Marine General Joseph Dunford took over the Afghan War command this weekend from Marine General John Allen, who is picked to be the new NATO commander. Dunford is likely the last US commander of a large force in Afghanistan. Allen expressed a rather rosy view of the progress of US and NATO operations in Afghanistan, despite numerous setbacks.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … THE ALLURE OF ARABIA.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
He is preparing for Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
That speech, not surprisingly, will focus on economic revitalization, with a lot of other stuff in there as well.
Meanwhile, Senator John McCain bitterly criticized the administration today on one of the Sunday chat shows for not intervening in Syria.
And Senator Lindsey Graham, on another Sunday chat show, said he would not filibuster but threatened to place a hold on the appointments of John Brennan and Chuck Hagel to be CIA director and defense secretary until still more information is released about the Benghazi disaster. Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey both just testified on Benghazi. (I don’t see how Graham’s hold stands up for long.) Graham is implying that Obama was detached and out of the loop in real time during the Benghazi disaster. The latest gambit to block Hagel before this one — insisting that a new standard of disclosure be established in which all entities he’s affiliated with open up their corporate books — is falling flat.
And Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose term ends this year, seemingly clashed again with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying Iran welcomes direct talks with the US over its nuclear program, but the US must begin moving away from the sanctions regime.
Khamenei previously flatly rejected Vice President Joe Biden’s suggestion of talks.
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.
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.
President Barack Obama and top leaders of the U.S. Armed Forces honored outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for his decades of service in federal government. Panetta is retiring to his home in Northern California.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … THE ALLURE OF ARABIA.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama has no scheduled public events on Sunday, either.
He is preparing for Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
Obama led the ceremony yesterday at Fort Myer honoring outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
Panetta, a man of humor who joked at the announcement of his retirement that he would return to tending a different sort of nut on his farm near Monterey, said that his dog had, er, sat in on all the meetings he had as CIA director on the Osama bin Laden operation and never, ever leaked.
“You’ve heard of the movie Zero Dark Thirty,” he stated, then went on to say that the movie’s producer is considering a follow-up, Zero Bark Thirty. Panetta, who acknowledges that some intelligence used in getting bin Laden came as the result of “interrogation tactics,” was portrayed in the controversial Oscar-nominated film by Sopranos star James Gandolfini.
Panetta, in his 19 months as Pentagon chief, ended the ban on women serving in front-line combat roles and oversaw the integration of gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. The Iraq war ended and the last Afghanistan “surge” troops came home on his watch.
But he may be remembered most for his work before he came to the Pentagon in July 2011, as the CIA director who helped oversee the raid earlier that year that killed Osama bin Laden.
Obama noted the progress against al Qaeda under Panetta’s tenure and added that “we’ve been relentless against its affiliates.”
After citing Panetta’s accomplishments, Obama then turned to Hagel, the decorated combat veteran the president picked to take over at the Pentagon. Amid Republican maneuvering, Hagel still hasn’t had a nomination vote in the Senate.
A former two-term senator who fell out with his Republican Party over the Iraq war, Hagel faced harsh questioning at his nomination hearing last week from Republicans seeking to portray him as soft on Iran and anti-Israel.
Some Republicans have said they will not vote for Hagel, even though he is expected to win confirmation. Obama again gave Hagel his full-throated support.
“Keeping us prepared will be the mission of my nominee to be the next secretary of defense, a combat veteran with the experience, judgment, and vision that our troops deserve – Chuck Hagel,” Obama said.
Hagel would be the first Vietnam veteran to become defense secretary.
Panetta, who is expected to stay in the job until Hagel is confirmed, was often sentimental but also cracked jokes during his farewell speech. With his dog, Bravo, in attendance, he quipped how former U.S. President Harry Truman once remarked that if someone wants a friend in Washington, “get a dog.”
“And that’s just what I did,” laughed Panetta, whose five-decade political career also included being chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.
Panetta quipped that Bravo was in all of the meetings where the United States planned the bin Laden operation, as well as sensitive discussions at the Pentagon.
