Iraq An Exit Strategy- June 17, 2008 Should Barack Obama become the next president, he will have to transform campaign rhetoric about ending the war in Iraq into a clearly organized plan to actually do it. Failing that, he will become worn down and discredited by the war. The buildup to the war in Iraq was masterfully orchestrated by the administration, think tanks, and lobbies. An equally masterful orchestration of similar institutional and ideological forces will be necessary to bring about a withdrawal from the strategic...http://agonist.org/sean_paul_kelley/20080617/iraq_an_exit_strategy T'ang Poetry- June 17, 2008 Anyone have any suggestions on a small (250 pages or less) anthology on T'ang poetryhttp://agonist.org/sean_paul_kelley/20080617/tang_poetry Can Samsung sue digital TV off the air- June 17, 2008 Junko Yoshida Manhasset, NY June 17EE Times - Expect the U.S. digital TV patent battle to get even hotter in the coming months and year. Samsung Electronics Co., a leading Korean consumer electronics vendor, last week (June 10th) filed a patent infringement suit related to the U.S. terrestrial digital TV standard developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) against Polaroid Corp., owned by Petters Group Worldwide, LLC, and Westinghouse Digital Electronics, LLC. Samsung is...http://agonist.org/20080617/can_samsung_sue_digital_tv_off_the_air Israel and Hamas 'agree truce'- June 17, 2008 June 17BBC - Israel and militant group Hamas have agreed on a truce starting this Thursday, a senior Hamas official has told the BBC. The official said he was confident all militant groups in Gaza would abide by the agreement, brokered by Egypt. There has been no confirmation of the deal from Israel.http://agonist.org/20080617/israel_and_hamas_agree_truce Al Gore endorses Obama- June 17, 2008 Flint, MI June 6AP - Al Gore announced his endorsement of Barack Obama Monday and promised to help the Democrat achieve what eluded him the presidency. In a letter to be e-mailed to Obama supporters, the former vice president and Nobel Prize winner wrote, "From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected president of the United States." In 2000, Gore won the popular vote but lost the disputed 2000 election to George W. Bush, who captured Florida and its..http://agonist.org/20080616/al_gore_endorses_obama AfghanistanPakistan: Blame Games- June 16, 2008 Q: What do we do when current strategies fail to produce progress in Afghanistan A: Continue to smash our heads against the wall. Gordon Brown's announcement that Britain will be sending more troops to Afghanistan may come as good news to some, but the fanfare obscures the fact that the basically cosmetic increase will net the NATO forces at most 230 posts. And all other news from the region looks bad. After every NATO military victory comes a new Taliban offensive. Last week closed with a...http://agonist.org/alex_thurston/20080616/afghanistan_pakistan_blame_games EU says no agreement on new Iran sanctions- June 16, 2008 Luxembourg June 16Reuters - The European Union said on Monday it had not agreed to new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, apparently contradicting British statements announcing new measures on its financial and energy sectors. Speaking after talks with President George W. Bush in London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier announced EU moves to freeze the overseas assets of the biggest bank in Iran and to launch action against Iran's oil and gas industries. A British...http://agonist.org/20080616/eu_says_no_agreement_on_new_iran_sanctions Summer Reading List- June 16, 2008 Here's my summer reading list so far (what I plan to read): "The Thirty Years War" by CV Wedgewood. "Roumeli" by Patrick Leigh Fermor. "Dante, Poet of the Secular World" by Erich Auerbach. "Redemption Ark" by Alistair Reynolds. "Absolution Gap" by Alistair Reynolds. "Conundrum" by Jan Morris. "Labyrinths" by Jorge Luis Borges "Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America" by Lerone Bennett. "Yeats: The Man and the Masks" by Richard Ellman. What's yourshttp://agonist.org/sean_paul_kelley/20080616/summer_reading_list The day after the Irish "No"- June 16, 2008 By Hannes Artens In Europe, the saying goes, the day after the election is like the day before the election (in a system with coalition governments and endless political haggling and trading too often nothing changes, no matter who won at the polls). This saw more often than not applies to public referendums, too. But certainly not to the Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon that drowned all hopes for a constitution for Europe in murky, gone stale Irish Guinness on Thursday. Even four days..http://agonist.org/hannes_artens/20080616/the_day_after_the_irish_no EU Lisbon 'No': Ireland delivers stunning blow to Europe's leaders- June 16, 2008 Ian Traynor and Henry MacDonald DublinBrussels June 13The Guardian - ...The referendum in Ireland was the sole popular vote in the EU on the grand plan to give Europe a sitting president and foreign minister, and reconfigure the way the EU is governed. The result left the project severely wounded, perhaps fatally. The Irish voted by a 7% margin, 53.6 to 46.4, against the treaty, which has already been ratified by 18 EU countries and is expected to be endorsed by the other eight. ...The...http://agonist.org/20080613/eu_lisbon_no_ireland_delivers_stunning_blow_to_europes_leaders |