Coyote Gulch

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Middle east policy
Talking Points Memo: "There are all kinds of important news items about Pakistan in the dailies this morning, including revelations about a heretofore secret U.S. program to secure the country's nuclear weapons, a renewed interest in adding some oversight to the billions of dollars the Bush administration gives Pervez Musharraf for counter-terrorism efforts (which may not actually exist), and the fruitless efforts to convince Musharraf to declare a date for the end of his de facto martial law.

"But the story that stood out for me was this gem about President Bush once again misjudging a foreign leader's soul."
"2008 pres"
8:22:52 AM

Iraq
Juan Cole: "A new poll shows that 81% of Turks favor invading northern Iraq, up from 46% in July."
"2008 pres"
8:08:23 AM

? for President?
Here's a recap of Thursday's Democratic debate from a western perspective, from The Denver Post. They write:

Nevada's caucuses on Jan. 19 position the state as a likely third in the national lineup and relevant for the first time in presidential politics. The early slot on the primary calendar has prompted candidates - mostly Democrats - not only to show up, but finally to speak out on water shortages, growth, mining, wilderness protection and other challenges facing the Interior West. "We are on message about the things the voters of the West care about," party chairman Howard Dean said Tuesday in Denver. But, if the candidates' performances two days later were any indication, that message is hardly resounding.

But, if the candidates' performances two days later were any indication, that message is hardly resounding. In the first presidential debate ever in Nevada, Democrats addressed the dangers of Chinese toys, possible war with Iran and immigration, but touched only on one specifically Western issue - a proposed nuclear waste dump here, which the pack of seven all oppose. Democrats' motivation to win the region is obvious this election cycle. But questions remain about how seriously they are taking Western issues and whether their interest will fade in the 10 months between Nevada's caucuses and the election in November 2008. "On one hand, it's a major deal that they're coming here at all," said Reggie Luck, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, computer specialist who volunteered at the debate on campus Thursday. "On the other hand, I wonder if it's just lip service before they pack up tomorrow and head for the airport."

Galvanizing voters here, they're learning, means addressing the role the federal government plays in the West as a resource manager and landlord. It means understanding the tensions between farmers and urban water users, environmentalists and the ATV crowd, and land owners and the companies mining and drilling beneath them. Talking Western means knowing the names of obscure desert critters threatened to near extinction. It means discussing fire prevention in national forests and snowmobiles in national parks. And it means striking difficult balances everywhere in the region. "The West is crying out for help. We've got massive natural-resources issues that aren't getting solved," said Peter Binney, who manages water for the sprawling city of Aurora. "The next president is going to have to make a very conscious decision to be either a Henry Ford or a Nero on Western issues. The question for the candidates is, will he or she be truly committed to reinventing the role of the federal government in the West?" Nowhere has that role been more contentious than in Nevada, where the feds own almost 90 percent of the land. Once described in a Defense Department training manual as "a damn good place to dump used razor blades," the state long has been Washington's preferred spot to practice war games and test its nuclear weapons. For almost 30 years, officials here have butted heads with the Energy Department over plans to bury the nation's high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain. Most recently, Las Vegas finds itself at the mercy of the federal government in securing enough water to quench its hemorrhaging growth.

Politcal Wire: "The Los Angeles Times reports that Giuliani promised 'that if he reached the White House, he would appoint future Supreme Court justices who are like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.'"
"2008 pres"
7:05:50 AM