Featured Articles — November 20, 2008

November 20, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

Failure is Not an Option By Victor Davis Hanson
We all remember the advice about failure we received from our parents and teachers. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” “Learn from your mistakes.” “Failure breeds success.”

Two Wrongs, No Right by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
In Congo’s war, there are no angels.

Obama’s First Drama: Hillary Clinton By David Corn
If Barack Obama, the president-elect, wanted to pull a Team of Rivals play, that had seemed fine to me. And placing Clinton in Foggy Bottom would remove her from the dicey business of passing health care reform. Would it unite the party?

Let’s Have a Real Middle-Class Tax Cut By Newt Gingrich and Peter Ferrara
Obama’s tax credits won’t stimulate the economy.

‘A Matter of the People’ By John R. Thomson
Careening toward chaos in Caracas.

Dinner With The Green Glitterati By Claudia Rosett
At a Park Avenue eco-benefit, donors pat themselves on the back.

Obama Should Look Into Putin’s Record, Not His Eyes By Gary Kasparov
The U.S. has the chance for a fresh start on Russia relations.

The Iranian Navy Can Help Us Fight Pirates By Bahukutumbi Raman
Wanted: A new architecture for maritime security.

Getting Past Mythmaking In Georgia By Anne Applebaum
The New York Times has done it; so, recently, have European cease-fire monitors, the BBC and NPR. They, along with a host of other investigators, have looked once again into the events surrounding the Georgian incursion into South Ossetia on Aug. 7, the incident that led to the massive Russian invasion of Georgia on Aug. 8.

Saakashvili Takes Paris by Anne-Elisabeth Moutet
As an exercise in diplomatic deployment, Mikhail Saakashvili had his French trip planned to near perfection. The French like you more if you’ve published a book. Check. Even better if the book is originally in French. Check two. And most of all if you’ve written the book with a card-carrying member of a dynasty of Nouveaux Philosophes. Check three.

Mad Max and the Meltdown By Daniel Henninger
How we went from Christmas to crisis.

Featured Articles — Noveber 19, 2008

November 19, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

Leader of the Year: Right Man, Right Time By Lisa DePaulo
When General David Petraeus arrived in Iraq, it was a disaster. Now he’s leaving, and it’s something else entirely. Lisa DePaulo travels to Baghdad on the eve of his departure to find out how he did it (“You’ve gotta live with the people to protect the people”) and who the hell he is (for starters, he likes Phil Collins).

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt By Mitt Romney
IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Why GM Deserves Support By Rick Wagoner
Short-term government backing can preserve a vital industry.

Debt Man Walking by John B. Judis
Economists know the fatal flaw in our system–but they can’t agree how to fix it.

Hugo Chávez effect finally wears off in Venezuela and around the world By Vanessa Neumann
For a decade, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez has been the poster boy of Left-wing politics. His views may be unpalatable to many - “How we have missed the Soviet Union!” Chávez likes to say - but his socialist revolution has inspired like-minded politicians across the globe.

The Trouble With Eric Holder By John Nichols
Quick! Name the veteran Department of Justice insider who, shortly after the USA Patriot Act was signed into law and at a point when the Bush administration was proposing to further erode barriers to governmental abuses, argued that dissenters should not be tolerated?

The rise and fall of Sen. Ted Stevens By Tom Kizzia
For years, Alaskans spoke with trepidation of the day when “Uncle Ted” would leave the U.S. Senate, cutting off the flow of federal “Stevens money” that helped sustain Alaska’s economy.

Madam Secretary? By Thomas L. Friedman
So President-elect Barack Obama is considering Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. How should we feel about that?

Pirates Exploit Confusion About International Law By Dave Rivkin and Lee Casey
The connection between human-rights scolds and the rise of crime on the high seas.

Sadr Takes Aim at New U.S.-Iraq Agreement by Omar Fadhil and Mohammed Fadhil
The document is signed but its future is uncertain.

Featured Articles — November 18, 2008

November 18, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

Fighting the Financial Crisis, One Challenge at a Time By Henry Paulson
WE are going through a financial crisis more severe and unpredictable than any in our lifetimes. We have seen the failures, or the equivalent of failures, of Bear Stearns, IndyMac, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the American International Group. Each of these failures would be tremendously consequential in its own right. But we faced them in succession, as our financial system seized up and severely damaged the economy.

The Formerly Middle Class By David Brooks
At the beginning of every recession, there are people who see the downturn as an occasion for moral revival: Americans will learn to live without material extravagances. They’ll simplify their lives. They’ll rediscover what really matters: home, friends and family.

In Detroit, Failure’s a Done Deal By George Will
“Nothing,” said a General Motors spokesman last week, “has changed relative to the GM board’s support for the GM management team during this historically difficult economic period for the U.S. auto industry.” Nothing? Not even the evaporation of almost all shareholder value?

