will

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 07:03 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111603881.html
Army panel to examine Hasan's career
By Greg Jaffe and Ben Pershing
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy: dod, Pentagon; JAG corps] [attack on troops in garrison] [now that people have had nearly 2 weeks, they are starting to think through some of implications] [followup] [*]
Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army's chief of staff, is forming a panel to look closely at the military career of Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the man accused in the Fort Hood shootings, and probe whether warning signs were missed, [my goodness, I think we can infer from what’s already out there that warning signs were missed] [I don’t want to see people crucified over this but it’s a pretty sure thing that warning signs were missed] [to be clear, I’m not saying warning signs were missed that he would do what he did; but signs that the captain-major had become unhinged were missed!] [that he shared his views that America’s actions in Iraq and Afghanistan were wars on Islam alone tells me warnings were missed!] [*] a senior Army official said Monday.
Hasan, who was set to deploy to Afghanistan, is alleged to have killed 13 of his fellow

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111603636.html
Settling an intelligence turf war
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 [Obama white house] [residual from Bush white house] [bureaucracy] [from bureaucracy to NSC level] [IC] [ODNI, DNI, other pillars of intelligence-gathering and analysis bureaucracy] [IRPTA’s provisions after it became law in Dec 2004] [the substantial changes that have occurred in the FBI, in particular, since IRTPA] [WMD, counterterrorism, interagency activities, …?] [use psci355] [*]
For those of you who believe the only thing the CIA leadership has to do is provide all-source intelligence analyses to President Obama and his top policymakers, think again. Besides two wars raging and the U.S. clandestine and covert operations abroad, the agency

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 07:01 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/asia/18prexy.html
November 18, 2009
Obama Trip Shows Gaps on Issues as Role of China Grows
By EDWARD WONG and HELENE COOPER [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [mostly White House political and NSC structures, though state department and other bureaucratic] [followup] [Sino-US relations] [many issues with growing complexity largely resulting from China’s increasing import in world politics] [cross in external][*]
BEIJING — President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China met in private off Tiananmen Square here on a frigid Tuesday morning to discuss cooperating on issues like trade, climate change and the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, in a session that signaled the central role of China on the world stage and that highlighted the different approaches that it and the United States are taking on urgent problems around the globe.
The leaders insisted to reporters afterward that the United States and China were in

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:55 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111600428.html
Obama, Japanese premier at odds over air station negotiations
Hatoyama says talks, as viewed by U.S., are 'meaningless'
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [mostly White House political and NSC structures, though state department and other bureaucratic] [followup] [US-Japan relations and array of issues] [cross in external] [*]
TOKYO -- The wrestling match between the United States and Japan over the location of the U.S. Marine air station in Okinawa is far from over -- despite President Obama's chummy visit here with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
The two leaders now warmly address each other as Barack and Yukio. [*]But they sharply disagree over the purpose of a "high-level working group" that they announced Friday to sort out an increasingly heated dispute over the future of the Marine air station, which has

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:54 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/science/earth/16climate.html
November 16, 2009
News Analysis
Obama Hobbled in Fight Against Global Warming
By JOHN M. BRODER [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [President Obama and his administration’s views on global climate change] [global climate change] [global commons] [use psci350, 355, 390-5] [president and the white house; also, consideralbe bureaucracy] [followup] [*]
WASHINGTON — President Obama came into office pledging to end eight years of American inaction on climate change under President George W. Bush, and all year he has promised that the United States would lead the way toward a global agreement in Copenhagen next month to address the warming planet.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:53 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/us/16defend.html
November 16, 2009
Experts Outline Hurdles in Trying to Defend Hasan
By JOHN SCHWARTZ [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy: dod, Pentagon; JAG corps] [attack on troops in garrison] [now that people have had nearly 2 weeks, they are starting to think through some of implications] [followup] [*]
Defending the man accused of premeditated murder in the Nov. 5 shooting rampage at Fort Hood is the kind of test that many lawyers dread, and that some live for.
How does Col. John P. Galligan, [*] [unenviable job?] the retired Army officer who is representing the accused, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, defend someone who shot and killed 13 people before so many witnesses, whose story became national news, in a court where the judge and jury will be fellow soldiers?

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:53 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/asia/16policy.html
November 16, 2009
U.S. Asks More From Pakistan in Terror War
By ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID E. SANGER
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on Pakistan to expand and reorient its fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, warning that failing to do so would undercut the new strategy and troop increase for Afghanistan that President Obama is preparing to approve, [*]American officials say. [that’s strange] [these guys are solid reporters; Sanger in particular has broken some major stories] [and they report that Obama is prepared to approve the McChrystal recommendation!?!] [if true, what was the blowup last week about whereby president left for Asia without making decision?] [though that would make some sense: Jones traveled to Islamabad just as Obama traveled to EAsia; Jone may well have had the decision in pocket so he could browbeat Zardari more

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111603154.html
Welcome, China?
President Obama's bet on partnership with an undemocratic power
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S central message to the Chinese government and people during his first visit there as president has been a remarkably positive one. Acknowledging and occasionally marveling at the country's rapid ascent toward superpower status, Mr. Obama has been saying that not only does the United States "not seek to contain China's rise," but "we welcome China as a strong and prosperous and successful member of the community of nations."
This rhetoric in part reflects simple realism on the president's part. China's growing strength means, as Mr. Obama put it in his meeting with students in Shanghai Monday, that "there are very few global challenges that can be solved unless the United States and China

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:51 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/opinion/17tue2.html
November 17, 2009
Editorial
Their Future Is Ours
[editorial] [America’s immigration challenges] [generalizable is some ways beyond just America’s challenges?] [*]
There are 16 million children in immigrant families in the United States, [I don’t get the statistic?] [most everybody is an immigrant in the US] [so do they mean recent immigrants—who recent?] [do they mean illegal immigrants? the number thrown around for illegal immigrants is 12 million] [so 12 million having 16 million doesn’t make much sense] [*] one of the fastest-growing segments of the population. It’s an old American story made new in the age of globalization, when waves of human displacement in recent decades have led to immigration on a scale not seen since Ellis Island. [apparently they

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:50 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/opinion/16mon1.html
November 16, 2009
Editorial
President Obama in China
Economy, Security and, Yes, Human Rights
[editorial] [Obama’s trip to Asia for APEC summit] [*]
Ever since Richard Nixon opened the door in 1972, all presidents have faced a balancing act with China. For President Obama, who arrived in China on Sunday, the challenge is even tougher and more urgent. He needs Beijing’s help on a host of hugely important and extremely difficult problems, including stabilizing the global financial system, curbing global warming, prying away North Korea’s nuclear weapons, and ensuring that Iran doesn’t get to build any.
To do that he needs to encourage China to play an even stronger international role — but

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:49 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/17food.html
November 17, 2009
Disagreement Over Goals at U.N. Meeting on Hunger
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR [UN] [food and agriculture organization] [world hunger] [global common: food to eat] [use psci350] [use ir text] [*]
A United Nations summit meeting on combating hunger that opened in Rome on Monday underscored the split between rich and poor countries on the issue, with the industrialized nations balking at concrete targets.
Sixty leaders attended the meeting, but apart from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy there were no leaders from the wealthiest nations. Some of those who attended, including Pope Benedict XVI, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya, lashed out at what they called unfair agricultural policies by more developed nations.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:48 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/europe/18czech.html
November 18, 2009
Velvet Revolution’s Roots Still Obscure 20 Years Later
By DAN BILEFSKY [Czech Republic] [Eastern Europe] [former Czechoslovakia] [during CW, part of Warsaw Pact] [formerly under Soviet domination, though as Prague Spring demonstrated not happily][followup] [general info on Cold War history] [use psci350] [*]
PRAGUE — It was a revolution that began with a lie.
Vaclav Havel, the dissident leader who spearheaded the Velvet Revolution that overthrew communism in Czechoslovakia and kicked off twenty years ago on November 17, 1989, once declared that “truth and love must triumph over lies and hatred.” Yet the revolution — its name a reference to the clenched fist in the velvet glove — was sparked by a false rumor that to this day remains a mystery. [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:47 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/asia/17prexy.html
November 17, 2009
In Beijing, Obama Calls for ‘Strong Dialogue’
By EDWARD WONG and HELENE COOPER [China] [Beijing] [NEAsia] [President Obama’s trip to Asia] [original reason: APEC summit] [Japan and China on itinerary] [cross in govt] [followup] [long, slow dance with US and China] [issues range from security to trade and human rights] [*]
BEIJING — President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China met in private off Tiananmen Square here on a frigid Tuesday morning to discuss issues like trade, climate change and the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, in a session that signaled the central role of China on the world stage.
The leaders told reporters afterward that the United States and China were in agreement on a range of issues, but they spoke only in general terms. [*]
At a news conference where both presidents appeared, neither took questions from

