MONDAY,  MARCH 30,  2009

FRANCE BALKS - AT 8:07 P.M. ET:  From London's Telegraph:

President Sarkozy yesterday threatened to wreck the London summit if France’s demands for tougher financial regulation are not met.

France will not accept a G20 that produces a “false success with language that sounds good but contains no commitments”, his advisers said.

Asked if this meant a possible walk-out, Xavier Musca, Mr Sarkozy’s deputy chief of staff for economic affairs, said: “A basic rule with nuclear deterrence is that you do not say at what point you will use the weapon.”

COMMENT:  President Obama heads for London tomorrow, with an entourage of 500.  Virtually every report I've seen says that he faces a cold reception from the G20.  His personal popularity remains high, but his policies, especially his vast spending, have gotten poor reviews.  Let's see if his much-vaunted "diplomacy" will have any effect.

March 30, 2009

HILLARY SPEAKS - AT 5:23 P.M. ET: 

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Obama administration has indeed abandoned the term ''global war on terror.''

Clinton says that while she hasn't seen any specific orders, the new administration in Washington simply isn't using the phrase.

The term was a rallying cry for President George Bush after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. But the use of the term ''global war on terror'' is widely disliked overseas.

COMMENT:  It is widely disliked overseas, so therefore we will not use it.  Well, democracy is widely disliked in a large chunk of the Muslim world.  Maybe we should abandon that, too.  After all, we'd be showing respect.  Right?

The fact that "global war on terror" defines the issue well is, of course, of no significance with this new, ultra-elitist crowd.  I mean, who are we to question other cultures?

March 30, 2009   Permalink

DOW CLOSE - AT 4:35 P.M. ET:  The Dow closed down 254 points, to 7522, after a small rally in the last hour of trading.

PAKISTAN TERROR - AT 3:26 P.M. ET:  An update to our 7:49 a.m. story about the latest terror attack in Pakistan:

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- The siege of a Pakistani police academy near Lahore ended with the death of four attackers and the arrest of three. Eight policemen were killed and 50 were injured in the attack, the military said.

Pakistani soldiers battled seven gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades who attacked the police building in Manawan and fought the security forces for more than seven hours, said a military spokesman, who asked not to be identified, in a phone interview from Rawalpindi, near the capital, Islamabad.

The Interior Ministry had earlier said 22 people had been killed in the assault, the second terrorist attack in the vicinity of the the eastern city this month.

COMMENT:  The numbers, as you can see by comparing our two stories, are all over the place.  There is a tremendous problem of inaccuracy in reporting the results of terror attacks in Pakistan.  The key point is that Islamists are now attacking regularly, in an unstable country that possesses nuclear weapons.

March 30, 2009   Permalink

DOW STILL DOWN - AT 3:18 P.M. ET:  With about 42 minutes to the closing bell, the Dow is down 289 points, to 7488.  It was down well over 300 points earlier in the day.

I'M SHOCKED, SHOCKED! - AT 3:12 P.M. ET:  Well, what do you know?  The New York Times has discovered what we've known for years - that the American Bar Association's ratings of judicial nominees are tilted toward liberals: 

...a series of studies have found indications that liberal nominees do better in the process than conservative ones. The latest, to be presented next month at the Midwest Political Science Association, found evidence consistent with ideological bias.

“Holding all other factors constant,” the study found, “those nominations submitted by a Democratic president were significantly more likely to receive higher A.B.A. ratings than nominations submitted by a Republican president.”

COMMENT:  I never would have known.

March 30, 2009   Permalink

DOW DOWN - AT 9:46 A.M. ET:  The Dow is down 212 points, to 7564.

REPORT FROM AN EYEWITNESS - AT 8:42 A.M. ET:  Urgent Agenda has a number of contacts around the world, and we welcome their expertise.  This report, from an American expert visiting Afghanistan, reacts to the president's plan for the region, unveiled Friday:

I have been able to look at it only briefly and only in second-hand
summaries. That said, I have to say that it seems surprisingly adult. Seems to "get" the nature of the counterinsurgency fight here, no sign of a crippling time-based exit strategy, willing to apply the appropriate resources that a serious plan requires.

The "get-tough" with Pakistani and Afghan leaders aspect is a little
troubling. It is important to remember the personal risks these
leaders take in stepping forward. And to understand the balancing act
they are performing, battered by countervailing pressures from power
centers that are hard to understand from afar. I am not at all
against the accountability and transparency that the administration
seems to be demanding, but we will have to give leaders in precarious
positions enough maneuver space to survive (sometimes literally) among
their own people. I think the criticism of the Bush administration
as too beholden to Karzai and Musharraf is a bit simplistic and naive.

