Hydrablog

Dick Cheney and the use of classified information

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:18:31 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110203525.html
Dick Cheney and the use of classified information
By WALTER PINCUS Tuesday, November 3, 2009 [former bush white house] [the 2003 imbroglio that became the Plame case] [veep’s office and staff] [Veep Cheney, his role as veep, his habits, and the NSC process accommodated for him?] [*]
Then-Vice President Richard B. Cheney gave a surprisingly honest description of how top administration officials treat classified information when he was questioned more than five years ago by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel investigating the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, [*]who was then a covert CIA employee.
According to the FBI report on the May 8, 2004, session, released last week, the vice president was asked about testimony by I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, his chief of staff. Libby

U.S.S. New York Reaches Manhattan

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:17:27 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/nyregion/03ship.html
November 3, 2009
U.S.S. New York Reaches Manhattan
By A. G. SULZBERGER [federal govt] [new US Ship, U.S.S. with tradition of italics for name: USS New York City] [new transport ship capable of moving up to 700 Marines and Sailors almost anywhere] [its crew are many New York and NY burrows residents] [stationed on this ship would be incredibly emotional just by virtue of why it was named as such] [bureaucracy] [upcoming commission ceremony] [*]
The U.S.S. New York reached New York City Monday morning, sweeping under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, pausing at the World Trade Center site and pushing along the Upper West Side before circling around, like a contestant in a beauty pageant, to dock in Midtown Manhattan.
It was the end of an inaugural five-day voyage from Norfolk, Va., for the ship’s official commissioning into the Navy fleet on Saturday, as well as an emotional “homecoming” for a

Deportation suit against U.S. rejected

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:16:35 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110203637.html
Nation Digest
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
COURTS
Deportation suit against U.S. rejected
[Obama white house] [residuals, …] [federal judiciary] [courts and Canadian who was grabbed as terrorist] [follwup] [*]
A Canadian engineer cannot sue the United States over being mistaken for a terrorist a year after the 2001 terrorist attacks, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
The judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit voted 7 to 4 to uphold a decision by a lower court judge dismissing a lawsuit by Syrian-born Maher Arar, who was detained as he tried to change planes in New York in 2002. [*]
Arar sued the U.S. government and top Justice Department officials, saying the United States sent him to Syria to be tortured days after he was picked up on a false tip from Canada

Clinton tells Iran to adhere to plan

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:15:39 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110200945.html
Clinton tells Iran to adhere to plan
Tehran questions uranium swap, talks of buying fuel instead
By Thomas Erdbrink Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, November 3, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [Iran’s WMD] [NSC principals and deputies; bureaucracy] [followup] [state department] [SecState Clinton and the Obama diplomatic team] [secState Clinton talking to Iran via media] [*]
TEHRAN -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday urged Iran to stick to an agreement to ship low-enriched uranium abroad for processing for use in a Tehran research reactor, after a senior official Iranian official said his country wants to instead purchase nuclear fuel.
Clinton said there should be no backing away from the deal with the United States and

Obama Warns Karzai to Focus on Tackling Corruption

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:14:41 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/world/asia/03afghan.html
November 3, 2009
Obama Warns Karzai to Focus on Tackling Corruption
By HELENE COOPER and JEFF ZELENY [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [former Marine, then foreign-service officer with state] [his thinking on the mess that is AfPak and why he’s now resigned?] [frankly, I don’t know what it may indicated—it’s just sort of interesting] [context: this is but one guy; I still have not heard McChrystul’s full justification] [nor have I heard the president articulate what he sees as American’s specific security interests] [President Obama sent direct signal to Karzai (one that I think was badly needed)] [use psci455, 355] [*]
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday admonished President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan that he must take on what American officials have said he avoided during his

Karzai is wild card for U.S. strategy

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:13:40 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110202057.html
Karzai is wild card for U.S. strategy
Reelected leader could undermine Obama's efforts in Afghanistan
By Scott Wilson and Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, November 3, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [former Marine, then foreign-service officer with state] [his thinking on the mess that is AfPak and why he’s now resigned?] [frankly, I don’t know what it may indicated—it’s just sort of interesting] [context: this is but one guy; I still have not heard McChrystul’s full justification] [nor have I heard the president articulate what he sees as American’s specific security interests] [this was few NSC staffers with JCS locus?] [use psci455, 355] [*]
As the dust settles from Afghanistan's election, President Hamid Karzai's emergence as the victor by default cements the central dilemma facing President Obama as he decides whether to escalate the U.S. involvement in the war there. [*] [nice tease]

Russia's search for an identity

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:12:27 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110202900.html
Russia's search for an identity
By Masha Lipman Tuesday, November 3, 2009
MOSCOW [oped] [c.f., today’s article on Russia’s culture of alcoholism] [Russian ethos] [use psci350] [use ir text] [*]
On Friday, as Russia recognized its annual commemoration of political prisoners, President Dmitry Medvedev published a videoblog in which he condemned Joseph Stalin's crimes and called on the nation not to forget about past political repression or its victims. Medvedev called Stalin's repression "one of the greatest tragedies in Russian history" and expressed concern that "even today it can be heard that these mass victims were justified by certain higher goals of the state." [*]He said that "no development of a country, none of its successes or ambitions can be reached at the price of human losses and grief." His

