The insurgents' war

Check out this episode of Frontline, which documents an Afghan journalist's time embedded with an insurgent group in the north of Afghanistan:

I am so impressed with their coverage of the Afghan war, what an incredibly gutsy report. Hard to to take this at face value, but it does seem notable how the all the actors involved came off as equally incompetent.

The eXile newspaper- a Moscow legend

Check out this entertaining story about Matt Taibbi and Mark Ames' old paper in Russia, The eXile, which is legendary for its debauchery and uniquely serious journalism: "Lost Exile." A great read- I don't think there is a more outrageous, corrupt and interesting story than that of Russia in the 1990's and this captures a bit of that. I had glancing interactions with this paper while I was briefly living in Russia and even in its decline it lived up to the hype of the story.

The Tory lineup

Election season is nigh in the UK, and to brush up on some of the more interesting figures in the conservative Tory's lineup, check out this great graphic from the FT with short bios for all the heavy hitters: "A Conservative Who's Who." I suppose Labour has been in office so long, nobody needs to be introduced?

Unemployment's poisonous legacy- "we should brace ourselves"

Take a look at this must read article from The Atlantic about how an era of prolonged high joblessness (which we are most certainly entering) could leave deep psychological and social scars, particularly among the young and unemployed: "How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America." I found this article deeply disturbing. I also think its very interesting to read what older generations have to say about mine, and there's plenty of that in there.

Update: Thanks to Charlie for passing along this great graph from the NY Times, which will adjust the unemployment stats to fit very specific demographics based on age, gender, race and education: "The Jobless Rate for People Like You."

The case for focusing on Mexico

I am very glad that Gideon Rachman wrote this comment piece: "Why Mexico is the missing Bric." The title speaks for itself. Mexico is a huge country with a vibrant economy, but most importantly from the American perspective it is our neighbor. There is simply no comparison between Mexico's importance to the US and Afghanistan's. Shockingly, the article points out that there is a comparable problem with violence: "Last year, the death toll in Mexico’s drugs war was more than 6,500. By comparison, over the same period the conflict in Afghanistan claimed the lives of some 2,400 civilians. Drug-related violence killed 238 Mexicans in the first 10 days of this year alone." One of the greatest and least mentioned strengths of the US is the blessing of close and peaceful ties with huge neighbors to its north and south, and yet our aid to Mexico is laughably small in comparison to the money we lavish on our corrupt "partners" in Central Asia.

Good news in Afghan war for a change

Finally some good news in our Afghan war! Perhaps the most senior Taliban commander has been captured. I do not have anything to offer on how this will affect the war effort, but immediately the fact that this was a joint Pakistani intelligence/CIA effort jumps out as a dramatic improvement in our working relationship with our Pakistani "allies." Story from Dexter Filkins here: "Taliban's Military Chief, Mullah Barader, Is Captured." If this signals a lasting change of heart on the part of Pakistan's leadership, it may dramatically improve our ability to control the situation we've gotten ourselves into in A-stan.

Foreign Direct Investment after the crisis

Another good chart from The Economist, this time outlining the largets recipients of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI, which is a measure of the amount of money invested in a country from outside that country) in 2009. That the US remains comfortably in first is a great indicator of how attractive our economy remains, but notice the 57 percent drop from last year's totals.

Here's The Economist's caption: "THE flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 39% in 2009 to just over $1 trillion, from a shade under $1.7 trillion in 2008, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development. All kinds of investment—equity capital, reinvested earnings and intra-company loans—were affected by the downturn. Rich countries saw FDI inflows plunge by 41%, and foreign investment into developing countries fell by more than a third. Not every country was badly hit. FDI into China, where economic growth remained robust, declined by only 2.6%. Foreigners actually invested more in Germany and Italy last year than in 2008. Despite FDI plunging by 57% last year, America remained the world’s top investment destination."

The Obama campaign or the Obama presidency?

I usually try to eschew posting political articles here, first of all because they're usually inane. However, I think this article has generated a lot of discussion and Edward Luce is a good reporter for the FT so I recommend checking it out: "America: A fearsome foursome." The idea is that the way Obama has structured the management of his white house, essentially keeping the tight night campaign machine in place (pictured above), has drastically limited his ability to hear the policy advice provided by government apart from the political advice provided by his inner circle. If true, its a problem, and it seems plausible.

Your US defense budget

Check out this great set of graphics from FT.com outlining basically all you need to know about US defense spending for FY 2011: "US military: Arms and the man for change." I think its pretty clear from the data that Robert Gates is the transformative defense secretary that Don Rumsfeld wished he was.

More on Eric Holder

Jane Mayer, a pretty remarkable reporter who has been been doggedly investigating detainee issues for years, has a new profile on Eric Holder and the K.S.M. trial in the New Yorker this week: "Eric Holder and the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial." I would also recommend her book, The Dark Side, though I'll admit it was very tough reading about detainees in the Bush years.

AG Holder SMACKDOWN

Check out this letter from AG Eric Holder to Sen. Mitch McConnell explaining the Dept. of Justice's arrest and handling of the "underwear bomber": Dear Senator McConnell... Funny what reality based arguments do to hysterical pandering.

Maybe we ought to know more about our war in Pakistan?

That's the basic question asked by Noah Shachtman in this post: "3 G.I.s Killed in Pakistan. Now Can We Start Treating This Like A Real War?" I have a lot of trouble understanding the general drift of our "global counterinsurgency" at the moment, but surely Pakistan is a big part of that picture.

Also, sorry my posting has been unusually national defense heavy... those are just the articles I've been coming across recently. I'll try to mix it up more.

Should defense spending always rise?

Check out this nice short blog post by The Economist on the unchecked growth of the US defense budget: "Time to attack defense spending." Asking if the trend exhibited on the chart to the left is making Americans any safer seems to be the only honest way to discuss this issue.