The Seven Deadly Deficits By Joseph E. Stiglitz
What the Bush years really cost us, and how President Obama can get the economy back on track.

‘No Excuses’ for Liberals By Bret Stephens
“I make no excuses, I only wear them.” Remember that? It was the pitch made by Donna Rice for a pair of tight-fitting stonewashed jeans some 20 years ago. Too bad the brand is long gone, since we’re at yet another No Excuses moment in American politics.

Which GOP Will Obama Face? By E. J. Dionne
There is a second transition under way over which President-elect Barack Obama has no control — the transition of conservatives to minority status. How they do this will have a powerful impact on the new presidency.

Missile Defense: Bullying Barack By Peter Brookes
Stakes rising on Prez-Elect’s First Test.

Never Wobbly By Vincent Carroll
Statism’s enemy: principled, charismatic and infuriatingly sure of herself.

Crash and Burn by Joshua Kurlantzick
How the global economic crisis could bring down the Chinese government.

Is Obama a Middle East ‘splitter’? By Gideon Rachman
Historians are sometimes divided into lumpers and splitters. The splitters like to chop problems up into lots of small bits. The lumpers like to link them altogether.

A borrowing binge By David Cameron
Brown clearly doesn’t read his own speeches. Unfunded tax cuts would be reckless and wrong.

Enlightened realism in Ukraine By Gwynne Dyer
The brawl in the Ukrainian Parliament on Nov. 11 was an undignified ending to the country’s two-month political crisis, but something important has changed. In the immediate aftermath of the Orange Revolution of 2004, the more extreme Ukrainian nationalists fantasized that the country could break all its links with Russia and become an entirely Western state, but realism is starting to prevail.

Can We Really Negotiate With the Taliban? By Fred Kaplan
We must reach out to willing factions. But first they must believe we can win.

Featured Articles — November 17, 2008

November 17, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

Why Bankruptcy Is the Best Option for GM By Michael E. Levine
Chapter 11 would better preserve the valuable parts of the company than an ad hoc bailout.

Democrats Shouldn’t Rush on Labor Legislation By Ariella Bernstein
Union-friendly rules don’t always help employees.

George W. Hoover? By William Kristol
Last week, assembled at Miami’s InterContinental Hotel for a meeting of the Republican Governors Association, the governors seemed cheerful. The G.O.P. had lost only one statehouse on Election Day. The prospects for a Republican pickup in Virginia in 2009 were decent, and good candidates were plotting runs in states like California, Pennsylvania and Ohio in 2010.

Lessons Spoke to Nation’s Mood By Larry Sabato
CHARLOTTESVILLE As routine as elections may seem, they are the seminal events in the life of a democracy. Campaigns and elections not only set the direction of the Republic; they also shed light on America’s po litical health. Every November we have the opportunity to take stock of what we did at the polls, and what that says about the status of the 232-year-old American experiment.

Freedom Agenda In Flames By Jackson Diehl
Will Mideast Reformers Have a Friend in Obama?

A Bridge for the Carmakers By Jeffrey D. Sachs
The Future Is in Sight. They Just Need Help Getting There.

Dealing with Pakistan is risky business By Lee Hamilton
Why do U.S. security experts say Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world? For starters, there is not one crisis in Pakistan; there are several interconnected crises, each with the potential to undermine the stability of Pakistan and South Asia. The danger of a failed state, replete with nuclear weapons, ethnic tensions, Taliban sympathizers and Osama bin Laden in residence, is chilling.

Obama’s 250 Tough Calls By Stuart Taylor Jr.
He should not be stampeded into appeasing his global constituencies on Guantánamo Bay.

Featured Articles — November 16, 2008

November 16, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

Confronting the Putin Doctrine By Andre Glucksman
Europe must hold fast against Russian blackmail.

Palin’s political potential By Jeff Jacoby
THE 2008 presidential campaign may be over, but Sarah Palin’s moment in the spotlight has yet to run its course.

5 Myths About an Election of Mythic Proportions By Chris Cillizza
The 2008 presidential election ended less than two weeks ago, but the mythmaking machine has already begun to churn. President-elect Barack Obama transformed the face of the electorate! The Republican Party will be a miserable minority in Congress for the next century! Cats and dogs are now living together! Below we explode the five biggest myths that have already sprung up around the election that was.

The Brilliant Brain Trust By Jacob Weisberg
Obama should give greater weight to intellectual acumen and subject-specific knowledge than recent predecessors have.

Chavez’s Caracas capers By John Thomson
The drive to Caracas from Maiquetia Airport is dangerous at night and unsightly by day. Thugs - often dressed as police - stop vehicles, rob passengers and steal their cars. Surrounding hills hold a seemingly impossible number of squalid ranchos - shack-filled ghettos - home to a million or more desperately poor Venezuelan peasants, who have become President Hugo Chavez’s core support.

