Global Paradigms

See my latest on the topic on The Atlantic Community.

I've never figured out why journalists in Washington like John McCain so much. A piece in the New Yorker may provide part of the answer: It is bracing to drop in on the McCain campaign after covering the overly managed productions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The Democratic candidates rarely speak to the travelling press. McCain not only packs his bus with reporters (whom he often greets with an affectionate “Hello, jerks!”) but talks until the room is filled with the awkward silence of journalists with no more questions. The Obama campaign, like the Bush White House, prides itself on message discipline and tracks down leakers with a frightening intensity. McCain and his aides openly discuss strategy, whether it’s Brooke Buchanan, McCain’s travelling press secretary, prepping him for a press conference (“ABC might ask about that”) or McCain discussing his targeting strategy for Tampa (“I thought we did a robo-call to tell people about Schwarzkopf”—referring to the endorsem...

The "news" comes via Via Jim Henley. Follow all the links to Obama's Communist Mentor: In his biography of Barack Obama, David Mendell writes about Obama's life as a "secret smoker" and how he "went to great lengths to conceal the habit." But what about Obama's secret political life? It turns out that Obama's childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist. In his books, Obama admits attending "socialist conferences" and coming into contact with Marxist literature. But he ridicules the charge of being a "hard-core academic Marxist," which was made by his colorful and outspoken 2004 U.S. Senate opponent, Republican Alan Keyes. However, through Frank Marshall Davis, Obama had an admitted relationship with someone who was publicly identified as a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). The record shows that Obama was in Hawaii from 1971-1979, where, at some point in time, he developed a close relationship, alm...

...in a caricature that appeared in the Israeli daily, Ma'ariv , (get it? The Black House...) reflecting the growing "concerns" over whether his candidacy "is good for the Jews." Link to caricature here.

Philip Weiss and Justin Raimondo have posted interesting stuff on the topic. I think that among members of the "organized" American-Jewish community there is a lot of concern about him, much more than has been exprssed publicly. It's not that he is regarded as a "Moslem." He is just someone whom they cannot take for granted and who could turn out to be another Carter (he'll to be make peace and be a "honest broker") or --God forbid! -- could become a "Jesse-Jackson Lite." (There has been a lot of tensions between Jews and blacks over Israel and other issues). But I don't think that AIPAC and by extension, the Israeli government want to be depicted as the force that has tried to sabotage chance of the first African-American figure in getting into the White House, especially since he is backed also by so many Democrats, including young voters. Hence the opposition to him among "Jewish leaders" tends to be low-key (reflected ...

Business Times - 15 Feb 2008 Salad Bowl politics in the US Hispanics are the new ingredient and they could decide who occupies the Oval Office come November By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT POLITICAL scientists who have followed the growing ethnic tensions in Kenya, in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election there, have described this development as a setback to the process of political development in sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, the dominant view among Western experts is that there is a close correlation between the ability of voters to disregard ethnic, religious and tribal identities when they elect their leaders and the progress towards political modernisation. Hence, the tendency of your average academic to deride the 'Balkanisation' or 'Lebanonisation' of electoral politics, the kind that even a developed country like Belgium has been experiencing recently, and to celebrate the model of the Melting Pot that had traditionally been associated with A...

Interesting perspective by Philip Weiss.

Posted by VoteVets.org PAC, a nonpartisan organization (via amb. Freeman).

Conservative like Pat Buchanan have been warning that America is becoming "Mexamerica" as a result of the huge inflow of Hispanic immigrants into the U.S. Indeed, one could make an argument that opposition to illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America is one of the few issues over which the majority of Republican conservatives agree on -- while the support for open immigration is usually associated with the liberal and libertarian agendas. So it's kind of ironic (I think) that in the race between the two leading presidential contenders in the Democratic Party, Barack Obama, the more liberal and progressive candidate, who is also backed by the majority of African-Americans, might not win the nomination because his rival, Hillary Clinton, has been able to mobilize the support of Hispanics who have played a critical role in the primary in California and could determine the outcome in Texas primary. It's also an irony, that John McCain, the candidate who disag...

...and why I'm worried 1. Republican in the White House in 2009 : Why? The election will be determined by white, middle-class baby-boomers (WMCBB’s) and not by Hispanics, blacks, young voters. The economy is not looking good but the Fed will continue to lower interest rates, providing more credit for home owners, credit-card holders, etc. until November. Meanwhile the rebates from Uncle Sam will compensate Harry & Louise for the rising energy prices. So class-warfare by the Democrats will probably not work with the WMCBB’s. Instead, against the backdrop of Iraq, China/Arabs buying U.S. companies, and sense of U.S. decline they’ll feel nostalgic for the good-old days of the 1950’s, early 1960’s when they grew up and America was so, so powerful and prosperous. McCain will emerge as a cross between Truman, Eisenhower and JFK, the kind of Alpha Male that has led America to National Greatness. Hillary will be portrayed as the, well, a weak, little Girlie while Obama=Osama. Will you ...

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in a new piece in the New Yorker , A Strike in the Dark: What did Israel bomb in Syria? covers two issues that I've been writing about: U.S-Israe-Syria relationship and U.S.-Israel-Iran relationship. He speculates that last year's mysterious Israeli attack on a Syria installation was an Israeli rehearsal for a strike against Israel which, he implies, will probably receive a "yellow light" from the Bush Administration: There is evidence that the preëmptive raid on Syria was also meant as a warning about—and a model for—a preëmptive attack on Iran. When I visited Israel this winter, Iran was the overriding concern among political and defense officials I spoke to—not Syria. There was palpable anger toward Washington, in the wake of a National Intelligence Estimate that concluded, on behalf of the American intelligence community, that Iran is not now constructing a nuclear weapon. Many in Israel view Iran’s nuclear ambitions as...

