Nicholas Kristof shares his findings from the troubled country, and it’s not pretty. In short, Obama better keep his eye on this nuclear power…or else. After watching this I can’t help but think that, regardless of what this panel says, the incoming administration realizes the unique position Pakistan has on the world stage. After all, [...]

Writing for The Atlantic, Robert D. Kaplan thinks Barack Obama has made a good decision by choosing political rival Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State. But Kaplan foresees success for Obama not just because of the team he’s assembled but because international conditions are favorable for success: [T]he real reason that Obama and Clinton [...]

Vladimir Putin continues to consolidate power… From TNR: If any proof were needed that the Russian political system operates in its own time-space continuum, it came this morning, when the parliament decided to deal with the country’s economic meltdown by amending its constitution. The Duma fixed the 1993 text by decoupling presidential and parliamentary elections [...]

It’s supposedly a done deal, so now the press can stop chattering about the Clintons being duplicitous and just accept the fact that Obama is genuinely forming a team of rivals. From NY Times: Mrs. Clinton came to her decision after additional discussion with President-elect Barack Obama about the nature of her role and his [...]

I thought something was odd about this, and many thanks to Jimmy for sharing this video. I wonder how quickly this will get around the blogosphere.

(See update here about how Bush didn’t snub anybody) Rick Sanchez points something out about Bush’s seeming lack of graciousness at the G20 Summit… I hate to kick a guy when he’s down, but what could possibly be the explanation for this? Was he afraid they wouldn’t shake his hand and he’d lose face? What’s [...]

Truth be told, Richardson is more qualified for the job, but having Hillary in there would be the most beneficial for an Obama administration. And let’s face it, I’d rather have Hillary as our face to the world right now than Bill Richardson. The details… CNN has learned that President-elect Barack Obama spoke with New [...]

Well, now we know that Obama actually asked her… “There was a serious discussion to determine whether, if offered Secretary of State, she would accept it,” said a source close to the Obama transition. In these circumstances, that source added, a president-elect does not meet with potential cabinet secretaries unless they are serious about making [...]

When national banks start talking about lending money for absolutely ZERO interest, do you really need any other evidence that the market is not doing its job? From Daily Mail: Governor Mervyn King said he is ready to reduce rates to ‘whatever level is necessary’ to counter the economic storm. He warned Britain’s economy could [...]

Looks like Barack Obama is hitting the ground running: After making the first key appointment to his administration, Obama spoke by telephone with the leaders of Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico and South Korea, hastening the shift in political gravity away from President George W. Bush. The financial crisis, the Afghanistan war, [...]

As Barack Obama continues to attract throngs of supporters and polls keep indicating he will win by a more than comfortable margin, I find myself wondering how much of the Obama phenomenon is simply a massive rejection of President Bush and how much is an honest-to-God shift in our political culture. On one hand, the [...]

The week has started well for world markets as stock exchanges across the globe have rallied or are rallying to post significant gains. The increases are attributed to the coordinated global efforts to unfreeze credit markets, particularly the European Union’s and the United Kingdom’s decisions to fully back bank accounts and infuse troubling banks with [...]

The global economic troubles worsened today as major markets around the world have fallen 6-10%. The situation has deteriorated to the point that the world’s financial ministers and central bankers will meet in Washington this weekend in an attempt to coordinate a global response. Unfortunately, no one really knows what will calm global markets. On [...]

I suppose it would have been nice if the $700 billion bailout was the magic bullet needed to right our economic ship. But after today’s tumult on Wall Street, it’s pretty clear we’re not out the woods. At one point today, the Dow was down 800 points, but managed to close “just” 370 points down. [...]

I’m sorry folks, but it’s getting downright comical at this point. Via Politico comes this revealing moment after McCain and Palins’ meeting with Georgian President Saakashvilli and Ukrainian President Yushchenko… McCain then looked around the room and gestured as if to welcome questions. The AP reporter shouted a question at Gov. Palin (“Governor, what have [...]

Andrew Sullivan pens one of the more level headed walks through the post Cold War era and details where we find ourselves now and where we must go… The end of the Cold War was an opportunity to create a new one. For some, we now realize, the Cold War was not about democratic values [...]

Reports today that Russian forces have left South Ossetia and are moving toward Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi are troubling to say the very least. If Russia does indeed try to take the entire country by force and overthrow the government, we’re looking at a brand new geo-political ball game. Now, there’s no indication that permanently [...]

Today he asked the following… When the “civilized world” expostulated with Russia about Georgia in 1924, the Soviet regime was still weak. In Germany, Hitler was in jail. Only 16 years later, Britain stood virtually alone against a Nazi-Soviet axis. Is it not true today, as it was in the 1920s and ’30s, that delay [...]

Given the recent flare up in Georgia yesterday and into today, it was expected that the candidates would have to take a position. Both don’t view Russia’s actions as justified, but as Politico points out this represents one of the campaign’s first “3 a.m.” moments and could give us a glimpse into how the candidates [...]

Who knew the views he expressed last fall would be so popular nowadays? And this overseas trip only put an exclamation point on the fact that many seem to adopting his stances in one way or another. Frank Rich breaks it down… First, on July 7, the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, dissed Bush dogma [...]