The power grid is down. The Internet is dark; web sites are gone, internet banking and all online resources have disappeared. No lights, no power, no traffic control. Airports are running on backup systems with limited capability, talking down airplanes one by one. Hospitals, military bases and public safety facilities are humming on backup power, hoping their emergency generators are resupplied by fuel companies they can't reach. No phones, no texting, no twittering.
Military communications are disrupted under the pressure of a flood of attacks of many different kinds, exacerbated by the loss of civilian network capacity. Some computers have stopped working, their guts eviscerated by electronic attacks. And this is just for ground-based systems. So far no direct attacks have been mounted on satellites.
Continue reading "Black" »
In a stunning move unforeseen by politicians and journalists worldwide, China's central committee declared "a new day for democracy" and announced that free, open, and democratic elections would be held as soon as they could be organized, probably within the next several months.
The government demonstrated its new commitment to human rights and rule of law by freeing Liu Xiaobo, co-author of last December's revolutionary call for freedom known as Charter 8, and thousands of other political prisoners; ending China's "one child" policy and the use of forced abortions; and abandoning all efforts to monitor or censor Internet traffic; and many more significant policy changes.
Continue reading "China Announces Democratic Elections; Seeks Reconciliation with Taiwan" »
Tom Friedman continues pushing for a gasoline tax, believing that it will push down the price of oil by fostering development of alternative fuels. His argument is that taking U.S. oil consumption away from petrodictators will push down the price of oil worldwide, depriving them of the revenues they need to bribe their peoples into accepting tyranny, and that once the people do not have generous benefits given them by the government they will rise up and seek democracy.
Continue reading "A Green Revolution in America Won’t Help Iran’s" »
David Brooks found a great statement on revolutions from Michael McFaul: "In retrospect, all revolutions seem inevitable. Beforehand, all revolutions seem impossible." The context in which Brooks employs the quote is about the situation in Iran, where the regime is increasingly fragile and weak at the core and will likely employ more and more repressive tactics to stay in power.
It seems impossible to imagine a revolution in America, and even if one gets that far, to imagine what form it would take. We've seen significant reforms over the past 60 years, but there also has been blood in the streets, riots and burning of cities, vigilantism of many kinds, domestic terrorism over many issues. Watching the waltz in Congress as Democrats dilly and Republicans dally while the influence-peddlers play on, one wonders what they're thinking.
Continue reading "Reform or Revolution?" »
If one can believe the data and analysis of the Iranian election turned out by Chatham House and the Institute of Iranian Studies at Scotland's University of St. Andrews (founded in 1413, the third-oldest university in the English-speaking world), the Iranian election is nothing but a massive fraud. How big? Well, when Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei asked on Friday "How can one rig 11 million votes?" the Chatham House analysis points the way.
Continue reading "Pshah! Iran’s Bogus Election Results" »
Innocent until proven guilty has a nice ring to it. Until you're found guilty even though you claim innocence, then later, desperate to get out of jail, go along with the charade that requires you to admit guilt - a Catch-22 that says you can't be paroled until you accept responsibility for the crime for which you were convicted. Then your admission of guilt is used to prevent you from further appealing your innocence. It's just one ugly fact of American justice, one of many traps that various states use in their legal machinery to maintain their conviction statistics.
The higher courts are supposed to provide relief for those whose innocence might still be obtained under the principle of presumed innocence. But the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the case of William G. Osborne shows that not only do we not have to worry about empathy infecting the conservative majority, we might well worry about whose interests that majority presumes to serve. The Court set aside a lower federal court ruling allowing Osborne (who is not anyone's poster child, though he's supported by the Innocence Project) to pay for newer DNA testing technology that might invalidate his conviction and set him free. Alaska – one of a handful of states in the country that has not enacted legislation governing the use of DNA testing - was defeated at the federal appellate court level when it tried to block Osborne's access to DNA evidence that might set him free. Alaska appealed – and appallingly, was supported by the Obama administration.
