Sometimes the Morning News gets me a little down and I worry that I am bumming people out with tales of death and destruction. Because of that, I thought I would preface today’s news with this video because as Jeff put it, “as fucked up as the world may seem, you can still go to the DMZ and dance like a goofball.”
While insurgent activity in Iraq is declining, Afghanistan has seen a 40% increase in attacks over the last several months. Though the actual number of casualties is still relatively small, it is a tough problem for the US to address since there aren’t really any troops left. In related news, the Army has made the official flightpath out of Baghdad for returning soldiers include a brief 4-month layover in Kandahar.
The Zimbabwe runoff election is scheduled to be held this Friday. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai (who won the initial election, but not by enough to prevent a runoff), has dropped out of the race and sought refuge in a foreign embassy at the request of his supporters. President Robert Mugabe has led a campaign or terror, including thousands of beatings and dozens of murders of opposition activists. Other South African leaders are trying to decide what they want to do in advance of the election, but no matter what they do it is likely at this point that Mugabe will win. All of this is set against the backdrop of a catastrophic economic situation. The inflation rate is in the millions (compared to the US inflation rate, which at around 3% is considered kind of high). A single U.S. dollar is now worth 14 billion Zimbabwean dollars on the black market.
The Wall Street Journal continues its attempt to remake itself as the kind of paper that breaks marquee stories. They are reporting that the Justice Department didn’t hire many low-level officials and interns because they had associations with Democratic or liberal groups. The report that unearthed this information was produced by the investigation into the firing of several U.S. attorneys for political reasons. I can actually see the rational for replacing high-level attorneys or staffers with people in the same party, but to deny a kid who applied for the “Justice Honors and Summer Law Intern” programs? That is just petty.
Tom Friedman continues to exist. I can’t tell if this column is insightful or racist.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry is negotiating a series of no-bid contracts with a collection of Western oil companies. This would be the first major commercial oil development to take place since the US invaded Iraq in 2003. More than 40 companies from a variety of countries including Russia and China submitted proposals, and it is unusual for oil companies to get no-bid contracts (Only one country, however, has more than 100,000 troops in Iraq). There is a lot going on here and many ways you could look at this. You could argue that this supports the idea that the US went to war in Iraq for oil (an idea that has a lot of credence in that Arab world). You could also argue that this is a very favorable turn of events because the sooner oil production can start the sooner Iraq will have money to begin investing in infrastructure. You could also argue that no-bid contracts in general are a bad idea. However, you really don’t have to argue anything since no one will be talking about this at your office. Unless you work at Shell.
In the face of skyrocketing oil prices, Americans are driving less. Specifically, drivers have cut back by 30 billion miles over the last 6 months. This is the largest decrease since the fuel crisis in the late 70s. It’s weird to see market forces at work.
Senator Obama has opted out of Public Financing. We had mentioned he was considering it before, but now he has actually pulled the trigger. If he had gone with public financing, he would have been limited to spending $84.1 million for the general election campaign. Contrast that with the fact that he raised $95 million in February and March alone. See our previous coverage of the issue for the proper way to discuss this at the office.
A runoff election in Zimbabwe is planned for June 27th, and prominent international and African groups are escalating their rhetoric against President Mugabe. Since losing the initial election (but not by enough to prevent a runoff), President Mugabe has launched a terror campaign against the opposition party that has included beatings, murders, threats of civil war should he lose and multiple imprisonments of the opposition leader. “Every sign” that it “will never be free nor fair” indeed.
Because I didn’t post the news yesterday, some people might have missed that the Celtics won the NBA championship. Just an FYI that Boston rules.
The US has decided to humor the Iraqi government by “negotiating” with them to determine the future of the US military in Iraq. Those negotiations are quickly dissolving into acrimony with the Iraqi government condemning the US’s demands. The US is trying to make sure that their military has a large number of bases all over the country and that the military can operate with little or no oversight from the Iraqi government. The Iraqis want us to get the hell out. My initial thought on this is that it is the case of Iraqi politicians trying to drum up popularity at home by denouncing the big bad United States. Also, that the US military is going to do whatever it wants no matter what the Iraqis say.
The Republican Party is gearing up for big losses in November in both the House and the Senate (and possibly the Presidency). Talk with your Republican coworkers about how the party can refocus, find its roots and plan an eventual return to power. If you are Democrat, just smile and sip your coffee.
The Clinton’s have a literal enemies list that has expanded significantly during this election. While kind of creepy, this can actually be a fun topic of conversation at work! Chat over the water cooler about who would be on your enemies list. So far I have student loan debt, the guy who bumped into me on the subway this morning, and Ryan Reynolds.
I am quick to criticize New York Times Columnists (mostly because of my crippling jealousy) so I should be quick to praise them too. Both David Brooks and Tom Friedman had great columns yesterday and today. Brook’s is about debt and Friedman’s is about the fact that he has been to Egypt (and about Barack Obama).
The Celtics lost game 3, bringing the series to 2-1. Though neither team really covered themselves with glory last night.
Breath deep people, can you smell the Democracy? Democratic voters in Kentucky and Oregon go to the polls today to cast their ballots in the Endless Primary (OK, Oregon votes by mail but – shut up). After today’s primary Senator Obama is expected to have the majority of pledged delegates but Senator Clinton is arguing that if you count Florida and Michigan, she has won the popular vote. The Obama campaign has been toying with overtly declaring victory tonight but has since backpedaled on that idea because, well, it is kind of douchey. Have fun arguing with your coworkers over when the primary will end. Heck, start a betting poll for which day one of the candidates (Clinton) drops out. It will be like March madness, but nerdier.
Apparently, the US military is only now starting to separate the detainees they have in custody in Iraq into separate groups like “terrorists” and “Poor bastards we snatched off the street.” The US is also started to let go more people it has realized are clearly not enemy combatants – hopefully a trend we will see continue.