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:46 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/europe/17rome.html
November 17, 2009
Libyan Leader in Italy Seeks Tall, Leggy and Pious
By RACHEL DONADIO [Libya] [northern African] [Islamic Maghreb] [file under “Qaddafi is off his medications again”] [followup] [while in Rome, Qaddafi recruits and hires locals to attend gala at hotel whereupon he lectures them in women and Islam?] [*]
ROME — The 200 women who answered a Rome modeling agency’s advertisement for tall, attractive party guests thought they would be attending an elegant soirée on Sunday. They were — only the host turned out to be the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and instead of hors d’oeuvres he offered them copies of the Koran and urged them to convert to Islam, the Italian news media reported Monday.
The women, all between the ages of 18 and 35, assembled in a Rome hotel before being screened by both metal detectors and the fashion police, who turned away anyone in a miniskirt or provocative clothing, according to Paola Lo Mele, a journalist for the ANSA

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:46 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/europe/17russia.html
November 17, 2009
Nuclear Plant Built for Iran Is Delayed, Russia Says
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ [Russia] [former USSR] [Vlad and his proclivities represent a lot of Russians who don’t care for the way the world has changed since 1991] [in new assertive Russia] [Russia ethos] [use psci350] [use ir text] [followup] [Presidents Obama and Medvedev recently met at AIPEC summit] [did Obama’s personal diplomacy yield dividends?] [followup] [*]
MOSCOW — Russia added a new note of discord to its relations with Iran on Monday, announcing that a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Iran would not come online at the end of the year as planned. [*]
Russia’s energy minister said that politics had played no role in delaying the startup of the plant, a focal point in a broader dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. And although Iran’s

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:45 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/middleeast/17briefs-Westbank.html
November 17, 2009
World Briefing | Middle East
West Bank: Soldiers Refuse Orders to Help in Dismantling Settlements
By REUTERS [Israeli-Palestinian conflict] [Middle East proper] [Levant] [another of thousands of clashes between Israel and Palestine] [followup] [here, soldiers refuse orders to dismantle old settlements] [*]
A group of Israeli soldiers disobeyed orders on Monday to help dismantle several

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:44 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111603669.html
To two faiths, a holy patch of land; to the world, a powder keg
Even when quiet, site is a flash point
By Howard Schneider
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 [Israeli-Palestinian conflict] [Middle East proper] [Levant] [another of thousands of clashes between Israel and Palestine] [followup] [here, general information on the differences and sources of clashes, etc.; general] [*]
JERUSALEM -- It is one of the most watched pieces of real estate in the world, 35 acres where an under-the-breath prayer or a whiff of a rumor can rouse warnings of war.
In both Judaism and Islam, the area known respectively as the Temple Mount [Jew believe King Solomon’s (begun by his father, David) and 2nd temples repsetively, found below] [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:43 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/middleeast/17anbar.html
November 17, 2009
Attacks Threaten Fragile Security Gains in Cradle of Iraq Insurgency
By MARC SANTORA [-ir] [hydra] [insurgency] [renewed sectarian tensions and fault lines] [“surge”] [clearly, positive indicators that surge worked-working] ]Shi’a parties in charge of parliament where they are majority] [followup] [this sounds eerily familiar and reminiscent of 2006-2007 civil war?] [*]
RAMADI, Iraq — Maj. Gen. Tariq al-Youssef caught a fleeting glimpse of the man who wanted him dead.
As his armored sport utility vehicle pulled past the battered yellow taxi, General Youssef, the commander of the police in Anbar Province, recalled thinking that the driver looked like so many men in this impoverished territory — another poor peasant trying to eke out a

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:42 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111600266.html
Correction to This Article
Earlier versions of the headline accompanying this article, including in the print edition of Tuesday's Washington Post, mistakenly said the United States, not the United Nations, was questioning whether Iran has additional nuclear sites.[*]
U.N. questions if Iran has other nuclear sites
IAEA seeks assurances after inspecting uranium facility
By Joby Warrick and Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 [Iran] [confluence of June elections with much else] [the intense internal dynamics of the various factions and Iran’s nuclear-enrichment processes-plants] [early indications of policymaking logjam in Tehran?] [followup] [note: in today’s external report of Russia announcing the joint nuclear plant will not come on line at year’s end as previously expected???] [*]
U.N. nuclear experts who last month were granted a first look at Iran's newly disclosed uranium processing site have acknowledged in a confidential report that the visit raised

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:41 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/middleeast/17nuke.html
November 17, 2009
Inspectors Fear Iran Is Hiding Nuclear Plants
By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROAD [Iran] [confluence of June elections with much else] [the intense internal dynamics of the various factions and Iran’s nuclear-enrichment processes-plants] [early indications of policymaking logjam in Tehran?] [followup] [note: in today’s external report of Russia announcing the joint nuclear plant will not come on line at year’s end as previously expected???] [has Obama’s personal diplomacy with Dmitri paid off?] [*]
WASHINGTON — International inspectors who gained access to Iran’s newly revealed underground nuclear enrichment plant voiced strong suspicions in a report on Monday that the country was concealing other atomic facilities. [below it states UN IAEA] [*]
The report was the first independent account of what was contained in the once secret

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:41 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111603707.html
Digest
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
AFGHANISTAN
Government vows to tackle corruption
[Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban other insurgencies] [recall, however, that it really began in 2008] [Karzai govt to investigate corruption?] [followup] [it would be nice if Karzai seriously sought siginificant changes but...?] [*]
Afghanistan will form a new anti-corruption unit to investigate high-level graft after widespread criticism and demands from the United States that it do more amid a wider regional strategy review. [don’t expect much] [when forced to look like they are trying to weed out corruption, they will look like that] [otherwise, probably not much] [*]
Monday's announcement came a day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned that President Hamid Karzai and his government must do better, saying

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:40 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/asia/17afghan.html
November 17, 2009
Taliban Militants Fire Rockets on Crowded Bazaar Northeast of Kabul
By ALISSA J. RUBIN [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [2009’s substantial pickup in Taliban other insurgencies] [recall, however, that it really began in 2008] [recall SecState Rice, Jan-Feb mission, then decisions put off until Aug-Sept, then election, thus new admin] [followup] [this attack reported yesterday] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban militants fired rockets on a bazaar northeast of Kabul on Monday, near the site of a meeting between French soldiers and local tribal leaders, and police officials said 10 Afghan civilians were killed and 28 wounded.
NATO troops reported that 4 civilians had been killed and 40 wounded. No troops were reported wounded or killed in the attack. Soldiers helped to ferry the wounded to local hospitals and to a nearby NATO base for medical care, a spokesman said. [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:37 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/taliban-blames-blackwater-for-pakistan-bombings/
New York Times Blogs
The Lede: The New York Times News Blog
[accessed 11/17/09 8:35 AM]
November 17, 2009, 11:02 am
Taliban Blame ‘Blackwater’ for Pakistan Bombings
By ROBERT MACKEY [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [Pakistan’s robust role in transnational war, villany, complications?] [followup] [Pakistan’s ongoing offensive against transnationals in NWFP] [followup] [the ongoing fight between Paksitan’s govt and Pakistan’s Taliban (at least certain parts-factions)] [sort of strange charge reported day or two ago of blackwater?] [*]
On Monday, Al Jazeera reported that a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban said the group accepted responsibility for only some of the recent suicide bombings in Pakistan, laying the blame for others, including a deadly attack on a market last month that killed more than

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:36 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/europe/17briefs-Britain.html
November 17, 2009
World Briefing | Europe
Britain: Police Arrest Five Men in Antiterrorism Operation
By JOHN F. BURNS [UK] [London] [EU3] [UK’s colonial history in SAsia, among other places] [thus, UK’s considerable population of Pakistanis and other Muslims] [among any population one finds “normal distributions” of whatever] [in this case, distribution of jihadis] [al Qaeda and 2nd and 3rd generation SAsians who have radicalized over time and, in UK’s case, in part as result of lack of assimilation Brit society, etc] [followup] [another potential cell broken up?] [MI-5 has noted its monitoring large number others] [*]
The police arrested five men on Monday in connection with what was described as “the incitement of terrorism overseas.” The men, ages 21 to 62, were arrested in raids before dawn in the northern cities of Manchester and Bolton, [*] [my roots] and at a hotel near Heathrow

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:35 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/americas/16mexico.html
November 16, 2009
Money Trickles North as Mexicans Help Relatives
By MARC LACEY [Mexico] [US-Mexico relations] [the Americas] [Latin America] [American-fueled drug wars] [consider this: Mexico is losing the equivalent of an –ir war of KIA each year in the drug war] [that’s all the 3-thousand-plus KIA since 2003 but in Mexico’s case they are losing those in a year’s time] [followup] [importance of remitances] [*]
MIAHUATLÁN, Mexico — During the best of the times, Miguel Salcedo’s son, an illegal immigrant in San Diego, would be sending home hundreds of dollars a month to support his struggling family in Mexico. But at times like these, with the American economy out of whack and his son out of work, Mr. Salcedo finds himself doing what he never imagined he would have to do: wiring pesos north.
Unemployment has hit migrant communities in the United States so hard that a startling

