The Short List - September 30, 2011

We don't believe in filler baby, even on a Friday.


International

• Anwar al-Aulaqi, the U.S. citizen and radical cleric responsible for inspiring the Fort Hood shooting and for planning the attempted Christmas underwear bombing has reportedly been killed in an airstrike.  At this time, it is uncertain if al-Aulaqi was killed by a drone or ceonventional airstrike.  In April 2010, the Obama administration authorized the killing of this U.S. citizen.  DCExile editor, Ben, has written about the legality of the continuous targeting of a U.S. citizen by his government.  Rep. Peter King had a rare word of praise for President Obama following the announcement of al-Aulaqi's death.  While your editor believes that al-Aulaqi was a consistent threat to U.S. security, I am unsure if the man was an immediate threat and I'm concerned about the legal precedent set by the targeted killing of a U.S. citizen.


• The Pakistani street seems to think the U.S. is gearing up to attack the country in light of Admiral Mullen's comments about Pakistani government support for the Huqqani network.  The Pakistani government has passed a resolution calles Adm. Mullen's statements "baseless."  Admiral Mullen will step down from his position as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs today.


• Afghan ethnic groups are jockeying for position in what they see as the coming civil war once U.S and NATO ground forces withdraw.


• In Libya, the NTC is investigating reports of the capture of Qaddafi spokesman, Mussa Ibrahim.  News outlets claim to have video of him detained, dressed as a woman.


• Friend of DCExile, @kangnick, was on CNBC talking the DOJ investigation of Chinese firms.

Domestic

• Gov. Chris Christie continues to mull a run for president and considers how to scale up to be competitive.  The malaise among the GOP over the current slate of candidates is remarkable and unwarranted in your editor's eyes.


• Glenn Beck, out to indoctrinate the children of America, to prevent the indoctrination of the children of America.  Course you have to pay the subscription fee for his online only TV channel.


• Bank of America, so thankful for the $45 billion it received in TARP funding, will start charging customers a $5 monthly fee to use their debit cards.  Worth noting in Q2 of 2011, Bank of America's Global Card Services reported $2 billion in earnings, up by $1.2 billion year to year.

Rolling Back the TTP

Sean Mann at FP considers the turning tide in Pakistan's war against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan -- the unified front of Pakistani militant organizations, separate from (though sometimes aligned with) the Afghan Taliban. 

By mid-2008, the local branches of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had forced out Pakistani security forces and taken power in large portions of Mohmand and Bajaur, the northernmost of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). For three years the militant group exercised open territorial control, levying taxes and administering its own brand of justice in the mountainous areas along the Afghan border. Pakistani military operations aimed at destroying the TTP insurgency came in regular cycles, yet each declaration of success was followed by the swift resurgence of militant power. Hundreds of thousands of civilians fled the violence to reside in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps or with family members elsewhere in Pakistan.

Recently, however, the tide in Mohmand and Bajaur has turned decisively in the Pakistani military's favor. For the first time in four years, militants have lost the territory they once openly controlled. Whether the tide turns back, or whether these tribal areas even matter given the larger challenges Pakistan faces, is another question entirely.

The TTP figured prominently in an article I coauthored last year discussing the legal implications of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan.

What Kind Of Day Has It Been

International

• Typhoon Nesat pounded the Philippines.
• As if to make the Palestinian's point, Israel has approved the construction of an additional 1,100 settler homes in East Jerusalem, the eventual capital of Palestinian state.
• Egypt has finally set a date for its first post-Mubarak election: November 28, 2011.
• The White House is working closely with the NTC to secure weapons leftover from the Qaddafi era. But ABC News is reporting that 20,000 surface to air missiles have gone missing.