I'm not sure whether anyone paid attention to this part of a New York Times story on the tensions between John McCain and the Republican conservatives: Meanwhile, conservatives are growing increasingly “resigned” to the idea of a McCain nomination, said David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, adding that among Washington activists, many of whom, like him, double as lobbyists, self-interest may also be a factor. “There are people who don’t like the idea of a being off a campaign or being on the bad list if the guy gets into the White House,” Mr. Keene said. “This is a town in which 90 percent of the people balance their access and income on the one hand versus their principles on the other.” It's actually refreshing to hear a prominent "activist" admit that he and his colleagues "double as lobbyists" and that they make their decisions on whether to support this or that candidate reflect quite frequently their "self-interest" which...

See here.

...and so could you. This post is not about the primaries, the recession or Iraq, but about my recent discovery that I'm related to the great royal families of Europe (and, yes, so are you). I decided to take part in The Genographic Project (via National Geographic). The deal is: I contribute the DNA of either my Mom or my Dad (they send you a kit and you take a cheek brush sample, just like on CSI). They study your genetic markers in a laboratory and provide you information about your "deep ancestry," starting 60,000 ago when "we" left Africa where Mitochondrial Eve,the Mother of us All was born. I decided to first study my maternal lineage (mitochondrial DNA) and this week I got the results (online). So on my mother's side I belong to the Haplogroup H (mtDNA), subclade 16519. To make a very long story short: My grand-grand-grand....mother, that established my H branch on the Tree was probably born around 20,000 years ago somewhere in the valleys of the ...

Business Times - 06 Feb 2008 Americans preoccupied with fears of recession Financial institutions in Wall Street remain very apprehensive about the many 'unknowns' By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT INVESTORS in Wall Street were biting their nails early last week as they waited for US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues to decide whether to slash short-term interest rates for the second time in eight days. But with much of the focus of official Washington centering on heated Democratic and Republicans races for the presidential nomination, not many officials and lawmakers were paying much attention to the deliberations that were taking place among the US central bank's policymakers on Tuesday and Wednesday. Indeed, when the Fed announced late on Wednesday that it was lowering its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, the news didn't receive as much play on the 24/7 television news programmes as did the decision by former New York m...

See my article on the Nieman Watchdog.

Much of the discussion in the MSM and online has focused on the role of the so-called Israel Lobby and the American neocons have played in influencing U.S. elite and public opinion to back their interventionist policy in the Middle East, including the support for Israel. But a recent post by Jim Lobe on Wall Street Journal Votes for Netanyahu should draw our attention to the way that Israeli-American-Likudnik-Necons (or for short: Isramericanli Likudnecons) – American neocons who relocated to Israel but seem to be spending more time publishing and commenting in the U.S. -- like historian Michael Oren are trying to exploit the influence of their political allies in the U.S. to affect political and electoral outcomes inside Israel. Many years ago, I published an article in Foreign Policy magazine America And Israel: Reforming Israel-Before It's Too Late in which I argued, among other things, that the President Bush I’s pressure on Israel to end its settlement policy could help we...

Business Times - 31 Jan 2008 Will 'Billary' stop the Obama resurgence? Expect a long and nasty fight between these political stars By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT SENATOR Barack Obama's crushing victory over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary on Saturday has provided his campaign with huge political momentum as these two political stars, together with the third presidential contender, Senator John Edwards prepare for the key primary races, including in California, New York and New Jersey that will take place next week. The final results of the Democratic primary in South Carolina indicate that Mr Obama had won 55 per cent of the vote against 27 per cent for Mrs Clinton and 18 per cent for Mr Edwards. This is the second primary victory for Mr Obama after his earlier victory in the Democratic caucuses in Iowa. Mr Obama needed a big win in South Carolina after his losses in the primaries in New Hampshire and Nevada. And ...

Last month I suggested here that "And who knows? If Mr McCain starts regaining his status as a Republican front runner, the earlier Conventional Wisdom - Mrs Clinton vs Mr McCain - would prove to be very perceptive." Based on my reading of the McCain victory in Florida and the expected endorsement by Giuliani as well as the mess among the Democrats -- I'm very doubtful that Obama will win the Democratic nomination -- we'll probably get a Clinton-McCain race, and my guess is that McCain will win. He'll use foreign policy/national security -- especially against the backdrop of a possible confrontation with Iran 9see my earlier post) and the alleged "success" in Iraq -- to bash Hillary and the Democrats as "appeasers" etc. and who in any case don't have any alternative to offer in the Middle East. For those of us who opposed the Iraq War and W's foreign policy – and for opponents of Big Government, in general -- all of this is VERY BAD n...

Business Times - 29 Jan 2008 Monetary and fiscal policies to the rescue? Observers worry that the policies' potential effects could plant the seeds of stagflation By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT FACED with a clear and present danger that the crisis in the sub-prime mortgage sector and the ensuing turmoil in the financial markets could transform the downturn spiral in the US economy into a long and painful recession, officials and lawmakers in Washington decided last week on strong doses of monetary and fiscal medicine. Many economists remain doubtful that the monetary step - an emergency rate cut of three-quarters of a percentage point by the Federal Reserve (the largest in a quarter century, that was announced last Tuesday) - combined with the US$150 billion package of fiscal stimulus agreed by Congress are going to avert a recession, especially since it would take several months before these two moves could affect the economy. Moreover, many observers are worried that some...