httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtQRclOyIM8&eurl
Zakaria focused on Afghanistan today on GPS. Among his guests were Steve Coll, president of New America Foundation, Rory Stewart, who once walked across Afghanistan, Barney Rubin, who was interviewed in December 2008 on Pakistan by Scott Horton. A part of that interview is above.
The debate about our role in Afghanistan, which must include an Af-Pak policy taking the countries together, will begin to intensify as Obama shifts resources and priorities. The Af-Pak region will be as important to Obama as the Middle East.
Re: the Gaza tunnels.
Laura Rozen on India gone missing from Holbrooke’s brief.
Marc Lynch takes aim at HRC’s likely choice to be Under-Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, which was reported by the Washington Post’s Al Kamen.
Evidently, al Qaeda needs to read American nursery rhymes. You know, stick and stones, because trying to make Obama into Bush is a child’s plan.
That was just a warm-up. In the weeks since, the terrorist group has unleashed a stream of verbal tirades against Barack Obama, each more venomous than the last. Obama has been called a “hypocrite,” a “killer” of innocents, an “enemy of Muslims.” He was even blamed for the Israeli military assault on Gaza, which began and ended before he took office.
“He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection,” an al-Qaeda spokesman declared in a grainy Internet video this month. [...]
“They’re highly uncertain about what they’re getting in this new adversary,” said Paul Pillar, a former CIA counterterrorism official who lectures on national security at Georgetown University. “For al-Qaeda, as a matter of image and tone, George W. Bush had been a near-perfect foil.” …
Al Jazeera English was the network to watch during the latest war in Gaza, which for Americans was online:
American viewership of Al-Jazeera English rose dramatically during the Israel-Hamas war, partly because the channel had what CNN and other international networks didn’t have: reporters inside Gaza. [...] Al-Jazeera had another draw: Its reporters were inside Gaza while international networks such as CNN were barred by Israel from sending reporters in throughout the entire war. Israeli TV focused mostly on Israeli casualty reports and Hamas rocket barrages. …
Another media story, The New York Times has a simple story of the Taliban using radio to terrorize.
Via the Arab Times comes the news story of the day: Gender equality pivotal to social development, says Kuwait delegate. The article cites the recent Israeli – Hamas war, making the point that it is women and children who sustain the most harm in these situations.
“The Kuwaiti government is making continuous efforts in cooperation with civil society institutions to enhance women’s empowerment which bore fruit and led to an apparent positive transformation in the last few years,” he said. “Kuwaiti women have been able to assert themselves in politics after gaining their full political rights in an effective way. They had the access to elections and leading political posts including ministerial portfolios,” Al-Najem poited out. Kuwait pursues its determined efforts to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment in political decision-making in a bid to enhance social peace and stability. [...]
“All of us have to help Palestinian women play their due roles in the development of their society. Dealing with the Arab Economic, Social and Development Summit, hosted by Kuwait on January 19-20 in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Al-Najem said His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah announced during the summit a financial initiative to bail out the private sector and small and medium -size industries in the Arab countries.
“Kuwait pledged to offer $500 million to the total funds of dollar two billion of the initiative which has the ultimate goal of achieving socio-economic development,” he pointed out, voicing hope that the initiative would promote empowerment for women. Kicked off on Jan 21 under the theme of “ Empowerment of Women”, NAM’s second ministerial conference will come to a close later Saturday.
More of this from Arab nations, please. A lot more. Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s make sure Pakistani aid is based on something beyond military firepower.
In other areas, Ethiopia has pulled out of Somalia, leaving Islamists are taking advantage of the void, begining in Mogadishu.
Sri Lanka is making news after the army chief claimed to have taken a rebel stronghold.
According to Jeff Stein, where will Obama’s first trip be? South America. Summit of the Americas, where Obama will run head long into Hugo Chavez.
Meanwhile back at home, Barack Obama has an economic crisis, with meetings with Republicans scheduled in the coming week. John McCain said today that he will not vote for the stimulus as it stands today. Where was this McCain before the election? Lesson learned a bit too late. But all in all, this is some inheritance from Mr. Bush.
Democracy Arsenal chronicles some of the reaction to the global financial meltdown.
Tom Ricks on our generals as dinosaurs.
Oh… and Happy Chinese New Year, a bit belatedly.