Domestic

• The White House stays on message in Denver -- the ole DCExile On-Message Counter tells us it's been nearly 20 days of message discipline for BHO.
• It's as if, because they did everything in secret, Republicans can't accept there was no secret-White-House-healthcare conspiracy.
• You know, it would be nice if people that purport to have a direct pipeline to the deepest, secret thoughts of the Founding Fathers (if not the Holy Father) could actually tell their stories accurately. Fortunately, we have the many layers of irony embedded in Perry's inability to recall the facts of the Boston Tea Party to keep us warm through the looming winter. 
• Unemployed Millionaires for Tax Increases. 

The Short List - September 27, 2011

In a West Coast state of mind, so we're posting a bit late.

International

• NPR discusses the growing use of drones outside of the tribal areas of Pakistan, and how their usage may, to paraphrase Mao, create more water for the fish to swim in.  In Pakistan itself, people blame U.S. policies and the Pakistani government's half-hearted acquiescence to those policies for the exponential growth in suicide bomb attacks since 2001.  I say half-hearted because today there are allegations that in 2007, after a formal meeting with Pakistanis, U.S. troops were attacked by the same Pakistanis they had been meeting with.


• In Syria, the government has sent tanks into Rastan in it's continuing efforts to put down protesters and activists.  The government claimed they have a bevy of democratic reforms they want to enact, but that foreign inspired religious fanatics and other groups have delayed the implementation of the reforms.


• The Greek prime minister is making direct overtures to Germany and German business leaders as he seeks a fresh injection of cash to help sustain his debt ridden country.

Domestic

• The Senate has reached a compromise on the budget that will likely keep the federal government open until November 18th.  Likely because even though Speaker Boehner supports it, his caucus may not.  The compromise does not meet the FEMA funding levels Democrats wanted, but also doesn't reach the level of spending cuts Republicans wanted.  And so the can appears to be kicked further down the road.


• The Justice Department will not appeal a lower court ruling on the individual mandate of the healthcare law and instead the matter will likely head to the Supreme Court within the next year.


• The Washington Monument remains closed indefinitelyhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/local/washington-monuments-elevator-damaged-in-earthquake/2011/09/26/gIQA55wazK_story.html after last month's earthquake, as the damage may be more extensive then previously thought.  However the structure is sound according to the park service.

What Kind Of Day Has It Been

International

• NTC forces closed in on Sirte. Meanwhile, the Syrian Spring looks to be entering an armed phase. And Simon Henderson considers Bahrain after its spring was crushed.
• Putin gets to be President again--I, for one, am shocked (SHOCKED!) that there's gambling in the casino. 
• Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement and Nobel Laureate, has died.
• And Saudi women will get the franchise.

Domestic

• This is just ridiculous--it's the damn Federal Emergency Management Agency, stop holding its budget hostage.
• Judson Phillips of Tea Party Nation has endorsed Newt. I shared a plane (and coach class) with the former Speaker, his wife, and some staffers on my way to Chicago over Labor Day weekend. Ole Newt did not look super upbeat. Phillips, by the way, believes that property ownership as a prerequisite for voting "makes a lot of sense."
• Nate Silver makes the case that Perry is a good bet -- at least for an Intrade buy.
• The inventor of Doritos has died and will be buried with his chips.

The Short List - September 23, 2011

International

• Yemeni president, Ali Saleh,  has returned to his country after three months in Saudi Arabia where he was recovering form wounds suffered in connection with an attack.  It is unclear what this will mean for Yemen in the immediate as fighting continues.
• On the heels of Admiral Mullen's stinging indictment of the Pakistan's ISI, Pakistan's foriegn minister says the U.S. risks losing an ally.  I asked a while back, with friends like these, who needs enemies?  Speaking of our friends, our man in Afghanistan vows to continue the peace process at the funeral for a peace broker that may have been killed by a Taliban emissary.
• The Syrian government is reporting five troops were killed in an ambush staged by terrorists, though it is more likely the protests and the government instigated violence in response to said protests has come around on Syrian forces.
• Abbas, ever in the shadow of his predecessor, has a critical moment in his leadership today as he takes the podium at the United Nations.
• The NTC forces have taken control of a few southern desert towns, but is an insurgency forming in Libya?