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:34 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/europe/16kosovo.html
November 16, 2009
Kosovo Vote Is First Since Declaration
By REUTERS [Kosovo] [former Yugoslavia matters] [Kosovar Muslims (presumably?) picked up in Bulgaria] [wanted on war crimes against Serbs] [not to get into the long, sorted stories now, but in 1990s the media reports in West were nearly uniformly biased against Serbs] [Kosovo continues slow progress?] [followup] [*]
PRISTINA, Kosovo (Reuters) — Kosovo on Sunday held its first elections since declaring independence from Serbia last year, with unemployment, corruption, poor infrastructure and low investment seeming to be the biggest issues for voters.
The local elections are seen as an important test for Kosovo, which wants to establish itself

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:33 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/asia/17shanghai.html
November 17, 2009
Obama Pushes Rights With Chinese Students
By HELENE COOPER and DAVID BARBOZA [China] [Japan] [Korea] [President Obama’s trip to Asia] [Japan and China on itinerary] [cross in govt] [watch for news?] [followup] [Obama meets with China’ elite in university] [*]
SHANGHAI — He didn’t explicitly call on China’s leaders to lift the veil of state control that restricts Internet access and online social networking here. But President Obama did tiptoe — ever so lightly — into that controversial topic on Monday when he told students in Shanghai that a free and unfettered Internet is a source of strength, not weakness.
For Mr. Obama, who has been taking pains to strike a conciliatory note during his first visit to China, it was a rare challenge to Chinese authorities, but expressed in Mr. Obama’s now familiar nuance. Responding to a question that came via the Internet during a town hall meeting with Shanghai students — “Should we be able to use Twitter freely?” — Mr.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:32 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/asia/16prexy.html
November 16, 2009
In China, Obama to Press for Tough Stance on Iran
By HELENE COOPER and DAVID BARBOZA [China] [Japan] [Korea] [President Obama’s trip to Asia] [Japan and China on itinerary] [cross in govt] [watch for news?] [followup] [after getting some assurance from Medvedev (which is not same as Putin, BTW) Obama attempts to push his luck with China’s leaders?] [*]
SHANGHAI — President Obama, fresh from making progress in his efforts to get Russia on board for possible tough new sanctions against Iran, arrived in China on Sunday, where he will attempt the even more difficult task of prodding China’s leaders to get tough on Iran. [China is almost genetically incapable of imposing sanctions] [it’s touchy about breaching sovereignty partly because British breached China’s so much with unequal treatise following Opium Wars] [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:30 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/16/world/AP-ML-Iraq.html
November 16, 2009
13 Bullet-Riddled Bodies Found West of Baghdad
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:41 a.m. ET [-ir] [hydra] [insurgency] [renewed sectarian tensions and fault lines] [“surge”] [clearly, positive indicators that surge worked-working] ]Shi’a parties in charge of parliament where they are majority] [followup] [this sounds eerily familiar and reminiscent of 2006-2007 civil war?] [*]
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Gunmen killed at least 13 people in a Sunni village west of Baghdad, dumping their bullet-riddled bodies in a cemetery, Iraqi security officials said Monday.
The motive for the attack was unclear, but could be a case of insurgents killing locals allied to the central government or an internal struggle among the region's fractious tribes. [*]One unconfirmed report even suggested the gunmen wore military uniforms.
The dead included relatives of a leading figure in the local branch of the influential Iraqi Islamic Party, according to local police official Waleed al-Zubaei.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:28 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/16/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html
November 16, 2009
Afghan Attack Aimed at French
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:44 a.m. ET [Afghanistan] [UK] [began in Pakistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [not much new since Karzai declared winner by default—we don’t know what most Afghanis think about it] [Tabab Valley where French allies are bivouacked] [followup] [*]
TAGAB VALLEY, Afghanistan (AP) -- Insurgents fired two rockets Monday into a crowded market northeast of Kabul where the head of French forces in Afghanistan was holding a meeting with tribal elders. The attack killed four people and wounded another 38, the French military said.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:27 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/asia/16bagram.html
November 16, 2009
U.S. Readies New Facility for Afghan Detainees
By ALISSA J. RUBIN [Afghanistan] [UK] [began in Pakistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [not much new since Karzai declared winner by default—we don’t know what most Afghanis think about it] [activity at Bagram? what new unit is going in?] [followup] [*]
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — The Obama administration’s effort to remake the notorious American detention system in Afghanistan will take a critical step forward at the end of the month, when detainees move into a new facility on the edge of Bagram Air Base.
The complex, which eventually will be handed over to the Afghan government, is designed to accommodate new review boards, giving detainees a chance to challenge their internment and present evidence of their innocence. [sounds like commission or court rooms?] [*]Reporters and Afghan and international human rights officials were allowed to

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:26 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/15/world/AP-AS-Pakistan.html
November 15, 2009
Bombing at Police Station in Pakistan Kills 3
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:22 p.m. ET [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [Pakistan’s robust role in transnational war, villany, complications?] [followup] [more on Pakistan’s planned offensive] [followup] [the ongoing fight between Paksitan’s govt and Pakistan’s Taliban (at least certain parts-factions)] [*]
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A pickup truck laden with explosives attacked a police station in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 3 people [*]in an area that has become the focal point for militant retaliation against a recent army offensive.
Suspected militants have killed more than 300 civilians and security personnel in the last

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 06:25 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/15hasan.html
November 15, 2009
Investigators Study Tangle of Clues on Fort Hood Suspect
By SCOTT SHANE and JAMES DAO [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy: law enforcement] [horrible attack on troops in garrison] [killed 13, wounded 40 more] [pretty horrific] [psychiatrist who allegedly did it appears to have had complex reasons, including religious] [horribly politicized with Hoekstra and others saying they were going to expose administration and FBI (and others) coverup] [appears to have begun almost immediately on the fringe Obama haters then nearly as quickly spread to fringe Bush haters; it’s quite unfortunate that something like this that should bind all of us as Americans is so divisive so soon!] [Hoekstra should know better as former chair of house permanent selection committee on intel] [*]
WASHINGTON — When Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan took his two handguns and headed for Fort Hood on Nov. 5, he left behind in his spartan apartment his new business cards. Now they

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/15abuse.html
November 15, 2009
Gates Blocks Photographs of Prisoners
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [SecDef Robert Gates] [incredible leaks in past week or so] [row over photos detainees held by military brigs?] [I’m not sure I buy his argument of safety but there are likely source and methods issues?] [Americans need to understand the costs but aren’t there better ways?] [*]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has blocked the release of more photographs of foreign detainees abused by their American captors, saying their release would endanger American soldiers. [
The Obama administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court late Friday saying Mr. Gates

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:22 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/14/AR2009111402437.html
Afghan roadside bombs a new priority for U.S.
Defense secretary stresses differences from devices in Iraq
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 15, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [SecDef Robert Gates] [incredible leaks in past week or so] [now Obama’s staff are fighting over it?] [Gates called down the gods’ wrath on leakers Friday (the 13th !)] [*]
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is creating a department-wide task force to focus on ways to counter the roadside bombs that have caused 80 percent of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan. [*]
The challenges are different from those in Iraq, Gates told reporters Thursday before a visit

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:22 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/14/AR2009111402566.html
9/11 trial could become a parable of right and wrong
Before worldwide audience, both prosecution, defense to seek control of narrative
By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 15, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [decisions surely made at highest NSC levels with heavy justice dept input] [federal judiciary] [NSC input will surely be needed as issues arise; otherwise, largely bureaucratic] [use psci355, 455, 469] [*]
NEW YORK -- If it happens, the trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed will make for riveting drama amid the dry routines of procedure in federal court. Of all the many risks in the contest, the greatest may be the drama itself.
In the narrowest of legal terms, the case against Mohammed -- self-proclaimed author of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- and four co-defendants is about particulars of fact and law: deliberation and intent, deed and consequence, guilt and innocence. Attorney General Eric

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:20 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/politics/15cost.html
November 15, 2009
High Costs Weigh on Troop Debate for Afghan War
By CHRISTOPHER DREW [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [incredible leaks in past week or so] [now Obama’s staff are fighting over it?] [Gates called down the gods’ wrath on leakers Friday (the 13th !)] [*]
While President Obama’s decision about sending more troops to Afghanistan is primarily a military one, it also has substantial budget implications that are adding pressure to limit the commitment, senior administration officials say.
The latest internal government estimates place the cost of adding 40,000 American troops and sharply expanding the Afghan security forces, as favored by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American and allied commander in Afghanistan, at $40 billion to $54 billion a year,

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:20 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/14/AR2009111402279.html
War unchecked
The U.N.'s Goldstone commission missed a chance to promote accountability on 21st-century battlefields.
Sunday, November 15, 2009 [editorial] [the trouble with the Goldstone report now voted on and taken up by UN?] [*]
IN ORDER to eliminate the Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, the United States launched at least 15 missile strikes in Pakistan this year and killed, besides Mr. Mehsud, somewhere between 200 and 300 people, according to a study by the New America Foundation. At least a quarter of those who died were civilians. [*] [that’s an awfully high ration of noncombatants killed for one guy] [and the guy was somebody the Pakistanis wanted more than a guy who’s done anything to US] [**]
Was that toll "disproportionate" to the threat posed by a single terrorist and therefore a

