Alan
Caruba at Warning Signs - 1 day ago
Well, we now have another black riot to put in the books. This one,
like the others, involve the death of a black American by a white police
officer, but buried in the stories about the Ferguson, Missouri riot is the
fact that there was an altercation between Michael Brown and the officer who
shot him after having sustained an injury. The response of some members of the
black community in Ferguson was to vandalize and loot stores on Sunday night
victimizing the owners of those stores, some of whom avoided it by standing
fully armed in front of their place of business…
Andrew Gawthorpe, The Diplomat
Daniel Greenfield
Anthony Watts
From NCAR, some wind pie in the sky. A mother lode of wind power Mapping the potential to harvest high-altitude wind May 28, 2014 | What if all the energy needed by society existed just a mile or two above ….
jennifer
at Jennifer
Marohasy
BEFORE
the 20th Century there was no age for retirement. There existed a leisured
class who through birth or industry could choose what work they did – if and
when. But, even they didn’t retire. Retirement, like unemployment, can
potentially reduce you to discussion of people, events, and lost opportunities,
when great minds discuss ideas. [...]
Joanne
Nova at JoNova
For
a weekend curiosity: this study caught my eye. What if part of the modern
obesity epidemic was due to antibiotic use? It may be that if we feed babies
antibiotics during a certain window of development, their metabolism changes in
ways that last for life (say hello to Syndrome X — sigh). For years, evidence
has been gathering that the bacteria in our gut have major contracts and
complicated deals going with our immune system. Now this study in lab mice suggests
serious negotiations might be going on between bacteria and our developing
metabolism too. The quote of the day:... more »
Anthony
Watts
Traveling
today, as I have been all week, but this seemed like a good time for an open
thread. Discuss anything within bounds of WUWT commenting policy.
Guest
Blogger at Watts
Up With That?
Opinion;
Dr. Tim Ball The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are
composed entirely of lost airline luggage. Mike Russell Lack of Data Is The
Fundamental Problem My first involvement with the Acid Rain scare …
Anna
Nemtsova, The Daily Beast
On
Thursday night a caravan of about 270 Russian military trucks, all freshly
painted white, parked in a field outside the small town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky
about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the Ukrainian border. But long after
dark, according to a report by a correspondent for The Guardian who happened on
the scene, 23 Russian armored personnel carriers crossed through a gap in the
barbed wire fence onto a dirt track in an area no longer guarded by Ukrainian
troops. If so, official Kiev seems to be lost.
George
Will, New York Post
This
far into the human story, only the historically uninstructed are startled by
what they think are new permutations of evil. So, when Russia sliced Crimea off
Ukraine, Secretary of State John Kerry was nonplussed: “You just don’t in the
21st century behave in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on
completely trumped up pretext.” If, however, Vladimir Putin is out of step with
the march of progress, where exactly on history’s inevitably ascending path (as
progressives like Kerry evidently think) does Kerry, our innocent abroad,
locate the Isl...
Will
Marshall, Politico Magazine
Democrats
would be wiser to accept Clinton’s implicit challenge to talk more about the
positive uses of American power. Much of the world now believes that a
declining America is abandoning its leadership role. Is that what Democrats
believe? For six decades, Democratic leaders have acted upon the premise that a
freer world is a safer and more prosperous world. Is this core tenet of
post-war internationalism still operative?
Stephen
Carter, Bloomberg
The
resignation of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has led critics of
President Barack Obama’s foreign policy to insist that there is no longer any
reason to withhold military assistance from Baghdad in its struggle against the
jihadist group Islamic State. This blast from an editorial in this morning’s
Wall Street Journal is typical: “With Mr. Maliki gone, so too goes Mr. Obama’s
alibi for unseriousness.” But this argument rests on the claim that the
obstacle to successful multi-ethnic government in Iraq was Maliki himself --not
either the State of... more »
Tom
Rogan, National Review
Just
because Maliki is gone, no one should assume Iraq is saved. Absent a new
comprehensive American strategy, Iraq will continue tumbling toward implosion.
