The New Republic

Nicholas Schmidle, fellow at the New America Foundation and author of To Live Or To Perish Forever, argues that if Al-Qaeda decides to throw its weight around in the selection process for the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Obama's Af-Pak strategy will be put to the test. --Ben Eisler Check out the latest on TNRtv: READ MORE >>

So says Shrum: READ MORE >>

The usual concern about the U.S.-China balance of economic and political power is couched in terms of our relative international payments positions. We've run a large current account deficit in recent years (imports above exports); they still have--by some measures--the largest current account surplus (exports above imports) even seen in a major country. They accumulate foreign assets, i.e., claims on other countries, such as the U.S. We issue a great deal of debt that is bought by foreigners, including China. READ MORE >>

Niall Ferguson: President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat. One of the best-loved cartoon characters of the 1920s, Felix was not only black. He was also very, very lucky. I'm surprised Ferguson would write such a thing. I'm even more surprised his editor at the Financial Times didn't save him from himself. --Jason Zengerle READ MORE >>

This story puts a damper on a fine summer morning: "[D]espite these elaborate safeguards, empirical evidence points to a clear set of weaknesses and vulnerabilities in Pakistan's nuclear safety and security arrangements."   Apparently the jihadis have already staged three attacks on Pakistani nuclear sites in the past couple of years. --Michael Crowley READ MORE >>

Michael Sokolove's lively article about the decline of Philadelphia's two newspapers was most surprising in its portrayal of Brian Tierney--the p.r. man turned newspaper publisher who, contrary to pretty much everything I'd previously read about him, actually seems to be a force for good. My favorite bit about Tierney from Sokolove's piece: READ MORE >>

Everyone will spend the day fixating on Hillary's moment of annoyance in Congo yesterday (it's the 'wood' of today's New York Post, of course), which ultimately seems to have been prompted by a mistranslation. READ MORE >>

Alhtough the recent spate of bombings in Iraq seem designed to whip up sectarianism, the positive spin is that, so far, we haven't seen major retaliation. WSJ: READ MORE >>

I've seen a lot of attempts to make insane rhetoric sound sensible, but this op-ed in today's Washington Post, justifying Sarah Palin's claim that health care reform will create a "death panel" to decide if her baby should live, is a parody of the form: READ MORE >>

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