Freyburg

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.

The Wall Street Journal has a great article and video up about an Internet troll (someone who makes a point of putting up negative and inflammatory comments on websites) who makes it his mission to attack Hilary Clinton’s run for the presidency. Though politics is a magnet for this kind of online shenaniganery, trolls have been around since the days of Usenet, and they won’t disappear as long as there are blowhards with access to the Internet. But it is interesting to put a face and a life next to the alphanumeric ranting.

Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria points out in his latest column that while America cowers from perceived threats, the rest of the world still sees it as an aggressive bully. In order for the US to regain its standing in the world, they’re going to have to get past their sense of fear and deal with a rapidly changing world. Zakaria suggests one bright idea might be spending less time on the Middle East and more on China and India.

According to the Times, the recent declaration by American intelligence agencies that Iran doesn’t actually have any nukes and froze plans to get them a while back isn’t going over too well in Washington. And in an ironic twist of fate, war with the United States is probably about the only thing that’ll keep Ahmadinejad, Iran’s increasingly unpopular president, in power.

Yeah, it’s a total shocker to me that the Iranians aren’t actually ready to trot out a nuclear weapon, though it is amazing to hear it from American intelligence agencies. Looks like the y might have finally grown a set and not just told Bush what he wants to hear, like they did in the “slam dunk” days building up to the Iraq war. Still, the sterling record of spot-on analysis from the American intelligence community leading up to both 9/11 and the war means Iran probably DOES have nukes.

Amnesty International made a film featuring a performance artist going through six hours of the allegedly non-tortuous treatment that prisoners of American forces endure when being interrogated. The artist isn’t acting; every single whimper out of the guy is the real thing. Kind of puts the whole “war on terror” thing in perspective.

Ah, more shaping of questionable intelligence to fit Dick Cheney’s homicidal whims. How delightful!