Our recognition of this fact matters because Iraq holds profound importance for
America.
David
Francis, The Fiscal Times
The
arrival of U.S. troops at Mt. Sinjar, where American airstrikes have broken a
siege of Iraqi Yazidis and Christians by International State of Syria and Iraq,
marks a dramatic escalation of American involvement in the fight for the future
of Iraq. For the first time since ISIS advanced toward the outskirts of
Baghdad, American troops were in a combat zone where their lives were directly
as risk from the ISIS threat.
John
Hudson, Foreign Policy
As
the American air campaign over Iraq to defend the Yazidi minority from an
onslaught of Sunni militants shows signs of success, members of the religious
sect's diaspora community are coming to grips with a sinking realization: No
matter what happens next, Iraq will never be a safe place for Yazidis.
Andrew Gawthorpe, The Diplomat
Obama
is not the first president to face these problems – aggressive adversaries,
nervous allies, and a U.S. public deeply unwilling to make the commitments
necessary to reassure those allies – in the Asia-Pacific. A look back at the
Asia-Pacific policy of President Gerald Ford and his chief foreign policy
architect Henry Kissinger is surprisingly instructive for placing America’s
contemporary position in the region in perspective.
Mohan & Medcalf
In
a changing Asia, not even steadfast allies like Australia can afford to put all
their eggs in the alliance basket. Thus in a new research paper, we argued that
it is time for new and creative ways to deal with Asia’s strategic
uncertainties: the creation of “middle-power coalitions,” new security
arrangements that include neither China, nor the United States. This is not a
replacement for partnership with America or efforts to engage with China, but a
complement to both approaches.
Alister
Heath
It
is hard to exaggerate the trouble that Francois Hollande, France’s president,
now finds himself in. It is not just that his popularity has collapsed and that
his misguided stewardship of the French economy has crippled his country,
helping to deliver a second consecutive quarter of zero growth. The real
problem is that France is slowly but surely emerging as the eurozone’s weakest
link, together of course with Italy, and, if that were not bad enough, there is
no meaningful prospect of either of the two countries extricating themselves
from their...
Joel
Kotki
In
the past century, the greatest global cities were generally the largest and
centers of the world’s great empires: London, Paris, New York and Tokyo. Today
size is not so important: Of the world’s 10 most populous cities, only Tokyo,
New York and Beijing are in the top 10 of our ranking of the world’s most
important cities. Instead, what matters today is influence.
John
Steele Gordon
The
American On August 15, 1914, the world was fixated on the dramatic first month
of World War I, as the German army raced towards Paris and the fate of Europe
hung in the balance. But on that day, half a world away, a ship named the SS
Ancon became the first vessel to officially transit the Panama Canal — and the
canal was opened for business.
Anthony
Watts
From
the University of Innsbruck, another modeling study. This news release is
available in German. The ongoing global glacier retreat causes rising
sea-levels, changing seasonal water availability and increasing geo-hazards.
While melting glaciers have become emblematic of anthropogenic climate change,…
Guest
Blogger
Psychological
Problems faced by disappointed alarmists Story submitted by Eric Worrall The
Sydney Morning Herald has published an article describing the psychological
problems alarmists are experiencing, in the wake of their Copenhagen 2009
disappointment. Ask most alarmists and they will …
Michael
Weiss
Lebanon
When Obama hasn’t been doing battle with the Islamic State (IS) in and around
Iraqi Kurdistan, he’s been ranged against former members of his own
administration who, either out of principle or opportunism, have surveyed what
has been wrought by seven-and-a-half years of American absenteeism in the
Middle East and declared it a man-made disaster.
Christopher
Lee
From
weapons proliferation, to human rights matters, and to global security—North
Korea is present. It is extremely difficult to find a major international issue
in which North Korea is not playing a substantial role. Despite the small size
of its population and breadth of its territory, North Korea has played a
“disproportionately important role” in the last 30 years of world history,
particularly due to its arsenal of advanced weapons systems and the
consternation its warheads create both near and far.
