by Dan Nexon | 28 Jun 2008 |
Andrew Sullivan complains that:His plans for social security amount to essentially a massive new tax on the successful to keep FDR's system afloat:When Obama proposes to also apply the 12.5% levy to all income above $250,000, he’s doing nothing more or less than to raise the effective marginal rate on that income from its current 33 to 35 percent, to a maximum of 47.5%. Add in his already-proposed income-tax rate increase of 4.5% for high...
by Dan Nexon | 28 Jun 2008 |
The Pakistani military has launched a new offensive against militants in the Khyber tribal region. Kathy Gannon of the Associated Press:Pakistani forces bombarded suspected militant hideouts with mortar shells Saturday as the government launched a major offensive against Taliban fighters threatening the main city in the country's volatile northwest, officials said.The offensive in the Khyber tribal region marked the first major military action...
by Dan Nexon | 26 Jun 2008 |
Bush just lifted sanctions on North Korea. Some conservatives claim that Democrats will now need to eat crow about his foreign policies. Some also claim that the North Korean policy shouldn't be extrapolated to Iran, because Kim Jong Il is "rational" and "wants to survive" (unlike those nutty Iranians).1) This is a triumph for the Bush Administration--and for Georgetown's own Victor Cha--but Democrats don't have to eat any crow; Bush succeeded...
by Charli Carpenter | 26 Jun 2008 |
The Guardian reports a great triumph for women's rights at the United Nations Security Council, which has recently passed a new resolution condemning sexual violence as a war crime and a component of genocide.I'm thinking: how does this new resolution go beyond SCR 1325 of 2000, which called on governments not only to "respond to" but to actually "prevent" sexual violence? Since rape has already been recognized as a war crime since at least...
by Rodger Payne | 24 Jun 2008 |
I haven't blogged here for awhile, nor have I written anything about Iraq in quite some time. What's up there, anyway?First, I recommend Fareed Zakaria's June 21 assessment in Newsweek. Read the entire piece ASAP.Next, take a look at the latest word from the bureaucrats paid to keep up with the situation on the ground. Indeed, today's Post details some news about a pair of recently released U.S. government reports. Journalist Karen DeYoung...
by Peter | 22 Jun 2008 |
Certainly not a winning week for the Air Force. Already reeling from the high-profile dismissal of both its uniformed and civilian leader, the USAF was slammed again in two major stories this week.First, the GAO slammed the Air Force's procurement procedures with a stinging rebuke of its decision to award its major tanker contract to the Northrup-Grumman. The USAF has been looking to upgrade its tanker fleet for years but the entire process has...
by Dan Nexon | 20 Jun 2008 |
Tom Toles pretty much sums up the issue in yesterday's Washington Post.Truly: 'nuff said.
by Charli Carpenter | 19 Jun 2008 |
Perspectives on Politics just published a depressing assessment of the prospects for women in the academy, placing much of the blame for the glass ceiling on the "intractable tension between professional success and family duties." The section of the article concludes: "Virtually every woman with children [interviewed] noted the difficulties in balancing career and family. Mary and Gale remind us that family versus career is a human problem,...
by Dan Nexon | 18 Jun 2008 |
If the late Roger Gould was right... then we're all completely screwed.Of course, it isn't hard to guess who would win in a non-virtual confrontation between a high-status World of Warcraft player and a high-status basketball player. Just sayin'.
by Dan Nexon | 17 Jun 2008 |
UN humanitarian co-ordinator Marc Bowden says that Somalia is in the grips of a worsening food crisis.Somalia faces a worse situation than Darfur, Mr Bowden says.Contributing to the crisis are fighting between rival militias, successive droughts, sharply rising food prices and a collapse of the Somali currency.Mr Bowden says that during the course of the next three months the number of people needing emergency food relief will climb by about...
by Dan Nexon | 13 Jun 2008 |
Did you know that Djibouti is in the midst of a border conflict with Eritrea? I didn't, and for that I blame American news outlets. According to the BBC, French troops are providing logistical and medical support to Djibouti's forces. The United States has condemned "Eritrean aggression.". Eritrea, for its part, has condemned "'US meddling' in the Horn of Africa.". Which presumably refers not just to the large US base in Djibouti (Camp...
by Peter | 12 Jun 2008 |
Madeline Albright's op-ed in the NYT yesterday bemoans the fact thatthe concept of national sovereignty as an inviolable and overriding principle of global law is once again gaining ground.I think she doth protest too much, as the claims of sovereignty's demise seem to have been slightly exaggerated.Albright, of course is thinking back to the heady days when she was Secretary of State, when the international community would recognize a...