After stopping in Timbuktu, a world historical and cultural site desecrated by jihadists during the time in which they controlled it, Socialist French President Francois Hollande visited Mali’s capital, Bamako, where he held formal talks late Saturday with his Malian counterpart Dioncounda Traore on the eventual hand-over of the French-led operation to a UN-backed African force, whose troops are still arriving. In a joint press on Sunday, Hollande said “terrorism has been repelled but not wiped out” in 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.
It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and the First Fan of the land — who would rather watch Sports Center than the Sunday chat shows — will be watching the San Francisco 49ers defeat the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl 47 at the New Orleans Superdome.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, speaking today at the annual Munich Security Conference, one of the world’s most important gatherings of national security leaders, signaled that the Israeli Air Force struck inside Syria several days ago to take out sophisticated Russian-made anti-aircraft systems that were being deployed to Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
Barak: “I keep telling frankly that we said — and that’s proof when we said something we mean it — we say that we don’t think it should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon.”
US officials say also that the Israelis hit a research center dealing with chemical and/or biological weapons.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving Mali and Algeria, the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, AfPak, and the South China Sea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: Mali is eight hours ahead of Pacific time, 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.
Brown’s Super Bowl bet with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is discussed below.
The last time the 49ers played in the Super Bowl — on January 29th, 1995 in Miami — the 49ers crushed the San Diego Chargers 49-26 behind a record six touchdown passes by Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, half of them to Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice.
That game took place not long after Brown’s sister, then state Treasurer Kathleen Brown, lost in her bid to upset incumbent Republican Governor Pete Wilson.
The state has become considerably more Democratic since then, in no small measure due to Wilson’s re-election move of championing a draconian anti-illegal immigrant initiative. It worked great in the short term, but in the long term proved poison to Republican prospects.
Kathleen Brown, following the counsel of brother Jerry and several others, came out firmly and dramatically in opposition to Wilson and Proposition 187, enabling the Democrats to prosper down the line even as her own candidacy went down to defeat. A story I should write some time.
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.
The U.S. is prepared to hold direct talks with Iran in the standoff over its nuclear ambitions, Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday at the annual Munich Security Conference, but insisted that Tehran must show it’s serious and Washington won’t engage in such talks “just for exercise.”
** 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.
Very good news for the White House and for Democrats who had been antsy about holding new Secretary of State John Kerry’s Senate seat.
As discussed here sometime back as a likely prospect, former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown has decided not to set himself up for a possible three Senate runs in rapid succession. Just defeated this past November by Elizabeth Warren, he won’t run for John Kerry’s Senate seat in an upcoming special election. That removes a big worry that man Democrats had about Kerry’s appointment as secretary of state. Brown might run for governor. Or he might not.
Kerry was sworn in Friday afternoon as secretary of state by Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. The 2004 Democratic presidential nominee served 28 years in the U.S. Senate, the last four of them as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
On Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s last day in office, the US Embassy in Ankara, Turkey was the site of a terrorist attack. The suicide bomber detonated his device just inside the entrance, causing little damage to the embassy itself and apparently a minimal loss of life.
Many hours after the attack, a Turkish far left group claimed credit for the attack on the US embassy.
In a bigger and stranger story, the Mexico City headquarters of Petroleos Mexicanos, the state oil giant, was hit late Thursday by a massive explosion that killed more than 30 people.
After a long period of there being no coherent explanation, the Mexican government says the massive explosion at a major office building in downtown Mexico City was an accident.
Which seems a bit odd.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama discusses economic growth, which has been anemic.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving Mali and Algeria, the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, AfPak, and the South China Sea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: Mali is eight hours ahead of Pacific time, 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.
Here is his Super Bowl bet with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley:
Brown is betting a copy of Carey McWilliams’s 1949 book, California: The Great Exception against O’Malley’s case of National Bohemian beer. Which is brewed in Baltimore, where O’Malley was mayor after being an advance man in Gary Hart’s presidential campaign.