But overall, this approach to Afghanistan seems to depart from the
pattern of unserious non-solutions this administration has established
thus far.

COMMENT:  Okay.  We hope our traveler is correct, and that this is an improvement over past plans.  We'll be watching carefully, always happy to praise the president if he gets it right. 

March 30, 2009   Permalink

BIG TROUBLE IN PAKISTAN - AT 7:49 A.M. ET: We keep hearing, and it is correct, that Pakistan is key to our problems with extremism in South Asia.   Instability in Pakistan is a major danger.  Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and, should these fall under the control of Islamic insurgents, our problems will increase geometrically.  Now there is a new incident.  From London's Telegraph:

Dozens of Pakistani policemen are being held hostage in Lahore after gunmen stormed their training camp, leaving about 60 dead.

Gunfire is echoing around the outskirts of the city and fighters are positioned on rooftops, firing at security forces in the streets below. The latest attack in Lahore bears a strong similarity to the assault on the Sri Lankan cricket team in the city earlier this month.

Earlier, loud explosions were heard from inside the police compound on the outskirts of Lahore where about 25 gunmen fought their way in with assault rifles and hand-grenades...

...The latest incidents in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, appear to show that Islamist insurgents are extending their influence across Pakistan.

COMMENT:  This comes just after the president announced his new plan for the Afghan/Pakistan region.  Will it affect the plan?  There is an old military saying that all war plans are out the window on first contact with the enemy.  I suspect there'll be many plans before this fight is over, and surveys show that the American people are tiring of our presence in the region.  Big problems ahead.

March 30, 2009   Permalink

BLOW TO OBAMA - AT 7:36 A.M. ET:  From AP, Moscow:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev indicated he would not increase pressure on Iran over its nuclear program in exchange for the United States backing off on plans to deploy missile-defense elements in Eastern Europe.

"I don't think any trade-offs are possible in this respect," Medvedev said in a transcript of an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. aired Sunday.

The former US administration said putting the anti-missile system in Europe was necessary to block possible attacks by so-called rogue states such as Iran, but Russia says the system is aimed at undermining its own defenses.

COMMENT:  One of the first groveling steps of the Obama administration was to knife our East European allies in the back by hinting that Washington would drop the anti-missile system, which these allies embraced, in exchange for Russian pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program.  You see how successful this trick was.  We antagonized our allies and made them doubt our reliability, and got zero in return.

March 30, 2009   Permalink

SPECIAL ELECTION - AT 7:28 A.M. ET:  From The New York Times:

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Two months ago, it would have been hard for the most ardent political wonk to find the state's 20th Congressional District on a map. On Tuesday, it will be the center of the American political landscape, with Republicans hoping desperately a win there will knock President Barack Obama off stride and Democrats looking to build on the momentum of the past two years.

Republican Jim Tedisco, a state legislator for 27 years, faces Democrat Scott Murphy, a businessman who has the backing of the president and influential unions. The special election is to replace Kirsten Gillibrand, who was named to the U.S. Senate in January after former Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton became secretary of state.

COMMENT:  Too much is being made of this.  The 20th is nominally Republican, but has been trending Democratic.  U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the most recent congresswoman from the district, is a moderate Democrat. 

The national parties will spin the result as either significant or insignificant, depending on whether they win or lose.

March 30, 2009   Permalink

GENERAL MOTORS AND CHRYSLER - AT 7:20 A.M. ET:  Rarely has a story without physical violence struck with such impact. The United States Government, presumably limited in power under our system, has forced out the head of General Motors, and is requiring Chrysler to merge, as conditions of further federal aid.  From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The White House on Sunday pushed out the chairman of General Motors and instructed Chrysler to form a partnership with the Italian automaker Fiat within 30 days as conditions for receiving another much-needed round of government aid.

The decision to ask G.M.’s chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, to resign caught Detroit and Washington by surprise, and it underscored the Obama administration’s determination to keep a tight rein on the companies it is bailing out — a level of government involvement in business perhaps not seen since the Great Depression.

COMMENT:  This is pretty chilling.  Is it our future?   Let me say right off that there's a lesson here:  When you take government money, you take government control.  In fact, the government has a fiduciary responsibility to oversee the spending of its funds.   Think of that every time you're asked to vote for euphemisms like "paid for by the American people" or "made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts."