Depression 2009: What would it look like? By Drake Bennett
Lines at the ER, a television boom, emptying suburbs. A catastrophic economic downturn would feel nothing like the last one.

Darwin’s no help on the origins of greed By Nick Cohen
The posters outside the Natural History museum’s Darwin exhibition have a wary feel. They show the old boy shushing at the passers-by with a forefinger over his lips and a worried look in his eyes. Inside, the curators explain how he sat on his theory of evolution for fear of its social consequences with the help of a letter he wrote to his friend, Joseph Hooker. In 1844, 15 years before he found the courage to publish On the Origin of Species, he said: ‘I am almost convinced that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable.’

Seven-Year Journey to a Safer Life By Hamid Karzai
We began a journey in Afghanistan seven years ago with the war that ousted the Taliban from power. Much has been accomplished along the way, for Afghanistan and for the world.

Livni vs. Netanyahu: One Election to Next By David Makovsky
On February 10, Israelis head to their first national election in nearly three years. With the exception of the 1977 election, this will be the only Israeli campaign in which no incumbent has run for the office of prime minister. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni leads the Kadima party, which is neck and neck with Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party; each is expected to garner approximately 30 seats in the 120-member Israeli parliament. Since their views on the peace process differ, the election’s outcome will directly affect U.S. regional policy and the future of the Annapolis process.

Featured Articles — November 15, 2008

November 15, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

Beyond Doom & Gloom by William Kristol
On the governors, Sarah Palin, and challenges ahead.

A Hard-Headed Strategy Of Inclusion by Ronald Brownstein
Reaching beyond his core supporters is Obama’s best hope of advancing his policy agenda.

The Cold War’s Missing Atom Bombs By Benjamin Maack
In a 1968 plane crash, the US military lost an atom bomb in Greenland’s Arctic ice. But this was no isolated case. Up to 50 nuclear warheads are believed to have gone missing during the Cold War, and not all of them are in unpopulated areas.

Detroit Automakers a Relic of the Past By Michael Barone
Barack Obama has noted, carefully and correctly, that we have only one president at a time. Yet on at least one issue he has taken the lead and nudged the man who will soon be his predecessor in a direction that he might not have taken without prompting.

Don’t Bail Out My State By Mark Sanford
South Carolina’s governor says more debt isn’t the answer.

Experts See Security Risks in Downturn By Joby Warrick
Global Financial Crisis May Fuel Instability and Weaken U.S. Defenses.

The Lightning Rod by Clay Risen
MICHELLE RHEE CHARGED IN as chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public schools wielding BlackBerrys and data—and a giant axe. She has made a city with possibly the country’s worst public schools ground zero for education reform, and attracted a cadre of young zealots some critics call “Rhee-bots.” Now the changes that she insists schoolchildren need are colliding head-on with the political wants of adults.

Kilcullen on Afghanistan: “It’s Still Winnable, But Only Just.” By George Packer
AFGANISTAN.JPGI wrote about David Kilcullen two years ago, in a piece called “Knowing the Enemy.” Few experts understand counterinsurgency and counterterrorism better than this former Australian army officer and anthropology Ph.D, who has advised the American, British, and Australian governments, was one of General Petraeus’s strategic whizzes at the start of the surge, in early 2007, and writes so well that you’d never imagine he’s spent his whole career in government, the military, and academia. Kilcullen is now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, which has provided Obama with foreign-policy advisers and advice.

21st-Century Sultanate By Leon Aron
Vladimir Putin has harnessed patronage, nepotism, and cronyism to build Russia’s corporatist state.

Featured Articles — November 14, 2008

November 14, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

How to Win in Afghanistan By Michael O’Hanlon
A minisurge is not enough. We need more Afghan security forces.

How Inflation Changed The World by Jonathan Rauch
In its day, inflation was the country’s economic Vietnam, a quagmire in which a malaise-ridden nation seemed perpetually stuck.

Obama gets the Clinton band back together By Ben Smith and Carrie Budoff Brown
Here’s how you can tell the campaign is over and the transition has begun: Barack Obama’s aides now wear suits and ties, their desks are in the Federal Building on 6th Street in Washington — and Clintonites are everywhere.

Nancy Pelosi’s Motown Juggling Act By Kimberley Strassel
What do bleeding Detroit auto makers, Colombia and green groups have in common? Not a lot, unless you are Nancy Pelosi.

America Throws Long By Peggy Noonan
If Obama doesn’t connect, more than the game is lost.

Panic in Detroit by Jonathan Cohn
This is not your father’s Oldsmobile we’re rescuing.

Bailout to Nowhere By David Brooks
Not so long ago, corporate giants with names like PanAm, ITT and Montgomery Ward roamed the earth. They faded and were replaced by new companies with names like Microsoft, Southwest Airlines and Target. The U.S. became famous for this pattern of decay and new growth.