Fareed
Zakaria, Washington Post
For
decades, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has been to support“moderates.”
The problem is that there are actually very few of them. The Arab world is
going through a bitter, sectarian struggle that is “carrying the Islamic world
back to the Dark Ages,” said Turkish President Abdullah Gul. In these
circumstances, moderates either become extremists or they lose out in the
brutal power struggles of the day. Look at Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya and the
Palestinian territories.
The
resignation of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki after a bitter final power
struggle sets the stage for increasing U.S. arms shipments and military
advisors, deepening America’s role in a conflict President Obama had sought to
avoid. White House officials, who had urged Maliki to step down, praised him
for agreeing Thursday to back Haider Abadi, a less divisive successor who they
hope can unite Iraq’s political and religious factions against the Islamic
State militants who control or threaten much of the country.
Shashank
Joshi, Telegraph
There’s
little new in this approach, particularly the massacre of captives and the
method of beheading for the purposes of terrorisation. The American journalist
Daniel Pearl was beheaded in Pakistan in 2002, the American businessman Nick
Berg in Iraq in 2004, and several others thereafter. 14 Yemeni soldiers were
beheaded only last week. And there are worse examples still. In the 1980s, the
Lebanese militant group Hizbollah captured the CIA station chief in Beirut and,
later, a US marine; accounts of their torture – “a significant number of people
in this ....
Rick
Salutin, Toronto Star
Barack
Obama’s approach to foreign policy is a great one. Doing stupid stuff
previously has led to the Mideast being entangled in problems now.
Andrew
Bacevich, Spectator
Spectator
No doubt the ‘Islamic State’ poses a danger of sorts. But for the United States
and for Europe, that danger is negligible. Regional powers such as Saudi
Arabia, Turkey and Iran are both more directly threatened and far better
positioned to deal with it. Offering whatever indirect assistance might be
helpful, the United States would be better served simply to butt out. We’ve
done enough damage.
Amir
Taheri, New York Post
Will
the Obama administration’s military intervention in Iraq be “discreet”
or“discrete”? That is, does it mean to keep a low profile to avoid offending
anti-interventionism at home, or is it simply making a limited show of force?
Vice President Joe Biden and other administration big shots used “discrete” to
describe the president’s decision to order air strikes against the jihadists in
northern Iraq. Yet many Iraqi leaders at first assumed Washington
meant“discreet.” They thus assumed Washington would remain committed to Iraq……
Noah
Gordon, The Atlantic
The
lack of an organizing principle encourages the consideration of each action on
its own merits. Arming America’s Kurdish allies in Iraq, for instance, isn’t
the same as arming painstakingly vetted rebels in Syria. As Douglas Ollivant, a
senior national security fellow with the New America Foundation, told Politico
this week, “No one is concerned about the Kurds losing control of these arms on
a large scale. That was a big concern with the Free Syrian Army.” Likewise,
there is a clearer case for air-dropping aid to Yazidis besieged by ISIS on
Mount Sinjar ...
Lauren
Wallace, Globe and Mail
Ebola
and other tropical diseases are not democratic infections of equal opportunity.
Most Ebola-stricken people do not have enough money to board a plane in the
first place.
Laurie
Garrett, Foreign Policy
Experimental
drugs and airport screenings will do nothing to stop this plague. If Ebola hits
Lagos, we're in real trouble.
James
Bloodworth, The Daily Beast
From
Neville Chamberlain to the pages of today’s Guardian, many members of the
British elite, left and right, have proved themselves suckers for totalitarianism.
Adam
Minter, Bloomberg
It’s
hard to argue that China has played a constructive “builder” role in Iraq
recent years, especially as its oil interests have expanded, just as it is
difficult to counter China’s claim that U.S. mistakes contributed to the rise
of the Islamic State. Regardless, over time, oil and China’s insatiable energy
needs are almost certainly going to push Beijing to become a more active Middle
Eastern stakeholder. It’s time that China stops fighting that reality.