But the fact that Washington can now dictate who the next chairman of GM will be is profound.  Washington has agendas that go beyond the health of General Motors.  Watch, as the Obama environmental agenda, which may or may not be sound, is forced on the carmaker.  Watch as the sheer number of union voters in the state of Michigan becomes a consideration, with the 2012 presidential election in the minds of White House "advisers." 

This is awfully close to full nationalization.  Add this to the government's power over banks, and we're entering a brave new world, and without an exit strategy.

Most fascinating, to me at least, will be the reaction of the American people, generation by generation.  Measuring that reaction will probably start immediately. 

And watch for the GOP reaction.  The party leaders should have been up all night crafting a creative reply that will move the American people and demonstrate the party's vision and seriousness.  Don't hold your breath.

And do not underestimate the size of this story.

March 30, 2009   Permalink

SUNDAY,  MARCH 29,  2009

AMERICA ON ICE - AT 4:07 P.M. ET:  I had an essay on figure skating at the Angel's Corner this week.  My wife and I are fans.  I mentioned that figure skating has declined in popularity in the United States since Tonya Harding arranged for Nancy Kerrigan to be whacked in the knee in 1994. 

The interest level in this beautiful sport won't be helped by what happened last night at the world championships in Los Angeles.  South Korea's Yu-Na Kim won the gold, a well-deserved victory after a superb performance.  Canada's Joannie Rochette won silver.  I thought the judges were a bit generous.  Japan's Miki Ando got bronze.  Okay, but I thought that should have gone to the fourth-place finisher, Japan's Mao Asada. 

The Americans?  Spirited Rachel Flatt came in fifth, and our national champion, the stylish Alissa Czisny, finished a crushing eleventh.  That is a catastrophe for this country's skating program.  The placements mean that, for the first time since the Harding/Kerrigan convulsion in 1994, and only for the second time since the winter games began in 1924, the U.S. will be permitted only two women for the individual ladies' competition in next year's Olympics in Vancouver.  The combined placements of Flatt and Czisny had to add up to 13 or less to guarantee three slots.   

American women have medaled in every Olympics since 1964.  The ladies' individual competition is the most popular event in the winter Olympics, and brings in masses of TV viewers.  A poor showing by the U.S., now cut to two skaters, could further depress figure skating in this country.

There is serious talk that ultra-champion Michelle Kwan and 2006 Sasha Cohen may come back into competitive skating to try for next year's Olympics.  That would give us star power...and at least a chance.  Would be a great news story, too.

March 29, 2009   Permalink 

SIR, THE CAMPAIGN IS OVER.  YOU HAVE THE JOB - AT 3:32 P.M. ET:  From Fox News:

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. presence in Afghanistan will not "be an open-ended commitment of infinite resources, President Obama said in an interview aired Sunday.

Obama said security is tenuous in that nation in part because of neglect in the last U.S. administration. He said he inherited the war and tried to suggest that it was not his war now that he has announce a new strategy for bringing stability to Afghanistan.

"I think it's America's war. And it's the same war that we initiated after 9/11 as a consequence of those attacks," Obama told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Friday, the day he announced his new plan. "The focus over the last seven years I think has been lost. ... Unless we get a handle on it now, we're gonna be in trouble."

COMMENT:  So needlessly tacky.  So, what is he saying?  It was Bush's war, but, now that Obama is president, it's America's war? 

Why wouldn't I trust this man to write a dictionary?

March 29, 2009   Permalink

HEY, WELCOME, GUY! - AT 3:27 P.M. ET:  From AP: 

DOHA, Qatar–Sudan's president, who is sought by an international court on charges of war crimes in Darfur, received a warm welcome Sunday in Qatar, where he will attend this week's Arab League summit.

President Omar al-Bashir was greeted with hugs and kisses by Qatar's emir in a red-carpet welcome at Doha's airport on Sunday. He later had coffee with the emir and the head of the Arab League. The summit begins Monday.

The 22-country Arab League has already said it would not enforce the International Criminal Court's arrest order for al-Bashir issued on March 4 and the Sudanese leader visited Eritrea, Egypt and Libya over the past week in a show of defiance.

COMMENT:  You know, life is always worth living if you have friends.  And, of course, who are we to question the decisions of the Arab League?  We must respect cultural differences.  Right?

Yuch.

March 29, 2009   Permalink

YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS - AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  On the further adventures of Ms. Hillary, and her attempts to repair the damage done by the evil BUSH (!!). 

It turns out that, on her recent trip to Mexico, Ms. Hillary visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.  The basilica's most famous object is a cloak on which the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted in 1531.  The image does not decay.

