Wednesday-Night

CIA: Isolated bin Laden loses control over al-Qaida
As a result of his focus on his own survival and security in the remote borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Osama bin Laden is increasingly cut off from the daily operations of al-Qaida, CIA Director Michael Hayden reports. Also home to most of the […]

See also Wednesday-night.com on Burma

Myanmar News Agency, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
An aerial view of a town in the southern Irrawaddy Delta region of Myanmar that was devastated by the cyclone More Photos
Junta launches […]

This is a very important issue. It happens that in the case of this election, we share the ‘elite, liberal’ media bias, but were the media leaning towards fundamentalist right-wing Republican philosophy, we would be the first to complain. We owe it to ourselves as intelligent human beings to carefully review both sides of every […]

 
Georgia Claims on Russia War Called Into Question
TBILISI, Georgia — Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression.
1 November
Georgia’s Battered Face in a Separatist Republic
For 18 months, […]

U.S. Presidential Campaign: Candidates & Issues ; The evolving bailout plan ; The world after the (bailout) vote
The economy: what went wrong and what’s next?II John McCain: Economic Stimulus Plan     Barack Obama: The Economy

Demise of Reaganomics poses grave intellectual challenge to Republicans
The big, existential problem for Republicans – one which will consume it even if […]

See also U.S. Presidential Campaign - Issues
John McCain on […]

See also: Candidates and Issues
The Economist) … Merely by becoming president, he [Obama] would dispel many of the myths built up about America: it would be far harder for the spreaders of hate in the Islamic world to denounce the Great Satan if it were led by a black man whose middle name is Hussein; […]

See Part I of this topic/saga ; The evolving bailout plan ; The world after the (bailout) vote
Reversal of Fortune
How ideology, special-interest pressure, populist politics, and sheer incompetence have left the U.S. economy on life support, Joseph E. Stiglitz puts forth a clear, commonsense plan to reverse the Bush-era follies and regain America’s […]

The Triumph of Ignorance
Why morons succeed in U.S. politics
(The Guardian) How was it allowed to happen? How did politics in the US come to be dominated by people who make a virtue out of ignorance? Was it charity that has permitted mankind’s closest living relative to spend two terms as president? How did Sarah […]

Officials Counter Ahmadinejad Health Rumors
(NYT) The talk about his health comes at a time of increased pressure on Mr. Ahmadinejad, primarily for what critics call his mishandling of the economy in Iran, which has led to an inflation rate of 30 percent. His government faced one of its worst crises this month after street-bazaar merchants […]