U.S. Missile-Defense Plan for Europe

A Colossal Sign Of U.S. Weakness CBS News — President Obama's decision to cancel plans for U.S. missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic is a knife in the back for those countries. The implications for U.S. security and the transatlantic relationship are profound. Critics rightly note that the sudden announcement Thursday sends a dangerous message to allies, both in Europe and elsewhere, who rely on U.S. security guarantees. Even those who agree with the administration's approach concede that the rollout was clumsy--middle of the night phone calls and little prior consultation. In July 2007, Senator Obama criticized his predecessor for this very thing. The Bush administration, he said, had "done a poor job of consulting its NATO allies about the deployment of a missile defense system that has major implications for all of them." click to read complete article

Obama Makes Right Call on Europe Missile Defense Korea Times — President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and administration associates deserve commendation for making the right call concerning deployment of anti-missile weapons in Europe. The Bush administration plan to place radar and missile installations in the Czech Republic and Poland has been canceled. Instead, the U.S. will rely on a mobile sea-based system, with land-based mobile radars. click to read complete article

Russia, US could deploy joint missile shield against Iran Indian Express — Russia and the US could deploy a joint missile shield to protect Europe from Iranian long-range missiles in future, a former Russian general has said. "Russia and the US could jointly turn to this topic again in the future if Iran gets such a weapon (long-range ballistic missile), but this won't happen until at least 2015," Col Gen (retd) Viktor Yesin said. click to read complete article

Afghanistan questions

Top U.S. commander in Afghanistan pleads for more troops in classified report China View Xinhua — Top U.S. commander in Afghanistan Stanley A. McChrystal said explicitly in a classified report that the Afghan war "will likely result in failure" without increasing U.S. troop levels in that country. The report was submitted to the Obama administration on Aug. 30 and the Washington Post disclosed its content on Monday after obtaining a copy of the report. click to read complete article

Will Obama 'Do a Rumsfeld' In Afghanistan? FOXNEWS — When I was in Afghanistan earlier this year it was clear we didn't have enough troops to do anything more than tread water. Things have only gotten worse. President Obama is offering up a muddled message about what he wants to accomplish there-- before he decides what the troop levels should be, he has to decide what his goal is. Is it to win hearts and minds? Defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban? Does he want to buy time so that the Afghan army can take charge? click to read complete article

Obama Questions Plan to Add Forces in Afghanistan Wall Street Journal — President Barack Obama on Sunday voiced skepticism that more troops would make a difference in Afghanistan, suggesting he might not rubber-stamp military officials' expected request to send more forces to that country. "I don't want to put the resource question before the strategy question," Mr. Obama told CNN's "State of the Union." "There is a natural inclination to say, 'If I get more, then I can do more.' But right now, the question is—the first question is—are we doing the right thing? Are we pursuing the right strategy?" click to read complete article

Japan's new Prime Minister

Japan’s Victors Warily Prepare for Power New York Times — As the newly elected Democratic Party works to assemble what will be only the second government in Japan’s postwar history not to be led by the Liberal Democratic Party, it is treading carefully to avoid infighting that could split the ideologically diverse party or drive a wedge between it and its coalition allies. Since smashing the Liberal Democrats’ nearly uninterrupted half-century monopoly on power two weeks ago, the center-left Democrats and their leader, Yukio Hatoyama, 62, have hurried to fill top posts in the party and his incoming cabinet and to cobble together a coalition with other parties before their government’s formal accession to power on Sept. 16. click to read complete article

Clinton Optimistic About Ties With New Japanese Government Voice Of America News — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she is relaxed and optimistic about the future of U.S. relations with the new Japanese government despite potential problems over Afghanistan and the relocation of American forces based in Japan. The Obama administration has sent a senior envoy to meet officials of the new left-leaning government just installed in Tokyo. Clinton says the new leaders in Japan may govern more pragmatically than some of their campaign rhetoric has indicated. And she is expressing confidence that the decades-old U.S.-Japanese alliance will remain solid despite expected policy changes by the government of new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. click to read complete article

Will Japan's global ties change? BBC — Days before his landslide election win, Yukio Hatoyama ruffled feathers in Washington with an essay in the New York Times. Hitting out at US-led globalisation, he said many Asian nations wanted to see America's "political and economic excesses" restrained. US military might was key to regional stability, he said, but stronger ties with regional neighbours were also needed to safeguard Japan's interests. click to read complete article

Carter Calls it Racism

Obama and WH Team Turn Deaf Ear to Carter’s Racism Allegations, Deny ‘National Conversation’ on Race ‘Going on Right Now’ Fox News — The presidency, as the cliché goes, is a fraternity. It's a bipartisan one, if most presidential historians are to be trusted, in which the sacred, unspoken code is that former presidents do not intentionally complicate politics or policy for current presidents. Jimmy Carter broke a lot of political codes to win the White House (the first born-again Christian, the first to have granted an interview to Playboy, the first to have been born in a hospital, and first to turn a no-chance campaign into a juggernaut by sleeping in other people's bedrooms -- in Iowa). More on the code of conduct of former presidents in a minute. click to read complete article