The choice for Obama lies on the road to Jerusalem By Philip Stephens
The challenge for a US president rests in separating the urgent from the important. I once heard an official in George W. Bush’s National Security Council describe the dilemma. Such is the pressure of events, he observed, that for the White House the long term usually means “later this afternoon”. Most presidents wind up imprisoned by the immediate.

A Lemon of a Bailout By Charles Krauthammer
Democrats are pushing hard for a rescue of the auto industry, but the dangers are clear.

Where the Mines Are By Michael Gerson
For Bill Clinton, the errors were almost immediate. By day three of his presidency, Clinton was embroiled in a losing fight to allow open homosexuality in the military. On day six, Clinton appointed his wife to formulate an ill-fated health-care reform plan. Clinton’s first two nominees to be attorney general were withdrawn under clouds of controversy. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders — that vigorous champion of the solitary pleasures — made constant and unwelcome news.

Featured Articles — November 13, 2008

November 13, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

History Favors Republicans in 2010 By Karl Rove
The 2008 election numbers are not as stark as the results.

A Monument to Government Power By Daniel Henninger
Yesterday morning the nine Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments over whether a city in Utah is obligated, under the U.S. Constitution, to erect a monument in its park celebrating the Seven Aphorisms, the tenets of a local religion founded in 1975 by a former supply-company manager named Claude “Corky” Nowell, later known as Corky Ra, who said he was visited by “advanced living beings.” He called the religion that resulted Summum.

The Same Old Change By Victor Davis Hanson
We will likely see a lot of political “readjustments” come January, once President-elect Barack Obama and many new Democratic congressmen assume office, and the Republican administration leaves.

Keep Lieberman in the Caucus (For Now) by John Nichols
This writer has worn out several computers criticizing Senator Joe Lieberman, going back to the days when he was mounting a conservative-backed challenged to progressive Republican Senator Lowell Weicker. In 1988, Lieberman was a Democrat in good standing with a party that was willing to defeat one of the nation’s leading liberals in order to secure a minimal partisan advantage.

Gingrich says GOP is outmatched By Roger Simon
“The Republican Party right now is like a midsize college team trying to play in the Superbowl,” Gingrich told me Wednesday. “It is pretty hard to say our losses were because of John McCain’s campaign. McCain performed way above plausibility compared to where the Republican president was in the polls. We have to look honestly at what went wrong.”

Opposing view: Provide assistance now By Jennifer Granholm and Richard Blouse
With each passing day, the bad news gets more alarming from our U.S. automakers: Sales have fallen to 30-year lows, financial reports are dismal, and a new study finds that 3 million jobs nationwide could be lost in one year if these companies collapse.

A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence By Richard Perez-Pena
It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.

I come to hail chief, not bury him By Greg Sheridan
In 1963, South Vietnam’s president Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated in a military coup backed by the Americans, though they didn’t back his murder. To cover the assassination, the slander was put out that Diem, a devout Catholic, had committed suicide. Santa was torn. He wanted to defend Diem and denounce the Americans for the most foolish thing they did in Vietnam. But with a federal election looming he worried that he might diminish support for the US alliance. In the end Santa robustly defended Diem and denounced Washington’s folly.

How to Put the Squeeze on Iran By Order F. Kittrie
Cutting off its gasoline imports may be the only peaceful way to get Tehran to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Globalization Is Good for Europe By Peter Mandelson
Among the many abilities of the Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath, one of the least appreciated is his ironic sense of humor. He has one particular quip that goes right to the heart of the contemporary politics of globalization. Whenever a European refers to India as an emerging economy, Nath shoots back that by this definition Europe must be a “submerging economy.”

Featured Articles — November 12, 2008

November 12, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | 1 Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

Win One For the Messiah! By Victor Davis Hanson
Excuse me if I remain unmoved by the misguided religious fervor.

Obama surfs through By Camille Paglia
The Obamas are a warm vision for the White House — but he should strive toward full transparency. Plus: Yes, I still like Sarah Palin!

Progress Doesn’t Come from Washington By John Stossel
It’s exciting that the world is so excited about Barack Obama. I’m excited, too. That he achieved the presidency says something good about America.

The GOP Looking Glass By Jonah Goldberg
Was George W. Bush a conservative president? For liberals, this is a settled question. Bush is not merely a conservative, he is the conservative. He is the ur-right-winger, the Platonic ideal of all that is truly Republican.

Keeping the promise of post-partisanship By Al From
Barack Obama’s landmark election, along with sweeping Democratic gains in the Senate, the House and statehouses around the country, gives Democrats a historic chance to build a lasting national majority.

Don’t count on China to save the world By Jonathan Fenby
Beijing’s £375bn economic package makes it a world player. But its own interests will come first.

Kurdistan Is a Model for Iraq By Masoud Barzani
Our path to a secular, federal democracy is inspired by the U.S.

