[Comment]: US Hands over Karbala Province to Green Zone Government, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. A few hours ago, Karbala Province southwest of Baghdad became the 8th province out of 18 to be handed over to Iraq-Namese security forces. The Americans and the Iraq-Namese said that the locals were ready and able to handle things themselves. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Returns to Pakistan, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto arrived home after years of self-imposed exile. Tens of thousands lined the streets to cheer her arrival. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Larry Craig Refuses to Quit Senate, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) is refusing to resign his seat after weeks of public embarrassment. Last month, the media found out that he had pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct related to soliciting sex in a public bathroom at the airport in Minneapolis. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Putin Names Zubkov as New Russian PM, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. Chekist and President Vladimir Putin of Russia earlier this week dissolved the fairly unpopular government of Mikhail Fradkov. Most analysts believed that whomever the president chose to succeed Mr. Fradkov would ultimately succeed Mr. Putin as president when his term ends in March. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Subprime Fixes Pit Congress against White House, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. The president has offered some help to mortgage holders who are in over their heads, but he is ideologically unable to do more than put a band-aid on things. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Commons Committee Says Hamas Boycott is Counter-Productive, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has released a report that says the current international boycott of Hamas in the Gaza Strip is counter-productive. >>>Read more
[Comment]: UK Publishers Reject Jane Austen Manuscript, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. David Lassman is a would-be novelist who is discovering that there is a big gap bridged by that hyphen. He hasn’t had much luck in getting a publisher in the UK for his work, so he decided to see if he would have any luck with someone else’s. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Prime Minister al-Maliki Says US Can Leave “Any Time”, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. The Sunday talk shows were agog at a statement from Iraq-Namese Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He said, “We say with full confidence we are able, God willing, to shoulder the complete responsibility in administering the security portfolio if the international forces withdrew, at any time they wish.” >>>Read more
[Travel Essay]: Branko's Bosnia: Tracing the Steps of a Refugee and Prijatelj, by Steven Mayers My dear prijatelj, friend, in San Francisco, Branko, gave me my reason to travel last summer to the Balkan Peninsula and former Yugoslavia, his vanished home country. He was an ESL student of mine about six years ago who is about my age, and we have been friends ever since meeting, getting together for dinner and wine and swapping stories about life, history, love, and music in the Balkans in America. >>>Read more
[Comment]: BBC Reporter Alan Johnston is Free, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. After 114 days as a hostage held by jihadis, the BBC’s Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston is a free man. In his words, it is “unimaginably good.” >>>Read more
[Comment]: “The Sopranos” Stops but Doesn’t End, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. The whining over the ending of the HBO series “The Sopranos” is rather loud this morning. Those who thought David Chase, the creator, writer and director of the series, would finish Tony Soprano off in a “Scarface” blaze of glory are miffed. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Senate Immigration “Deal” Pleases Too Few, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. The US Senate and the White House hammered out a compromise on immigration policy at the end of last week. Over the week-end, the opposition to the deal grew ominously. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Stormont Assembly Takes Over (Again) in Northern Ireland, by Jeff Myhre, PhD.. The Reverend Ian Paisley took the oath of office yesterday as First Minister of Northern Ireland and Martin McGuinness made a similar oath as his Deputy First Minister. Reverend Paisley, of course, is the octogenarian hard-core Protestant leader who has been a huge obstacle to anything resembling peace in the province for longer than most Ulstermen have been alive. >>>Read more
[Comment]: French Poll Results in Classic Left-Right Run-Off, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. France’s voters went to the polls yesterday and selected two candidates for the second round, one of whom will be the next French president. In the right hand corner and leading the initial round was moderate right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy with 36% of the votes cast. On the left was Socialist Segolene Royal, who would be the first female French president were she to win on May 6, who garnered close to 26% of the votes. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Candidate Richardson Arrives in Pyongyang, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. New Mexico’s governor, Bill Richardson, arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea yesterday to hold negotiations with the sociopath regime there. The White House has blessed his delegation's visit, which is not part of the six-party talks aimed at diffusing the mess on the Korean peninsula but which is aimed at saving the deal that exists. As former US ambassador to the UN he has visited North Korea in the 1990s and again in 2005 for a total of six trips there. >>>Read more
