In Other News: Iran Increases Centrifuges to 4,000
As odd as it may seem there are other things happening in the world outside of the American presidential election. One of these is that it has been reported that Iran has increased the number of centrifuges it has deployed for enriching uranium to 4,000: TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has increased the number of operating centrifuges at its uranium enrichment ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 29, 2008 18:10
Pronouncing Foreign Names
Jonathan Kolieb is upset that Americans don't pronounce foreign names in the other country's mother tongue. I was flipping through the cable news channels the other night, and there were several segments on developments in Iraq. I found myself getting irritated, then angry: Why, five years after occupying a country, do we still not know how to pronounce its name? [...] Language and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 19, 2008 08:17
Israel Readying Iranian Strike?
Israel is taking steps to prepare for a military strike against Iran, Steve Gutkin reports for the AP. Israel is building up its strike capabilities amid growing anxiety over Iran's nuclear ambitions and appears confident that a military attack would cripple Tehran's atomic program, even if it can't destroy it. Such talk could be more threat than reality. However, Iran's refusal to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 6, 2008 20:15
On Being a Citizen of the World
Said an American politician, speaking to an international audience:"I speak today as both a citizen of the United States and of the world. I come with the heartfelt wishes of my people for peace, bearing honest proposals and looking for genuine progress." I mean can you imagine? Didn't this politician know that he was an American? What kind of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 27, 2008 22:48
Comic Book Foreign Policy (or the Batman Theory of Foreign Policy)
Readers may be familiar with the Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics (short version: the US can do whatever it wants if it just has even willpower). Now, it appears we can add another member of the Justice League to our understanding of foreign policy. On Friday, author Andrew Klavan had a piece in the WSJ comparing Batman ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 27, 2008 17:47
Conservatives for Obama II
When I saw the headline "Hunter: This conservative activist is backing Obama" on memeorandum yesterday, I was intrigued. Duncan Hunter, arguably the most conservative of the 2008 Republican presidential aspirants was endorsing a liberal Democrat?! When it turned out the "Hunter" in question was Larry Hunter, a fellow of whom I'd never previously heard, my interest waned. After all, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 18, 2008 09:27
U.S. Stationing Diplomats in Iran
The United States has not had a formal diplomatic presence in Iran since our embassy there was stormed and its staff taken hostage on November 4, 1979. That may soon change, Ewen MacAskin reports for The Guardian. The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a US interests section - a halfway house ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 17, 2008 12:22
Congressional Approval at Record Low, Republicans More Likely than Democrats to Approve
President Bush isn't alone in being unpopular: Congress is down to 14 percent approval, the lowest in the history of the Gallup poll. While the approval numbers are the worst ever, there is a silver lining: "The 75% currently disapproving of Congress is just shy of the record-high 78% in March 1992" Lydia Saad calls these numbers "extraordinary." Approval ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 16, 2008 09:07
McCain and Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan
William Arkin contends that recent political maneuvering has put Barack Obama and President Bush in almost identical positions vis-à-vis Iraq: The Bush administration's potential Iraq withdrawal plan, floated in The New York Times over the weekend, to draw down brigades further before September of this year and to accelerate withdrawals in 2009, has collided with Barack Obama's own 16-month plan, which ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 15, 2008 14:46
Iraq War Over? We Won?
Michael Yon says that we've won the war in Iraq and all that remains is clean-up. The war continues to abate in Iraq. Violence is still present, but, of course, Iraq was a relatively violent place long before Coalition forces moved in. I would go so far as to say that barring any major and unexpected developments (like an Israeli air ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 15, 2008 08:08
