A quick note on the CNN/YouTube Debate.Although the point is rather obvious, I think it is worth reflecting on how whe exchange between Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney about illegal immigration encapsulates fundamental tensions in this country, and within the Republican...
Next Sunday, Russians are expected to go to the polls and overwhelmingly endorse the candidates of the pro-Putin party, Edinaya Rossiya.* What I find surprising is the level to which the government...
Was the Iraq war designed to break up OPEC?Do OPEC states now have a perverse incentive to favor continued instability in Iraq?I explore these questions today on my blog: "Oil: the third rail of the...
Dan Drezner calls this piece in today's New York Times "the story that will occupy the blogosphere for today -- Baghdad is safer."Then, Dan excerpts a bit of the story by Damien Cave and Alissa J....
I break my self-imposed hiatus because there's a whole lotta "best web post ever" goodness going around. Obviously, Belle Waring's "If Wishes Were Horses, Beggars Would Ride -- A Pony" belongs high up on the list. I'd score it a bit higher if this weren't, as far as I can tell, a staple of gen-x mockery prior to Belle's post.But, the fact of the matter is... and now I'm going to get choked up and grieve for a minute about the gaping hole its lack of updates has left in the blogmarch... almost any random selection from Fafblog would beat out the competition. So, below the fold, I pilfer...
The Bush administration built an enormous embassy in Iraq -- and now cannot find volunteers from the State Department to fill it. Nearly 50 diplomats will soon be sent to Iraq on a "forced assignment" -- or be fired if they refuse to go. Perhaps because State's HR Department fears that many will resign or accept termination, it had to send a threatening letter to 250 employees. That's five candidates for each slot. The BBC reported yesterday that about 300 "angry diplomats" attended a meeting in response to the government's notice: Senior diplomat Jack Croddy, who once worked as a political...