Domestic

• The stock market continues to refuse to keep the gains it makes week to week, amid continued economic fears.
• The federal government lurches toward shut down again.
• The GOP debate last night was as full with pandering as Ben suggested in WKODHIB yesterday.  The Fix scores the winners and loser.  Fact Checker has a field day.  And Politico makes the case that Perry isn't ready for primetime.  If you're unfamiliar with former Gov. Gary Johnson, I suggest you read this.

What Kind Of Day Has It Been

International

• Adm. Mullen comes out swinging on Pakistan and its role in the stunning (if ineffective) Taliban assault on the U.S. embassy in Kabul earlier this month.
• Yet more reason to not block the PLO's bid for membership in the UN: it's a wedge to break Hamas's grip on Gaza. Lest we forget, there will be Palestinian presidential and parliamentary elections sometime in the next eight months.
• The NTC took Sabha. And Tunisia reports that it has arrested Libya's former PM under Qaddafi.
• The Dutch and the Finns--look at the Finns making all sorts of trouble recently--successfully blocked EU-member states Bulgaria and Romania from admission to the passport-free travel zone.

Domestic

• A day of videos--h/t Jenny & Nick, respectively:

• There is yet another Republican debate tonight. This Editor trembles at the prospect of what new lows we'll reach tonight in pandering and deception. He further trembles at the idea that this will continue for another three months at least. 
• Ah, McCain's campaign '08, the gift of gossip that keeps on giving. I will never forgive you for this, Senator. 

The Short List - September 22, 2011

International

• Violence between factions in Yemen continues for the fifth straight day, yet the situation is absent from the front page of The Washington Post and The New York Times.


• A 24-hour public transport strike has crippled Greece as government workers protest newly planned austerity measures that are intended to keep Greece in the euro zone and give the government access to IMF loans.


• Oman played a pivotal role in securing the release of the U.S. hikers, owing to it's unique position as friend of the U.S. and Iran.


• China is objecting to a US-Taiwan deal to upgrade Taiwan's ageing F-16 fleet.


• King Abdullah of Jordan says you will see evolution in his country, not revolution.


• In France, two women have been fined for wearing the full face veil.  This is the first ruling to enforce the "burqa ban" passed by the French parliament in April.

Domestic

• The state of Georgia executed Troy Davis for the murder of an off-duty police officer, despite a large campaign to have the execution stayed and seven of the witnesses in the case recanting their stories.  Nicholas Kristof put it best on Twitter last night when he said, "When smart people debate whether or not a man should be executed, that's a good reason not to execute him."


• The healthcare reform derisively known as Obamacare has put nearly one million young adults on a health insurance plan since 2010.  The rate of uninsured in that age group has dropped by 4% in less then two years.


• Mitt Romney is banking on general election electability to out duel Rick Perry.


• House Democrats showed discipline in their solidarity to reject a GOP spending bill that had rankled some conservative Republicans as well.  The vote also shows that Speaker Boehner isn't in control of his caucus.

What Kind Of Day Has It Been

International

• Iran freed two hostages who had, after playing a part in the Iranian-American international confrontation, played a part in an internal Iranian confrontation.
• Turkey is set to explore off-shore gas deposits claimed by its creation the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. North Cyprus is recognized only by Turkey and, as it's a product of force, violates the norms of state creation in international law--thus, arguably, Turkey's recognition of the non-state violates international law. Your Editor notes that there are likely gas deposits off Somaliland's coast, a wholly unrecognized state whose creation does not violate the norms of state creation in international law.
• Tunisia--remember Tunisia? It had a revolution, too--is set to have elections next month and the head of the EU observer mission makes positive noises about its success.
• Somalia, where an AK-47 is a valuable reward for a good child.
• And President Obama took the podium at the General Assembly. As expected, he dumped cold water on the Palestinian bid for UN membership.

