Pres. Obama’s Speech in Cairo
I thought it was superb — one of his best speeches ever. It had all the usual hallmarks of an Obama speech: soaring language, emphasis on themes of unity, interconnectivity, and mutual respect. It laid out a grand vision for what Obama called “a new beginning,” and identified seven specific “sources of tension” that must be addressed in order to realize that overall vision: violent extremism “in all of its forms,” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how it affects the rest of the Arab world, nuclear weapons, democracy, religious freedom, women’s rights, and economic development.
Russia, Europe, and the Natural Problem
Having now denied many European countries gas for 10 days, Russia may have brutally exposed the vulnerability of the European Union. But it has also shot itself in the foot and forced the EU to get serious about cutting its exposure to Russian provisions. In the end, Moscow’s only long-term reward may be the hope it has done irreparable damage to Ukraine’s pro-Western ambitions.
Normally, it would be big news if a former communist superpower, that has displayed totalitarian tendencies in recent years, cuts off natural gas to Europe in the dead of winter. Not only does natural gas provide heat, but it powers factories, too — and we don’t need factories closing during a recession because that’s how depressions start. I should be paying more attention to this story, but Bush is leaving office, Obama is being inaugurated, and this makes for retrospective and introspective pieces coming from the fourth column the past couple of weeks… Then there’s Gaza, and Zimbabwe… So along with everyone else, I’m guilty of putting Russia on the backburner (pun intended).
Since my full attention is not on this story, I can’t comment on the latest news with fully informed intelligence. But here’s some factors to take into account when pondering this news.
Did Palin “Establish Debating Parity” with Joe Biden?
David Brooks thinks she did:
Redefining Greed
And who else but an oil company to do such?
Exxon Mobil reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results fell well short of Wall Street expectations and shares fell in premarket trading.
Well, at least those high gas prices we’ve seen lately are now explained. But Exxon’s shares dropped in price after they recorded the biggest quarterly profit ever? The mind reels. Of the stock traders and Exxon, I’m not sure which side is the lesser evil.
John McCain, the Bush Administration, and Iraq
Interesting developments going on over the past few days vis à vis plans and agreements for Iraq’s future. On Monday, Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, announced that he wanted to work out a timeline for withdrawal of U.S. troops:
My Strawman of the Day
Since some of the commenters here like deriding any opinion they disagree with as a “strawman”, I’ll take care of step one for them by calling anything I say a strawman. Since if you don’t agree with it, that means the opinion must not be valid, right?
Today’s a new day, so it’s time for a new strawman!
Based on the easy contracts oil companies just got, the Iraq war really was about oil.
Feel free to not only disagree, but launch “That’s a strawman!” and other various insults that seek to defame the holder of the opinion rather than discuss the topic at hand. But please be advised that I still reserve the right to show you this.
What John McCain Meant, and Why It Doesn’t Matter
The story about John McCain telling a reporter for the Orange Country Register that he doesn’t remember the last time he pumped gas or what it cost is picking up velocity. Only now it turns out he does know. Via Patterico’s Pontifications by way of John Cole, McCain was quoted by Environment News Service, on June 18, as follows:
Full of gas
GOP presidential candidate and economic genius John McCain admits to not knowing what gas prices are right now, but to defend himself, he quips that he doesn’t “see how it matters” anyways. I guess consumer confidence dipping to all time lows partly because of gas prices doesn’t matter, either.
Just think: if any Democrat said this, the calls that he or she is “elitist” and “out of touch” would be screamed 24/7. But when McCain says it? Feh, the dude’s a maverick! He could boink Monica Lewinsky on live television and the media would still kiss his feet.
Moving Away From a Proprietary Fuel System (update)
When it comes to music, and mp3 players, I’ve yet to meet the person to actually give me a good hard sell on iPods. Why not?
Because iPods are too focused on a proprietary system.
Senator McCain Proves He Doesn’t Learn From Other People’s Mistakes
We can nitpick on what’s Bush-like, and what’s not Bush-like. We can argue about whether McCain is too close to Bush’s policies, or if he’s distancing himself from them (I’ll give you three guesses as to the kinds of folks that are pushing the latter argument and the first two don’t count).
But one of the things that has made Bush a terrible president wasn’t simply his ideology. Don’t get me wrong, the ideology is bad, but it was the insular attitude, and the inability to admit to, and thusly learn from mistakes.
Freedom Is Slavery; Slavery Is Freedom
There have been scattered news reports in the U.S. media about the Iraqi government’s objections to signing the so-called Status of Forces Agreement, which will give the United States a legal rationale for being in Iraq for the next [fill in the blank with the number of your choice] years. So Patrick Cockburn’s Independent article earlier this week isn’t totally brand new information. But Cockburn’s piece is much more specific than the other reports I’ve seen, and also the sourcing is much more direct: Details of the plan, which Bush administration officials have been trying to keep very closely guarded, were leaked to the British paper:
Here’s something to think about while paying $4 a gallon
Exxon, everyone’s favorite Texas oil company, has finally admitted to funding climate change denial groups and pledges to stop.
The move comes ahead of the firm’s annual meeting today in Dallas, at which prominent shareholders including the Rockefeller family will urge ExxonMobil to take the problem of climate change more seriously. Green campaigners accuse the company of funding a “climate denial industry” over the last decade, with $23m (£11.5m) handed over to groups that play down the risks of burning fossil fuels.
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