Soner
Cagaptay, New York Times
Despite
Mr. Erdogan’s victory in Sunday’s vote, his era may actually be coming to an
end. Just as he once rode to power on a wave of conservative Islamist sentiment
as formerly marginalized Turks found their political voice, the next great wave
in Turkish politics will be a liberal one. Even after dominating the airwaves
during the campaign, Mr. Erdogan eked out only 52 percent of the vote, a
similar result to his past victories. His support appears to have peaked.
Paul
Angelo, Miami Herald
Child
soldiers are the most helpless and most voiceless of the vast victim pool
created by five decades of war in Colombia. On Saturday in Havana, Colombian
President Juan Manuel Santos’ administration will reconvene with the leadership
of Colombia’s largest insurgency, known by the acronym FARC. And, for the first
time in two years of peace talks, the warring sides will turn the stage over to
the conflict’s victims.
Anthony
Watts
Hazard
to navigation? Danish ‘Safety Ship’ OMS Pollux, leaking oil after colliding
with Morecambe Bay wind turbine A SHIP is leaking diesel after crashing into a
wind turbine off the coast of Morecambe Bay. Liverpool Coastguard has been in
attendance … Continue reading →
Majid
Rafizadeh
A
good year for the rogue Islamic Republic.
Frontpagemag.com
Shillman
Journalism fellow explains the current conflict engulfing the Middle East.
Anthony
Watts
Story
submitted by Eric Worrall How do we prove climate alarmists are wrong? Let us
count the ways If the temperature goes up, this is just what the models
predicted– watch out because … …soon it will get a … Continue reading →
Joanne
Nova
Who
would have guessed? A relentless propaganda campaign to generate fear about the
climate has generated fear about the climate. It takes billions of dollars to
generate delusion on this scale. After hopes for government-run-climates were
dashed in Copenhagen, the price of setting up a fantasy came back to haunt the
team. The fallout was psychological pain. The failure of Copenhagen was a
savage set-back for the scare campaign in so many ways. Only now, years later,
do we hear just how bad the repercussions were. The answer to “climate fear”is,
of course, to look at data skepti...
Daniel Greenfield
There
is no individualism without individual responsibility.
Caroline
Glick
Why
it's vital that Israel reassess its relationship with Western countries.
Anthony
Watts
From
the University of Wisconsin-Madison , where they apparently have not heard of
Liebig’s Law of the Minimum since they say resources and hydraulic
limitation“might” play a role. MADISON, Wis. — What limits the height of trees?
Is it …
Anthony
Watts
From
the GWPF and Dr. Benny Peiser World Awash In Oil Shields Markets From 2008
Price Shock The US shale boom is shaping a new kind of Democrat in national
politics, lawmakers who are giving greater support to the oil … Continue
reading →
Faysal
Itani
The
international community does not yet understand the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS). Governments are accustomed to thinking of religious militants as
networks of terrorists, saboteurs, assassins and opportunists hiding among the
population – quintessential non-state actors, fighting the state. These ideas
are obsolete against ISIS. ISIS is no mere militia; in its territory, it is the
state.
Kimberly
Dozier, Daily Beast
The
siege on Iraq’s Mt. Sinjar may have broken. But ISIS has taken hundreds, if not
thousands, of Iraq’s ethnic minorities prisoner. They’re begging for help
before it’s too late.
David
Blair, Telegraph
War
spreads deadly viruses of the ideological as well as disease-bearing variety.
Just as the First World War created the opportunity for Bolshevism to capture
Russia, so today’s turmoil in the Middle East relentlessly promotes the spread
of al-Qaeda’s brand of Islamist zealotry.
Reza
Nejad, IranWire
In
a speech to prominent diplomats from around the world, Iran’s Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today that he firmly believes further negotiations
with the United States should not go ahead. Iran is willing to cooperate with
any country in the world, he said, “with two exceptions: the Zionist regime and
the U.S."
Jeremy
Havardi, Commentator
Leftists
like Owen Jones at the Guardian falsely accuse supporters of Israel of always
labelling their critics as anti-Semitic. They don't. But the bigotry against
Israel is very real, and the Left can't see that because they're leading it.