This Election Has Not ‘Realigned’ the Country By Jennifer Marsico
What 2008 has in common with 1980.

Featured Articles — November 11, 2008

November 11, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

‘Tolerance’ Is Not the Lesson of Kristallnacht By Bret Stephens
Sunday was the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. With some notable exceptions, Europe has opted to mark the occasion by missing its point.

Take Some Political Risks By Paul Ryan
After two straight electoral defeats, it is time for a substantial party shake-up. We don’t need a feather duster; we need a fire hose.

Obama is committed to a bold agenda By Jesse Jackson
The Beltway poison began almost before the dancing stopped early Wednesday morning. Obama has to be “cautious.” This is still a “center-right nation,” Bill Kristol wrote. “The country remains very evenly divided,” says Clinton adviser Harold Ickes. Obama had better lower his sights, ignore the “liberal” Congress and liberal lobbies and govern from the center.

Was Palin’s candidacy a step forward for women? By Cathy Young
Election 2008, which shattered the ultimate barrier by bringing an African-American to the White House, also turned out to be the Year of the Woman Who Failed.

The Final Repudiation By George Will
Americans should ponder the profound implications of the long evolution, through six stages, of the presidential-selection process.

Unions’ Creepy Push Against Secret Ballot By Froma Harrop
The first campaign promise Barack Obama should break is to push through the Employee Free Choice Act. That harmless sounding piece of legislation would let union organizers do an end run around secret-ballot elections: Companies would have to recognize a union if most workers signed cards in support of it.

Darkness at Dusk By David Brooks
It’s only been a week since the defeat, but the battle lines have already been drawn in the fight over the future of conservatism.

Featured Articles — November 10, 2008

November 10, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles, History | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

G.O.P. Dog Days? By William Kristol
Sure, the election results had been bad — but they weren’t devastating. Obama wasn’t winning the popular vote by double-digit margins, as some polls had suggested he might. Republican losses in the Senate and House were substantial but not catastrophic.

Hugo Chávez Spreads the Loot By Mary Anastasia O’Grady
Venezuelan businessman Franklin Durán sat perfectly still last week, staring straight ahead, as a Miami jury pronounced him guilty of acting illegally as an agent for Venezuela on U.S. soil. He could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Bold Is Good By E. J. Dionne Jr.
What Obama Could Learn From Reagan.

Don’t Repeat Errors of New Deal By Amity Shlaes
THE historical model that the Democrats are choosing to hold up as they ponder our financial crisis isn’t Harry Truman’s Fair Deal or Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. It is Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. At least three economic reforms under discussion now were also central in the New Deal package. Trouble is, these reforms didn’t necessarily work well when they were first tried - and some failed outright.

Holding Pattern By John Barry
Relax, Obama—foreign policy’s stalled at the moment.

The Shadow President by Michael Crowley
How John Podesta invented the Obama administration.

What Obama’s Victory Means for Racial Politics By Juan Williams
Barack Obama’s election is both an astounding political victory — and the end of an era for black politics.

The Polls Show That Reaganism Is Not Dead By Scott Rasmussen
Barack Obama won the White House by campaigning against an unpopular incumbent in a time of economic anxiety and lingering foreign policy concerns. He offered voters an upbeat message, praised the nation as a land of opportunity, promised tax cuts to just about everyone, and overcame doubts about his experience with a strong performance in the presidential debates.

Introducing Karl Polanyi By Adrian Pabst
Step aside, Keynes: the only economist to grasp the real limitations of capitalism and socialism was Hungarian.

Featured Articles — November 9, 2008

November 9, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

The Climate for Change By Al Gore
THE inspiring and transformative choice by the American people to elect Barack Obama as our 44th president lays the foundation for another fateful choice that he — and we — must make this January to begin an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis.

Obama’s School Choice By Matthew Kaminski
The personal becomes political.

The Unity Fantasy by Andrew Ferguson
The donkey and the elephant are not about to lie down together.

Team B for Illinois and Delaware By Kim Strassel
How to win a Senate seat without really trying.

Democratic Sprawl By Matthew Kaminski
Obama sealed the deal in those swingin’ burbs.

Obama Skeptics in Asia By Richard Halloran
Running through the worldwide acclaim for President-elect Barack Obama this week have been several threads of Asian skepticism, appeals, and even threats.

Bam’s Iraq Choice By Amir Taheri
Barack Obama’s original support base, the anti-war movement, still insists on a full and speedy withdrawal from Iraq, a position also backed by prominent figures of the Left. To them, Iraq is a political version of the “original sin” that can only be expiated by a clear US defeat and humiliating retreat.

America’s progressive paradox By Janet Albrechtsen
ACCORDING to Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard, America is lurching left after last week¿s presidential election. But hang on. Gerard Baker, writing in The Times, says that America is still a centre-right country. They can¿t both be right. Or can they?