And what was the reaction of our secretary of state, graduate of Wellesley and the Yale Law School, to this magnificent image?  She asked the rector of the basilica, "Who painted it?"

I kid you not.  You cannot make this up.  Story here.

March 29, 2009   Permalink

IRANIAN MISSILIERS IN NORTH KOREA - AT 9:46 A.M. ET:   My friend Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi alerts us to this story, which once again shows the respect and warmth that Iran is directing toward President Obama and his "outreach" policy.  From AFP:

TOKYO (AFP) — A group of Iranian missile experts is in North Korea to help Pyongyang prepare for a rocket launch, Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported on Sunday.

North Korea has said it will launch a communications satellite over northern Japan between April 4 and 8, and the report said the 15-strong Iranian delegation had been in the country since the beginning of this month.

It includes senior officials with Iranian rocket and satellite producer Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, the daily said, quoting unnamed sources.

The Iranians brought a letter from their President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il stressing the importance of cooperating on space technology, it added.

COMMENT:  One rogue state deserves another.  Iran continues to show contempt for President Obama's extended hand.  When will we learn that this is what the mullahs are actually like?  It ain't an act.

March 29, 2009   Permalink

O CANADA - AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  From AFP:

The Canadian government on Friday reaffirmed its Arctic claims, saying it will defend its northern territories and waters after Russia earlier announced plans to militarize the North.

"Canada is an Arctic power," Catherine Loubier, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, said in an email to AFP.

"The government is engaged in protecting the security of Canada and in exercising its sovereignty in the North, including Canadian waters," she said.

Loubier pointed to the planned acquisition of Arctic patrol vessels, construction of a deep water port and eavesdropping network in the region, annual military exercises and boosting the number of Inuit Arctic rangers keeping on eye on goings-on along its northern frontier.

COMMENT:  The Canadians are doing exactly the right thing.  Now, here is a question I never thought I'd have to ask about the United States:  Which side will we be on?  Will we back our ally?  So far, I haven't heard a word coming out of Washington. 

Chances are we'll say nothing, letting Canada twist in the wind while we push the "reset" button in our relations with Russia.  You watch.

March 29, 2009   Permalink

THE PAIN IN SPAIN - AT 8:43 A.M. ET:  From AP:

MADRID, – A Spanish court has agreed to consider opening a criminal case against six former Bush administration officials, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, over allegations they gave legal cover for torture at Guantanamo Bay, a lawyer in the case said Saturday.

Human rights lawyers brought the case before leading anti-terror judge Baltasar Garzon, who agreed to send it on to prosecutors to decide whether it had merit, Gonzalo Boye, one of the lawyers who brought the charges, told The Associated Press.

The ex-Bush officials are Gonzales; former undersecretary of defense for policy Douglas Feith; former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff David Addington; Justice Department officials John Yoo and Jay S. Bybee; and Pentagon lawyer William Haynes.

COMMENT:  Just to let you know, I'm opening an investigation into the Spanish Inquisition.  It will be held in my kitchen.  Any of you who have evidence are urged to e-mail me.  Don't be frightened.  Name the names!

This whole thing is ridiculous.  I'd love to meet the "human rights lawyers" who are behind it.  You can just imagine what their real political views are likely to be.  This kind of thing happens in Spain all the time.  They have some kind of loophole in their law that allows Spanish courts to investigate the world.

March 29, 2009   Permalink

INCREDIBLE - AT 8:30 A.M. ET: 

JENIN, West Bank (AP) -- Palestinian authorities disbanded a youth orchestra from a West Bank refugee camp after it played for a group of Holocaust survivors in Israel, a local official said on Sunday.

Adnan Hindi of the Jenin camp called the Holocaust a ''political issue'' and accused conductor Wafa Younis of unknowingly dragging the children into a political dispute.

He added that Younis has been barred from the camp and the apartment where she taught the 13-member Strings of Freedom orchestra has been boarded up.

''She exploited the children,'' said Hindi, the head of the camp's ''popular committee,'' which takes on municipal duties. ''She will be forbidden from doing any activities ... We have to protect our children and our community.''

COMMENT:  Simply unbelievable.  Now, let's see how many of the "multiculturalists" and advocates of "academic and cultural freedom" will speak out against this obscenity.  The Palestinian children's concert for Holocaust survivors was publicized all over the world.  For the Palestinians, it was a show of humanity and decency.  You'd think their moronic leaders would realize that.  Now they destroy it, demonstrating once again the truth of the comment made by Israel's late foreign minister, Abba Eban, that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

March 29, 2009   Permalink