Recap

Some links worth saving. Should be able to resume posting semi-regularly now.

* Is Iraq getting better? Undoubtedly, says the BBC, although it's to-be-seen whether the improvements last. Meanwhile, Khody Akhavi peers behind the meaning of the "good news" and Juan Cole throws cold water on the efficacy of "the surge."

* Besides the drop in overall deaths, the other major area pointed to as an indicator of improvement for Iraq is the return of refugees. That story is a bit more complicated than it seems on its face, though. First, the figures of returnees are being deliberately inflated by the Iraqi government. Secondly, many of those deciding to return are not doing so because of what's happening in Iraq. Thirdly, most refugees are still sitting tight in their "adopted" countries. And, lastly, there are indications the surge increased the numbers of those fleeing, rather than cleared the way for returns. Oh, and to top things off, the US State Department continues spitting in the faces of desperate Iraqis. (That's nothing new, though)

* Additionally, the CS Monitor reports on Sadr's retooling; the LA Times outlines a "calmer, but more divided" Iraq; and the Guardian relates how Iraq has gotten decidedly worse for women.

* Some more ignored (or at least under-reported) details: the story behind "noncombat" deaths, the large numbers of brain injuries, and the spike in veteran suicides.

* The permanent enduring US presence in Iraq is starting to unveil itself, formally. Luckily, the bulk of the US political class couldn't care less.

* BBC: "The US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing nearly double the amount previously thought, according to a report by Democrats in the US Congress." Plus: more hidden costs.

* Despite what you may have heard, there are no civilians in Iraq! And definitely no holocaust going on.

* A recurring question, this time from Robert Dreyfuss: "Who, exactly, are we fighting in Iraq?"

* Chris Floyd: "Michael Massing has written a very important story about at very important truth: the main reason that the American people are so deeply uninformed about the reality of the war of aggression being waged in their names in Iraq is that they do not want to know."

* Looks like the US military is going to be slinking away from the Watada case. Smart move for them, I'd say.

* The recently released NIE on Iran is rightly viewed as a sort of middle finger to the Cheney-neocon crowd, as well as a vindication of sorts for Sy Hersh. The report has shifted the public debate substantially, a point not lost on those prominent "neo-Reaganites" who are now dampening their bombing demands.

* A good number of military families are starting to wake up to the idea that Bush is treating "our boys" like a bunch of toy soldiers.

* Annapolis came, Annapolis went. But we're always on the road to "peace."

* Chavez's referendum didn't pass in Venezuela, to much hypocritical applause in the western media.

* You've probably noticed that American "declinism" is all the rage again. Fred Halliday offers some qualifiers in response.

* I previously recommended checking out Ed Herman and David Peterson's exhaustive MR essay, "The Dismantling of Yugoslavia." It's now available online, here and here; available as a PDF download, here.

* Also see Herman and Peterson's more recent essay, "The U.S. Aggression Process and Its Collaborators," which serves as a sort of crash course in the more unsavory aspects of the past half-century of US foreign policy.

* Was the agency's destruction of two video recordings of harsh interrogations by the CIA a coverup? Tough one. See also: Are We Better Than That?

* And continued fallout: More and Better Dems™, part 63. Torture Edition!

* If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear. So don't pay any attention to those pesky, nosy feds. They deserve our trust.

* The UN has revised downward its estimate of global AIDS infections, markedly. Details from the LA Times and IRIN.

* The ongoing, happy, fuzzy news about climate change: Greenland and the arctic melts at increasing rates; 2007 is set to be one of the hottest years on record; the US gets browbeaten in Bali; Tom Engelhardt observes that it's awfully dry out there; and Ross Gelbspan frets deeply about the future.

* Peaking oil or plateauing oil?

* *sigh* If only the Soviets had the American propaganda machine working for them...

* Gary Webb is sorely missed. He would have been perfect for this story.

* The American Dream unfortunately remains a sick joke. Particularly, as ever, for blacks.

* Another glorious return to the 19th century: private firefighting increasingly in vogue.

* If you want apologetics for cruel policies on the domestic front, Robert Rector is usually the first man that's dragged before the cameras.

* Why is it that the alleged race-IQ link gets pulled out every few years, only for it to be beaten into a bloody pulp each time?

* Sherry Wolf puts forth the (hard) left argument against Ron Paul.

* Tony Judt has a nice review in the NYRB of Robert Reich's new book, Supercapitalism.

* Walden Bello's review of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine is similarly excellent.

* Times may change, but you can always bank on the NR crowd to throw out a racist canard every now and then. Related: TNR has backed away from the Beauchamp claims.

* The FCC : healthy media :: abusive husbands : happy marriages

* Resistance? Sure, why not.