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I tend not to blame Obama too much.

By on May 17, 2012 in General Discussion, Human Behavior, International affairs

I think Obama has done a number of things wrong, at least from my personal perspective. However, there are two major reasons for these failures, neither of which diminish my opinion that his intentions are commendable. These two reasons are his lack of administrative experience, which is being slowly rectified as his time in the [...]

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The Chinese coup.

By on April 1, 2012 in General Discussion, International affairs, Politics

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,824379,00.html http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/23/us-china-bo-idUSBRE82M0CV20120323 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/world/asia/china-shuts-down-web-sites-after-coup-rumors.html?hp You have probably heard about the Chinese coup, the first link here I think gives the best story but I include the others for some alternate background since Spiegel can be a bit sensationalist. I have an issue with this event being called a “coup” it seems to be quite clearly an [...]

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Something to ponder.

By on March 9, 2012 in General Discussion, Human Behavior, International affairs, Politics

The “Iranian_American” entry in Wikipedia contains the following statement: “ The U.S. Government and other sources estimate that the numbers of Iranian-Americans are close to 2 million.” Today’s online news has the following information: “ A 30,000-pound bunker buster bomb designed to smash through some 200 feet of concrete before exploding is a “great weapon” that could be [...]

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Item: “Iran says it will let UN nuclear sleuths visit key military site”

By on March 6, 2012 in General Discussion, International affairs

This item, http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/06/10589311-iran-says-it-will-let-un-nuclear-sleuths-visit-key-military-site, on MSNBC.com, which has the title given in the subject line above, discusses an announcement that Iran will, subject to a number of conditions, give the IAEA a chance to visit an Iranian military site which is suspected by the West of being part of an effort to develop nuclear weapons. Since [...]

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The Right of Return

By on March 6, 2012 in General Discussion, Human Behavior, International affairs

  An interesting story in the context of the Palestinian right of return to Israel: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/03/an_american_jew_becomes_a_german_citizen_.html

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Israel’s Weird Saber-Rattling

By on March 2, 2012 in General Discussion, International affairs

The latest war propaganda coming from Israel’s conservatives and those Americans loyal to the Israeli conservatives maintains that America needs to commit to attacking Iran or Israel will do so.  Putting aside the merits of an attack on Iran, for a moment, isn’t that a weird line of argument?  Even if attacking Iran is a [...]

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Where should military dollars be spent?

By on March 1, 2012 in Economics, General Discussion, International affairs

While cutting the size of the defense budget is a popular idea amongst this group, and one which I agree with, I am not sure there has ever been a discussion centered around what the miltary should do, so I am curious as to opinions about this. My curiousity about this was started because of [...]

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Why You Should Pay Attention To The News

By on March 1, 2012 in Economics, General Discussion, Human Behavior, International affairs, Politics

Funny Dilbert cartoon today.   Wally is talking to a younger employee, who appears very distressed.   In the first panel: Wally says “Rogue nations are building nuclear weapons. The polar ice caps are melting. Unemployment is high.”   In the second panel Wally says “Entire nations are on the brink of default. You aren’t [...]

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Napolitano: Mexican Drug War ‘Not A Failure’.

By on February 28, 2012 in Economics, International affairs, Politics

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said today that the Mexican drug war is “not a failure”.     Gee.       I would HATE to see what a failure would look like, then.

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Roubini On The Uptick’s Downside

By on February 17, 2012 in Economics, International affairs, Politics

Over on the Project Syndicate side-bar, Nouriel Roubini has a very nice and well-reasoned (as usual) analysis of the potential roadblocks and booby-traps for the world economy in 2012. The continuing Euro-crisis, rising tensions in the Middle East, and China’s dramatically slowing economy, are the main topics. Recommended reading.  http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/roubini47/English Obama would seem to be [...]

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