Hillary least electable Dem

One (several actually) more reason to hope Hillary doesnt get the Dem ticket.
While Clinton maintains her lead in national polling among Democrats, in direct matchups against Republican presidential candidates, she consistently runs behind both Barack Obama and John Edwards.
[..]
By contrast, Obama beats every major Republican candidate: He beats McCain 45 percent to 38 percent; Guiliani [...]

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More on the Brazilian Oil Find

This is pretty much what i was implying earlier.
With the attention of a great power like the United States, and a regional power like Venezuela, Brazil finds itself in a position of power that gives it several opportunities. Whether or not the Brazilian government headed by President Lula Ignacio da Silva will choose a [...]

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Rendition to Jordan

The Washington Post about Jordan’s role as a CIA holding prison and proxy interrogator. Nothing you havent previously heard. Some excerpts:
The building is the headquarters of the General Intelligence Department, Jordan’s powerful spy and security agency. Since 2000, at the CIA’s behest, at least 12 non-Jordanian terrorism suspects have been detained and interrogated here, according [...]

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Rumsfeld memos show ignorance

Washington post article on Rumsfeld’s memos as Secretary of Defense. Nothing shocking, really. But i thought this pathetic:
He also lamented that oil wealth has at times detached Muslims “from the reality of the work, effort and investment that leads to wealth for the rest of the world. Too often Muslims are against physical labor, so [...]

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“Al Qaeda’s Fall Reading Picks”

John Judis looks at two books mentioned by bin Laden in a recent tape: Michael Scheuer’s Imperial Hubris and Emmanuel Todd’s After the Empire.

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AFRICOM opens

Africom, the States’ new unified command for Africa became operational on Monday out of Germany. It’s ostensibly meant to raise Africa’s profile and help coordinate activities that were previously divided among three other -COMs. The command will consolidate not only all military branches and DoD and DoS, but apparently also depts such as trade and [...]

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Ibrahim Hodeiby on the US, the regime and the MB

I never particularly liked Ibrahim El Hodeiby (for his positions, not his person). Even since he’s become so prolific. But here is a not-so-well-written article that’s hard to disagree with. He basically points to the OBVIOUS fact that although democracy may not benefit the US’s short-term interests, it definitely beats their current game plan that [...]

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US and China should cooperate to counter OPEC

On CFR.
ummm.. duh
How bout these ideas: What if Americans toned down their grossly decadent consumption? What about canceling tax breaks for oil companies? And giving them to alternate energy research? Maybe slow down global warming while you’re at it? Give up your SUVs or stop complaining!!

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“Taking the War on Terror to Africa”

Apparently the US government seeks to establish a strategic command for Africa (AFRICOM) that would be the aid, policy, military and counterterrorism nerve-center for Africa. The idea is that this will help raise the profile of Africa and improve efforts through coordination and increased attention. Ultimately, more US government drivel:
The Pentagon says AFRICOM will bring [...]

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“Finkelstein’s Legacy at DePaul”

Article in CounterPunch by a DePaul professor reflecting on Finkelstein’s settlement with the university.

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Movie: The Situation

I recently watched The Situation (IMDb), by Philip Haas. It attempts to bring out the side of Iraq that is often neglected in the media. The review on indieWIRE is a little harsh on the timidity, especially given that i know they had serious problems with funding and, later, with finding a willing distributor. I [...]

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War on Taxmoney

Thanks, one again, to the folks behind the Arabist for highlighting this article in the Rolling Stone. There are some other articles linked to, including in the comments, but this is the most… aggressive and entertaining, if you will. It’s about all the unaccounted money poured into contractors’ pockets.

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Niqab in Philly

Peter Spiro on Opinio Juris brings up the large number of niqab-covered women in Philadelphia, and points to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on them.

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NPR’s Iran and its Neighbors series

National Public Radio has a six-part series on Iran and its neighbors that’s up on their website. According to the series, while Iranian leaders have long perceived their nation as the deserving leading power in the Middle East, it has only ever stumbled along trying to get there. It is only recent external factors that [...]

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The Terrorism Index

FP just released the latest version of its Terrorism index. They surveyed 100 “experts” from various branches of govt, white house staff, intelligence, defense and scholars. Their results are pretty bleak from an American perspective. Not much that’s surprising really.

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