During the Moscow Summit, America and Russia will sign an agreement establishing a major new route for US military supplies for the Afghan War through Russia.
** OBAMA’S CONSEQUENTIAL FIRST 4TH: NOKO, AFPAK, IRAQ, RUSSIA, PALIN (PALIN?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. …
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama has no scheduled public events today.
He is prepping for the Moscow Summit this week.
From his first interview with Russian media, running this weekend:
Q: And what we in Russia can expect from the new American leader? How you see the role of the Russia in the world?
A: Well, look, Russia is a great country with an extraordinary culture and extraordinary traditions. It remains one of the most powerful countries in the world and has, I think, enormous potential for being a force for stability and prosperity in the international community. I think that there has been a time over the last several years where Russian-U.S. relations were not as strong as they should be. What I said coming in is that I wanted to press the reset button on relations between the United States and Russia. And I think the possibilities for our cooperation on economic issues, on defense issues, dealing with the threat of terrorism in both our countries, our ability to deal constructively with issues like Iran, increasing trade and commercial relations — those are all issues that are important.
And the main thing that I want to communicate to Russian leadership and the Russian people is America’s respect for Russia, that we want to deal as equals. We are both nuclear superpowers; with that comes special responsibilities that are very different from the positions of many other countries around the world, and we have to handle those responsibilities in a way that encourages peace.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today.
Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama addressed the heritage of Independence Day and promoted his economic, energy, and health care agenda.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama has had his daily intelligence briefing at Camp David.
Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and daughters Malia and Sasha are celebrating Malia’s 11th birthday, which coincides with the 4th of July. Along with 20 of Malia’s sleepover schoolgirl friends.
Obama returns to the White House later today to host a barbeque for military families and watch the fireworks show from the South Lawn.
Obama is monitoring the North Korean situation. So far, the threatened long-range missile test launch toward Obama’s home state Hawaii has not materialized, nor does it appear likely to. But the North Koreans have fired off a number of shorter-range missiles.
After the weekend, Obama holds a major summit with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Obama is engaged in major preparations prior to the Moscow Summit. Word is that the US and Russia have reached tentative agreement on a plan to regularly ship military supplies – and perhaps US troops – across Russia to aid the US effort in Afghanistan.
This summit in Moscow from July 6th to July 8th may be Obama’s most important. It will be followed by the G-8 summit in Italy. Key issues, which of course will be explained here, involve America’s role in NATO expansion and missile defense seemingly aimed at Russia and potential major Russian assistance to America’s agenda in Afghanistan, Iran, and the Middle East.
Obama is closely monitoring the first offensive he has ordered involving large numbers of American troops. This is Operation Strike of the Sword, involving more than 4000 US Marines and about 750 Afghan troops, as well as hundreds of British troops. They have moved into the Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan, a hotbed of Afghan Taliban activity. They have encountered little resistance, and only one Marine has been killed so far.
The Marines will set up a series of bases there and pursue active patrolling with the near-term goal of preventing Taliban disruption of Afghanistan’s presidential election in August. Obama has clarified that the overall goal is to deny Afghanistan as a base for Al Qaeda.
With the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraqi cities, Obama and his advisors are monitoring the security situation there.
Vice President Joe Biden celebrated the 4th of July in Iraq with US troops and Iraqi officials. He and the Delaware contingent of National Guard troops – which includes Biden’s son, Delaware Attorney General Joe Biden – had a 4th of July party at the late Saddam Hussein’s presidential palace.
And Obama is of course monitoring the situation in Iran, where once large protests have, as expected here, fizzled in the face of a massive security presence ordered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The time in Tehran is eleven-and-a-half hours ahead of California.
Yet another day has nearly passed in Iran with demonstrations effectively tamped down. A top Iranian cleric has announced that the state will try some Iranians working for the British Embassy for allegedly helping to plan the demonstrations.
“So Alaska may progress, I will not seek re-election as governor.” So said Sarah Palin yesterday, in her surprise announcement that she is quitting as Alaska’s governor little more than halfway through her first term.
Obama and company may also be trying to parse the meaning, if any, of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s sudden decision yesterday to resign from office little more than halfway through her first term. Her statement was, let’s say, on the rambling side.
Obama should be so lucky as to face Palin in the 2012 presidential election. I have a Thursday column, linked below, which sheds some light on the chaos surrounding Palin.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events this weekend.
Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders will hold conference calls – on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis – on Saturday and Sunday.
No action is expected on the 4th of July weekend.