Domestic

• Google, don't be evil! 
• WJC is against tax hikes. He's also against cutting spending in this poor economy.

The Short List - September 21, 2011

International

• The U.S. has given an ultimatum to Pakistan that it cease its support of the Haqqani network.  Your editor thinks it might be ground hog day.


• As a negotiated cease-fire in Yemen hangs by a thread following two fired mortar round, the United States is building an ever expanding network of drone sites that allow targeting of the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, specifically Somalia and Yemen, two countries that have become the focal point of counter-terror activities in the last couple years.


• The release of the two U.S. hikers convicted of spying by the Iranian government appears to be imminent, according to their lawyer.  Meanwhile, friend of DCExile, Reza Marashi says good questions for journalists to ask the Iranian delegation about human rights are great questions for diplomats to ask the Iranian delegation.


• Tens of thousands of people rallied in Ramallah and Nablus today in support of the recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations.  President Obama will have to walk a very fine line in his remarks to the General Assembly this week, as the administration tries to dance around the issue.  Meanwhile to the GOP presidential field who have some (pandering) thoughts on this issue, your editor says, "Shhh, adults are talking."

Domestic

• Some of the "moderate elite" are suggesting President Obama has tacked too far left with his recent speeches.  Meanwhile, Fact Checker shows that our tax system is progressive, but as much as the marginal personal income tax brackets would suggest.


• Sarah Palin, the un-candidate, annoys some in the GOP with her persistent presence and "will she or won't she" gamesmanship.


• Google begins to play both sides of the political fence.


• The farm lobby is losing influence as subsides come increasingly under fire.

What Kind Of Day Has It Been

International

• Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former mujahideen leader, former President of the Northern Alliance, and current head of the Afghan peace council (whose mission it is to negotiate peace with the Taliban) was assassinated by the Taliban. 
• Libya's new UN delegation arrived for the General Assembly.
• Hey look, Nuri al-Maliki came around on Assad--that's right, folks, it took Our Man in Baghdad weeks longer to call for Assad to step down than it did for the Tyrant of Tehran. Maliki never fails to disappoint.

Domestic

• Santorum is having a hard time in PA.
• 39%. No kidding.
• Jason mentioned it this morning but it's a big-damn-deal so I'll mention it, too: DADT is dead.

The Short List - September 20, 2011

International

• The future of drone strikes may mean taking human operators out of kill decisions.  And do you'd have a covert system without direct human oversight and human culpability if something went wrong.


• A bomb has gone off in Ankara, Turkey today wounding 15.  At this time, no group has claimed responsibility.  


• In Yemen, fierce fighting continues in and around Sanaa as pro and anti Saleh forces continue to battle each other.  There is growing concern that the country is descending into a civil war.


• Some Iranian analysts think Ahmadinejad's gambit regarding the release of two American hikers is a wily political move to try and win some support from the middle class of Iran.  Your editor is skeptical that Ahmadinejad is that strategic in his thinking and that the middle class will so easily lend their allegiance.


• Ben had an article published this week that makes the case that in a post-Libyan intervention world, Western reluctance to recognize a country like Somaliland seems ever more hypocritical.

Domestic

• Don't Ask, Don't Tell will officially be repealed today in what could be the one of the greatest v-days for civil rights in the last decade.


• Politico asks if Obama can beat the "class warfare" wrap.  Your editor thinks this is a time when populism is a key to victory, not something to "beat" or run from.


• In Gov. Perry's state of Texas, home of the "Texas Miracle," more then 25% of the state's population has no health insurance at all, and Perry has cut funding to emergency rooms and clinics that have become the front line care providers for this vast population of uninsured.


• Romney panders on Israel, and ignores the advice of DCExile.  Not that we think he or is staff are regular readers.

What Kind Of Day Has It Been

International

• Protesters in Yemeni seized a base belonging to the Yemeni Republican Guard, an elite unit of the Yemen Armed Forces.
• NTC fighters took the Sabha airport, closing in on one of the three main pro-Qaddafi hold-out cities. Those same fighters claim to be hours away from controlling Sabha's city center.
• And the Arab Spring is renewed in Morocco.

