A Washington Post story today reports that Iranian 'green' leaders are warning that sanctions will just strengthen Ahmadinejad's hand domestically. But a (pro-sanctions) source notes that Mousavi and company pretty much have to say, at least in public, that they don't want to see the Iranian people suffer any more economic pain. Meanwhile others who don't speak for the movement the way Mousavi does make the opposite case:
Chris Orr's post about the early assembly work on Tim Pawlenty's 2012 presidential bid is interesting in that he handicaps the Minnesotan primarily in terms of who he is not: not the flip-flopping, health-care-reforming Mormon Mitt Romney, not the disorganized and "goofy" Mike Huckabee, not the divisive and erratic Sarah Palin, and not the non-candidate David Petraeus.
Among the luminaries defending Roman Polanski, one of the most widely-quoted has been Polanski friend Otto Weisser. CNN’s piece titled “Hollywood embraces Roman Polanski,” for example, begins with a dramatic quote from Weisser, explaining that he was “among the first to publicly run to [Polanski’s] defense":
I didn't comment on Post columnist Anne Applebaum's first short web piece in defense of Roman Polanski. Among its many flaws, it claimed that there was "evidence" that Polanski believed the girl he statutorily raped was older (in fact, he stated under oath that he knew she was 13), and it failed to disclose that Applebaum's husband, Radoslaw Sikorski, is a Polish minister who, in his official role, was appealing to U.S. authorities to drop the proceedings against Polanski.
Yet one more reason Obama shouldn't go to Copenhagen to lobby for the Olympics: Chicago doesn't need him, since, judging from this report, it looks like Oprah's got things under control:
``Everyone is mesmerized by Oprah,'' said Charmaine Crooks, an Olympian and former International Olympic Committee member from Canada.
Mark Lippert
Politico's Jonathan Martin has an excellent piece up on Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's diligent, under-the radar preparation for a presidential run in 2012: the PAC he's opened, the donors and advisers he's been gathering, the operatives (some of whom worked for Mitt Romney in '08) he's been feeling out.
That's the name for uranium tetraflouride, a large quantity of which has mysteriously disappeared into Iran. David Sanger and co explain.
It may sound like an SNL skit, but Al Qaeda's latest innovation is quite disturbing:
On September 26, Academy-award winning director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss authorities. A warrant had been pending against him since 1978, when he fled the United States after being charged with rape and pleading guilty to engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. Now, film luminaries are leaping to his defense. Click through this TNR slideshow to see what they're saying.
