Not much local, but here’s the overview at this hour:
- Putin, at Summit, Gets Full-Court Press on Syria (WSJ) — According to the BBC, Obama and Putin have at least agreed to a summit over it. Which could be an effective delaying tactic for Russia, since their guy is winning at the moment. Putin gets the Understatement of the Week Award, for saying this: “Our positions do not fully coincide…”
- President-Elect of Iran Talks of Easing Tensions With U.S. (NYT) — Rowhani calls his nation’s alienation from this one a “wound” that must be healed. Very promising, because one does not talk about patching things up with “the Great Satan.” On the other hand, he’s not ready to stop uranium enrichment.
- Ahmadinejad faces criminal charges (The Guardian) — Meanwhile, in a highly interesting related story…
- Justices Block Law Requiring Voters to Prove Citizenship (NYT) — This would seem to slap down two favorite agendas on the right these days — cracking down on illegals and making it tougher to vote — but I’m not sure the Court meant anything that sweeping. Can’t tell…
- High court says SC driver records protected (AP) — Meanwhile, the Supremes rule on an SC case. Man, when you fall in Iran, you fall fast.
- Navy athletes to be charged in alleged rape (WashPost) — It’s interesting that the WashPost is leading with this, whereas it’s hardly getting any play elsewhere. Maybe Washington considers anything out of Annapolis sort of local, but maybe it’s because there have been so many sexual-misconduct cases in the military lately. I just found the disparity interesting.
Related Posts
1. Looks like we’re shaping up for a good ol’ fashioned proxy war, but still not sure what our interest is.
2. My guess is this new guy is a smooth-talker who will not concede anything of substance.
4. From my reading of the opinion, it’s very complicated. I don’t think it’s as big of a “win” or “loss” as certain people might think.
Regarding number 2, Bret Stephens of the WSJ has this to say about Americans hailing Rouhani/Rowhani/Rohani as a breath of fresh air: “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
Stephens paints him as quite the baddie. And warns that the mullahs have pulled this “good cop” routine on us before, suggesting that this time our willingness to give the new guy room to operate will give them more room than they need to finish building the Bomb.
Which, it must be admitted, also fits the available facts. If that’s what the mullahs were pulling, this is just the way they’d do it.
The thing that hasn’t added up, for the “good news” scenario, is that the powers behind the presidency have so meekly gone along with the results of this election.
Remember, when we had a peaceful turnover of power after the 1800 election, it was a revolution in human affairs. And it’s still not as common as it should be, outside of the liberal West. So we should be skeptical.
Seriously, haven’t we learned in the past that we can’t trust guys who can’t figure out how to spell their names?
Their names are spelled quite consistently in their alphabet….xenophobic much?
Do you really, honestly think that was something other than a joke? Do I really have to use the smiley face every time?
I know you were being flippant, but it was a Health and Happiness caliber “joke.”
Given the challenges innocent Arab-Americans have faced in the last decade or so….