I just read the latest free commentary from Stratfor…
Iraq and Afghanistan have absorbed a large percentage of U.S. ground combat capability, limiting U.S. military options elsewhere. An internal political crisis has further limited the Bush administration’s options. With the outcome of the November midterm elections uncertain, outside powers have a window of opportunity in which to take risks…
The Russians are not concerned about U.S. responses to their behavior [in Georgia]; they see themselves as having a degree of freedom of action that they lacked when the United States was in a stronger position.
…the military reality on the ground in Iraq severely constrains U.S. options around the world. That, in turn, constrains U.S. diplomacy. Diplomacy without even the distant possibility of military action is impotent…
The Americans either must dramatically increase the capability of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps or else decrease their commitment in Iraq. If the United States does neither, its ability to control and influence events in other regions will decline, even if the internal political crisis is resolved.
Great stuff… sign up for free alerts at their website or you can subscribe for a veritable wealth of commentary.
Tucked away in fine print in the military spending bill for this past year was a lump sum of $20 million to pay for a celebration in the nation’s capital “for commemoration of success” in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There is also a shorter version as well as the making of. In the making of the commercial, you can hear car alarms going off when the balls are bouncing down the streets…
From the Newsweek Excerpt of Bob Woodward’s State of Denial:
…would another Senate confirmation overload the system? And, clearly, the conduct of the war in Iraq would be the subject of confirmation hearings for anyone Bush nominated to be the new secretary of defense.
Rove agreed that they did not want to do anything that would prompt hearings on the war. Jesus, no.
So, that might be a plausible reason why Rummy still hasn’t been fired… the fear of Senate hearings with a justifiable reason to have the Senate poking its nose in the Iraq War. Is Rove really that afraid of the Senate? Hasn’t his K-Street finagling taken care of the dissent?
The excerpt in Newsweek is pretty good, it’s the October 9, 2006 issue.
Jim Rogers‘ house is for sale: only $15,000,000, though with a Riverside Drive address and 10,000 square feet, it doesn’t sound like a ridiculous price…
According to a new Gallup poll, 42% of respondents agreed with the statement that the Bush administration “deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall’s elections.” Fifty-three percent of those surveyed did not believe the conspiracy theory; 5% said they had no opinion.
There are several points in the article that the President doesn’t have the power to manipulate markets like that… and the oil companies wouldn’t drive down the price to lower their own profits. Decent points…
But what if the manipulators were those on Wall Street and in the futures markets? Well, that’s what the US Senate recently decided. The big boys on Wall Street got the idea to scare up prices for their own profits, and the spike is nicely over before the lead-up to the November elections so the Republicans can keep the legislature. The Republicans stay in power, maybe even pass another tax cut that pays back their friends on Wall Street…
Here’s a quick Forbes blurb about Sheldon Adelson, who took his casino company public last year and subsequently increased his net worth by $23 million per day for the year — close to $1 million per hour. Damn.
