The Guardian's feed of diplomatic cables from Wikileaks is just now putting out a cluster of them on nuclear security matters, and they have also published a couple of related articles So far, for me at least, there's some clues why Obama might be so fixated on nuclear regulatory issues. Especially if the PDB is full of this kind of stuff. Some links after the jump.
....It would all be pretty laughable if it didn’t have serious consequences. But it does. First, with the commission’s Republican members having now issued this public, partisan smoke signal, the final product, no matter how rigorous, will be inevitably dismissed as a Democratic document. As a result, it will have little impact and, once Bill O'Reilly has finished mocking it, will be consigned to the dustbin of history. By creating this partisan rift, the Republicans have succeeded in tarring the entire enterprise....
By Mery Mogollon and Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2010
Congress allows him to govern by decree for the next 18 months. He says it's necessary to deal with widespread flooding, but critics say it's a way to get around the new Congress, in which his party's majority is reduced.
Documents seen by the Guardian reveal for the first time the full details of the allegations of rape and sexual assault that have led to extradition hearings against the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.
By Floyd Norris, New York Times, December 16, 2010
Representative Ron Paul, long a dissident critic of the Federal Reserve, is about to take over as chairman of the Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee with jurisdiction over the central bank..
By Mark Mazzetti and Salman Masood, December 17, 2010
The C.I.A. station chief in Islamabad left after his identity was exposed. Some American officials suspect that Pakistan’s military intelligence agency deliberately blew his cover.
BALAD RUZ, Iraq — ....Mr. Muhammad, 31, had a chance to save himself, to continue supporting his widowed mother, to help put his younger brother through college and to watch his three young daughters grow up.
Instead, the officer — a Sunni Muslim — threw himself onto the bomber, blunting the explosion’s impact on the Shiite worshipers....
By Patricia Cohen, New York Times, December 16, 2010
A Google-backed project allows the frequency of specific words and phrases to be tracked in centuries of books, equipping the humanities with a new method of cultural analysis.
By Kate Andersen Brower and Julianna Goldman, Bloomberg, Dec 15, 2010
..The business leaders....met with Obama for more than four hours today for a discussion aimed at fostering cooperation and finding ways to spur U.S. economic growth.
....“We focused on jobs and investment, and they feel optimistic that by working together we can get some of that cash off the sidelines”....
By Josh Rogin, The Cable @ Foreignpolicy.com, December 15, 2010
...."The QDDR is a blueprint for how we can make the State Department and USAID more nimble, more effective, and more accountable," she said. "Leading through civilian power saves lives and money."
Clinton described her plan to have State Department diplomats lead interagency efforts abroad, to rebuild the internal capacity of USAID, and to adjust to the changing dynamics of a world where power is increasingly dispersed among multiple actors.
By Daniel Howden in Nairobi, The Independent, 16 December 2010
Deputy prime minister among six suspects named by International Criminal Court
A summons from the International Criminal Court struck a blow right at the heart of Kenya's political elite yesterday, accusing the scion of the country's founding family, government ministers and the head of the civil service of crimes against humanity....
Iran on Wednesday accused the United States, Britain and Israel of involving in the deadly suicide bomb attack in the country which left 39 killed and more than 50 others wounded.....According to media, the Pakistan-based Sunni rebel group Jundallah (God' s soldiers) has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.....
By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times, December 14, 2010, reporting from Baghdad
Fifteen-year-old Ban, a fan of an American goth band and 'Twilight,' accessorizes her school-mandated head scarf and gown with skull pendants, black fingernails and a matching attitude.
....While the men in the mountains continue their phony war, Kurdish towns and cities have seen the rise in recent months of a new phenomenon: civil disobedience.....
By Fatima Bhutto, Asia Times Online, December 10, 2010
....when Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, an obsequiously dangerous man, was notified that the CIA would be launching missile strikes from drones over his country's sovereign territory, he replied, "Kill the seniors. Collateral damage worries you Americans. It doesn't worry me."....
....collateral damage, as it turns out, doesn't seem to worry anyone in the governing elite....
By Jon Cohen, Washington Post, December 13, 2010; 12:00 PM
About seven in 10 Americans back the tax deal negotiated last week by President Obama and congressional Republicans, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The high bipartisan support for the package masks more tepid public approval for some of the main components of the agreement that comes before a key Senate vote this afternoon....
By William Yong and J. David Goodman, New York Times, December 13, 2010
....The move was a victory for the president, an apparent extension of his powers, though it remained unclear what changes at the upper echelon of Iranian politics allowed for the firing.
President Ahmadinejad appointed Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, as the country’s acting foreign minister until a permanent replacement is found.....
By C.J. Chivers, New York Times, December 12, 2010
ZHARI, Afghanistan - Six American soldiers were killed and more than a dozen American and Afghan soldiers were wounded on Sunday morning when a van packed with explosives detonated beside a small joint outpost in southern Afghanistan....
