The New Republic

Ambassador Wendy Sherman, Vice Chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group and the former North Korea policy coordinator under President Clinton, defends the strategy Beijing has recently adopted towards Pyongyang. --Ben Eisler Check out the latest on TNRtv: READ MORE >>

READ MORE >>

READ MORE >>

Assuming this tally is up to date, July saw seven U.S. military deaths in Iraq--the lowest figure since the March 2003 invasion. Seven is still seven too many. But it sure beats the toll from July 2007: 80 American troops dead. (The worst month in Iraq was November 2004, with 137 American soldiers killed.) READ MORE >>

I don't know much about Chris Dodd's specific case, obviously, but I will say that recent history shows that politicians can beat prostate cancer and carry on like nothing happened. In the past decade, both John Kerry and Rudy Giuliani have done so. READ MORE >>

While the Obama administration waits to see whether Iran is willing to talk, Congress is moving forward on tough economic sanctions. A bill targeting Iran's refined petroleum imports now has 71 Senate co-sponsors, and was the subject of a Senate Banking Committee hearing yesterday. The House is scheduled to vote on the measure after its August recess. READ MORE >>

--Eric Hobsbawm on Britain between the wars --Joan Acocella on Judas --The Indian magazine Tehelka on gender relations in India  READ MORE >>

There was something surreal about General Scott Gration's testimony at Thursday's congressional hearings on Darfur. "We are aiming high and we are thinking big. Failure cannot be an option," the broad-faced Air Force general intoned, his tinny voice making him sound like a distant air-traffic controller. "We must proceed with boldness, with hard work to make this proactive and preventative approach work." READ MORE >>

Ed Kilgore is managing editor of The Democratic Strategist, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, and a frequent contributor to a variety of political journals. READ MORE >>

Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. READ MORE >>