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:18 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/world/asia/15prexy.html
November 15, 2009
Leaders Agree to Delay a Deal on Climate Change
By HELENE COOPER [Singapore] [President Obama’s trip to Asia] [various summits or gatherings of important world leaders—mostly to put off doing necessary things!] [given the marked lack of progress in preparation of Copenhagen, leaders at APEC summit simply decide to put off important decisions until later] [use psci350] [global commons] [*]
SINGAPORE — President Obama and other world leaders have decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement at a global climate conference scheduled for next month, agreeing instead to make it the mission of the Copenhagen conference to reach a less specific “politically binding” agreement that would punt the most difficult issues into the future.
At a hastily arranged breakfast on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:18 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/world/asia/15china.html
November 15, 2009
China’s Role as Lender Alters Dynamics for Obama’s Visit
By HELENE COOPER, MICHAEL WINES and DAVID E. SANGER [China] [PRC] [China’s continued rise as global power] [it’s become the world’s lender and a huge, voracious consumer of raw resources] [a consequence of both is China’s increased presence globally but especially Africa] [some backlash as China will have to fell its way along] [followup] [*]
When President Obama visits China for the first time on Sunday, he will, in many ways, be assuming the role of profligate spender coming to pay his respects to his banker.
That stark fact — China is the largest foreign lender to the United States — has changed the core of the relationship between the United States and the only country with a reasonable

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:17 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/weekinreview/15barboza.html
November 15, 2009
China’s Sprint for the Gold
By DAVID BARBOZA
SHANGHAI [China] [PRC] [China’s continued rise as global power] [it’s become the world’s lender and a huge, voracious consumer of raw resources] [a consequence of both is China’s increased presence globally but especially Africa] [some backlash as China will have to fell its way along] [followup] [*]
PRESIDENT OBAMA’s first official visit to China brings him this weekend to a country that, despite the global downturn, is increasingly wealthy, confident, ambitious — and perplexing.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:16 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/asia/16prexy.html
November 16, 2009
Obama Says Russia ‘Reset Button’ Has Worked
By HELENE COOPER [Singapore] [President Obama’s trip to Asia] [various summits or gatherings of important world leaders—mostly to put off doing necessary things!] [cross in govt] [watch for news?] [followup] [Obama says his administration’s approach with Russia has-is worked-working] [*]
SINGAPORE — President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia expressed dissatisfaction Sunday with Iran’s response to a nuclear offer made by world powers, raising the prospect that sanctions may be the next step [*]in the West’s ongoing efforts to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The two men, meeting during an Asia-Pacific summit conference [*]in Singapore, also made progress in efforts to negotiate a replacement for a key arms control treaty between the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:15 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/world/middleeast/15mount.html
November 15, 2009
Unusual Partners Study Divisive Jerusalem Site
By ISABEL KERSHNER [Israeli-Palestinian conflict] [Middle East proper] [Levant] [another of thousands of clashes between Israel and Palestine] [followup] [endless nothing with no conceivable futures for either peoples unless they work this out!] [frustrating that they are recreating the wheel on Jerusalem which has already been negotiated to minute detail] [*]
JERUSALEM — At the heart of this contested city, the holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount [*]and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, [*]has become, for many, the epicenter of the conflict between Israel, the Palestinians and the wider Muslim world.
The mere mention of the place stirs passions and memories of centuries of bloodshed. Its alternative names evoke the depth of religious devotion and the competing claims.
Many of those contradictions are encapsulated in a new book, “Where Heaven and Earth

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/14/AR2009111402682.html
Fissures over goals test strength of Iran's opposition
By Thomas Erdbrink
Sunday, November 15, 2009 [Iran] [confluence of June elections with much else] [the intense internal dynamics of the various factions and Iran’s nuclear-enrichment processes-plants] [unfortunately, the opposition is also factionalized] [followup] [I kept nothing how leaderless it was in July-August in comments but it appears that it has different leaders working at cross purposes] [*]
TEHRAN -- Five months after a disputed presidential election spawned the largest anti-government demonstrations here in three decades, Iran's opposition movement appears rudderless and divided, with protesters increasingly at odds with their leaders' insistence on preserving the country's system of religious government. [not increasingly; it has been at odds since the beginning as noted here repeatedly] [*]
Many Tehran residents who oppose President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are taking a harder

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/world/asia/15mazar.html
November 15, 2009
Broaching Birth Control With Afghan Mullahs
By SABRINA TAVERNISE [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [US troops in AfPak: falling morale?] [unclear why?] [it may be complex including the length of deployments (now well into 8th-to-9th years] [plus Obama has gone through public process at home and that may well be affecting troops?] [then comes the economy and the difficulty troops have just meeting obligations with family strains back home in earnest?] [here, other issues include difficulty getting mental health help] [*]
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan — The mullahs stared silently at the screen. They shifted in their chairs and fiddled with pencils. Koranic verses flashed above them, but the topic was something that made everybody a little uncomfortable.
“A baby should be breast-fed for at least 21 months,” said the instructor. “Milk is safe inside

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:13 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/world/asia/15pstan.html
November 15, 2009
At Least 13 Die in a Bombing in Pakistan
By SABRINA TAVERNISE [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [Pakistan’s robust role in transnational war, villany, complications?] [followup] [more on Pakistan’s planned offensive] [followup] [the ongoing fight between Paksitan’s govt and Pakistan’s Taliban (at least certain parts-factions)] [*]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Insurgents continued to torment the northern city of Peshawar on Saturday, bombing a police checkpoint in the fifth attack on the city in a week.
Peshawar is a crowded frontier city on the edge of Pakistan’s mountainous western tribal regions that has become the main target of insurgent violence. The authorities said that the bomber detonated a truck filled with explosives, killing himself and at least 12 other [*]people. The Associated Press reported that four children were among the dead.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:12 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/15ksm.html
November 15, 2009
Portrait of 9/11 ‘Jackal’ Emerges as He Awaits Trial
By MARK MAZZETTI [al Qaeda] [hydra] [9/11 masterminds, or at least the Paksitani-Baluchi branch of al Qaeda that’s often been a little too independent for OBL’s liking] [Cuba, gitmo] [AG Holder’s recent announcment that they are being moved to NYC for trials in NY’s souther district court: venue of proximity to crime (typical) as well as district with experience handling jihadis cases] [followup] [use psci469] [*]
WASHINGTON — Not long after he was rousted from bed and seized in a predawn raid in Pakistan in March 2003, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed gave his captors two demands: He wanted a lawyer, and he wanted to be taken to New York.
After a nearly seven-year odyssey that took him to secret Central Intelligence Agency jails in Europe and an American military prison in Cuba, Mr. Mohammed is finally likely to get

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 10:10 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/politics/14bauer.html
November 14, 2009
Obama Chooses an Inner-Circle Man
By JOHN M. BRODER [Obama’s White House counsel] [Mr. Craig just announced he’s leaving] [fell on sword over gimto?] [replacement, friend of president] [*]
WASHINGTON — In being named White House counsel less than a year into President Obama’s tenure, Robert F. Bauer is reversing a longstanding trend.
Many presidents initially name a close friend and ally to the post, and then turn to a well-known Washington legal fixture when they run into legal or political trouble. In this case, Mr. Bauer, a trusted back-room counselor who was one of the first people Mr. Obama hired

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:25 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/14brfs-SUICIDESINCR_BRF.html
November 14, 2009
National Briefing | Washington
Suicides Increase Among Troops
By BLOOMBERG NEWS [obama administration] [residual from bush administration] [congress] [bureaucracy] [dod, Pentagon, department of Army] [generalize beyond Army?] [the suicide rate] [records that are not good records] [probably complex: mutiple deployments in difficult circumstances; stress at home; stress across several issue areas; possibly the poor economy] [politicization of use of troops?] [followup] [*]
There have been 133 suspected suicides among active-duty Army troops this year, putting the service within reach of a new annual high. The suicides, between January and October

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:24 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/14northwest.html
November 14, 2009
Controllers Were Slow to Notify Defense Command of Errant Jet
By MATTHEW L. WALD [obama white house] [congress] [post-IRTPA reforms] [to IC, homeland security, borders, etc] [last month’s northwest airline (now owned by Delta) that broke contact with air-traffic control] [normally, nothing for USFP] [however, apparently controllers who should have contacted NORAD and others did not do so?] [in short, some of the changes resulted from 9/11 tragedy have not been properly implemented] [sort of horrifying to think it could still happen???] [*]
WASHINGTON — Air traffic control supervisors delayed nearly an hour in notifying Norad, the military air defense command, [*]that a Northwest Airlines jetliner was not responding

