Freyburg

The always excellent Frontline has pulled out the stops for the fifth anniversary of the War in Iraq with a huge documentary entitled “Bush’s War,” detailing the build-up from 9/11 onwards, the initial invasion and the continued bloodshed in Iraq today. It’s long, but worth the watch. Unfortunately, PBS hasn’t quite gotten the glory that is embedding video just yet, so you’ll have to head to their page to check it out.

In an interview last week with an ABC correspondent, Dick Cheney’s response to the point that the American public doesn’t support the war in Iraq was simple…”So?” Mickey Edwards of the Washington Post, long a Cheney supporter, has had enough of this open contempt of the public interest, and he says so in the Washington Post.

One of the more surreal clips in the CBC Archives.

America is known as one of the most innovative, entrepreneurial places on the planet…or at least it used to be. The subprime mortgage crisis, along with a shaky economy and a war that’s been a colossal money sink, have given pause to the thought that the US is the financial titan of yore, as seen in this article in Slate.

Guinea-Bisseau is one of the poorest places on earth, but the arrival of the cocaine trade a few years ago has transformed it into a narco-state for the Colombian drug elite. A truly weird tale of greed and economics.

Foreign Policy has an interesting post up on their blog detailing how McCain’s Super Tuesday win marks the end of an era for far right American conservatives. The mood of the country just won’t fit anymore with the divisive ways of Geroge Bush and Co., and the backlash can already be seen in Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on MCcain and Ann Coulter’s statement that she’d rather vote for Hillary. I’m personally happy to see the country swing to the left, even if McCain ends up becoming president. It can hardly be any worse than the last eight years .

The always interesting New York Times Magazine has a long article up about how America is no longer able to dominate the world, and will have to share power with China and Europe in the coming decades. While predictions like these are a dime a dozen and the US seems to have a way of bouncing back where other countries fail, the author does raise some good points. Check it out.

Good news everyone! (said like Professor Farnsworth) The Atlantic, one of the best magazines in print, is finally tearing down its paywall. Presumably they did the math and figured they’d get more out of advertising than they would from charging people to read the site, but no matter what the reason for the change, I’m happy to report their excellent articles are now free for the reading.

Hillary Clinton is already feeling the pressure from Obama’s success in Iowa and his probable victory in New Hampshire. I’m a little surprised that someone with as much experience, and who has put up with so much crap from her political enemies for 20 years, is cracking up this early in the race, but the facts say otherwise. And while people are shaking their heads at the somewhat inexperienced Obama’s sudden success, I think it comes down to a couple of factors For one, Bush has left such a bad taste in the mouths of the American people, and has been such a colossal failure, that people are aching for change. But on a personal level, I can say that Obama has that certain ineffable something that turns a candidate into a force to be reckoned with. And he’s the first guy who transcends the baby boomer feuds and battles that have dominated American politics for the past 30 years. Seeing Obama’s rise, I can understand how the boomers got behind Kennedy in 1960….whether you liked his policies or not, he was one of us. Same goes for Obama. Whether any of this pans out into him actually winning the presidency, or if he’ll be worth a damn if he gets into the White House, is up for debate. But as it stands now, he’s the guy I’d most like to see win.

Not exactly “a year in Provence,” is it? Documentarian Julian Sher spent a year making films for the CBC, and in the process got to experience war both in Iraq and Afghanistan. What he saw in both places left him less than optimistic for further progress.