Domestic

• BHO takes it to the GOP, calling spades spades and strikes strikes. Good on ya, Mr. President. DCExile supports this new recognition of political reality and--hopefully--an avoidance of future Lucy and the Football scenarios. Ezra Klein comes rather late to this conclusion; maybe he should start reading DCExile archives.
• As if to prove the point, the GOP is attacking the White House plan as "'[p]itting one group of Americans against another.'" This Editor does not recall the GOP taking that position as they claimed the banner of "Real Americans" who were defined as being 'not Democrats'.
• More Rollins on Bachmann.
  

Message Discipline

In honor of the White House's new found message discipline--and new found recognition of political realities--DCExile has installed a counter (over on the right, below the Twitter stream) that records the number of days of White House message discipline.

What Kind Of Day Has It Been

International

• The Obama administration is pushing for a new Quartet statement to avoid the PLO's bid for statehood at the UN. The Quartet is the ad hoc multilateral working group (consisting of the United States, Russia, the EU, and the UN) that is supposed to be shepherd along the moribund (dead?) peace process. Abbas, in his capacity as Chairman of the PLO, declared his intent to personally deliver Palestine's request for admission to the United Nations.
• NTC fighters were beaten back in Bani Wald today, where there is evidence of Saif's presence. At Sirte, however, NTC fighters reportedly reached the city center.
• Syria: more protests, more bloodshed.

Domestic

• Politico highlights Bachmann staff concerns about her misstatements. I'm concerned that Politico gives credence to the notion that they're misstatements--as opposed to a willingness on her part to ignore facts, truth, and reality. That is to say, bald face lies.
• A debate over the legal use of force by the United States has been quietly ongoing within the administration. This is an issue of particular interest to this Editor, as he has published on it.
  

The Short List - September 16, 2011

International

• As the NTC push into Sirte, Turkish PM Erdogan has arrived in Tripoli just a day after Sarkozy and Cameron visited.  Back in Turkey, the Foreign Ministry announced they would allow the United States to place X-band radar in the country.  This is intending to give the U.S. greater warning of missile launches from Iran.


• President Abbas, operating under his chairmanship of the PLO, will deliver a speech in Ramallah today that will outline the Palestinian case for statehood.  He intends to hand the application to Ban Ki-moon personally on Monday.  Sen. John Barrasso believes the U.S. should stop this "end run" around the peace process.  Your editor asks "What peace process?"  Ahmad Tibi believes if the U.S. blocks this vote puts "the U.S. squarely on the wrong side of the Arab Spring."  That sounds familiar.


• Egyptians plan to take to the streets today to protest the ruling military council's emergency laws.  The military was the decisive institution in ousting Mubarak, but it seems slow to adapt to its new found power.

Domestic

• Marine Sergeant, Dakota Meyer, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan that saved the lives of 36 U.S. and Afghan military forces.


• The Senate has managed to avert another crisis in FAA funding.


• Republican legislators at the state level are throwing up barriers to voting in ways that will disenfranchise constituencies that have historically been ignored by the political process.  **Editor's note: Shame on The Washington Post for suggesting the biggest problem with rewriting these laws is that Democrats won't win.  The biggest problem is that people won't be able to vote.**

What Kind Of Day Has It Been

International

• The endgame in Libya has begun, with NTC forces entering the outskirts of Sirte, while Cameron and Sarkozy revel in victory, praising Libya's new leaders.
• The Economist considers how to save the Euro while European central banks work to do exactly that.
• The international political implications of this ongoing process are just astounding.
  

Domestic

• Boehner draws a stupid line in the sand.
• Perry's governing (governoring?) style is rather secretive, not unlike that other "straight talkin'" Republican from Texas. Also, this Editor just downloaded the forthcoming chapter on Perry's 2006 campaign in The Victory Lab for his Kindle.
• I love the Ragin' Cajun but . . . damnit.
  