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:24 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/politics/14immig.html
November 14, 2009
White House Plan on Immigration Includes Legal Status
By JULIA PRESTON [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [immigration policy in the US and the clashing interests] [the past 10 years or so as globalization has created more anger between said ideas-camps] [comprehensive immigration reform] [bureaucracy: DHS, DoD, DOJ . . .] [followup] [*]
The Obama administration will insist on measures to give legal status to an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants as it pushes early next year for legislation to overhaul the immigration system, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Friday.
In her first major speech on the overhaul, Ms. Napolitano dispelled any suggestion that the administration — with health care, energy and other major issues crowding its agenda — would postpone the most contentious piece of immigration legislation until after midterm elections next November.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/14legal.html
November 14, 2009
9/11 Trial Poses Unparalleled Legal Obstacles for Both Sides
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and BENJAMIN WEISER [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [decisions surely made at highest NSC levels with heavy justice dept input] [federal judiciary] [I included my initial responses in yesterday’s before I heard the cacophony of bizaare reactions; I stick by my initial reaction] [followup] [this now starts in important story to be watched carefully for next few years] [it will be weekly, monthly, …] [it will involve the bureaucracy mostly now that the big decisions have been made] [but there will also be NSC input as needed] [use psci355, 455] [*]
WASHINGTON — How do you defend one of the most notorious terrorist figures in history?
One step, legal analysts say, may be to ask for a change of venue. [I just don’t see why a judge would grant it?] [where in the US could they have unbiased day in court?] [it’s an imperfect system but the best one I know] [now it’s time to move forward] [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:22 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111303586.html
A terrorism trial's myths
By Andrew Cohen
Saturday, November 14, 2009 [oped] [AG Holder’s announcment of the 9/11 5 and their day in court in NYC] [good analysis of the strange hysteria that came out yesterday after AG Holder’s announcment] [I was often too stunned to respond] [other times I couldn’t tell whether people were serious—I fear they were but some of the things they said were so strange that I wondered] [use psci355] [*]
It's official. Sooner rather than later, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an al-Qaeda leader who by all accounts spearheaded planning for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, will stand trial in a federal civilian court near the scene of the crime.

Continue reading "A terrorism trial's myths" »

Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:21 AM | Permalink

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111303088.html
Obama's reluctant choice
By Jackson Diehl
Sunday, November 15, 2009 [oped] [the Post’s oped editor] [more or less the neconservative view of Obama] [they are having fits with him] [interesting to learn how much they’ve knotted themselves up] [he makes some good points and he shows his frustration but he also tries to be reasonably fair] [and I think he’s right, unfortunately, that the way it has dragged out is creating visual problems with perceptions overtaking reality and so forth] [use psci355] [*]
Three autumns ago, Washington was paralyzed with indecision about what to do about a losing war -- in Iraq. A congressionally mandated commission held hearings and weighed

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:20 AM | Permalink

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111303956.html
Mr. Medvedev's glasnost
Does his blunt description of what ails Russia portend real change?
Saturday, November 14, 2009 [editorial] [Medvedev’s recent speech] [use psci350, 355] [*]
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Dmitry Medvedev certainly talks a good game. Before taking office last year, he correctly diagnosed the country's biggest problem as "legal nihilism." The fact that lawlessness has worsened since then doesn't make Mr. Medvedev seem dishonest -- just powerless. On Thursday he delivered a 140-minute "state of the nation" speech that spelled out much of what has gone wrong during the authoritarian regime of Vladimir Putin. History suggests that this, too, won't presage much change. But the spectacle of Russia's president speaking the truth about his country was in itself a startling sight in the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:20 AM | Permalink

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111303957.html
Terrorism on trial
There are good reasons to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in New York.
Saturday, November 14, 2009 [editorial] [AG Holder’s announcment yesterday on the 9/11 5] [use psci350, 355] [*]
ONE FACT has largely been glossed over in the debate triggered by the Justice Department's announcement that it will prosecute some terrorism suspects in federal court: After more than six years in custody, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, will finally be brought to justice in a forum that is unquestionably legitimate in the eyes of most of the world. The move represents an important step for the victims, their families and the country. [now I agree entirely with that statement] [well put] [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:19 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/opinion/14sat1.html
November 14, 2009
Editorial
A Return to American Justice
[editorial] [AG Holder’s announcment yesterday on the 9/11 5] [use psci350, 355] [*]
Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. took a bold and principled step on Friday toward repairing the damage wrought by former President George W. Bush with his decision to discard the nation’s well-established systems of civilian and military justice in the treatment of detainees captured in antiterrorist operations.
From that entirely unnecessary policy (the United States had the tools to detain, charge and bring terrorists to justice) flowed a terrible legacy of torture and open-ended incarceration. It left President Obama with yet another mess to clean up on an urgent basis. [in fairness, it was always a mess—granted that some of President Bush’s decisions made it messier] [so

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:18 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/nyregion/14york.html
November 14, 2009
Trial Venue Leaves 9/11 Families Angry or Satisfied
By N. R. KLEINFIELD and JACK HEALY [societal] [families of the victims of 9/11] [they’ve never been a unified block] [here we continue to see splits] [responding to emotional issue of Obama administration’s decision to move 5 top al Qaeda types from gitmo to NYC for southern district court of NYC] [*]
To many, it felt exquisitely right: This is where it began. This is where it must end.
Others wished the actuality of it pushed far away, to a setting much less tormented by that one indelible date.
This sharp duality of reactions greeted the news on Friday that the government would have

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:18 AM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/americas/14WebBriefs-BrazilBrf.html
November 14, 2009
World Briefing | The Americas
Brazil: Emissions Cut Is Pledged
By REUTERS [Brazil] [the Americas] [Latin America] [global commons] [followup] [fast approaching Copenhagen conference next month?] [*]
Brazil will try for a minimum reduction of 36 percent in its greenhouse gas emissions from projected levels in 2020, the government said Friday, pledging a deep cut weeks before a United Nations climate summit meeting. The pledge, while not binding, aims to encourage

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:17 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/europe/14kurds.html
November 14, 2009
Turkey Plans to Ease Restrictions on Kurds and Help End Decades of Conflict
By SEBNEM ARSU [Turkey] [Syria] [middle east] [Turkey-Syria relations] [Turkey pivotal to many peace talks that take place in region] [is Turkey at long last addressing its treatment of Kurds?] [not only would it be a great thing for Kurds and Turks and Turkey, it would doubtless help Turkey in terms of its bid to EU] [followup] [*]
ISTANBUL — After months of dialogue, the Turkish government announced a plan on Friday to help end the quarter-century-long conflict with a Kurdish separatist movement that has cost more than 40,000 lives.
The plan will be debated by Parliament, but the fact that it is being discussed at all is considered to be a landmark. For decades, Kurdish political parties were routinely banned, and the ethnic identity of the Kurds was not openly acknowledged, though they make up

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:16 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/asia/14beijing.html
November 14, 2009
China Focuses on Territorial Issues as It Equates Tibet to U.S. Civil War South
By EDWARD WONG [Asia] [China] [Japan] [Korea] [President Obama’s trip to Asia] [Japan and China on itinerary] [cross in govt] [watch for news?] [followup] [pretty strange: China’s leaders have reckoned that as “Black” president, Obama might understand China’s principled stand on Tibet in terms of America’s Civil War and abolishment of slavery] [*]
BEIJING — The Chinese government had a special message for President Obama on Thursday: He is black, he admires Abraham Lincoln, so he, of all people, should sympathize with Beijing’s effort to prevent Tibet from seceding and sliding back into what it was before its liberation by Chinese troops: a feudalistic, slaveholding society headed by the Dalai Lama

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:15 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/asia/14prexy.html
November 14, 2009
Obama Says U.S. Seeks to Build Stronger Ties to China
By HELENE COOPER and MARTIN FACKLER [Asia] [China] [Japan] [Korea] [President Obama’s trip to Asia] [Japan and China on itinerary] [cross in govt] [watch for news?] [followup] [the only news on Japan was that Obama agreed to study Japan’s request for transferring part of Okinawa to Guam—the deal begun under President Bush?] [*]
TOKYO — The United States is not threatened by a rising China, President Obama said Saturday, but will seek to strengthen its ties with Beijing even as it maintains close ties with traditional allies like Japan.
In a wide-ranging speech on his first trip to Asia as president, Mr. Obama drew on his own background to reassure the people of the fast-growing continent that even as the United States seemed preoccupied with conflicts in the Middle East and other regions, it was

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111304246.html
Yemen's fight with rebels a regional concern
Sunni-Shiite tensions grow as Saudis allege Iran's involvement
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, November 14, 2009 [Saudi] [Yemen] [Middle East proper] [proximity to horn, Saudi peninsula] [jihadis and Islamists in Yemen] [Yemen’s insurgency spreading?] [followup] [*]
MAZRAQ, YEMEN -- Along the jagged, oatmeal-colored mountains of northern Yemen, civil war has transformed the windswept landscape into a canvas of human misery, bolstering al-Qaeda's efforts to create a haven in the Middle East's poorest nation.
It is a war largely hidden from the rest of the world the past five years, and it pits the Hawthi rebels, who are Shiites, against Yemen's government. In recent days, however, it has also drawn in Saudi Arabia. Yemen and Saudi Arabia, both ruled by Sunnis, accuse Shiite Iran of backing the rebels, raising the specter of a proxy war that could elevate