The Great War is the key to remembrance By Mary Warnock
As the final veterans pass on, we must not forget what led to the carnage of the battlefields

Featured Articles — November 8, 2008

November 8, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

Why I’ll Miss President Bush By Jim Towey
He had a charge to keep, and he kept it.

CEO in chief By Nina Easton
The financial crisis and vast bailout have compelled Barack Obama to get down to business with an all-star team of CEOs and thinkers. Do they have the answers?

The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace By Jeffrey Scott Shapiro
What must our enemies be thinking?

Bush’s Failing Final Grade by Ronald Brownstein
The Harm He Caused His Party’s Prospects Could Echo Beyond This Year’s Election.

Iran’s Latin America push By John Kiriakou
As Washington ignores the region, Tehran has been making friends and influencing nations.

President Obama by William Kristol
Now it’s our turn to hope.

Barack Obama will never become one of America’s forgotten presidents By Robert Dallek
In 1888, Republican Benjamin Harrison, who lost the popular vote to Grover Cleveland, but won the deciding electoral vote, declared that Providence had dictated his elevation to the highest office.

‘Center-right’ America lurches further left By Mark Steyn
With about half the electorate ‘on the dole,’ a change of direction isn’t likely.

What the Recession Means for Foreign Policy By Richard N. Haass
The U.S. is weakened. But so are our foes.

Featured Articles — November 7, 2008

November 7, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

The Campaign Autopsy By Charles Krauthammer
In my previous life, I witnessed far more difficult postmortems. This one is easy. The patient was fatally stricken on Sept. 15 — caught in the rubble when the roof fell in (at Lehman Brothers, according to the police report) — although he did linger until his final, rather quiet demise on Nov. 4.

Emanuel pick sends powerful signal By Ben Smith and John F. Harris
President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) as his White House chief of staff is the latest demonstration of a quality Obama showed repeatedly over the course of his campaign: He’s willing to do what it takes to win.

Obama’s victory: a change the world should believe in By Philip Stephens
The world looks anew at its sole superpower. For the past several years America’s most formidable adversary has not been al-Qaeda, North Korea or Iran. The strategic threat to US power has come from rising anti-Americanism. The election of Barack Obama has disarmed it.

The Children Are Watching By Peggy Noonan
America makes history, but the mandate is for moderation.

Will Obama Have to Adjust His Timetable on Iraq? By Brian Bennett
Senior U.S. military officials will likely advise Barack Obama to adjust his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by mid-2010. While promising a 16-month timetable for getting all U.S. fighting forces out, Obama repeatedly insisted on what he calls a “responsible” withdrawal. Pulling nearly all U.S. troops and equipment out of Iraq in 16 months is “physically impossible,” says a top officer involved in briefing the President-elect on U.S. operations in Iraq.

Progressivism’s Achilles Heel By Jonah Goldberg
Behold the cultural contradictions of progressivism. Barack Obama’s victory was a huge win for self-described progressives. Arguably the most liberal presidential nominee in American history, Obama has given some very old ideas an aura of new coolness. Congrats on all that. Hope it works out for you.

Obama’s Choice by Noam Scheiber
The next Larry Summers … or Larry Summers.

Obama Needs a Strong Foreign Policy By Will Marshall
Democrats need to spell out clearly the convictions that underlie their vision of American leadership in the post-9/11 world. Fortunately, in President-elect Barack Obama they have a supremely articulate messenger who is intellectually up to the task.

Europe, not the US, can get Russia to behave By Denis Corboy, William Courtney and Kenneth Yalowitz
Europe must take advantage of its special pull on Russians.

Let’s throw away the rule book By Joseph Stiglitz
Bretton Woods II must establish economic doctrines that work in emerging economies as well as in capitalism’s heartland.

Obama’s foreign policy picks By David Milne
Academics from top-notch universities likely lead the list of potential advisors.

The serious candidate for mayor By Shimon Lerner
I find it amazing to watch the Jerusalem mayoral election, which is developing into a four-way free-for-all with only one consensus - Jerusalem is no place for a nice Jewish boy (especially a Jew with a long white beard). If the chaos and irrationality were limited to the secular and haredi communities, I would hold my tongue, but as it spreads to the national religious (Zionist) and Anglo-Saxon sectors the time seems right to remind us all who are the candidates and what this election is all about.

Featured Articles — November 6, 2008

November 6, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

How the President-Elect Did It By Karl Rove
The new voters changed the game.

Yes we can.’ But can he? By Timothy Garton Ash
To join that ebullient crowd in front of the White House shortly after midnight on Tuesday was to dance with history. “Bush out now!” and “Goodbye, nananana,” they chanted, to the sound of drums. “Obama! Obama!” Car horns honked. A young man beat a saucepan with a metal spoon. “This is the biggest housewarming party I’ve ever been to,” said a black woman wearing a Stars and Stripes head scarf. And, this being our time, everyone yapped and photo-snapped on their cellphones.