Wow, where is everyone today. An excellent post Taylor. Obama has a lot on his plate.
OT. National Geographic channel at 8 pm est is all about AF One.
Hi Betsy – we’re suffering from the Artic freeze here. Man was it cold this am. -1. All I’ve been doing is stoking the wood stove all day.
Taylor – it’s always the women and children who suffer during any war. We need to start making the men who are so willing to engage in this kind of carnage aware that they are destroying the only real resource they have during a war- their children and ultimately their future.
BTW Taylor – are you reading your e-mails? I sent one to you yesterday.
That’s quite a rundown, Taylor. It’s amazing how much of a mess one frat boy President can make, isn’t it?
Happy Chinese New Year back at ya.
Met a couple that lived in China and they were telling us about the Chinese New Year. In fact it was New Years Eve as we were watching the fireworks on South Padre Island. She said that the Chinese New Year fireworks go on for hours.
Wow, only four days and the Republicans oppose the new president on everything. I especially like McCain babbling about how we have to make Bush’s tax cuts permanent and lower more taxes. Sure, the Bush tax cuts worked really well. These are people who actually think that all tax cuts always more than pay for themselves (an idea discredited by even the most conservative economists).
For the GOP, the only thing that ever matters is taxes. God forbid that we just have a middle class tax cut. The people making over $250k will be left out in the cold.
That the Republicans are a party led by Mitch McConnell and John Boehner speaks for itself.
“Zakaria [and the boyz] focused on Afghanistan today …”
And not one woman on the panel to really express the outrage. Why do the “realistic options” always include throwing the women under the bus?
http://www.afghanistannews.net/story/458340
Well the in the past 3 Republican administrations, (Reagan, Bush and Bush), tax cuts for the wealthy haven’t worked at all. As a matter of fact, the recessions always seem to start in the Republican admins.
Everyone know that Congress just voted in a new pay raise for themselves? From $179K to $183K I believe. Maybe they should take a pay cut. What does everyone think.
Betsy writes: From $179K to
$183K I believe. Maybe they should take a pay cut. What does everyone think.
Obama just froze executive branch pay for the highest salaried positions. I think if this is an example of Obama’s influence on Congress he’s in for a rough time.
I think that was staff Cujo.
I assumed McCain would not endorse this spending plan. It’s opposite of what he recommended in the GE.
I still agree with McCain on these issues.
I still agree with McCain on these issues.
AnninCA | 01.26.2009 – 10:40 am | #
McCain voted FOR the first stimulus package, he isn’t very good at matching his actions with his rhetoric. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts he’ll vote for the current plan when all is said and done.
..your dollars, my donuts :=)
I assumed McCain would not endorse this spending plan. It’s opposite of what he recommended in
the GE.
I still agree with McCain on these issues.
AnninCA
By now McCain would have gathered his crack economic team of Phil Gramm and Carly Fiorona, aling with his trusted VP Sarah Palin, another economic whiz, and decided to… have more tax cuts (that naturally would be heavily leveraged toward upper income folks). That is the Republican answer for any economic problem.
Little things like an unemployment rate that may reach double digits don’t seem to bother these people. But God forbid we don’t push through as many tax cuts as possible. We all know how well tax cuts worked under Bush.
Cujo359 | Homepage | 01.25.2009 – 4:09 pm | #
Happy New Year, cujo359!
JA – I’ll find it today.
I agree and still do with the first stimulus package.
Obviously, it was a crisis.
McCain’s support wasn’t a mistake.
The problem with this new one? It’s not a stimulus package. It’s a spending bill that is avoiding Congress.
Bush got Obama his money.
It’s on Obama now.
The problem with this new one? It’s not a stimulus package. It’s a spending bill that is
avoiding Congress.
Bush got Obama his money.
It’s on Obama now.
AnninCA
I think you are confusing the bailout and the stimulus package. Bush got Obama the second part of the bailout funds. The stimulus package is entirely different, and like any spending bill it will have to go through congress.
Obama would obviously like to have a lot of Republican votes, but ultimately it will be voted on and if the GOP opposes it in principle it will pass with almost exclusively Democrat votes.
I think it was entirely appropriate for Obama to say “I won”. He has a clear mandate. That doesn’t mean he won’t try to work the Republicans, but the whining from the likes of Boehner and Cantor is getting pretty juvenile.