The Short List - September 15, 2011

International

• The Arab Spring continues into the fall as fresh fighting between rival factions breaks out in Yemen.  In Syria, protesters vow to demonstrate again six months after the protests began.


• UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says the bid by Palestinians for recognition in the United Nations is "understandable."  Yesterday, Ben suggested the standing of the U.S. in the Middle East could backslide if we veto the Palestinian bid.


• Sarkozy and Cameron take a victory lap in Libya, but the hard part may just be beginning.


• Israel has evacuated its embassy in Amman after warnings of a million man march to the embassy.  There was concern the march would lead to something similar to the violence seen in Cairo earlier this week.

Domestic

• Speaker Boehner will reportedly come out in favor of reforming the tax code, and he'll urge the supercommittee to close loop holes and lower the corporate tax rate.  This is a position that may prove to be controversial as there wasn't an appetite for these reforms during the debt ceiling negotiation in his caucus.


• The United Auto Workers have extended their contracts with GM and Chrysler after the sides had failed to reach an agreement on a new deal.  A strike is unlikely and negotiations are set to resume this morning.


• NPR has a great story about the growing wealth gap between white and black families.


• The United States Postal Service will propose cuts in mail delivery service that could save USPS $3 billion annually.  It if up for debate about the necessity to have a USPS, but it's still interesting a quasi-governmental organization is proposing to downsize itself.

America’s Palestine Problem

As the 66^th General Assembly opens, the Palestinian Liberation Organization is set to request that the United Nations admit Palestine as a member. Because only states are able to be members of the United Nations, such admission would require, necessarily, that Palestine be a state. And, therefore, admission would serve to recognize Palestine’s statehood. It is likely that, should the United States be unable to wrangle enough votes on the Security Council to delay action on the Palestinian application, the U.S. will be forced to veto the U.N Security Council Resolution granting Palestine’s admission as a U.N. member-state.

Normally, the alignment of American and Israeli interests renders a U.S. veto of a resolution that contravenes Israeli policy goals unworthy of comment. However, because the Arab Spring has provided the United States with the opportunity to improve its standing in the Arab world—and because the United States has actually availed itself of this opportunity—vetoing Palestine’s application for statehood is a singularly unpalatable proposition.

One can imagine few more effective ways for the United States to squander its newfound position in the Arab world than by vetoing Palestine’s application for statehood. There is no better way for the United States to transition from liberator of Libya and friend of free Egypt back to oppressor of Arabs than by denying Palestine’s statehood.

Beyond merely losing standing, however, such action is likely to breathe life back into the al-Qaeda brand. That brand has suffered tremendously in the Arab Spring. Largely, the devaluation of al-Qaeda as a brand has both to do with Arab (and Muslim) rejection of terrorism and violence, as well as the stunning success of the Arab Spring’s alternative narrative—namely, that non-violent protest movements seeking dignity and humanity can bring down the same repressive, autocratic regimes that al-Qaeda has targeted but wholly failed to dislodge. It has been this counter-narrative that has provided the United States with space to change its perception in the Middle East. By standing with the protestors in Tahrir Square, with the NTC, and ever so slowly with Syrians, the United States is seen to be siding with oppressed rather than with the oppressors, as it has since at least Mossadegh. But, by vetoing Palestinian statehood, the United States will in the span of time required to cast a vote, squander a wealth or regional political capital it has been unable to garner since the Suez crisis. It will be a tremendous waste and one that is likely to haunt U.S. policy in the Middle East for at least a generation.

The only hopeful signal coming out of the U.N. is that the United States is working feverishly to avoid the vote altogether. While this is no substitute for unwillingness to veto Palestinian statehood, it at least signals that U.S. policymakers are aware of the stakes associated with this particular veto. But, as a good friend recently opined, this may be an example of old policy for a new world—old policy that leads to the same old problems for the United States.