Continue reading "The Nuances of Innocence" »
A recent New York Times/CBS News poll shows that even as President Obama has maintained a consistently high approval rating of around 63% in the United States since his inauguration, the number of Americans who disapprove of how he's doing is growing. Nearly half of those who were on the fence and withholding judgment have now joined the ranks disapproving of Obama's performance. This poses problems for his policy programs, because it means that members of Congress will hear from more disaffected voters without seeing any upside among Obama supporters.
Continue reading "Obama’s Slippery Slope" »
News flash: Iran's authoritarian regime steals an election; populist candidate defeated.
OK, maybe the results will hold up and Ahmadinejad really won. There wouldn't be much of a story if it ended there. Tom Friedman points out that a number of surprising developments are bringing democratic initiatives to the forefront throughout the Middle East. People are pushing back against both authoritarian governments and Islamist groups seeking power in a number of countries.
Continue reading "All A-Twitter over Iran" »
I imagine David Brooks is happy to have moved on from writing for The Weekly Standard. In the recent issue of June 8th that I picked up at the airport and read while in flight, most of the writing was undistinguished, even if the topics were timely and important. The opinion was not only predictable but also tiresome, especially the two items published on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court vacancy.
Continue reading "The Weekly Standard’s Screed" »
On the left hand we have China's government mandate: starting on July 1 all computers sold must have monitoring software built in (code name: Green Dam, nicknamed "Green Damn" by privacy and civil rights activists). On the right hand we have the recently announced United States initiative to create a unified cybercommand to deter, detect, and defend against computer attacks, including developing an offensive capability. The Pentagon and the National Security Agency have been fighting turf wars over this for some time.
If you believe that developing an offensive capability is a new element in the U.S. military arsenal, there is still some real estate available for you with no proof of income or employment needed to secure your low, low mortgage rates. The U.S. has had information operations for quite a while. The U.S. government simply can't maintain credibility on this issue without acknowledging the fact that offensive cyberweapons are now on the table.
Continue reading "China’s Central Committee and the United States Cybercommand" »
In what appeared to be a too-close-to-call race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, voters delivered a crushing victory to R. Creigh Deeds. He's a rural candidate who triumphed over two urban contenders, Terry McAuliffe and Brian Moran, in a race where voter apathy was the biggest winner. During the past decade or more there have been growing tensions between fast-growing northern Virginia with increasingly Democratic voters against the rural Republicans in the rest of the state on many issues: transportation, gun control, smoking bans, and others. Lately the north has been winning, and the state delivered for Barack Obama and other Democrats in last fall's election.
Continue reading "Goodbye To All That: Virginia Democrats Select R. Creigh Deeds for Governor" »
After reading John Lanchester's New Yorker piece "Outsmarted," a review of three books on the collapse of America's free-market capitalism, the romantic comedy film "Fool's Gold" is just the tonic needed. When crisis fatigue sets in after following day after day, months turning into years of dire news, what could be better than a treasure-hunting caper in the Caribbean with a happy ending, where the bad guys get their comeuppance? That's about as far from Wall Street and the gung-ho capitalist business lobby as one can get, even if it is fantasy, and needs the rich guy with $700 million and his yacht to bankroll the adventure.
Continue reading "Fool’s Gold: Three Books and a Film" »
Two nights ago Conan O'Brien took over the Tonight Show after Jay Leno's 17-year run. But even 17 years after Johnny Carson retired, it's still his show, no matter that he got it from Jack Paar, as ancient historians will remember. The Tonight Show is an American icon, with more franchise value than General Motors.
The first night was too much Conan, which is what I often think of Conan on the occasions when I've tuned him in on his Late Night show. The sleek set hearkens back to the classic curtains that Johnny stepped through for 30 years, adding to the burdens that Conan faces in growing into the show. He made a joke about being on the lowest-rated network (as Leno often did) then tripled the ante with mention of GE's tumbling stock and GM's sponsorship. But the unspoken part of that joke is that he's been handed a No. 1 ratings leader and he'd better not screw it up. Let's call the first night a shakedown cruise, and not an omen, or an ominous sign of further troubles ahead. He's likeable enough – but I can see David Letterman sharpening his fangs and getting ready to draw late-night blood.
Continue reading "Tonight, Tonight Is Not Just a West Coast Story" »