Friday, October 12, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Post-VP Biden/Ryan Debate Analysis
It was clear that Biden's job was to come out swinging about this and that "malarkey." And he succeeded in showing that aggressiveness that his campaign clearly believes Obama lacked and caused him to lose the first debate. But the flip-side of that was that he was excessively rude, condescending, but most of all interrupting, to the point of it becoming rather annoying that he would not even let Ryan get a word in edgewise. And Ryan was in some ways excessively deferential in allowing himself to be cut off and interrupted by Biden constantly. Who won? Tie. Biden was strong but rude. Ryan was calm but overpowered. And given this dynamic, on substance it was even. Doesn't move the ball to either side of the court. Tweet
Russia Says It Will Not Renew Arms Agreement With U.S.
Reuters on the consequences of the Obama foreign policy of Russian accommodation:
Russia will not renew a decades-old agreement with Washington on dismantling nuclear and chemical weapons when it expires next year, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
The death of the 1991 agreement, which had been renewed twice, is the latest in a series of hitches in relations between the United States and Russia and casts doubt on the future of the much-vaunted "reset" in relations between the Cold War-era foes.
"The basis of the program is an agreement of 1991 which, by virtue of the time when it was conceived, the way it was worked out and prepared, does not meet very high standards. The agreement doesn't satisfy us, especially considering new realities," Interfax quoted him as saying.
Tweet
"Moderate" Tunisia Islamists Show Their True Radicalism
Reuters reports:
Secular politicians in Tunisia said on Thursday that a leaked video of a secret meeting between the leader of the ruling Islamist party and puritanical Salafis showed the government was not the moderate Islamist force it claimed to be.
In the video, Ennahda party leader Rached Ghannouchi is heard discussing which parts of the state have fallen into the hands of Islamists and advising Salafis on where they should focus their efforts to spread their influence further.
The footage has angered liberals who say Salafis threaten human rights in a country once seen as a beacon of Arab secularism, but which is now under siege from religious hardliners who have attacked cinemas and artistic performances, arguing that they violate Islam.
Salafis also led an attack on the U.S. embassy in Tunis last month that killed four people, after an anti-Islam film made in California sparked anger across the region.
Ghannouchi's office said his comments, which were made at a meeting in April and released on the Internet this week, were merely part of an attempt to persuade Salafis to work peacefully for change within a political framework.
But secular politicians said the footage confirmed their fears about Ennahda, which rules with two junior partners in government, and warned of a new dictatorship.
"I made a mistake when I said before that Ennahda is moderate," said Beji Caid Essebsi, who served as prime minister last year after former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country. "I am shocked ... after hearing this from the leader of the ruling party I'm afraid for Tunisia."
Others said they would lobby for a parliamentary vote withdrawing confidence in the government.
"Ghannouchi's remarks solved the mystery of why things have deteriorated in the country and Salafi violence has spiralled," said Issam Chebbi of the Republican Party.
Tweet
U.S. Embassy Employee Killed In Yemen: "Fingerprints Of Al Qaeda"
Masked gunmen shot dead a Yemeni man on his way to work at the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on Thursday, a security source said, the latest in a wave of assassinations in the Arab state where Washington is battling al Qaeda militants. The attackers on a motorcycle opened fire on a car carrying Qassem Aqlan – who headed an embassy security team – in the center of Yemen’s capital, the source told Reuters. “This (assassination) operation has the fingerprints of al Qaeda which carried out similar operations before,” said the source who asked not to be named.Tweet
RSS Feed (xml)