Jimmy Carter racism charge triggers next US race debate Christian Science Monitor — Former President Jimmy Carter’s assertion that racism is behind much of the political opposition to President Obama marks a stunning moment in America’s centuries-old racial drama. In essence, one of the nation’s political elder statesmen has joined a chorus of Democrats, liberal pundits, and mainstream media asserting that the “birther” movement, Tea Party protests, town hall raucousness, and Rep. Joe Wilson’s “You lie!” outburst reflect a “Southern strain” of Americans who can’t support an “uppity” black as chief executive. click to read complete article

Jimmy Carter, Anti-Semite, Sees Racism In Obama Foes Post-Chronicle — ormer President Jimmy Carter has joined a legion of liberal colleagues and mainstream media types who have deliberately sought to muddy the waters with the 'R word' when it comes to defending the failed presidency of one Barack Obama. In doing so, Carter risks further alienation of an increasingly skeptical American electorate. click to read complete article

Is Venezuela ramping up a War Machine?

Venezuela confirms deals on Russian tanks, missiles Chinaview Xinhua — President Hugo Chavez has confirmed that Venezuela and Russia have agreed on deals to buy Russian tanks and anti-aircraft missiles with a 2.2-billion-U.S.-dollar Russian credit. "The weapons purchase is possible to increase our defense capacity" and the soldiers' morale would also be raised, Chavez said in his TV/radio program "Hello, President" on Sunday. click to read complete article

Venezuela pushes for nuclear power Aljazeera - Venezuela's president has announced the creation of an atomic energy commission and plans to lead the South American nation into the nuclear era. Following a visit to Moscow, Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday his government would catch up with the continent's only other nations who possess nuclear power stations - Brazil and Argentina. click to read complete article

U.S. fears Venezuela could trigger regional arms race CNN — The United States fears recent weapons purchases by Venezuela could fuel an arms race in South America, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday. "They outpace all other countries in South America and certainly raise the question as to whether there is going to be an arms race in the region," Clinton said about Venezuela's arms deals, after a meeting with Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez. click to read complete article

Is Medicare a good model for Health Care Reform?

Medicare Would Rather Buy $8000 Computer than $150 iPhone App Gizmodo — Say that, all things equal, you could fix a problem for $8000 or fix the same problem for $150. Which would you choose? Clearly, you are not Medicare. Proloquo2Go is a text-to-speech iPhone app that's meant to aid those with autism, cerebral palsy, ALS, Down Syndrome—pretty much anyone who has a disability that makes speaking a difficult venture. It costs $150. click to read complete article

Questions Over How to Pay for Health Reform Newsweek — How is the government going to pay the upfront 10-year costs of health-care reform (a.k.a. health-insurance reform)? Well, despite months of hearings, committee markups, and backstage negotiating, the White House and Hill Democrats are still making up the answer as they go along. That's my conclusion based on what I was told─and not told─during and after a White House background briefing before the president's address to Congress last week. As outlined, Barack Obama's preferred compromise plan would cost $900 billion over 10 years. At the briefing, I and a group of other reporters and columnists were told that $600 billion of that cost would be recouped through savings in the administration and the medical practices of Medicare, Medicaid, and other existing (and presumably very wasteful and poorly designed) programs. Another $200 billion, we were told, would come from proceeds of a new "fee" on high-end "Cadillac" health-care plans. click to read complete article

Why Small-Government Proponents Champion Medicare New York Times — If the tax system is wildly wasteful and public services are mediocre, then there will be little public enthusiasm for expanding the size of the state. Can this explain why some advocates of limited government have become the archdefenders of Medicare’s largess? After all, if health care stays enormously expensive, then this will surely limit Americans’ appetite for expanding the entitlement to health care. click to read complete article

Sarkozy: Happiness Index

France: 'Measure well-being, not just growth' Economic Times India — French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared on Monday that statisticians should find a way to measure the general well-being of the population rather than just raw economic growth. Speaking at the launch of a report that he commissioned from Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, Sarkozy said France would pioneer the new technique and urge other countries to follow suit. click to read complete article

Sarkozy may quit G20 if limitation on bankers bonuses failed China View Xinhua — French President Nicolas Sarkozy may quit the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the United States, next week if leaders fail to make any progress on limiting the bonuses of bankers, French media reported on Monday. "If there is no concrete decision, I will leave," Sarkozy was quoted by French daily Le Figaro as saying. click to read complete article

Sarkozy attacks focus on economic growth London Guardian — Nicolas Sarkozy called for a "great revolution" in the way national wealth is measured today, throwing his weight behind a report which criticises "GDP fetishism" and prioritises quality of life over financial growth. Speaking days before the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, France's president urged the rest of the world to follow his example as he ordered a shake-up in research methods aimed at providing a more balanced reading of countries' performance. click to read complete article