Reasonably fair, except that it quotes Snowe's request for earlier bi-partisan thinking without presenting Democratic reasons for adopting the process that they did.

Fairly straightforward interpretation on wsj/nbe 12-14-07 poll indicating Republican ambivalence towards presidential candidates. A partisan Democratic take might be that Bush has left the Republican Party in as unhealthy a state as the country. The WJ opts for the opposite approach "In part, Republicans are victims of their own success, party professionals say.", but that does not speak very well of Republican party professionals. .

It is always the coverup that is worse than the crime.

Excellent on the present political tensions, but weak on historical overview. It focuses too much on the 2,000 Kurds who returned to live in the soccer stadium and not enough on the 200,000 or so who returned to the whole area. I also think it overemphasizes the intimidation factor, both on Kurds to return and on Arabs to leave. Surely there is some, but there is no effort to determine how much this is driving the process

It does give a different voice, and a sense of moral outrage, regarding what does from the outside look like a stupendous overreaction.

could provide more context as to what Facebook is, and how active or inactive its members are politically

Gives an excellent portrait of the bureaucratic foul-ups that made for such a large backup in the paperwork. Given the propensity of this White House to politicize all areas of governmental life, one might expect more credence be given to the possibility that this is a deliberate effort to discourage citizenship and depress voter turnout in the next election.

Excellent job of debunking Romney's claim of being a proponent of tough enforcement of immigration legislation. It could give a bit more perspective, explaining for eample why you might not want local police enforcing immigration legislation. Not only is it an extra burden, but it would also make those illegally here less likely to report crimes and otherwise cooperate with the police.

Excellent piece on what has derailed new legislation on education. One of the many casualties of the Bush administrations incapacity to put qualified people in place, refusal to fully fund programs, and the political and economic blowback of the Iraq war. One of this administrattion's minor trategies. As Senator Kennedy put it, "No Child Left Behind, rather than being a flagship for improved strength and enhanced opportunity of education for the children, has become a symbol of controversial, flawed and failed policy."

Yes, in a concise fashion, it explains how you can misuse statistics for political purposes if you have an inclination to do so, and do not know the first thing about the methods of epidemiology.

Does not give much sense of or reference to military doctrine or why this is happening now.

An interesting effort to tie a discovery of water under the Sudan into an easing of the underlying tensions that have provoked genocidal violence. Although balanced criticism is offereed at the end, I think that the article pushes a little too hard on the importance of underlying resource conflics as the cause of the violence and underplays the political responsibilities of the actors involved.

Excellent piece explaing the conflicts and contradictions of life in Gaza, particularly as experienced by militants in Hamas and Fatah. Particularly striking was the observation about the combination of an extremely young population, 70% under age 30 and nothing to do. High unemployment, strong sexual segregation, packed living space, and a nation-building project that appears to be failing will make for a combustible scene.

More polemic than anything, replete with cherry-picked facts and no effort to analyze the major efforts of American public diplomacy, including the website govcom.org, the Arab-language television stations, etc. It also simply does not deal with the fact that if you are occupying an Islamic countries, however pure your motives, you are not going to have much success. Also, I am not sure that their job is "to wage a battle of ideas against radical Islam". I would say that their job is to present America in as favorable a light as possible and to open channels for communication with those who can be persuaded to enter into dialogue. In that regard, I am not convinced of the author's claim that sending an observer to the ... More »

Hard to judge a couple of paragraphs taken out of a broader article, which is an article for containment and staying out of the way. The article does overlook a critical issue, which is that Islamic fundamentalism threatens a number of Arab governments--Egypt, Algeria, and Saudia Arabia come to mind, that are important in an calculus of American interests. I think it also underestimates the way that these movements can put pressure on European governments. I do like the end to the original post: "We should stand well clear. An imperium in its death throes can be a nasty beast; I am by the same token nervous that the American empire may lurch dangerously around for decades to come. For the rest of us, as we contemplate these ... More »

It is good insofar as it does report an Iraqi effort to bring Shia and Sunni together. It does make one wonder where the Americans are in this story. I find it hard to believe that they were not involved in assisting the creation of this group, but then again, given how few American resources have actually been allocated to peace and reconciliation, it is not impossible. The folks I know working in Diala on that issue were certainly under-resourced

Kristol and Kagan's arguments are slippery--i.e., the positions that they say the Democrats hold are not exactly correct, and their extrapolation from some immediate trends questionable, but the evidence that they marshall is worth considering

Excellent journalism. I do think it misses the bigger picture, which is that if the Democratic Party forced a troop pull-out, and then all hell broke loose--the Democrats would be blamed for the Iraq mess, and there would be four more years of Republican rule. Hell would be Kurds take Kirkuk, Turks invade Kurdistan. Shia massacre more Sunnis, threatening genocide; other Sunni countries send troops. What do we do then?

It gets the main point, that Republicans as well as Democrats support a path that leads to citizenship. It could provide more context, in the sense of revealing that public attitudes are traditionally more skeptical than elites about the advantages of migration

I think the Times account, which the author David Kurtz criticizes, is quite plausible. I tend to believe that it was a multitude of sins, and not a particular political plot, that caused the multiple firings. The most important point that the article brings to light is that the Patriot Act makes it possible for the Attorney General to make indefinite appointments. The author goes on to say that this confrims the fact that this story is "inextricably wrapped up in politics". In so doing, he fails to distringuish between politics as partisanship, and politics as enhancement of the executive's authority. While these aspects might coincide in this case, and I don't thking that the author has made the point, they are essentially ... More »

One of those poignant articles that emphasize how bureaucratic ineptitude on both sides require Iraqis to go to Baghdad to get a passport to come to the United States. It is part of a larger story about how the US is not allowing many Iraqis, including those who directly helped the American efforts and put their lives at risk in the process to get a "protected" status in the US.

Good journalism, but more advocacy for a position emphasizing the role of Al Qu'aeda in Iraq. Siding with the dissenters who criticize the most recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), the article argues that the ability to create mayhem, and the alliance with some Baathist elements make it more imortant than recognized.

Standard Economist reporting, that is to say quality reporting. The only thing that is missing is commentary from those who are more inclined to see these issues from an open source persepctive.