If all you have is a hammer — which in this case is the world’s biggest military — then every problem ultimately resembles a nail. ~ WILL BUNCH I have reluctantly come around to supporting the no-fly zone over Libya because, as belated as the action may be, it is in the service of a larger cause — the democratic transformation of the Arab world, warts and all as well as risks and all...

QADDAFI AND BERLUSCONI MAKE NICE Napoleon famously observed that no Italian state had ever finished a war on the same side as that on which it had started, except when it had changed twice, and no European nation has had a closer if sometimes ambivalent relationship with Libya than NATO partner Italy. Libya became an Italian colony in 1910 and remained so until 1947 when the Italian empire, such as it...

In a word – it’s complicated. First and foremost, I am supporting the president because he is Commander in Chief and he has taken the United States to war. He didn’t take the Obama administration to war, or the Democratic party, or (many) liberals. He has taken the country to war – my country, our country. If we have disagreements – and believe me, I’ve got a ton – they...

I’m still on the fence over the intervention in Libya, though I’m leaning more towards support than opposition. (Yes, I’m still something of a liberal interventionist, despite Iraq, despite Afghanistan.) Well, maybe. It depends. (The humanitarian objectives are noble, but I just can’t see how this plays out well.) But I genuinely feel for Obama, who finds himself in a no-win situation...

Greatly overshadowed by the ongoing crisis in Japan and the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, President Obama has been on his first visit to Brazil and its first woman president, Dilma Rousseff. This news item from Brazil’s O Globo reports that while the mood music was great, actual progress on issues of importance to Brazil were very thin on the ground. For Brazil’s O Globo, reporters Eliane...

While natural or man-made disasters rarely have a lasting impact on the global economy, Financial Times Deutschland columnist Thomas Fricke warns that there is a good chance that, as with the tremendous loss of confidence in the banking system in 2008, the tragedy in Japan could trigger an extremely damaging loss of confidence in the global energy supply – leading to yet another global recession. For...

UPDATE, March 28 Yokota Air Base, just outside Tokyo, has become the nerve center and logistical hub for “Operation Tomodachi,” the U.S. humanitarian assistance efforts to help earthquake/tsunami/nuclear-power-plant-disaster-ravaged Japan. In the weeks that have followed the disaster, some 1,300 military and government workers have converged on Yokota, and “[s]uddenly, this usually sleepy airlift base...

George W. Bush, who gave up binge drinking for piety and power, knew more about mornings-after than his successor now reeling from the aftermath of his first foreign-policy bender. Everywhere he looks, Barack Obama is surrounded by weird little men with hammers pounding away at his skull. John Boehner, yes. John McCain, of course. Liberal Democrats, why not? Michael Moore and Andrew Sullivan, a not-too-surprising...

Talking Points Memo’s creator Josh Marshall properly explains the constitution to Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who said President Barack Obama should be impeached over Libya: A short while ago a couple of our reporters were asking questions on the history of the War Powers Act and the necessity for a declaration of war for the president to go to war. I explained that the current constitutional rule is that a...

A new CNN/Opinon Research Corporation poll finds support in the U.S. for a no fly zone over Libya but little for a ground intervention — a warning sign to President Barack Obama that there will be indeed limits on U.S. support for what already is a highly controversial decision: Seven in ten Americans support military action by the U.S. and other countries to establish a no-fly zone in Libya, a 14-point...

Our Quote of the Day comes from the indispensable First Read which says despite a barrage of criticism from the left and right, President Barack Obama’s decisions on the Libya crisis are consistent with the Obama Doctrine: *** Keeping with the ‘Obama Doctrine’: But how Obama has dealt with Libya is consistent with the tenets of the “Obama Doctrine” on foreign policy that he laid...

Monte Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Deja vu all over again? First there was the scandal of Abu Ghraib in Iraq, which involved photos of U.S. military abusing prisoners and posing next to a dead man — a shocking public relations fiasco for the United States all over the world. Now a controversy is breaking in Europe where the German magazine Der Spiegel has published three photos involving prosecuted “kill team” members posing...

Days ago, the countries of the G-7 stepped in to rescue the yen from its counter-intuitive appreciation since the great earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis struck. According to this editorial from Japan’s Akita Sakigake Shimpo, such prompt action from American, British, Canadian and European central banks was a very positive sign not only for Japan, but for the entire global economy. The Akita Sakigake...

Josh Marshall has a first-rate analysis of why Obama’s decision to intervene in Libya, particularly now, is such a bad idea. Here’s what I think is the money quote:

Ono argument you haven’t heard (so far) is that President Barack Obama made the decision to take U.S. military action against Libya for domestic political reasons. And for good reasons: the decision has raised howls from all over the political spectrum — and from the Arab League. On the left. The Hill notes that filmmaker Michael Moore has ridiculed Obama on Twitter using some Charlie Sheen motifs: Moore,...

As our planes and missiles bomb Libya, we are back 200 years to the first foreign military action in American history, commemorated in the Marines’ Hymn, intervention in a dispute over the throne between Arab brothers. What we are doing in Tripoli now is, of course, sanctified by the U.N. and in concert with other powers, but it is a clear return to U.S. policy as “policeman of the world” advocated...

How dramatically will Japan’s nuclear catastrophe affect the rest of the world? According to this editorial from Germany’s Die Welt, to address the ever-growing dangers and fears of nuclear power will require at least as much time, dedication and money as the developed world has spent on securing itself from terrorism since September 11, 2001. The Die Welt editorial says in small part: The earthquake...

A truly dramatic video of the initial moments of the tragedy and the courage of some of the victims who tried to rescue some who were in peril:

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

UPDATE, March 27 The New York Times reports this morning on the Libyan rebels “first major victory since American and European airstrikes began a week ago.” The rebels’ advance was the first sign that the allied attacks, directed not only against Colonel Qaddafi’s aircraft and defenses but also against his ground troops, were changing the dynamics of the battle for control of the country. As night...

UPDATE: 16:15 ET March 19 AP has confirmed that the U.S. military has launched a missile attack against Libya’s air defenses. A senior U.S. military official says the strike was aimed at sites along the Libyan coast. The missiles were launched from U.S. Navy vessels in the Mediterranean. The official says the assault would unfold in stages and strike at air defense installations around Tripoli, the capital,...

UPDATE: 12:20 ET France has officially confirmed that its military are engaged around and over Libya. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in Paris, “Our air force will oppose any aggression by Colonel Gadhafi against the population of Benghazi…As of now, our aircraft are preventing planes from attacking the town…As of now, our aircraft are prepared to intervene against tanks.” Read More Here...

Cam Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

The Colin Powell warning about Iraq (“You break it, you own it”) is now evolving into a reverse version for Libya. But if we fix that, don’t we own it, too? Hillary Clinton, announcing fatigue and retirement before Obama’s second term, is leading a gung-ho charge against the Libyan strongman. “Qaddafi must go,” she says, calling him “a ruthless dictator who has no conscience and...