Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Lnx

* Out of Iraq now. Meanwhile, Mother Jones offers an attempt at the question of "out how?"

* There has been a stark, measurable dip in the violence in Iraq. Unfortunately, there are still a whole lot of people who are pretty much SOL.

* Conn Hallinan runs through the grim numbers on Iraq. His conclusion: "For the average Iraqi, there is little difference between the Mongols and the United States. Both have laid waste to their country."

* Rahul Mahajan contrasts the spike in coverage of Blackwater following the Nisoor square shooting with the "ongoing collapse of the military prosecution in the Haditha massacre," noting with alarm the unwillingness to hold uniformed soldiers to any sort of accountability. "Contractors may be subject to no law," he says, "but the law soldiers are subject to is rarely much better than nothing."

* Well, somebody at the NYT will probably be fired for letting this slip by the filter.

* The "surge" didn't work. Yeah, no kidding.

* Prominent liberal discovers imperialism. Film at 11.

* A good place to follow news about the Turkey-PKK front, in English.

* Gareth Porter fleshes out much of the same story as Sy Hersh on Iran, revisiting what looks to be the sources used in previous reporting on Fallon's dislike of aerial sorties. Along similar lines, Jim Lobe is reading a lack of enthusiasm for the crazies' plans into some of Bob Gates' recent moves.

* Scott Ritter supplies his own thoughts on the eve of the apocalypse. Also see an Esquire profile of Flynt Leverett, who features prominently in Ritter's piece.

* Picking up where Philip Weiss left off, Bill Berkowitz offers another profile of Freedom's Watch.

* "As much as we may want to believe that the Annapolis summit represents a genuine push for peace, the facts tell a different story."

* Yet more shocking stuff from the "most moral" army in the world.

* Daniel Lazare re-earths some of the more common left criticisms of the Walt/Mearsheimer thesis in a review of their book.

* Again, some genocides are simply much more useful than others.

* We've already hit peak oil, says a new report by the German-based Energy Watch Group.

* Rising oceans on a drying planet.

* Stephen Holmes likes Chalmers Johnson; Chalmers Johnson likes Stephen Holmes.

* Check two good reviews of The Shock Doctrine.