Schwarzenegger also announced that the special election to replace Bay Area Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, recently confirmed as Obama’s undersecretary of state for arms control, will take place on November 3rd. Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, who withdrew from the Democratic primary race for governor, is the frontrunner.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? …
** TRANSFORMATIVE: LE CINEMA DE MICHAEL BAY. I love the films of Michael Bay. In fact, they are so dramatic and compelling that …
Gotcha! I actually do not love the films of Michael Bay. I don’t hate them, either. And there are a couple that I like. But the fact that it is considered preposterous for a writer — a writer who writes about anything, even wallpaper — to not dismiss Bay’s work in the most vehement of terms points up a dramatic disconnect between the critical community and the movie-going audience.
Bay’s new flick, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, just took in an astounding $200.1 million at the domestic box office in its first five days of release. …
** STAR TREK FIRSTS … 43 YEARS ON. Some 43 years after it began, and seven years after the movie franchise seemed completely played out, Star Trek is making firsts again. And so far, it’s the most popular movie of the year in America. …
** OBAMA AND THE AYATOLLAH. Two weeks after his landmark address in Cairo, where he honored traditional Islam and extolled engagement with modern Islam, President Barack Obama finds himself in a conundrum. Determining what to do about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who just told the people of Iran, in an unusual nationally-televised sermon at the end of Friday prayers, to stop acting like they live in a democracy.
It’s a particularly tricky question for Obama, because he has an unusual dual role to play: Inspirational global icon and president of the United States.
As the president of the United States, it’s Obama’s job to figure out the needs of America and go about meeting them. As a global icon, he is expected to inspire. … From my June 19th column.
** OBAMA’S CRISIS MANAGEMENT: NORTH KOREA, AGAIN. President Barack Obama changed the old kabuki in dealing with his second North Korean crisis. The first time around, back in April, dealing with a long-range missile test that failed to place a satellite in orbit, Obama treated the effort as more of the same rather baffling attention-seeking by the Hermit Kingdom. This time, after a string of provocations including an underwhelming underground nuclear detonation, a series of missile launches, and the imprisonment of two California-based journalists, Obama went in another, tougher, direction that may lead to a naval confrontation. … From my June 12th column.
** REMEMBERING AMERICA: OBAMA’S D-DAY SPEECH AND TWO DAYS IN JUNE. There’s no question that timing is, as it were, of the essence in politics. Consider the timing of President Barack Obama’s address to the Muslim world, coming as it did just two days before the 65th anniversary of D-Day.
Most focus simply on the Cairo speech. But that speech exists in a larger context, alongside the speech over the weekend in Normandy which bookended it on Obama’s second big international tour.
On Thursday in Cairo, Obama gave his rhetorical best to reposition a mostly peaceful America in the future of the Muslim world. On Saturday in Normandy, he reminded of America’s glittering, and far more martial, past. … From my June 8th column.
** REPOSITIONING AMERICA: OBAMA’S CAIRO SPEECH AS THE ULTIMATE IN EVENT MARKETING. … From my June 4th column.
** TERMINATING THE DARKNESS: HOPE FLOATS, BUT ANXIETY ABIDES. … From my May 31st column.
** THE AVOIDABLE TRAGEDY OF CALIFORNIA’S PROP 8. … From my May 26th column.
** OBAMA’S NEW CALIFORNIA-BASED CLIMATE POLICY: SIX KEY THINGS TO KNOW. … From my May 20th column.
** 24 AND THE TORTUOUS POLITICS OF TORTURE. … From my May 18th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th 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.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ 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 last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, 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.
You can listen to my recent video webchat with Schwarzenegger here.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record last July 11th, crude oil closed on Friday at $65.63 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $32 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
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| Comments (28) |
Good speech by Obama for the 4th.
Palin’s speech is weird.
She’s a whack job.
Barack’s speech is good, as usual.
Happy 4th of July everybody!
Yes, happy 4th of July!
I suppose. I haven’t actually watched it …
> Capitol Boy says:
July 4, 2009 at 10:56 am (Edit)
Barack’s speech is good, as usual.
Another strange performance by Sarah Palin.
Ever the sideshow, seeking the limelight.
> Jonas Blane says:
July 4, 2009 at 10:28 am (Edit)
Palin’s speech is weird.
“Another strange performance by Sarah Palin. Ever the sideshow, seeking the limelight.”
What else would you expect from someone who, as Huffington Post notes, is running in 2012 on More Retardation Platform ?
I think that trying to stay OUT OF the limelight is more accurate, at least the slimelight that is the Alaska Ethics Commission. This move places her beyond the jurisdictional reach of those who wish to continue filing increasingly trivial ethics complaints. This move is a setback to that effort, no doubt to the irritation of the Alaska democratic party, and its coordinating friends in the DNC, Rham Emmanuel, David Alexrod…
At least you deleted one set of crank comments.
Hey CB, irritating, isn’t it? How could anybody’s opinion possibly differ from your own?
