French officials say their forces are launching round-the-clock raids on jihadist-held territory in northern Mali.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama received the intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama’s schedule for the week ahead is remarkably vague and opaque, even for him.
On Monday, he will participate in an Ambassador Credentialing Ceremony at the White House. The rest of the week, he will be in Washington holding meetings at the White House.
General Colin Powell appeared today on Meet the Press to talk up former Senator Chuck Hagel’s appointment to be the next secretary of defense.
Powell, who ran the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War victory of the Bush I administration and was secretary of state during the Bush II administration, had some choice comments to make about Hagel, Israel, and the Republican Party, of which he still considers himself a member.
On Hagel: “It might be useful just to stand back and take a look at this man overall: A young man who volunteered to go to Vietnam. He was wounded twice. He came back from Vietnam, he went to school under the G.I. Bill. He supported President Reagan in his run for office, and received appointment as deputy director of the Veterans Administration.
“To show you the kinda courage this guy has, he quit after one year because he felt the Veterans Administration was not doing a good job for veterans. He knows what war is, and he will fight a war if it’s necessary. But he’s a guy who will do it with great deliberation and care. He is a fellow who speaks his mind. He sometimes gets in trouble with those who thinks he should not speak his mind, but he says what he believes and he sticks with it.”
On Hagel and Israel: Powell called Hagel a “very, very strong supporter of Israel. But that doesn’t mean you have to agree with every single position that the Israeli government takes.”
On the Republican Party: “There’s a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the party. What do I mean by that? What I mean by that is they still sort of look down on minorities. How can I evidence that?
“When I see a former governor (that would be Sarah Palin) say that the president is ‘shuckin’ and jivin’.’ That’s a racial era slave term.”
In addition to criticizing Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, for her racial comments on Obama, Powell also took aim at his Bush I administration colleague, former White House chief of staff and New Hampshire Governor John Sununu.
“He didn’t say he was slow,” Powell said of Sununu’s comments on Obama after his lackluster first debate against Romney, “he was tired, he didn’t do well; he said he was ‘lazy.’ Now, it may not mean anything to most Americans, but to those of us who are African Americans, the second word is ‘shiftless,’ and then there’s a third word that goes along with it.”
Powell also ripped the “birther movement” that has been so influential in Republican politics.
“The whole birther movement: Why do senior Republican leaders tolerate this kind of discussion within the party?” Powell asked. “I think the party has to take a look at itself.”
Meanwhile, the new war in Mali is raging.
France intervened there late on Friday to bolster the landlocked African nation’s shaky government and military against a suddenly metastasizing jihadist offensive that has reportedly taken over more than half the country, albeit the mostly empty desert portions as well as a couple of significant cities.
The UN Security Council had previously authorized intervention by African neighbors, a move backed by France, which has been in development for months. But events have suddenly overtaken that timeline.
France’s new Socialist President Francois Hollande justified his decision to intervene in the former French colony with air and ground forces on the theory that Mali is on the cusp of becoming a new base for transnational jihadists, namely Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Due to a combination of jihadist strength and the weakness of Mali’s central government, which last year underwent a coup.
Mali is close to a failed state. It is deeply impoverished and has no significant industry aside from gold mining.
The UK says it is contributing transport aircraft to assist African nations which are also sending troops to aid the Mali government.
What is the US doing? Nothing actively interventionist so far, though officials said on Saturday that they have offered drones and the Obama Administration is following events closely.
And French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says that France has “the support of the Americans for communications and transport.”
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, AfPak, and the South China Sea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Persian/Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time. The time in Manila, on the South China Sea, is fifteen hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
In his Sunday San Francisco Chronicle column, legendary former California Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown dubbed Brown “King – for a while.”
“In the land of the new and confused, Jerry Brown is clearly king.
“The mythical crown of being all things to all people was placed upon his head at the unveiling of his budget which, thanks to the $6 billion boost from voter-approved tax hikes, came complete with the twin trumpet blares of more money for education and no new cuts to other services.
“Not that his unchallenged reign will last.
“It’s only a matter of time before Democrats, who cut social services in recent years with the promise of restoring them when happy days were here again, change their passive ways.
“For now, though, they can’t be aggressive. They’re too green.
“Brown has been blessed with 38 new members in the Assembly, and it’s going to take them at least a year to get their legs.
“Until then, Jerry will be the guy who says “no, no and no” to new spending.”
Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.
Click here for my compendium of articles providing a narrative of his governorship.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama discusses ending the war in Afghanistan and ensuring that Al Qaeda never again uses Afghanistan to launch attacks against America.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … LAWRENCE OF ARABIA AT 50: A TIMELESS EPIC RESTORED WITH TIMELESS LESSONS IN STORE.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama received the intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met at length on Friday and agreed to speed up the transition away from reliance on US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. What had been expected to be the end of US combat operations this coming summer now occurs in the spring.