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111304229.html
Digest
Saturday, November 14, 2009
RUSSIA
Troops kill 20 rebels in restive Chechnya
[Russia] [former USSR] [Chechnya] [new assertive Russia] [Russia ethos] [use psci350, 469b] [use ir text] [Caucases] [followup] [nationalism and jihad in explosive mix?] [Russia’s sinkhole during the 1990s] [*]
Government forces killed more than 20 rebels in Chechnya on Friday, and a bomb blast at a cemetery in the neighboring province of Dagestan killed three relatives visiting the grave of a police officer slain by insurgents, law enforcement authorities said.
Chechnya's Kremlin-backed president, Ramzan Kadyrov, said it was possible that Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov was among those killed in the fighting in the province's southern mountains. [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:13 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/middleeast/14WebBriefs-GazaBrf.html
November 14, 2009
World Briefing | Middle East
Israel: Clash at a Border Crossing
By REUTERS [Israeli-Palestinian conflict] [Middle East proper] [Levant] [another of thousands of clashes between Israel and Palestine] [followup] [endless nothing with no conceivable futures for either peoples unless they work this out!] [*]
Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian and wounded two others in a confrontation near a Gaza Strip border crossing on Friday, the Israeli Army and Palestinian medical workers said. A rocket fired from Gaza struck later in an open area near an Israeli town, but did not cause any injuries, the army said. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the rocket attack.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the troops opened fire at Palestinians suspected of placing explosives near a security fence. The Hamas police countered that the people had

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:12 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/middleeast/14lebanon.html
November 14, 2009
Campus Elections in Lebanon Mirror Society’s Politics
By ROBERT F. WORTH [Lebanon] [Israeli- Palestinian conflict] [if Hezbollah (they have controlled south for some time) are shelling Israelis again from Lebanon, war could easily break out] [Hariri’s apparent move to the margins to let others from Lebenese govt; and other things?] [followup] [*]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — For a brief moment, it looked as if civil war would break out on campus. Two clusters of excited young people faced off as the student election results came in: Hezbollah allies on one side, and right-wing Christian zealots on the other. [Lebanon, recall, was a French enclave for Christians partitioned out of Syria] [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:11 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/asia/14korea.html
November 14, 2009
North Korea Issues New Threat After Naval Clash
By CHOE SANG-HUN [DPRK] [ROK] [North Korea] [ROK, South Korea] [I’m not sure most Americans understand how hair-trigger things are in peninsula?] [these sorts of accidents happen relatively regularly and the US has had its share of them with DPRK, from the Pueblo to the 1969 EC121 to Polar Tree to … ] [continued threats since last week’s skirmish] [followup] [*]
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea threatened Friday to take “merciless military measures” along a disputed maritime border with South Korea, escalating tensions as President Obama began a weeklong visit to Asia.
The two Korean navies clashed on Tuesday in their first violent skirmish in seven years, and since then the North has issued harsh daily statements demanding a South Korean

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:10 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111304340.html
A closer look at the alleged Sept. 11 conspirators
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Five alleged conspirators in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will be transferred to the United States for trial in federal court. [al Qaeda] [hydra] [9/11 masterminds] [Cuba, gitmo] [yesterday’s announcment that they are being moved to NYC for trials in NY’s souther district court: venue of proximity to crime (typical) as well as district with experience handling jihadis cases] [the big 5, 3-4 of which were waterboarded, complicating things] [but I still expect the prosecuters to get plenty of help from Washingotn and do an exemplary job on them, reducing them to the criminals they gave admitted to being][*]
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, 44, is the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks. The Kuwait-born Pakistani proposed to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden a plot in which aircraft would be used to attack the United States, according to the 9/11 Commission Report. He then

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:09 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111304385.html
A staggering ego, at the center of difficult issues
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 14, 2009 [al Qaeda] [hydra] [9/11 masterminds] [Cuba, gitmo] [yesterday’s announcment that they are being moved to NYC for trials in NY’s souther district court: venue of proximity to crime (typical) as well as district with experience handling jihadis cases] [KSM, the Brain, more like the ego] [my impression is he’s not nearly as smart nor as scary as he’s puffed himself to be] [but interesting] [*]
When two planes struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, Khalid Sheik Mohammed was sitting in an Internet cafe in Karachi, Pakistan, monitoring the attacks. At first, Mohammed later told CIA interrogators, he was disappointed. He said that he expected the towers to crumble immediately and that he

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:08 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111304266.html
U.S. soldiers' morale down in Afghanistan
Obstacles to getting mental health care cited in Army survey
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 14, 2009 [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Afghanistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [US troops in AfPak: falling morale?] [unclear why?] [it may be complex including the length of deployments (now well into 8th-to-9th years] [plus Obama has gone through public process at home and that may well be affecting troops?] [then comes the economy and the difficulty troops have just meeting obligations with family strains back home in earnest?] [here, other issues include difficulty getting mental health help] [*]
Morale has fallen sharply among U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, with repeated combat deployments taking a toll on their psychological health and marriages, according to an Army mental health survey released Friday.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:07 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/europe/14troops.html
November 14, 2009
Britain Asks Allies for More Troops in Afghanistan
By ALAN COWELL [Afghanistan] [UK] [began in Pakistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [not much new since Karzai declared winner by default—we don’t know what most Afghanis think about it] [Brown’s govt asks other allies to pony up troops] [followup] [*]
PARIS — As the Obama administration debates whether to commit more American troops to Afghanistan, Germany announced a modest increase in its contingent on Friday, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain said he was pressing European and other allies to deploy 5,000 more soldiers.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:07 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/europe/14flights.html
November 14, 2009
News Analysis
Russian Deal on Afghan Supply Route Not a Deal Yet
By PETER BAKER [Afghanistan] [hydra] [Russia] [AfPak] [followup] [supply route via Russia, arose months] [*]
WASHINGTON — When he met President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia in April, President Obama sought to open an important new supply corridor for Afghanistan by flying American troops and weapons through Russian airspace. Visiting Moscow in July, he sealed a deal for as many as 4,500 flights a year, in what he called a “substantial contribution” to

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:06 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/asia/14afghan.html
November 14, 2009
Explosion Hits U.S. Base in Afghan Capital
By ALISSA J. RUBIN [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Pakistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [not much new since Karzai declared winner by default—we don’t know what most Afghanis think about it] [there’s evidence that the country is divided into urban, literate, elite and rural, mostly illiterate, masses] [followup] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber struck Friday at a United States military convoy as it passed near a large American installation on the outskirts of Kabul.
The bomber attacked the convoy outside Camp Phoenix, on the Kabul-Jalalabad road, said Gen. Sayed Ghafar Sayedzada, the head of criminal investigations with the Kabul Police Department. The blast shattered windows in some nearby gas stations, but there appeared to be no major damage to other buildings or the military base.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:05 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/asia/14pstan.html
November 14, 2009
Militants Hit Pakistan Spy Agency
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and ISMAIL KHAN [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [Pakistan’s robust role in transnational war, villany, complications?] [followup] [more on Pakistan’s planned offensive] [followup] [the ongoing fight between Paksitan’s govt and Pakistan’s Taliban (at least certain parts-factions)] [*]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Militants stepped up their fight against the Pakistani government in western Pakistan on Friday, the same day the American national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, met with top Pakistani officials here in the capital. [this was first reported in yesterday’s NYTs, external] [*]
The insurgents rammed a truck bomb into a regional office of the country’s main intelligence agency in Peshawar, sending a message that they were able to hit even the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 11:04 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111300071.html
White House counsel poised to give up post
Tenure marked by struggles over closing Guantanamo
By Anne E. Kornblut and Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, November 13, 2009 [obama white house] [residual from bush white house] [one of the first couple of things the president did after inauguration was sign executive order on closing gitmo] [Mr. Craig’s name in the papers a couple fo times attached to gimto closing and hardball politics inside White House] [he’s a respected battler of such battles; looks like he lost on this round?] [*]
TOKYO -- White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig is expected to announce his departure as early as Friday, people familiar with the situation said, ending an embattled tenure in which he struggled to lead the closure of the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. [*]
Craig will be replaced by Bob Bauer, a prominent Democratic lawyer who is Obama's

