"Cracking Up" - Nick Lowe
- The attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul immediately made me think of a similar attack during the Tet offensive during the Vietnam War. Although Tet ended up with the NLF suffering a massive loss of cadre, its impact on American public opinion was devastating. It gave the lie to the Johnson Administration's claim that the war was being won and resulted in significant loss of public support for the war. The war in Afghanistan is already quite unpopular -- this incident, although far less lethal than Tet, creates the sense that Afghanistan simply cannot be secured. It's just one more reason for Obama to speed up our exit from there. (A friend of mine from law school who is over there promoting the rule of law -- poor bastard -- spent eight hours hunkered down in the embassy while the attack went on -- can't wait to talk about that over beers whenever he gets back.)
- The arrogance and intransigence of the Netanyahu government has had little in the way of negative consequences to Israel thus far. One gets the sense that this could be changing -- rapidly -- and that it poses huge risks to the U.S. as well. The recent assertion by the Prime Minister of Turkey that he will provide a naval escort for the flotilla seeking to break the Gaza blockade is a deeply serious threat to the stability of the region. Any military action by Israel against Turkish warships would theoretically require the U.S. and other NATO members to come to the defense of Turkey. Awkward, eh? And now Prime Minister Edrogan seems ready to up the ante further -- by possibly trying to physically enter Gaza while on a visit to Egypt -- an Egypt where there is increasing restlessness regarding its treaty with Israel. In the meantime, the U.N. vote on Palestinian statehood is looming, while Israel's fanatical supporters in the U.S. Congress are going to encourage the Israelis to be even more obdurate. This is a situation that could rapidly spin out of control, with no telling what the consequences will be.
- Jesus, the Democrats in Congress make me nuts. Every time I see something like this I wonder just what bully pulpit Obama could speak from that would knock sense into these morons. Ugh!
- Friedman actually makes sense here as he expresses dismay at the Republican dismissal of the science behind climate change. If this is your big concern Tom, wouldn't it also make sense to stop clamoring for an imaginary party to fight climate change and actually voice support for the existing party that would have passed legislation of this kind but for a Republican filibuster.
- This and this continue to bode poorly for any kind of sustained economic recovery. What is terribly frustrating is that we are four years into this morass and meaningful steps to address the problem are either nowhere in sight or likely to be stymied by Republican intransigence aided by Democratic gutlessness.
What's making you crack up today? Consider this an open thread as well.