Make Haste Slowly, President Obama? By Victor Davis Hanson
Festina lente. Make haste slowly. That was the motto of the revolutionary minded young Augustus who soon grasped that he needed to build upon Rome’s past, rather than dismantle it.

Barack Obama’s historic victory: Now we need to find out what ‘change’ means By Simon Heffer
This is a pivotal moment in America’s history and, therefore, that of the world. In a country that forced black people on to separate buses within recent memory, and drove them away from polling stations at elections, the advent of a black president has a resonance that should not be understated. It is easy to be distracted by an event that proves, as the new president-elect said in his victory speech on Tuesday night, that in America anything is now possible, and old bigotries and barriers have finally been broken down. But that is not the sole, or main, significance of what has happened.

What Would Goldwater Do? By George Will
Graciously conceding as vice president in 1980, Walter Mondale spoke of voters wielding “their staggering power.” This year’s energized electorate did that, thereby proving, among other things, that bad governance is good for turnout, a fact that should give pause to people who think high rates of voting are unambiguous indicators of civic health.

World waits to see Barack’s true colours By Greg Sheridan
SO now we know for sure. The Noam Chomsky-John Pilger-Phillip Adams view of America is wrong. In George W. Bush’s America, a land allegedly rife with militarism and racism, the white military hero lost and the black memoirist won a slashing election victory.

Obama’s Dour Vision By Daniel Henninger
How much change do we really need?

Eagerly Waiting for Change — Within Russia By Yevgeny Kiselyov
The election of the 44th U.S. president elicited an unusually large amount of interest from the Russian people from the very beginning of the campaign two years ago.

Featured Articles — November 5, 2008

November 5, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

President-Elect Obama By Wall Street Journal Editors
The voters rebuke Republicans for economic failure.

Conservatism Isn’t Finished By Thomas Frank
Liberals shouldn’t be overconfident.

Obama’s post-racial promise By Shelby Steele
Barack Obama seduced whites with a vision of their racial innocence precisely to coerce them into acting out of a racial motivation.

Audacity wins By Roger Simon
Once upon a time, the thought of Barack Obama becoming president was downright audacious. In the early days of his campaign, Obama had to persuade people that casting a vote for him was not a waste of time, a sad joke or a hopeless cause.

The Obama Revolution By John F. Harris & Jim Vandehei
Nov. 4, 2008, was the day when American politics shifted on its axis. The ascent of an African-American to the presidency — a victory by a 47-year-old man who was born when segregation was still the law of the land across much of this nation — is a moment so powerful and so obvious that its symbolism needs no commentary.

America the Liberal by John B. Judis
Obama’s victory marks a radical realignment in American politics. But can the Democrats establish an enduring majority?

Not Welcome in New England by Fred Barnes
Republicans struggle in moderate congressional districts

Featured Articles — November 4, 2008

November 4, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

From 9/11 to 11/4: How soon we forget By Bret Stephens
Dec. 7 was once a significant date on the American calendar. But sometime in the past 20 years it faded almost entirely out of view. Partly this was generational and partly it was historical, as the end of the Cold War drew a line under the era that began with the day of infamy. And partly it was a matter of indifference and neglect.

Hugo Chávez’s Bag Man By Wall Street Journal Editors
Guess who’s on the Argentinian government’s campaign donor list?

The curtain finally falls By Ben Smith & Jonathan Martin
They should, by all rights, have entered Election Day with their moods matching the polls: Barack Obama elated by his seemingly substantial lead and large crowds, John McCain demoralized by the specter of defeat and meager turnout.

McCain the choice for freedom, prosperity By Deroy Murdock
Americans will choose today between two clear and distinct agendas. John McCain proposes more freedom, choice and prosperity. Barack Obama offers less of each.

Obama for president By James Fallows
Three negative reasons, one positive, to believe that Barack Obama’s victory will advance America’s interests, and that John McCain’s would be severely damaging.

An Election Day Note: Thanks, President Bush By Andrew Breitbart
I have a dark secret to tell before the election so that it’s on the record. It’s something that is difficult to say to certain friends, peers, family and, lately, many fellow conservatives.

A Date With Scarcity By David Brooks
We’re probably entering a period in which smart young liberals meet a stone-cold scarcity that they do not seem to recognize or have a plan for. 

Heading for a collision course By Jeff Barak
If the opinion polls are right, Israel and the United States are on a collision course. The predicted election victories of Barack Obama for the US presidency and Binyamin Netanyahu in next February’s elections here promise a return of the frosty relations when Bill Clinton was in the White House and Netanyahu had his disastrous first term in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Featured Articles — November 3, 2008

November 3, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

Argentina Impoverishes Itself Again By Mary Anastasia O’Grady
What happens when government meddles with private wealth.