They sound excited in Moscow about this summit.
Still pretending Palin’s not a lightweight loon.
Sad…
Hap Hazard says:
July 4, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Hey CB, irritating, isn’t it? How could anybody’s opinion possibly differ from your own?
What video today?
Obamas arriving in Moscow, Obama in the Kremlin.
Hasta la bye bye.
> TRIATHLON says:
July 5, 2009 at 1:02 pm (Edit)
They are.
> Jonas Blane says:
July 5, 2009 at 11:23 am (Edit)
They sound excited in Moscow about this summit.
Hap, considering that you imagined Fred Thompson to be someone deeply feared by the Democrats, I suppose it’s not a surprise that you would think that of Sarah Palin.
The problem is that you simply ignore the vast array of evidence that she is nothing more than a sideshow.
> Hap Hazard says:
July 4, 2009 at 12:42 pm (Edit)
“Another strange performance by Sarah Palin. Ever the sideshow, seeking the limelight.”
What else would you expect from someone who, as Huffington Post notes, is running in 2012 on More Retardation Platform ?
I think that trying to stay OUT OF the limelight is more accurate, at least the slimelight that is the Alaska Ethics Commission. This move places her beyond the jurisdictional reach of those who wish to continue filing increasingly trivial ethics complaints. This move is a setback to that effort, no doubt to the irritation of the Alaska democratic party, and its coordinating friends in the DNC, Rham Emmanuel, David Alexrod…
“she is nothing more than a sideshow.” – We see what we want to see, as my dad used to say when he was alive.
In your case in this regard, undoubtedly.
In reality, Palin is barely worth a column every few months when she becomes a spectacle, once again …
Other than that, and until and if she runs for president and further wrecks the Republican Party, she’s about as interesting to me as Michael Jackson.
n your case in this regard, undoubtedly. — But not yours, I get it. In reality, Schwarzenegger is barely worth a column every few months when he becomes a spectacle once again… oh wait..
In reality, NWN is based in California, where Arnold Schwarzenegger is the governor.
Now, if NWN were based in Alaska (and I thought Alaska was important enough to write about), where Sarah Palin … Oh, wait. She quit in the middle of her term.
Thanks for visiting from your universe, in which Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson are serious candidates for president of the United States.
Don’t forget that Hap Hazard claimed he was for Obama, too.
BB and CB – thank you for your comments. The only thing that I consider Palin to be is a soon-to-become private citizen who is going on a public mission to draw attention to an agenda that promotes “less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint.” This is of course OPPOSITE of the current congressional and presidential agenda, but I happen to fully agree with all of these goals as she states them, which makes me totally wanting the Obama and congressional juggernaut to run aground. (BTW CB, I did actually support Obama for a while. We don’t get to choose who runs, do we. So I supported Obama until I got to know him a bit better, and reluctantly voted for McCain, who is a major league DC insider ruling elitist, but in our system one just has to choose and McCain seemed the lesser of…)
Perhaps Palin elicits such a visceral, negative reaction from BOTH the right and the left because her path to public life hasn’t been consistent with one normally idealized by pundits and political wannabes and is atypical for the usual Beltway success story. She is from the hinterland and went to a bunch of no-name schools!
I am also sure that she has been, and could very well continue to be a irritant to Obama and his devoted followers, such as you, because she stands for things that are totally antithetical to the Obama agenda, 180 degrees opposite, in fact. Plus she nearly attracts more media attention than Michael Jackson. Don’t tell me this doesn’t rankle just a little with her detractors and opponents. I may live in a parallel universe, but that doesn’t mean I can’t see anything outside of it, regardless of what you guys think
Keep trying, Hap, you might convince yourself yet.
What I find irritating about Palin is having to waste any of my time on her.
Dude, are you nuts?
Palin was a know-nothing disaster running for Vice President. You think she’d be better running for President.
Besides, you sang a very different about Obama before. I think you also were promoting that dunce John Garamendi for Governor. You live in California, so I know you have to know he’s a standard big government Democrat.
Methinks you are either very confused, or just a troll.
Hap Hazard says:
July 6, 2009 at 1:40 pm
BB and CB – thank you for your comments. The only thing that I consider Palin to be is a soon-to-become private citizen who is going on a public mission to draw attention to an agenda that promotes “less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint.” This is of course OPPOSITE of the current congressional and presidential agenda, but I happen to fully agree with all of these goals as she states them, which makes me totally wanting the Obama and congressional juggernaut to run aground. (BTW CB, I did actually support Obama for a while. We don’t get to choose who runs, do we. So I supported Obama until I got to know him a bit better, and reluctantly voted for McCain, who is a major league DC insider ruling elitist, but in our system one just has to choose and McCain seemed the lesser of…)