How does one make the USA, or the world, more secure? History tells us that ultimately a nation has to fall back upon the tried and tested “civilian instruments” such as diplomacy and foreign aid. The world has seen the dangers inherent in “creeping militarisation” of US foreign policy. Lexington, in his column in The Economist, states: “Mrs (Hillary) Clinton’s success has partly been a matter...

If this has already been posted here and I missed it, or if you’ve seen it elsewhere, my apologies for the duplication. But it’s entirely worth watching again. Nico provides important context, at the “12:28 AM ET” mark of his liveblog today. (Incidentally, I think that should be “12:28 PM,” given the time markers on the entries just before and after it.) Note: This version...

I feel like I’m living on the cusp of the world Orson Scott Card created with Ender’s Game, a world where anonymous internet posters Locke and Demosthenes shaped global public opinion. Today, public opinion is increasingly shaped by discourse on the Internet, although we don’t have two clear antagonists in the online public sphere. Case in point: Iran and Twitter. But what, exactly, do we know...

If there is a consensus on events in Iran — even as (sigh) traditional partisanship starts to surface on talk radio and elsewhere, where events in Iran and responses to it take back seat to trying to score political points — it is this: the America must stand with the people in Iran who believe the vote there was either totally rigged or..embellished. Now the questions become: why…and how?...

This meme surfaced in the comments thread of my primary post yesterday. That meme hinges on this news, per the WSJ: The Iranian government … accused the U.S. for the first time of interfering in the postelection dispute. Iran protested to the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. affairs in Iran because the two nations have no diplomatic ties. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that President Barack...

You likely read the extensive coverage here at TMV of Burma’s monks and nuns rising up against Senior General in Charge Of Everything, Mr. Than Shwe, the butcher of Burmese tribal people, the over-fed scourge of the poor of Burma. You may have seen the photos I put up from one of my frightened correspondants in Yangoon, photos of innocent elderly monks with their heads smashed like pumpkins, their entire...

We carry a joke of sad irony in our family …about elections that took place in the Soviet states during the time of Communism. My father’s large family who farmed in a remote part of Hungary, was over-run by propagandists who claimed Hungary had totally free elections, but in fact, everyone in the little village of 46 families, knew the higher ups bullied, deceived, thieved and took by force, by...

To what degree can the recent election result in Lebanon and the current events in Iran be attrutible to President Barack Obama? That question is at the heart of much of the global commentary in regard to the unfolding drama in the streets of Tehran, and as we learn from this article from Lebanon’s L’Orient Le Jour, Beirut as well. For L’Orient Le Jour, Issa Goraieb writes in part: “‘Everything...

Matthew Cooper notes the continuing “neocon buffoonery” around Iran and Pres. Obama’s response to the unrest there:

He’s been driving all around Tehran with no interference, and seeing extraordinary scenes. Here are some snips:

On long international flights, after I have exhausted my regular reading material, I sometimes resort to reading my U.S. passport. I have one of those “old” passports, the ones without the “sensitive electronics,” but also without much interesting reading material. Thus, I have by now pretty much memorized the gallant laissez-passer admonishment by our State Department: The Secretary of State of the...

Scroll down Nico Pitney’s live blog, until you see this entry: 2:01 AM ET — Aslan: Rafsanjani calls “emergency” meeting of Assembly of Experts. Read it all. Sullivan cautions: Not confirmed and not clear what it could mean. But it strikes me that the regime is now clearly on the defensive.

Our Quote of the Day comes from a MUST READ Christian Science Monitor piece titled:”Was Iran’s election rigged? Here’s what is known so far.” Farideh Farhi of the University of Hawaii, whose decades of studying Iran has included poring over data from Iranian elections, says the result was “pulled out of a hat.” Here’s why. Ms. Farhi: My personal feeling is that Ahmadinejad...

My dear wife and I agree: In the wake of what’s still going on in Iran, the contrast between Obama’s response and McCain’s is one major reason we’re glad we voted for the former, despite our persistent concerns about his seeming proclivity for taking and spending our money. We’ll gladly give up a few of our hard-earned dollars to have a president who reacts this way … Well,...

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Are the Russians and Chinese now the imperialist lackeys of the United States? That’s the implication of this walk on the Stalinist wild side from North Korea’s obsessively state-controlled media. According to this article from the Korean Central News Agency, the U.N. Security Council resolution passed last week calling for toughened sanctions against the isolated regime of Kim Jong-il, ‘is...

To post-election turmoil in Tehran, Washington reaction is shaping up as a classic round of mock macho, ranging from John McCain’s twittering down to Eric Cantor’s schoolyard taunting of the Obama Administration. Faced with the unknowable depth, duration and consequences of opposition to Ahmadinejad’s “victory,” the White House is limiting itself to expressions of concern and disapproval,...

Are the new and old news media to quick to feed off one another and start suggesting that the turmoil in Iran is or could become a revolution? RealClearPolitics’ Kevin Sullivan in effect says: not so fast: There has been a lot of speculation around the web and in print media as to whether or not what we’re witnessing in Iran this week is the beginning of something bigger. We’ve even heard...

Jeff Parker, Florida Today This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Per Views from the Occident, via Sullivan, the following point — made near the end of a statement from Grand Ayatullah Husayn (Hossein) ‘Ali Montazeri — is remarkable, given both its source and its alignment with what I’ve always understood to be a core value of our founding fathers: A legitimate state must respect all points of view. If you think that point resonates, consider this series...

James Joyner voices concern that rapid-fire communication technologies (Twitter, et. al.) may be forcing snap-decisions on issues before those issues can be fairly and fully evaluated. I share some of Joyner’s concern. Compelled to react to the Iranian situation over the weekend and yesterday, I authored what I think (in retrospect) were some remarkably thin, shallow, pedestrian posts. What I did afterward,...

The right has been all over Obama’s measured response to the Iranian election — seriously, what was he to do? push America’s weight around with the situation still unclear, and with allegations of corruption and vote-rigging unproven, however credible, thereby likely driving the wedge between Washington and Tehran deeper at a time when the U.S. is seeking to open up diplomatic relations with...

The ex-Beatles pop music sensation Sir Paul McCartney and his two daughters are avidly campaigning for meatless Mondays to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s livestock, among the most serious contributors to global warming.” The Independent reports: “The McCartneys have attracted support from across the worlds of showbusiness, science, business and the environment. The...

Has President Obama’s Cairo speech exposed a deep-seated European fear of ‘Islamization?’ This article from the country that houses the Vatican in part blames the Catholic Church for the phenomena. For Italy’s La Stampa, Guido Ceronetti chastises his European brethren for being too lily-livered to support a stronger European defense and stand up to oppose those they fear – and...

I haven’t blogged on it, but I’ve been following the Iranian election, and post-election, closely — and it’s pretty clear that Iranian democracy is a sham. Here’s Andrew Sullivan, bringing it home with some of the best analysis I’ve read (making a point that is sure to freak out the right): Ahmadinejad’s bag of tricks is eerily like that of Karl Rove – the constant...