“And I want you to know that (Bravo) has never told a soul what he heard,” Panetta said. “He is definitely not a leaker – at least according to that definition of the word.”
In his weekend video/radio address, President Obama urges Congress to avoid the federal budget sequester looming at the end of the month in favor of his short-term stance of some cuts and revenues.
Here’s what Obama’s week ahead looks like.
On Monday, Obama will award the Medal of Honor to former Army Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha in an event at the White House.
On Tuesday evening, Obama will deliver his State of the Union Address at 9 PM EST.
On Wednesday, Obama will travel to the Asheville, North Carolina, area, then return to Washington, DC in the evening. What’s he doing there? I don’t know yet. But I’m guessing it’s something to do with the sequester.
On Thursday, Obama will travel to the Atlanta, Georgia, area, then return to Washington, DC in the evening. More details will be released.
On Friday morning, Obama will host President Giorgio Napolitano of Italy in the Oval Office. Later in the morning, Obama will welcome to the White House the recipients of the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor.
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.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, who followed then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s prescient 2007 admonition to the California Republican Party convention to avoid getting too conservative by gleefully disputing everything the centrist governor said, went on far right radio talk show host Laura Ingraham’s show Friday to say that California is beautiful but has been badly governed for a long time and that Californians are “voting with their feet” by moving to Texas.
Which is wrong. Not that Perry is exactly known for getting things right. Extreme right, yes. Right, no.
See my piece linked below explaining what’s going on.
Brown joins Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and others in Oakland on Tuesday for a summit meeting on the future of California housing sponsored by UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
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 FINDS FUN (IN NEW FOIL RICK PERRY) AND MORE THAN A BIT OF ILLUMINATION. … From my February 7th column.
** 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.
New England and much of the Northeast is struggling with a massive storm that has dumped upwards of two feet of snow already.
** 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 $95.72 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $62 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 $18 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
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| Comments (16) |
Good video of President Obama and the just honoring of Leon Panetta.
Good weekend address by President Obama on the Budget crisis.
Bring shovels to the Northeast corridor.
A great Californian, he deserves it!!
Jonas says:
February 9, 2013 at 12:09 pm
Good video of President Obama and the just honoring of Leon Panetta.
Barack is on message…
Jonas says:
February 9, 2013 at 12:19 pm
Good weekend address by President Obama on the Budget crisis.
Brrrr. I am enjoying the Cali sunshine…
Jonas says:
February 9, 2013 at 12:26 pm
Bring shovels to the Northeast corridor.
The oft promised Lawrence of Arabia essay, perhaps?
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … THE ALLURE OF ARABIA.
Any crisis video today?
Good good/bad news Al Jazeera news video on Afghanistan
I sure wish the reality was as good as Gen. Allen’s spin…
Hahah!
BB:Which is wrong. Not that Perry is exactly known for getting things right. Extreme right, yes. Right, no.
Crazy.
BB:Meanwhile, Senator John McCain bitterly criticized the administration today on one of the Sunday chat shows for not intervening in Syria.
The people are getting tired of clowns like this…
BB: And Senator Lindsey Graham, on another Sunday chat show, said he would not filibuster but threatened to place a hold on the appointments of John Brennan and Chuck Hagel to be CIA director and defense secretary until still more information is released about the Benghazi disaster. Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey both just testified on Benghazi. (I don’t see how Graham’s hold stands up for long.) Graham is implying that Obama was detached and out of the loop in real time during the Benghazi disaster. The latest gambit to block Hagel before this one — insisting that a new standard of disclosure be established in which all entities he’s affiliated with open up their corporate books — is falling flat.
The Pope of the Catholic Church resigned in Rome.
The Right-wing German Cardinal Ratzinger leaves after only 8 years. Because he is old, as if he did not know that when he claimed the office. I sense a cover up of his true reasons by this champion of Opus Dei who led the cover up of priestly pedophile abuse around the world.
Which video today?