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:39 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/us/13brfs-CIADIDNTVIOL_BRF.html
November 13, 2009
National Briefing | Washington
C.I.A. Didn’t Violate Rights, Court Says
By JOHN SCHWARTZ [obama white house] [from bush white house] [dating back to Plame case—CIA covert WMD expert exposed because her husband tangled with veep’s people] [followup] [late Novak and couple others (Judith Miller) had strange relations with Libby (Cheney’s Cheney)][CIA cleared of wrong doing?] [cleared of violating her rights to free speech?] [*]
The Central Intelligence Agency did not violate the free speech rights of a former operative, Valerie Wilson, when it prohibited publication of details of her work before 2002 for the agency, a federal appeals court ruled. Ms. Wilson, left, whose classified status was exposed by Bush administration officials, redacted portions of her 2007 book, “Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House” because of the ban, but argued that the information was already in the public domain and publication should have been permitted.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/politics/14immig.html
November 14, 2009
White House to Begin Push on Immigration Overhaul in 2010
By JULIA PRESTON [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [immigration policy in the US and the clashing interests] [the past 10 years or so as globalization has created more anger between said ideas-camps] [comprehensive immigration reform] [bureaucracy: DHS, DoD, DOJ . . .] [followup] [*]
The Obama administration will insist on measures to give legal status to an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in legislation to overhaul the immigration system that it will begin to push early next year, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Friday. [*]
In an address at the Center for American Progress, a liberal policy group in Washington, Ms. Napolitano sought to dispel any notion that the administration — with health care, energy and other major issues crowding its agenda — might postpone the most contentious piece

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111209731.html
Prosecutors tie Iran, U.S. assets
FORFEITURE ACTIONS BEGIN
N.Y. group, related sites said to be Tehran fronts
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 13, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [Iran and the potential of Iran having “fronts” in the US (and elsewhere) doing some of its bidding?] [bureaucracy: justice department, others] [followup] [use psci355, 455] [*]
Federal prosecutors on Thursday moved to seize several U.S. assets allegedly controlled by entities linked to the government of Iran, including a mosque and Islamic school in Potomac, land in Prince William County and a Manhattan skyscraper. [*]
Prosecutors described an intricate web of ties allegedly connecting the properties to an Iranian bank that has been identified as a key financier of Tehran's nuclear and ballistic

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:36 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/world/asia/13eikenberry.html
November 13, 2009
Among Obama Aides, Debate Intensifies on Troop Levels
By MARK LANDLER and JEFF ZELENY [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [incredible leaks in past week or so] [now Obama’s staff are fighting over it?] [Gates called down the gods’ wrath on leakers yesterday] [*]
WASHINGTON — The disclosure that the United States ambassador in Kabul has expressed written opposition to deploying more American troops to Afghanistan lays bare the fierce debate within the Obama administration over the direction of the war, even after weeks of deliberations and with the president on the verge of a decision. [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:35 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/us/13inquire.html
November 13, 2009
Major Held in Fort Hood Rampage Is Charged With 13 Counts of Murder
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy: law enforcement] [horrible attack, Army major, phsycian, who opened fire on fellow soldiers] [killed 13, wounded 40 more] [pretty horrific] [and he appears to have had complex reasons, including religious] [the leaks are now coming fast and furiously] [I saw it politicized yesterday to my horror; of course his religion was linked but let’s not pretend he was part of global jihadis hydra for heaven sakes] [*]
FORT HOOD, Tex. — Military officials charged Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan on Thursday with 13 counts of premeditated murder, accusing him of a brutal one-man attack here at America’s largest Army post last week and setting in motion what promises to be a momentous court-martial proceeding that could end in the death penalty. [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:35 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/us/politics/13gates.html
November 13, 2009
Gates Condemns Leaks on U.S. Afghan Policy and Ft. Hood
By ELISABETH BUMILLER [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [for few weeks now leaks-‘o’-plenty on looming AfPak decisions and McChrystul’s recommendation] [just in past few days we’ve learned of united front (reported in NYTs) of Gates-Clinton-Mullen in favor of McChrystul’s recommendation or some version followed by General (retired) Eikenberry cables sent to President Obama with blunt stuff about Karzai and warnings not to send the troops] [while fascinating, it suggest the NSC leading like a sive!] [use psci355, 455] [followup] [now SecDef Gates has called down the gods’ wrath] [somebody needed to; where was NSC advisor Jones?] [*]
OSHKOSH, Wis. — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is normally a mild-mannered man, at

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:34 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111210693.html
Primacy of CIA station chiefs confirmed, ending interagency row
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 13, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model] [as I recall this arose between DNI and CIA???] [use psci355, 455] [*]
National security adviser James L. Jones has decided that CIA chiefs of station in countries across the world will continue also to represent the office of the director of national intelligence, [*] ending a brief turf battle between the heads of the two spy organizations, according to U.S. intelligence officials. [between which two, the CIA and ODNI?] [*]
At issue was a May directive by Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair, who as head of the 16 agencies that make up the intelligence community, including the CIA, asserted that in "rare circumstances," he [meaning DNI or his appointee?] [*] could select someone other than a CIA station chief to be his representative to foreign governments or international organizations. The directive provided that, in "virtually all cases globally," the

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111209563.html
Weak allies limit Obama's options
WAR PLANS HINDERED
Afghanistan, Pakistan may prove unreliable
By Karen DeYoung and Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, November 13, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [for few weeks now leaks-‘o’-plenty on looming AfPak decisions and McChrystul’s recommendation] [so yesterday, united front reported in NYTs of Gates-Clinton-Mullen in favor of McChrystul’s recommendation or some version] [General (retired) Eikenberry (who became America’s ambassador to Pakistan) sent President Obama 2 cables with blunt stuff about Karzai and warnings not to send the troops???] [in the past week or two] [use psci355, 455] [followup] [serious leaking here!] [sabotage?] [potentially explosive!] [*]
In the final stages of its deliberations over a new war strategy, the administration's

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:32 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/14terror.html
November 14, 2009
Key 9/11 Suspect to Be Tried in New York
By CHARLIE SAVAGE [Obama white house] [111th congress, still 1st session] [probably fairly high level in WH-NSC; also typically bureaucracy once basic decision made] [federal judiciary] [the problems the US (and the West including Europe and Canada) has had with prosecuting the global jihadis hydra] [some benefits of NY district court: lots of experience prosecuting jihadis (1993 forward); more transparency; in military court gives al Qaeda some legitimacy as military struggle; so forth] [negatives will include circus atmospherics if judge doesn’t keep short tether; delays] [followup] [*]
WASHINGTON — Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, [the “brain” as he’s cometimes called in Arabic] [*] the self-described mastermind of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and four other men accused in the plot will be prosecuted in federal court in New York City, the

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111209922.html
Bypassing the aid trap in Pakistan
By Glenn Hubbard
Friday, November 13, 2009 [oped] [on Pakistan-US relations: bad and probably getting worse] [I think he worked in the Bush administration but would have to double check—yes first term council of economic advisors] [supply-side guy who worked on getting Bush’s tax cuts implemented] [*]
Congress recently approved $7.5 billion in aid to Pakistan for social and economic development. The bill incited controversy by requiring that the U.S. secretary of state report to lawmakers on whether Pakistan's civilian government keeps effective control over its military, because many observers accuse some in the Pakistani military of having tolerated or even aided Islamic extremists since the 1980s.
But the bill itself should raise questions. After all, does Pakistan, or the U.S. Agency for

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:30 PM | Permalink

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111210111.html
Deal with it
Trade is big in Asia. Too bad America lacks a trade policy.
Friday, November 13, 2009
[editorial] [the lack of trade policy in Obama administration] [the US is getting beat up by Europe and Asia] [it’s residual from the Bush administration but at least Bush signed a trade deal with Korea—congress has not ratified] [hint of Obama being too beholding to unions] [probably true but interesting the NYTs would hint at it] [*]
PRESIDENT OBAMA has a busy week ahead in Asia. His meetings in Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing and Seoul will touch on repression in Burma, U.S. military bases in Japan and the pursuit of nuclear weapons in North Korea. But as the leader of a nation struggling with 10.2 percent unemployment, Mr. Obama must also focus on the U.S. economic relationship with the world's most dynamic region.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:29 PM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/opinion/13fri3.html
November 13, 2009
Editorial
A Farewell to Lou
[editorial] [Lou Dobbs’ resignation at CNN television] [*]
Lou Dobbs has left CNN, or maybe the other way around. Whichever it is, an old, odd, infuriating-to-many mismatch of sober network and strident host is over. CNN, for now anyway, changes back to something closer to the nonpartisan, straight-up news network it wants you to think of it as, different from its ideologically branded rivals Fox News and MSNBC. The real question is the effect the change will have on Mr. Dobbs.
Mr. Dobbs, once a pinstriped purveyor of financial news, has burrowed deep into the popular culture as a self-styled populist enraged by illegal immigration. When he resigned on the air Wednesday night, he made it clear that that aspect of his public persona is not