[Essay]: The Wisdom of Rapidly Leaving Iraq, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. The debate in America over what to do about the War in Iraq has largely rejected out of hand a rapid withdrawal of American forces. The underlying assumption is that leaving is losing and that losing makes America and its allies less secure. However, upon closer examination a solid case can be made that by pulling US military personnel out of Iraq quickly and completely, America’s overall security is enhanced. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Americans Hate Their Jobs More Than Ever, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. Work is a four letter word, but surprisingly, people still think of “job satisfaction” when they assess their employment situation. According to The Conference Board, a body devoted to finding out what people in the economy are thinking, more Americans are dissatisfied with their jobs than are content. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Senator Clinton Denies Endorsement for Consulting Fee Charge, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. The Hillary Clinton campaign for the presidency hit a rather nasty ethics problem in the last few days. State Senator Darrell Jackson, one of South Carolina’s most influential black politicians, has endorsed her rather than one of the other candidates. Shortly after he made his endorsement, he admitted that her campaign has given his media consulting firm a $10,000 a month contract. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Gates Calls for Closer US-Russian Cooperation, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. Almost immediately after Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed American policy for “almost uncontained hyper-use of military force in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts,” the US responded with something resembling brains. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Rival Palestinian Factions to Hold Talks in Mecca, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. The Palestinian people have been screwed over by both the Israeli government and their own leaders for the better part of six decades. They are now at a crossroads where things can actually get much worse. Over the past couple of weeks, 60 people in the Gaza Strip have died in fighting between Fatah and Hamas militias. >>>Read more
[Comment]: California to Launch “Career Technical Education”, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. Most trends in American culture start in California. In general, that is neither good nor bad, merely a fact. However, an initiative in Governor Schwarzenegger’s new budget calls for something that is decidedly good, and one hopes the rest of the nation catches on. >>>Read more
[Comment]: New Management Fad is the “Carrot Culture”, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. Somehow, people in management think that reading books on how to manage will make them better at their jobs. This is only marginally true. Management is about interpersonal behavior aimed at motivating others to produce value in quantity. If one has lousy interpersonal skills, a book won’t fix it. If one has such skills, a book is likely unnecessary. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Entry Fee for ’08 Presidential Race around $100 Million, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. In order to be considered a “serious” candidate for the presidency next time around, a politician is going to need to raise about $100 million before calendar 2008 begins. Combined, those running for the GOP and Democratic Party’s nomination will spend over $1 billion. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Chavez is Building 19th Century Socialism in Venezuela, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. President Hugo Chavez starts this third term in office today vowing to move Venezuela along the path to “a socialist republic.” He said after swearing in a new cabinet yesterday, “We are in an existential moment of Venezuelan life. We’re heading toward socialism, and nothing and no-one can prevent it.” >>>Read more
[Comment]: Ethiopia Helps Somalia Kick Out Fascislamic Forces, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. Back in June, [The Kensington Review] wrote of the collapse of Somalia’s military in the face of the Islamic Courts Union jihadis. Sharia law was imposed and Al Qaeda’s pals were in control. Much better news arrived this week with the ouster of the jihadis by Somali and Ethiopian troops. >>>Read more
[Comment]: Saddam Hussein Hanged for Crimes against Humanity, by Jeff Myhre, PhD. Saturday in Baghdad, Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikrit, the former dictator of Iraq, was hanged for crimes against humanity. While there is no reason to shed a tear, and indeed opening a bottle of Veuve Clicquot is more appropriate, the way the new government in Iraq played out his execution illustrated the general pointlessness of trying him. >>>Read more |
