President-elect Barack Obama began his campaign for passage of his big economic recovery package.
** QUICK HITS. Russia is evidently re-starting natural gas flows to Europe via Ukraine, with European Union monitors in Ukraine to see that the country doesn’t steal the energy flow. The Russia/Ukraine row shut down natural gas flows into Europe as an artic front lingered over the continent. Of course, there is a deeper issue than lack of payment for energy involved; namely, Moscow’s plan to turn Ukraine away from the US and NATO back to its sphere of influence. … Israel rebuffed the UN Security Council’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and Hamas followed not soon after. I‘m thinking this lasts about another week and a half … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to shut down most California state operations on the first and third Fridays of each months to cut spending. Will the public notice?
** NATO, AFGHANISTAN, AND THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS. US Army General John Craddock, director of operations for NATO, says that the financial crisis which began on Wall Street is beginning to affect the troubled war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Asked whether the global slump would affect participation by allies, U.S. Army Gen. John Craddock, the alliance’s operational commander, said, “It will increase the risk that they won’t be able to stay longer.”
Craddock, speaking to reporters at a breakfast, said budget problems could have an impact on alliance operations in the Balkans and the Mediterranean Sea as well. “We are going to have some hard times ahead and it’s going to impact… the ability of nations to stay in operations,” he said.
Let’s think back, to just a few months ago, when the word from the financial smart guys in New York was that the real threat was Barack Obama’s idea to spend more money to stimulate the economy.
** JOHNNY BURTON’S ONLY OPPONENT DROPS. Not that anybody was going to beat him, but the sole opponent to former California Senate President Pro Tem John Burton for chair of the California Democratic Party has dropped out of the, frankly, non-existent race.
I’ve been acquainted with Burton for a long time. And am something of a history buff. So we will have a bit of fun with this.
I’m thinking of starting – say, next week – some notable John Burton quotes. NWN posters should feel free to suggest their own …
And, naturally, NWN may generate some new ones, depending on what time of the day that I call.
** FAR RIGHT WEB SITE OPPOSES PUBLIC VOTE IN CALIFORNIA. The Flash Report, a highly ideological web site curiously influential with Republican legislators, opposes any public vote on the state’s chronic budget crisis. So readers who abhor the site don’t have to click through, the gist is that the site’s proprietor – political consultant Jon Fleischman, a state vice chairman of the Republican Party who formerly headed the extreme right-wing California Republican Assembly – says that a democratic vote in California on fiscal matters would be unfair because Democrats are too strong.
Fleischman was the longtime PR man for disgraced Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, the target of a multi-faceted federal prosecution alleging that the former deputy marshal engaged in a systematic conspiracy to use his office to enrich himself since 1998.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … C.I.A.: THE PANETTA PICK AND THE FEINSTEIN FACTOR.
** OBAMA TODAY. President-elect Barack Obama continues work on his transition in Washington.
At 7:30 AM Pacific, he holds a press conference to announce his top intel leadership. The event will be roadblocked on all cable news nets. Retired Navy Admiral Dennis Blair, former chief of Pacific Command, will be director of national intelligence, as I reported right after the election, and former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, the former California congressman who is now head of a California think tank, will be director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
LA Congresswoman Hilda Solis, Obama’s pick for secretary of labor, has her Senate confirmation hearing this morning. It’s expected to go smoothly.
General Colin Powell, the former secretary of state, national security advisor, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who broke with his old friend John McCain to back Obama, holds a press conference today as co-chairman of the Obama Inaugural Committee to talk about Obama’s call to national service.
Vice President-elect Joe Biden is in Pakistan today, meeting with the troubled ally’s president, prime minister, and army chief of staff. Biden, in his guise as outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – he had himself sworn in to the Senate earlier (he won re-election in November as he was also elected vice president) – is leading a congressional delegation which just finished visiting the Middle East and is now on the South Asia portion of its tour. That means India anad Afghanistan are on the itinerary. Biden will be pushing Pakistan to be more forthcoming about the Pakistani role in the Mumbai attacks to avert war with India.
The UN Security Council has called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza crisis.
Speaking of war, the US, as I reported yesterday, finally went along with a UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza crisis. But Israel is not complying, at least, not so far.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has private meetings and discussions today around his state of the state address on January 15th and California’s chronic budget crisis.
** CIA: PARSING THE PANETTA PICK. … From my new column.
** OBAMA: VACATION’S END. … From my Friday Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included.
Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. After crashing over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, crude oil is trading in the $41 to $42 per barrel range.
The drop of $106 per barrel since the record high over the summer comes on acknowledgment that the weak US economy will cut future demand and on the easing of previous geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. It is clear that that, contrary to much chatter, neither the US nor Israel is about to launch a strike against Iran. And the Russian war with Georgia, confounding much speculation and reporting to the contrary, actually decreased the geopolitical risk premium in the oil market.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
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| Comments (60) |
Coming up …
># Ann Says:
January 9th, 2009 at 5:34 pm edit
Where’s the column?
It’s outside my California zone of certainty.
My best friend in NYC says no, but I hear yes.
># Brasky Says:
January 9th, 2009 at 3:18 pm edit
“hi, Senator Caroline Kennedy! ”
You think that is the same kind of certainty as the Burton chair? Wow.
Senator Caroline makes life more interesting too, which is also good.
TOTAL COMMENTS ON TODAY’S FLUSH REPORT: 2
Mike Villines, check your butt isn’t as bigg as Jonny Flashman’s.
lol
Was Fleischman every called as a witness in the Corona case? If he was paid with ill-gotten loot, would he have to return it?
Is there another generation of Burtons waiting in the wings?
What new video today?
Obama’s weekly address, and demonstrations against Israel.
His daughter.
># larry Says:
January 9th, 2009 at 8:57 pm edit
Is there another generation of Burtons waiting in the wings?
I don’t know.
># Brasky Says:
January 9th, 2009 at 7:07 pm edit
Was Fleischman every called as a witness in the Corona case? If he was paid with ill-gotten loot, would he have to return it?
Incidentally, NWN passed 77,000 comments sometime in the past week.