Freedom of the Press

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:11:19 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/opinion/03tue2.html
November 3, 2009
Editorial
Freedom of the Press
[editorial] [media shield] [Obama white house and …] [obviously the NYTs has vested interest in one] [followup] [*]
The Obama administration and Congress appear to be moving toward agreement on a federal shield law, which would protect reporters who refuse to reveal confidential sources. The bill that is emerging is not perfect, but it would help ensure that Americans get the information they need about the workings of government, business and other institutions that affect their lives.
Senate Democrats and the administration have tentatively agreed on a bill that would, in some cases, allow judges to quash subpoenas asking reporters for information on

President Karzai’s Second Term

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:10:32 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/opinion/03tue1.html
November 3, 2009
Editorial
President Karzai’s Second Term
[editorial] [Mr. Karzai and Mr. Obama] [*]
We regret the decision by Afghanistan’s opposition leader, Abdullah Abdullah, to withdraw from this week’s runoff election for the presidency. After President Hamid Karzai’s supporters tried to steal the first-round vote, Mr. Abdullah had strong reason to mistrust the process. But Afghan voters deserved another chance. And Afghanistan’s government — under assault from the Taliban and its own corruption and incompetence — desperately needed the legitimacy of a cleaner vote. [*]
Now that Mr. Karzai has been re-elected by default, he is going to have to do everything in his power to persuade his people — and the rest of the world — that he is deserving of

Mt. Kilimanjaro Ice Cap Continues Rapid Retreat

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:09:31 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/world/africa/03melt.html
November 3, 2009
Mt. Kilimanjaro Ice Cap Continues Rapid Retreat
By SINDYA N. BHANOO [Africa] [near equatorial Africa] [Tanzania] [global climate change] global commons] [followup] [Kilimanjaro as barometer of climate change—it’s long been a special exemplar] [*]
The ice atop Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania has continued to retreat rapidly, declining 26 percent since 2000, scientists say in a new report.
Yet the authors of the study, to be published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reached no consensus on whether the melting could be attributed mainly to humanity’s role in warming the global climate. [*]

European Union Treaty Clears Its Final Hurdle

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:08:36 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/europe/04europe.html
November 4, 2009
European Union Treaty Clears Its Final Hurdle
By DAN BILEFSKY and STEPHEN CASTLE [Europe] [EU] [European governance] [Lisbon Treaty?] [use psci350] [create executive for foreign policy?] [followup] [*]
PRAGUE — The landmark treaty that would raise the profile of the European Union and streamline decision-making among its member states cleared its last major obstacle on Tuesday, all but ensuring that it will become law.
The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, signed the document hours after the country’s

Karadzic Makes Appearance in Court

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:07:50 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/europe/04karadzic.html
November 4, 2009
Karadzic Makes Appearance in Court
By MARLISE SIMONS and JACK HEALY [Netherlands] [Hague] [various war tribunals] [the Bosnia war crimes tribunals] [Mr. Karadzic, captured in 2008?] [followup] [*]
PARIS —The former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic made his first appearance at his trial on Tuesday to argue that he needed more time to prepare his defense against charges of genocide.
The videocast from the courtroom showed him taking his seat in the dock, dressed in a

Russia Tries, Once Again, to Rein in Vodka Habit

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:06:55 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/world/europe/03alcohol.html
November 3, 2009
Russia Tries, Once Again, to Rein in Vodka Habit
By CLIFFORD J. LEVY [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] [Russia’s rather serious problems with alcoholism] [I recall during Gorby’s regin a push to lower rate and increase productivity associated with same] [*]
MYTISHCHI, Russia — It was late on a Monday afternoon at the drunk tank in this Moscow suburb, but it could have been any day, at any hour, at any similar facility across this land. People would come. They always do. Such is Russia’s ruinous penchant for the bottle —

China: Foreign Ministry Criticizes U.S. for Sending Uighur Detainees to Palau

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:06:10 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/world/asia/03briefs-Chinabf.html
November 3, 2009
World Briefing | Asia
China: Foreign Ministry Criticizes U.S. for Sending Uighur Detainees to Palau
By REUTERS [China] [PRC] [Xinjiang unpleasantness] [Obama white house] [recent word that 6 or 8 (?) Uighurs transferred from gitmo to Palau] [China’s largely “obligatory” complaint] [*]
China criticized the United States on Monday for sending six Chinese Uighur detainees from the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to the Pacific island nation of Palau. China has demanded that the Uighurs be returned to China, but the United States has refused

Clinton Denies Easing Pressure on Israel

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:05:20 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/world/middleeast/03diplo.html
November 3, 2009
Clinton Denies Easing Pressure on Israel
By MARK LANDLER [Israeli-Palestinian conflict] [Middle East proper] [Levant] [SecState Clinton on Middle East, Northern Africa trip] [followup] [where every sigh is assessed for its significance?] [Arab and Muclim worlds: has the Obama administration backed off on its perceived tough stance on settlements?] [as I have noted, perception that it’s a tough stance misperceives USFP process and continuity] [*]
MARRAKESH, Morocco — Struggling to stem protests from the Arab world, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday reiterated that the Obama administration still wanted Israel to freeze construction of Jewish settlements, even if it regarded Israel’s compromise offer as “unprecedented.”