Brown describes the classic book as being “about California’s exceptionalism, on the field and off.”
Okay then.
Brown’s predecessor, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, predicts a 27-23 victory by the 49ers.
Meanwhile …
The California Democratic Party has over $10 million in the bank. The Republican Party has about $10. Okay, it’s more like $20,000 or so.
Brown, who spent his time helping raise over $50 million for his landslide-winning, game-changing Proposition 30 revenue initiative, has over $7 million in the bank. (Over half of that is money he saved from his 2010 campaign against the biggest-spending non-presidential campaign in American history, that of billionaire Meg Whitman.)
Though he did raise about $2 million last year for his own account.
Incidentally, the Yes on 30 campaign has nearly $3 million left in its coffers. Most of it can’t be used, at least not directly, for Brown’s re-election.
He has made no announcement, of course, but readers know that I’ve said from the beginning that he will go for a fourth term next year.
Meanwhile, outgoing Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who would like to be governor, shot down speculation that he will replace outgoing U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Not because he plans to run against Brown, mind you. He says he will finish out the last five months of his second term as mayor, which goes till the end of June.
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.
** COME HAGEL OR HIGH WATER: IN THE SHADE OF IRAQ. … From my February 1st essay.
** THE STATE OF JERRY BROWN’S STATUS: AFTER THE STATE OF THE STATE. … From my January 30th essay.
** OBAMA’S CLEAR YET MUTED TRUMPET: HOPE’S AUDACITY MEETS LOWERED EXPECTATIONS. … From my January 23rd essay.
** HOW NOT TO STAGE MANAGE THE WORLD. … From my January 18th column.
** POWELL POSITIONS THE DEBATE OVER CHUCK HAGEL. … From my January 14th essay.
** 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.
Former Stanford coach and NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh has led the San Francisco 49ers back to the Super Bowl.
** 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 $97.77 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $64 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 $16 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
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| Comments (16) |
Good good news news video of Joe Biden on talks with iran.
Good speech by President Obama on the economy.
The 49ers are lucky for having Jim Harbaugh. They should win.
This drives the wingnuts CRAZY!!
Jonas says:
February 2, 2013 at 10:42 am
Good good news news video of Joe Biden on talks with iran.
Barack is on message…
Jonas says:
February 2, 2013 at 10:59 am
Good speech by President Obama on the economy.
The Niners WILL WIN!
Jonas says:
February 2, 2013 at 11:14 am
The 49ers are lucky for having Jim Harbaugh. They should win.
Hahahah!
BB: Here is his Super Bowl bet with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley:
Brown is betting a copy of Carey McWilliams’s 1949 book, California: The Great Exception against O’Malley’s case of National Bohemian beer. Which is brewed in Baltimore, where O’Malley was mayor after being an advance man in Gary Hart’s presidential campaign.
Brown describes the classic book as being “about California’s exceptionalism, on the field and off.”
Okay then.
That sounds ridiculous…
BB: After a long period of there being no coherent explanation, the Mexican government says the massive explosion at a major office building in downtown Mexico City was an accident.
The President of France is in Mali in Timbuktu. The French impressed more than expected.
Mali victory video today?
That’s really good news from Mali, way to go France!!
Yes!!
BB:Kathleen Brown, following the counsel of brother Jerry and several others, came out firmly and dramatically in opposition to Wilson and Proposition 187, enabling the Democrats to prosper down the line even as her own candidacy went down to defeat. A story I should write some time.
I’m so sick of that pontificating Ray Lewis dude. The 49ers are going to knock his conceited block off…
Israelites should be careful what they attack with their air strikes.
One wonders: Will it be war-war or jaw-jaw to peace over Syria? This lies in the balance.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2013/feb/04/syria-assad-warns-israel-diplomatic-hopes-live
Damn sorry about your 49ers; wretched refereeing.
Syria crisis video today?