Over at The Reaction, The (liberal) Girl Next Door sees “a bright speck on the horizon” even though “the news is bad on just about every front”. For her full post, see here.

(Part I is here.) So the Bush Administration may be planning an all-out offensive in Baghdad for later this year. But what is life in Baghdad like right now? Some on the right, including many in the blogosphere, would like us to believe that all is going well aside for some media-hyped sectarian violence. If only. The truth is rather more unsettling: Snipers held rooftop positions as masked Sunni Arab insurgents said they were gearing up for another open street battle with pro-government Shi’ite...

Over at Slate, Fred Kaplan argues that now is the time to talk directly to Iran about its nuclear program, “not as an act of appeasement but as a hard-headed security calculation”. Consider: Bush should commence direct talks with Iran not because they offer a hopeful chance for peace and good will, but because they’re a necessary prelude to an international campaign of economic pressure—and because more drastic military pressure would likely backfire. There are two likely...

It looks like the Iraq War could take another dramatic turn later this year. The Times has reported this: THE American military is planning a “second liberation of Baghdadâ€? to be carried out with the Iraqi army when a new government is installed… The battle for Baghdad is expected to entail a “carrot-and-stickâ€? approach, offering the beleaguered population protection from sectarian violence in exchange for rooting out insurgent groups and Al-Qaeda. Sources close to the...

According to The Washington Post, in an interesting article in this past Sunday’s edition, “Blair fatigue has become the dominant narrative in British politics.” There are other narratives, to be sure, including the rise of Blair’s rival and presumptive successor, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, and of the new and dynamic Conservative Leader David Cameron; scandal upon scandal; and, of course, Iraq. But, simply, it seems that the British have grown tired of a prime...

Reuters via Ynet News: Ex-professor pleads guilty to aiding Islamic Jihad Former university professor Sami al-Arian has pleaded guilty to aiding the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad and agreed to be deported, according to documents made public on Monday by a U.S. court in Florida. Al-Arian and three co-defendants were arrested in 2003 and charged with helping the group carry out attacks in Israel. In December, a federal jury found al-Arian not guilty on eight charges and failed to reach a verdict...

Well, it looks like the Italian election results will be settled sooner than expected. From the BBC: “[Opposition leader] Romano Prodi looks set to be confirmed as the winner of Italy’s general election after the number of contested ballots was drastically lowered.” Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi claims that he will continue to “resist” and that Italy is “at a standstill,” but “even if all the contested ballots [and there aren't nearly as many as...

As some of you may know, I’ve been extremely tough on the Bush Administration over its lack of concern for the environment, specifically for global warming and other facets of climate change. See here, for example, where I argued that America needs “a president who understands and cares about the environment, one who is willing to adopt far-reaching policies to deal with climate change”. But let no one think that we’re doing all that much better up here in Canada. Stephen...

Here’s one of the most bizarre stories I’ve read in a long, long time. According to the Guardian Online: “Doctors from London University have revealed details of what they believe is the largest amount of ecstasy ever consumed by a single person. Consultants from the addiction centre at St George’s Medical School, London, have published a case report of a British man estimated to have taken around 40,000 pills of MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, over nine years.” 40,000...

I recently argued that there is now an opportunity to roll back the incendiary rhetoric and to consider what other, non-military options should be on the table with respect to the Iranian nuclear crisis. In fact, “crisis” is too loaded a term. There is some sort of crisis, to be sure, but there is no immediate crisis. Iran is not about to build a nuclear arsenal in the near future, let alone to launch it against Israel and Europe. It’s true that Iran is now enriching its own uranium,...

…and Happy Easter to my Christian friends!

Over at The Reaction, The (liberal) Girl Next Door wonders what it might take to reclaim liberalism in and for America.

Well, it was only a matter of time, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. If you missed it, Iran has announced that it has “succeeded in enriching uranium to new levels,” according to The Washington Post. Is this a crisis? Yes. We simply cannot accept a nuclear Iran and, obviously, Iran is well on its way to becoming a nuclear state. So what to do? Reports suggest that the Bush Administration is preparing for war and that a plan to use nuclear weapons against Iran’s nuclear facilities...

My friend and Reaction guest blogger Sean Aqui of Midtopia has written an excellent post on Islam’s Reformation — see here. He argues that “what we are seeing today is Islam passing through the same painful adolescence that both Judaism and Christianity endured centuries ago,” which is to say, we are witnessing “Islam’s bloody transition from its medieval origins to modernity.” Sean’s conclusion: “Our job… is to encourage and support the...

Here’s the latest on the Italian election from the BBC: Italy’s centre-left opposition leader Romano Prodi has been declared official winner of the parliamentary election after an extremely close race. But his rival, centre-right PM Silvio Berlusconi, refused to admit defeat, saying there had been irregularities. Official results showed Mr Prodi had won just enough seats to control the Senate (upper house) after having already won a lower house majority. He rejected Mr Berlusconi’s...

Are we about to witness Shock and Awe: The Sequel in Iran? Also, check out The Carpetbagger Report, where the Sunday Discussion Group sought to answer these questions: “Is this some kind of bluster intended to bolster European diplomacy? Is the Iranian threat legitimate? Is the threat of war Bush’s new campaign strategy for the midterm cycle? If Bush’s war planning is folly, what would a responsible Iran policy look like? How do Democrats approach the political element of this...

The Italian election is over. Polls closed today at 3 pm local time. I’m rooting for Romano Prodi’s The Union coalition, although I suspect I’d support any reasonable opposition to Silvio Berlusconi’s House of Freedoms coalition (which includes his own party, Forza Italia). Seriously, is there a more corrupt, venal, and shamelessly plutocratic leader in the Western world than Berlusconi? (If so, let me know.) Germany’s Der Spiegel, always a great source for European...

Over at The Reaction, guest poster J. Kingston Pierce of Limbo follows the mendacity in and around the Bush Administration. His argument: “George W. Bush endorsed the leaking of classified intelligence information before he opposed it.” Read the whole post here.

The Washington Post reports this: “Scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has made it hard for them to speak forthrightly to the public about global warming. The result, the researchers say, is a danger that Americans are not getting the full story on how the climate is changing.” It’s important to report this, of course, but it’s no surprise that the White House is giving climatologists a hard time. As we all know, Bush doesn’t...

The (liberal) Girl Next Door prepares for “a summer of fun” as more and more scandals come to light. But how to fix a divided country?