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May 5, 2009
Links May 5 09
  • 'The dark specter of preventive detention' – Obama’s First 100 Days: A Start On Guantánamo, But Not Enough – (Andy Worthington)
  • On Harman et al – AIPAC Victory: Game, Set, Match – (CQPolitics)
  • War preparation campaign – Porous Border With Pakistan Could Hinder U.S. Troops – (NYT)
  • Stephen Walt – The threat monger's handbook – (FP)
  • Naturally – Taliban prepare for U.S. surge – (Globe&Mail)
  • Consequences – Pakistani army flattening villages as it battles Taliban – (McClatchy)
  • Andy Xie – If China loses faith the dollar will collapse – (FT)
  • Richardson & Roubini – We Can't Subsidize the Banks Forever – (WSJ)

Please share your links, news and views in the comments.

Posted by b on May 5, 2009 at 06:36 UTC | Permalink
Comments

b, I get the feeling that Richardson and Roubini “predict” some corrective moves that Obama plans to adopt, later rather than sooner.
A part of that feeling comes from the tone of this article (its desperation-level is lower than what I’ve come to expect from Roubini).
I also begin to sense (as perhaps you do not, and why should you?) a growing sense of urgency in Obama: he’s given Summers what he wants, and once it’s done with evaporating, other voices will prevail–most importantly, and explicitly cited last week by Obama himself, the name of the dreaded Paul Volcker.
And finally, Roubini himself seems to feel somewhat more respectful of Geithner’s contact with reality (or is this wishful thinking on my part?) .
Then again, perhaps I can’t read the papers with a clear head.

Posted by: alabama | May 5 2009 7:13 utc | 1

Name the Dead!
By JAIME AVILÉS
Mexico City.

Why have we allowed this to happen? Why have we tolerated being pushed so low? Were we perhaps mistaken when we came out on the streets with white flags to put a brake on the Indian rebellion from Chiapas?
Why is it that others who live under better hygiene can get better? Why do we live under the spell of a psychosis about A/H1N1 supposedly preferring young people between the ages of 20 and 45? Why have we allowed ourselves to be convinced of all this when we don’t even know the ages of the dead?

Posted by: rudolf | May 5 2009 7:22 utc | 2

Settlements? What settlements?
Daphna Golan: For sale: Great location

It’s to be hoped that the White House gets a subscription to one of the local Jerusalem newspapers ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington. Simply leafing through the giant advertisements would save American and Israeli taxpayers significant amounts of time, money and grief.
Israel has long promised there would be no new construction in West Bank settlements. President Shimon Peres reiterated this promise recently to Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency. Topolanek, in turn, promised to work to improve Israeli-European relations. Netanyahu, during his U.S. visit, is certain to repeat the same lies uttered by Peres.
Yet this week, a Jerusalem daily promised that any Israeli factory willing to move to the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim would benefit in three ways…

Posted by: Colin | May 5 2009 9:06 utc | 3

The imperial presidency:
Priest: The Post Doesn’t Call Waterboarding ‘Torture’ Because ‘The Bush Administration Would Dispute That’
Hat-tip Richard Estes

Posted by: Colin | May 5 2009 9:15 utc | 4

@alabama – Roubini has been somewhat more relaxed recently – not sure if that really means anything
—
BBC: Georgia ‘uncovers military coup’

Georgia has uncovered an attempted military coup, the country’s defence minister says.
David Sikharulidze said the rebellion was centred around the Mukhrovani military base.
It was not immediately clear whether the supposed coup had already been launched, or whether the government had just disrupted an alleged plot.
The announcement was made just a day before controversial Nato military exercises are due to begin in Georgia.
The interior ministry told the BBC that the plotters wanted to destabilise Georgia and assassinate President Mikhail Saakashvili.
A spokesman said there had been one arrest, but that the leader of the plot – a former chief of special forces – was still at large.

Civil.ge MoD Says Military Unit Mutinies

Davit Sikharulidze, the Georgian defense minister, said a tank battalion based in Mukhrovani, close to Tbilisi, staged mutiny on Tuesday morning.
“Some civilians, who have nothing to do with the battalion, are also there,” Sikharulidze told Rustavi 2 TV in a phone interview.
The Georgian Interior Ministry said earlier that “a full-scale” military mutiny was planned in the Georgian army by some former military officials, who were “in coordination with Russia.”
“[The mutiny] aimed at minimum thwarting NATO military exercises and maximum organizing full-scale military mutiny in the country,” Shota Utiashvili, head of the information and analytical department of the Interior Ministry, said on May 5. He said that Gia Gvaladze, who was commander of the Defense Ministry’s special task force in 1990s, was arrested.

Posted by: b | May 5 2009 9:38 utc | 5

For those interested in the above “AIPAC victory” link here’s another really good one on AIPAC’s fabricated charade of self-pity:

AIPAC’S NEED OF SELF-PERSECUTION

Posted by: Parviz | May 5 2009 11:59 utc | 6

From the Pakistan flattening town article. Don’t you find something fun in the following comments from US officials?

Another U.S. official, who closely tracks Pakistan developments, said the Pakistan army is “just destroying stuff. They have zero ability to deliver (aid) services.”
“They hold villages completely accountable for the actions of a few, and that kind of operation produces a lot of (internally displaced persons) and a lot of angst,” said a senior defense official. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

And as we all know the US army is known for precise strikes and effective reconstruction of the affected neighbourhoods. Talk about hipocresy.

Posted by: ThePaper | May 5 2009 14:10 utc | 7

Is Kurdistan the next terrorist state?
http://www.freespeechzoneblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4200

Posted by: mattes | May 5 2009 16:33 utc | 8

William Blum on amerika’s prez:

The problem, I’m increasingly afraid, is that the man doesn’t really believe strongly in anything, certainly not in controversial areas. He learned a long time ago how to take positions that avoid controversy, how to express opinions without clearly and firmly taking sides, how to talk eloquently without actually saying anything, how to leave his listeners’ heads filled with stirring clichés, platitudes, and slogans. And it worked. Oh how it worked! What could happen now, as President of the United States, to induce him to change his style?

Shit the penny has just dropped. Talk about that elevator creaking it’s way to the top floor too slowly. We wait breathlessly for Blum’s next revelation prolly something along the lines of “Shock horror Obama only pretends to care about the hundreds of Pashtu women and children butchered on his orders, humans from the group he so caringly dismisses as Af/Paks”

Posted by: Debs is dead | May 5 2009 21:51 utc | 9

“Pakistani army flattening villages” is the topic of Chris Floyd’s latest essay. I commented there.
http://tinyurl.com/dmks7l

Posted by: mistah charley, ph.d. | May 5 2009 22:01 utc | 10

But what we need and crave is a leader of vision.

Dick Cheney thought of himself as a leader of vision who knew what was best and did his best to realize it.

Posted by: rjj | May 6 2009 1:46 utc | 11

the need and crave leader humbug is last line of Blum’s article linked at 9.

Posted by: rjj | May 6 2009 1:47 utc | 12

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