What We’re Fighting For By John McCain
Protectionism and tax hikes are wrong for the economy.

The Opening Obama Saw By E. J. Dionne
A good politician triumphs by adapting to the times and taking advantage of opportunities as they come. A great politician anticipates openings others don’t see and creates possibilities that were not there before.

What We Know About Obama By Stanley Kurtz
The illusion of pragmatism advances far-left goals, in baby steps.

How smart is the American voter? By Larry M. Bartels
The electorate as a whole may be wiser and more rational than any individual.

The Test by Steve Coll
President Franklin Roosevelt asked Frances Perkins, his Secretary of Labor, to draft a plan that might help Americans escape poverty in old age. “Keep it simple,” he told her. “So simple that everybody will understand it.”

America’s Burden By Ralph Peters
Next Prez will Shape World.

The Republican Rump By Paul Krugman
Maybe the polls are wrong, and John McCain is about to pull off the biggest election upset in American history. But right now the Democrats seem poised both to win the White House and to greatly expand their majorities in both houses of Congress.

Featured Articles — November 2, 2008

November 2, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

Iraq may be Obama’s first ‘test’ By Robert D. Kaplan
A President Obama would have to walk a delicate line in Iraq.

Rejoin the World By Nicholas D. Kristof
An unscientific poll of 109 professional historians this year found that 61 percent rated President Bush as the worst president in American history.

Happy birthday, Balfour Declaration! By Ashley Perry
Today, November 2, the Balfour Declaration is 91 years old. It was the crucial first official recognition of Jewish national aspirations.

Ego and Mouth By Thomas Sowell
After the big gamble on subprime mortgages that led to the current financial crisis, is there going to be an even bigger gamble, by putting the fate of a nation in the hands of a man whose only qualifications are ego and mouth?

Whatever happens Election Day, democracy is the big winner By Thomas M. DeFrank
After 931 days of campaigning, 109 primaries and caucuses, 47 debates and $5 billion spent, this marathon election nears its historic finish.

‘Socialism’ is a losing argument By Ruben Navarette
After nearly two years, dozens of debates, hundreds of speeches, and more than a billion dollars, the final days of Campaign 2008 revolve around three words: “Spread the wealth.”

Five questions about America this election may answer By Peter S. Canellos
While Barack Obama enters the final days of the presidential campaign with a clear lead in the polls - but not so big as to rule out a surprise victory for John McCain - the impact of the 2008 presidential campaign will depend not only on who wins but also on whether the results signify a deeper realignment in American politics.

John Kerry’s ‘Understanding’ By Matthew Kaminski
Will Obama tap him for the ‘no preconditions’ portfolio?

Clinton III? By John Fund
Return of the Bubba administration.

Featured Articles — November 1, 2008

November 1, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes from Home and Abroad:

McCain’s Honor By Wall Street Journal Editors
A curiosity of this Presidential campaign has been the way former media idolaters of John McCain have suddenly turned on him. They now claim to be horrified by his choice of Sarah Palin, or by his ad hoc economic decision-making, or his TV ads, or something. Whom do they think they’ve been praising all these years?

Democrats Shouldn’t Overinterpret a Victory Mandate By Douglas Schoen
Paul Volcker would be a good choice for Treasury secretary.

The truth about South Ossetia By Seumas Milne
After the west heaped blame on Russia for the conflict, it ignores new evidence of Georgia’s crimes of aggression.

Mad about The One By Harold Evans
The US media have been captivated by Obama, at the expense of their curiosity and scepticism

Ego and Mouth By Thomas Sowell
Obama’s trademark.

The Amazing Race By David S. Broder
I thought 1960 was the best campaign I’d ever cover. But 2008 has that election beat.

Obama in 2-D By Mark Steyn
Remember: We’re not electing a symbol, a logo, a two-dimensional image.

Duplicity in Damascus by David Schenker
The complicated relationship between Syria and al Qaeda.

Obama Heads For The Goal Line By Charlie Cook
An Obama White House could be more careful and disciplined than past Democratic administrations.

Featured Articles — October 31, 2008

October 31, 2008 by Jonathan C. Movroydis | Filed Under Featured Articles | Leave a Comment 

Interesting Takes From Home and Abroad:

McCain for President, Part II By Charles Krauthammer
Last week I made the open-and-shut case for John McCain: In a dangerous world entering an era of uncontrolled nuclear proliferation, the choice between the most prepared foreign policy candidate in memory vs. a novice with zero experience and the wobbliest one-world instincts is not a close call.

Which Obama Would America Get? by Stuart Taylor Jr.
The Liberal Ideologue Could Be A Well-Meaning Failure; The Pragmatic Reformer Could Be A Great Leader.

A Message From The ‘Mainstream Media’ By Peter Robinson 
Hi. My name is Anonymous, and I’m a reporter in the