In a way, you knew this kind of story could be out there and was just waiting to be uncovered: according to a story in the Daily Telegraph, Iran’s Israel-detesting, anti-Semitic epitome President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have Jewish roots: A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots. A close-up of the document...

Steve Benen reports that the merry-making on the right over the United States not being chosen to host the 2016 Summer Olympics continues unabated:

The President, the First Lady, and the Obama Administration did not lose anything by making a direct personal appeal to the International Olympic Committee on behalf of Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. The President of Brazil and the top leaders of Japan and Spain were also there making the same promotional efforts. At best each city had only a 25% chance of winning. The President did not...

Was the reason behind Chicago’s flop really anti-Americanism? And will Obama now face political consequences due to his unsuccessful efforts? The cartoon by Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner, is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

This is what happens when you cut over $100 billion from an economic stimulus bill — including $40 billion to help revenue-starved states — for no reason better than wanting the numbers to be smaller:

While doing some research on the Afghanistan war for another publication, I soon discovered that there is no shortage of opinions—many of them “expert” opinions—on how to conduct and conclude that war. It made me realize how excruciatingly difficult it must be for the president—faced with an overabundance of advisers and advice—to divine the right policy and strategy to bring that...

Wow, I can’t believe that Chicago isn’t part of the United States anymore. How did that happen? The bizarre coverage of “Obama’s embarrassment” or as I like to call it Rio’s and South America’s triumph only goes to show the state of politics in America. Polarizing. I have always been told that America and Great Britain are very similar- two peas in a pod if you will. We share the same language,...

Goldfarb has the goods. Four-and-a-half months ago, Chairman Carl Levin and eight other Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee signed a letter to President Obama that began We agree that the United States has a vital national interest in ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven from which al Qaeda can plot attacks against our homeland, and that achieving this objective requires...

By my count, there are a half-dozen posts about Roman Polanski on TMV’s front page right now. There are zero posts about Iran. May I suggest some reading about this obscure issue? For opposing views on sanctions and regime change, I recommend a pair of columns by Robert Kagan and Andrew Albertson that ran together in Wednesday’s Washington Post. Bottom line: The Swiss won’t rescue us again.

Since despite having angered President Obama, the Israelis have succeeded in rejecting his demand that they halt settlements on Palestinian land, is it time the Palestinians took a page from Israel’s book and anger President Obama as well? According to K. Selim of Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, by failing to reject Obama’s request to have his photo taken with Israeli Leader Benjamin Netanyahu...

On my way back from a trip abroad, I generally try to pick up the best honey for my close relations. During the past decade I have been hearing that the supply of honey may become scarce with the bees vanishing at an alarming rate. It’s a question that has baffled the worlds of agriculture and science – what is it that has caused the mysterious deaths of honey bees all over the world in the last five...

Here’s Part 1 and Part II of Fox News video now up on You Tube of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama making their pitch to the Olympic committee for Chicago as the 2016 Olympics city: Here’s the text of Obama’s comments. Here’s the text of Michelle Obama’s comments. FOOTNOTE: My satellite radio (the device that lets me escape regular talk radio) was on the blink...

Today – October 2 – is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s (or Mahatma Gandhi’s) birth anniversary . Gandhi once said that if we are not careful then seven “deadly sins” will destroy us. They are: a) “Wealth Without Work”; b) “Pleasure Without Conscience”; c) “Knowledge Without Character; d) Commerce (Business) Without Morality (Ethics); e) Science...

Rick Sanchez says it well: Embedded video from CNN Video I blogged about this at my personal blog, too.

RJ Matson, Roll Call This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

As reported by our friend Dave Schuler at Outside the Beltway, the North Koreans have revamped their constitution and abandoned communism. SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has officially made Kim Jong-il its “supreme leader” and his “military first” policy its guiding ideology, according to the text of the country’s newly revised Constitution made available on Monday. The Constitution also...

Continuing our foreign press coverage of the Roman Polanski saga, this news item from Switzerland’s Le Temps reports that an embarrassed Swiss foreign ministry is denying any deal related to the UBS scandal and that the people of Switzerland ‘can be proud’ that Polanski has been nabbed by Swiss authorities. The article also offers a description of how Polanski’s arrest was set in motion. By...

I always admired Prof John K. Galbraith, the US ambassador to India, for his remarkable insight, professionalism and warmth. His son, Peter W. Galbraith, until recently the top American in the UN mission in Afghanistan, appears to have inherited the same wonderful qualities of his no-nonsense dad. Peter Galbraith was fired yesterday after refusing to take part in what he called “a cover-up” of...

The Iraqi Army Diaries, Entry 1 (First in a series) By S.D. Liddick In the spring of 2009 I embedded with the U.S. Army’s 1-63 Combined Arms Battalion, in the small town of Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad. The town is a cardinal point on what American soldiers have termed the Triangle of Death. Within a month I was offered a de facto embed spot with the Iraqi Army (IA), by General Mohammed, commander...

For those who have been following the European reaction to President Obama’s decision to ditch the Bush-era anti-missile shield, you know that the divide between East and West Europe has been stark. This article by Bartosz Weglarczyk of Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, in very cool-eyed fashion, councils Poles on some down home truths and urges people in that nation to accept the inevitable end of a...

Guest post by John Malone John Malone, a VP/Senior Analyst with John S. Herold, an energy investment research firm in Connecticut, is a Truman National Security Project fellow. ********** Given the threats we as a nation have faced since 9/11, it’s reasonable to think in terms of how climate change will affect societies that are already under stress – how countries could quickly degenerate from fragile...

As this article from the Romanian newspaper Romania Liberia shows once again – the divide between East and West Europe over President Obama’s decision to cancel the Bush-era missile shield couldn’t be starker. What West Europe regards as a reasoned and rational decision to bring Moscow more into the fold, Eastern Europe regards as naive if not betrayal. For Romania Liberia, Cristian Campeanu...

My last post took note of American arms sellers camping in New Delhi (see here). This post is about the increasing number of expats/professionals (including Americans) who are making India their home, and feel more than welcome here. Dave Prager and Jenny Steeves (photo above), who arrived in New Delhi from Brooklyn in 2007, say: “Unlike most countries in the world, Indians love Americans.” Their...

As you may know, famed Polish-French director Roman Polanski was recently arrested in Switzerland. In 1977, he was convicted in the U.S. of “unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor” (a disturbing euphemism). He has been on the run ever since, avoiding extradition in Europe while continuing with his career. Polanski has many fans and admirers, of course. I especially like Chinatown and The Pianist,...

Is the Polanski case an example of the Euro-American cultural divide striking again? Or is it about Switzerland, worried about its relations with the United States after the UBS debacle, trying to curry favor with Washington? Whatever the cause, the controversy triggered by the arrest and possible extradition to the United States of famed film director and pedophile Roman Polanski is fierce. For France’s...