The
Economist
EVEN
in cash-strapped times, America’s defence secretary does not so much travel
overseas as make an imperial progress. The Pentagon’s boss flies aboard an
airborne command post originally built to run nuclear wars, crammed with scores
of aides, and often escorted by mid-air refuelling tankers. The plane’s
antiquity adds an extra superpower frisson. With its clunky gadgets and
cold-war decor it feels like a set from Dr Strangelove, jammed into a Boeing
747.
Mac
Margolis, Bloomberg
Twenty
years ago, when he debuted in national politics, Eduardo Campos, the Brazilian
presidential hopeful who died in a plane crash yesterday, was easy to
underestimate. With his elegant suits, camera-ready smile and pale-blue eyes as
big as fog lights, the junior legislator from the northeastern state of
Pernambuco seemed a better fit on the set of a soap opera than in the
two-fisted arena of Brasilia.
Kevin
Williamson, NRO
The
economy of Japan, long stagnant, has taken a sharp turn for the worse: It
contracted nearly 7 percent (annualized and inflation-adjusted) in the quarter
ending in June. By way of comparison, consider that the U.S. contraction in the
quarter ending in June 2009, when we were feeling the worst of the financial
crisis, was 4 percent; the worst quarter of the 1982 recession saw a
contraction of 2.6 percent. You’d have to go back to the 1940s to see a quarter
with a 7 percent contraction in the United States.
Kishore
Mahbubani, Project Syndicate
Asia
is poised to enter a historical sweet spot, with three of its most populous
countries – China, India, and Indonesia – led by strong, dynamic, and
reform-minded leaders. In fact, China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, and
Indonesia’s Joko “Jokowi” Widodo could end up ranked among their
countries’greatest modern leaders.
Carolyn
McCarthy, BBC
Stretching
from Alaska to the pencil tip of Argentina, the 48,000km-long Pan-American
Highway holds the record for the world's longest motorable road. But there is a
gap - an expanse of wild tropical forest - that has defeated travellers for
centuries.
Takis
Wurger, Der Spiegel
A
homosexual French Muslim imam is spreading a message of religion and tolerance
in Europe. In addition to opening a gay-friendly mosque in Paris, he also
recently married a lesbian couple in Sweden.
Abby
Ohlheiser, Washington Post
For
many Dutch citizens, Black Pete (Zwarte Piet) is a beloved Christmas figure.
There's just a small problem: The character, one of Santa's
"helpers," is traditionally represented by white actors wearing
blackface.
Anthony Watts
From NCAR, some wind pie in the sky. A mother lode of wind power Mapping the potential to harvest high-altitude wind May 28, 2014 | What if all the energy needed by society existed just a mile or two above ….
Max
Boot, The Spectator
Iraq
is a bloody mess. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has extended its hold
from eastern Syria into western and northern Iraq, massacring Shi’ites,
Christians and Yazidis wherever it can. Meanwhile in Baghdad there has been a
constitutional crisis, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatening to cling
to power at gunpoint even though his own political bloc has chosen a different
candidate.
David
McHugh, AP
The
shaky economic recovery in the 18-country eurozone ground to a halt in the
second quarter, as the continent's central pillars - Germany and France - were
held back by weaker investment by business and by fears over the crisis in
Ukraine. The German economy, the biggest among the countries that use the euro,
shrank by a quarterly rate of 0.2 percent while no. 2 France showed zero growth
for the second straight quarter. Italy, the No. 3 economy, shrank. The outcome
reported by Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office Thursday, was
slightly lower than the ....
Konrad
Yakabuski, Globe and Mail
Almost
1,000 U.S. military personnel are back in Iraq. And after insisting there would
be no U.S. troops on the ground, the Pentagon is reportedly hatching plans for
boots on the ground. Mr. Obama is learning the hard way that, sometimes, it’s
stupider to do nothing.