More announcements are due on a residual force, if any, after 2014, and any new status of forces agreement (under which US troops would be free from prosecution and there is agreement about custody of prisoners).
Iraq, now closely aligned with Iran, refused a status of forces agreement with the US, so there is no residual force after the better part of a decade of war in Iraq.
Obama’s schedule for the week ahead is quite vague.
On Monday, Obama will participate in an Ambassador Credentialing Ceremony at the White House.
His office says he will then spend the rest of the week in Washington, DC and attend meetings at the White House.
Meanwhile, France intervened in a big way in the African nation of Mali, with ground and air forces moving in late on Friday and early Saturday.
The landlocked nation is the next closest thing to a failed state, with much of its desert territory suddenly in the hands of Al Qaeda-linked radical Islamists.
The fear is that the close to failed state would become a base for transnational jihadism in the post-Afghan War era.
France has intervened militarily in Mali, a landlocked African nation with few resources which has seen jihadist forces take much of the country in the past few weeks.
More to follow.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, AfPak, and the South China Sea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Persian/Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time. The time in Manila, on the South China Sea, is fifteen hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
As part of his push on the California budget, Brown on Friday afternoon directed that retroactive tax credits claimed under the state’s enterprise zone program for workers hired years earlier be eliminated.
Tax planners frequently scour old hire lists from years earlier to claim the tax credit retroactively.
Brown tried to get rid of the entire controversial enterprise zone program last year, but its advocates in the legislature blocked him.
Click here for my compendium of articles laying out the re-emergence of Jerry Brown as governor of California.
Click here for my compendium of articles providing a narrative of his governorship.
** JERRY BROWN’S NEW BUDGET FOR POST-CRISIS CALIFORNIA: DISCIPLINE BEGETS OPPORTUNITY. … From my January 11th essay.
** WHY THE HAGEL BATTLE MADE MORE SENSE FOR OBAMA THAN THE RICE BATTLE. …
From my January 9th essay.
** CALIFORNIA’S FUTURIST AGENDA: A TALE OF THREE GOVERNORS. … From my January 4th essay.
** THE CLIFFS WE AREN’T FALLING FROM (AND ONE FROM WHICH WE ARE). … From my December 15th column.
** EXIT SUSAN RICE. … From my December 13th column.
** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. 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.
** 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 from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $93.56 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $60 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $20 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
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| Comments (16) |
Good Al Jazeera news video on the French military intervention in Mali.
Good weekend speech by President Obama on ending the Afghanistan War.
I have barely heard of Mali before…
Jonas says:
January 12, 2013 at 10:45 am
Good Al Jazeera news video on the French military intervention in Mali.
Barack is keeping the Promise. The Afghan War will be over SOON.
Jonas says:
January 12, 2013 at 10:58 am
Good weekend speech by President Obama on ending the Afghanistan War.
Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and the Neocon artists should be hounded forever for this DISASTER.
BB:Iraq, now closely aligned with Iran, refused a status of forces agreement with the US, so there is no residual force after the better part of a decade of war in Iraq.
JB, ending another scam…
BB: As part of his push on the California budget, Brown on Friday afternoon directed that retroactive tax credits claimed under the state’s enterprise zone program for workers hired years earlier be eliminated.
Tax planners frequently scour old hire lists from years earlier to claim the tax credit retroactively.
49ers vs. Packers kickoff, fingers crossed.
That’s why Hagel…
Capitol Boy says:
January 12, 2013 at 11:43 am
Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and the Neocon artists should be hounded forever for this DISASTER.
BB:Iraq, now closely aligned with Iran, refused a status of forces agreement with the US, so there is no residual force after the better part of a decade of war in Iraq.
A Western war in Africa is new. Or so very old it is new. Is it exciting, too?
Mali crisis video?
Good Al Jazeera news video on the War in Mali.
Dizzying, thats what a new war makes me feel like.
49ers and Captain Kaepernick totally ROCKED!!
Jack Aubrey says:
January 12, 2013 at 5:27 pm
49ers vs. Packers kickoff, fingers crossed.
Mali War is easy to begin hard to end.
It is not an Afghanistan.
The Pack got jacked.
Capitol Boy says:
January 13, 2013 at 2:53 pm
49ers and Captain Kaepernick totally ROCKED!!
Jack Aubrey says:
January 12, 2013 at 5:27 pm
49ers vs. Packers kickoff, fingers crossed.