Archives for January 2009

Iraqis go to the polls Saturday to vote in the first provincial elections since January, 2005. This time, two big things are different. The Sunni Arabs are not boycotting the election, as they did 4 years ago; and the Shiite parties are competing against one another rather than running as a monolithic coalition. These two […]

The odd collection of con men, carpetbaggers, mercenaries, court jesters, and professional propagandists that gathered around W. the way pilot fish jostle about a great white shark has now scattered to more obscure reefs. Now, as Meyrav Wurmser admitted, they are thinking about how to make money. They seek perches in the “think tanks” of […]

More on Iraq’s provincial elections, slated for Saturday for most people, though some categories of voter have already voted,on Wednesday (e.g.police, the sick). This sample is a skewed one and might not be representative of the electorate. But the early results of this vote , according to al-Hayat writing in Arabic, could tell us something […]

The USG Open Source Center translates a Kurdish newspaper article warning of Iraqi central government aspirations to have its army take over the northern oil city of Kirkuk (where the police and security forces are largely Kurdish). The Kurdistan Regional Government wishes to annex Kirkuk to itself, but this move is being resisted by Baghdad […]

Raj Purohit and Amjad Atallah write in a guest op-ed for IC: If the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in February, it will certainly be met by a volley of criticism from the accused as he continues to frame the ICC as a tool of the west […]

The transcript of President Obama’s interview on al-Arabiya Television (Dubai)is at the latter’s site and I will mirror it here, below. Just a few quick observations. Obama emphasized respect for the Muslim world, affirmed that the United States is not its enemy, and that, on the contrary, Washington has a stake in the well-being and […]

A shout out to comedian Margaret Cho, whose material I’ve always found fresh, insightful and funny. As a public speaker who sometimes delves into humor, I can attest that it is way more difficult than most people think. But Margaret is clearly also into other cultural and charitable activities of interest. Just thought I’d suggest […]

My Democratic Party colleague Taylor Marsh took exception to my Salon piece on Obama’s decision to bomb Pakistan during his first week in office. I always welcome vigorous debate and believe that arguing substance in public is essential to our attaining the ideals of a democratic republic. I value Taylor Marsh’s perspective and we have […]