Seumas
Milne, The Guardian
The
Yazidis need aid, but military intervention by states that destroyed Iraq will
deepen the crisis now tearing it apart.
Gordon
Chang, The National Interest
Xi,
like Gorbachev, is a figure wanting to accomplish great deeds in reforming an
ailing system. And like the last Soviet leader, Xi has started something he
cannot control.
Robert
Kelley, Diplomat
It
may dominate the region, but would Chinese hegemony be something more than despotism?
Michael
Hanna, Foreign Policy
From
Gaza to Libya to Iraq, Egypt's new strongman is developing a foreign policy
based on repression and stability.
Jenna
Krajeski, New Republic
Kurdistan
is booming on the promise of oil wealth, and their security -- maintained by
the peshmerga -- has enticed investors to the region. But progress has come
alongside reports of rampant corruption, a widening gap between the rich and
poor, and increasingly authoritarian tendencies in a government still dominated
by family names. Disenfranchised Kurds find little hope of influencing the
authorities or benefiting from the oil wealth. Perhaps nothing in Kurdistan
illustrates its internal fissures more than the peshmerga themselves.
Jonathan
Tobin,
The
idea that PA officials or security people will be an effective barrier to the
re-militarization of Gaza—as opposed to the goal of demilitarization that
Israel wants and which is a prerequisite for peace—is farcical. Even if the PA
were parachuted into Gaza, the chances that they would stop Hamas from doing
what it likes are minimal. Putting them in there might enable Israel to claim
that they had degraded Hamas militarily as well as politically, but it is
highly likely that this would merely be a fig leaf on an already bad situation
as it reverted to th...
Bill
Frelick, Politico Mag
The
Haitian and Vietnamese in-country processing programs—ironically and
perversely—required that people who wanted to apply not be afraid to wait for
the prolonged process to conclude and not be so afraid of their government’s
reaction that they would avoid seeking permission to leave. Both programs
indeed benefited thousands of people, but both also looked very much like
immigration programs masquerading as refugee programs.
Ishaan
Tharoor, Washington Post
Pakistan's
Independence Day is on Aug. 14, but this year the occasion is marked by
national crisis, not unity. The country is braced for heated protests on
Thursday against the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Key opposition
leaders have called for protests and a march on the capital Islamabad from
Lahore, leading authorities to set up barricades of shipping containers on the
main highway connecting the two cities. Islamabad is under virtual lockdown,
with shops closed and thousands of police and security forces deployed.
Rafia
Zakaria, Dawn
Pakistan’s
problem with promise is its addiction to a particular stage of political
existence.
Andres
Oppenheimer, Miami Herald
The
reform of Mexico’s corrupt and decrepit state-run oil industry was long
overdue, and some leftist politicians’ opposition to private sector investments
that are even sought by communist China and Cuba is a measure of how outdated
they are. But if Pea Nieto doesn’t get the billions in foreign investments that
are expected, and soon, such outdated rhetoric will become increasingly
appealing to millions of Mexicans.
Michael
Daly, Daily Beast
After
Patrick Sawyer’s sister died of the virus, Liberia’s Ministry of Health
instructed him not to travel. But he was allowed to fly to Lagos. Now he’s dead
-- and 10 more are infected.
Anthony
Watts at Watts
Up With That? - 2 days ago
From
the American Chemical Society Dust— and the microbes hitching rides on it —
influences rain, climate SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 13, 2014 — Dusty air blowing
across the Pacific from Asia and Africa plays a critical role in precipitation
…
Joanne
Nova at JoNova
- 2 days ago
The
Sydney Morning Herald carefully removed the scientific arguments from an
article today. Are they afraid their readers are not smart enough to reach the
“right” conclusions if exposed to the wrong information? Hey, but its only
national policy and billions of dollars at stake. Today Maurice Newman warned
that we are not prepared for climate change (he’s talking about the cold kind).
The Australian published his thoughts citing Archibald, Usoskin, Svensmark,
Brekke, Lockwood and Curry. Their readers are apparently clever enough to
handle discussions of cosmic rays and large hadro...
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