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:28 PM | Permalink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/business/economy/14econ.html
November 14, 2009
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens on Oil Imports
By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ [US] [global] [global economic meltdown] [the US dollar’s decline, again] [but that makes American-made goods cheaper for global markets] [use psci350] [use ir text] [*]
The United States trade deficit in September widened more than expected, to $36.5 billion, in part because of an increase in oil prices, the Commerce Department said Friday.
The department’s data showed an 18.2 percent jump in the gap between the value of imports and exports, known as the trade balance.
Both imports and exports rose, but an increase in the price of oil weighed significantly on the statistics. Oil prices increased to $68.17 a barrel in September from $64.75 in August.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:27 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/world/asia/13india.html
November 13, 2009
Rural India Gets Chance at Piece of Jobs Boom
By LYDIA POLGREEN [India] [South Asia] [India’s masses] [with India becoming integrated into the global economy, array of issues has appeared] [followup] [*]
BAGEPALLI, India — Under harsh fluorescent lights, dozens of heads bend over keyboards, the clattering unison of earnest typing filling the room. Monitors flicker with insurance forms, time sheets and customer service e-mail messages, tasks from far away, sent to this corner of India to be processed on the cheap.
This scene unfolds in cities across India, especially in the high-tech hubs of Bangalore and Gurgaon, places synonymous with the information technology revolution that has transformed India’s economy and pushed the country toward double-digit economic growth.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/asia/14prexy.html
November 14, 2009
In Tokyo, Obama Makes Concession on Marine Base
By HELENE COOPER and MARTIN FACKLER [Japan] [Tokyo] [President Obama’s trip to Asia] [Japan and China on itinerary] [cross in govt] [watch for news?] [*]
TOKYO — President Obama, seeking to mend fences with Japan, America’s most important Asian ally, announced on Friday that he would establish a high-level working group on the contentious issue of the continuing presence of a Marine base in Okinawa. [*]
The decision, announced at a news conference just a few hours after he touched down in Tokyo to begin his first presidential trip to Asia, appears to represent a concession by the Obama administration to at least consider Japan’s concerns. It comes less than a month after Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates seemed to shut the door on renegotiating a deal reached in 2006 to relocate the United States Marine air base in Futenma to a less populated part of the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:25 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/world/europe/13poison.html
November 13, 2009
Germany Ends Probe of Suspect in Litvinenko Case
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ and ALAN COWELL [Russia] [former USSR] [Western Europe: Britain, Germany, elsewhere] [new assertive Russia] [Russia ethos] [use psci350] [use ir text] [followup] [rash of Kremlin enemies who were killed 2005-2006… and residuals] [*]
MOSCOW — German prosecutors have abandoned investigations into one of the main figures suspected of involvement in the killing of a former K.G.B. officer in London three years ago without bringing charges, according to accounts on Thursday by the prosecutors and the man in question.

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:24 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/world/europe/13poison.html
November 13, 2009
Germany Ends Probe of Suspect in Litvinenko Case
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ and ALAN COWELL [Russia] [former USSR] [Western Europe: Britain, Germany, elsewhere] [new assertive Russia] [Russia ethos] [use psci350] [use ir text] [followup] [rash of Kremlin enemies who were killed 2005-2006… and residuals] [*]
MOSCOW — German prosecutors have abandoned investigations into one of the main figures suspected of involvement in the killing of a former K.G.B. officer in London three years ago without bringing charges, according to accounts on Thursday by the prosecutors and the man in question.
Dmitri V. Kovtun, a businessman with his own links to Russian security services, was

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/world/middleeast/13saudi.html
November 13, 2009
News Analysis
Saudis’ Efforts to Swat Rebels From Yemen Risk Inflaming Larger Conflict
By ROBERT F. WORTH [Saudi] [Yemen] [Middle East proper] [proximity to horn, Saudi peninsula] [jihadis and Islamists in Yemen] [Yemen’s insurgency spreading?] [followup] [*]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — For more than a week, Saudi Arabia has been carrying out a highly unusual military operation on its remote southern border, to punish a band of rebels from neighboring Yemen who crossed over and attacked a Saudi patrol. [*]
On the surface, the operation looks like a great success. The Saudis used fighter jets and an overwhelming ground superiority to flush the rebels from their terrain. But now many

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:21 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111209266.html
Israel challenged on Gazan's ejection from West Bank
Student's case comes as Netanyahu talks of easing restrictions
By Howard Schneider
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 13, 2009 [Israel] [domestic politics intersects foreign policy] [followup] [only in Israel?] [*]
JERUSALEM -- Gaza-born Berlanty Azzam, 21, was two months from receiving her bachelor's degree from Bethlehem University when the past caught up with her.
During a routine stop at a West Bank checkpoint on Oct. 28, an Israeli guard noticed Gaza City as the town of residence on her ID, placed her under arrest for being in the West Bank without permission and, within hours, had her deported back to the Gaza Strip, blindfolded briefly and in handcuffs. [*]
Her case has drawn high-level attention -- including inquiries from the U.S. State Department -- from those who question whether such a strict enforcement of the rules is

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/world/middleeast/13pals.html
November 13, 2009
Palestinian Officials Push for Delay in Elections
By ISABEL KERSHNER [Palestine] [West Bank] [across Palestinians] [domestic politics intersects foreign policy] [followup] [elections were to be held in January] [now?] [*]
JERUSALEM — Palestinian presidential and parliamentary elections cannot be held on their scheduled date in January, Palestinian Authority election officials said Thursday. The announcement removed some of the immediate uncertainty surrounding the future of the current president, Mahmoud Abbas, who said recently that he would not run for a second term. [*]
The officials said the voting could not be held because Hamas, which controls Gaza, would not allow them to begin preparations for the elections there. The announcement is not a surprise; Hamas had earlier said it would bar voting in Gaza because it and Mr. Abbas’s Fatah faction,

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:19 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/world/asia/13jurm.html
November 13, 2009
Afghan Enclave Seen as Model for Development
By SABRINA TAVERNISE [Afghanistan] [hydra] [began in Pakistan, but moved to Paksitan] [AfPak] [not much new since Karzai declared winner by default—we don’t know what most Afghanis think about it] [there’s evidence that the country is divided into urban, literate, elite and rural, mostly illiterate, masses] [followup] [*]
JURM, Afghanistan — Small grants given directly to villagers have brought about modest but important changes in this corner of Afghanistan, [*]offering a model in a country where official corruption and a Taliban insurgency have frustrated many large-scale development efforts. [*]

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:18 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/world/asia/13briefs-Pakbf.html
November 13, 2009
World Briefing | Asia
Pakistan: Iran Consulate Worker Killed
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Pakistan] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [Pakistan’s robust role in transnational war, villany, complications?] [followup] [hard to know with so little info: Sunni-Salfi militants or common criminals?] [*]
Gunmen on Thursday killed a Pakistani who worked at the Iranian Consulate in the

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:17 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/asia/14pstan.html
November 14, 2009
Militants Hit Pakistan Spy Agency in Escalation
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and ISMAIL KHAN [Pakistan] [al Qaeda] [Pakistan as central hub in AfPak wheel] [AfPak] [Pakistan’s robust role in transnational war, villany, complications?] [followup] [more on Pakistan’s planned offensive] [followup] [the ongoing fight between Paksitan’s govt and Pakistan’s Taliban (at least certain parts-factions)] [*]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Militants stepped up their fight against the Pakistani government on Friday, ramming a truck bomb into a regional office of the country’s main intelligence agency. [*]
The early-morning blast destroyed a building at the intelligence compound in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 11 people and wounded more than 60, the authorities said, in what has become a grimly familiar cycle of violence. An attack on a police

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:14 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/world/europe/13briefs-Italybf.html
November 13, 2009
World Briefing | Europe
Italy: 17 Arrested in Terrorism Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Italy] [EU] [hydra] [along with Britain, Germany, Netherlands, lesser extent France, the Euro front line of gsave] [jihadis in Europe] [general problems in West prosecuting Islamists and jihadis] [2008 uptick—including especially Mumbai Massacre] [use psci469b] [previous, followup, December 2008] [*]
Italy’s top security official said Thursday that authorities had broken up an international terrorist cell with the arrest in Italy and elsewhere in Europe of 17 Algerians [Salafi group?] [*] suspected of raising money to finance terrorism. The official, Interior Minister Roberto

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:14 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111211060.html
A nuclear power's act of proliferation
Accounts by controversial scientist assert China gave Pakistan enough enriched uranium in '82 to make 2 bombs
By R. Jeffrey Smith and Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 13, 2009 [Pakistan] [China—as proliferator?] [China’s close relation with Pakistan during Cold War as counterbalance to India-Soviet relation] [Pakistan’s notorious AQ Khan and his turn-key operations sold around the world] [the operation included centrifuge machinery that when linked in series could enrich enough uranium to obtain the necessary istope] [for nuclear bomb, the need is for around 90% (and better) purity of said isotope] [far less for nuclear energy reaction, on order of 10%] [al Qaeda’s state goal to acquire WMD] [use psci469-1] [bombshell aspects!] [*]
In 1982, a Pakistani military C-130 left the western Chinese city of Urumqi with a highly unusual cargo: enough weapons-grade uranium for two atomic bombs, [*] according to

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Posted by Kent Bolton at 02:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)