Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Bits and Pieces - October 26, 2011

Ian Fraser: The dukes and earls in America’s Great Tower of Bulls**t are starting to blink a little.

Matt Taibbi: OWS's Beef: Wall Street Isn't Winning – It's Cheating.

The phone that Murdoch's News of the World used for hacking has been found, with call records.

A critique of the Libyan intervention and Responsibility to Protect, from Eric Posner. I've been concerned about some of the arguments going around in favor of Responsibility to Protect, but haven't had enough time to work them up into respectable blog posts. Posner lays out some of my concerns, although I don't agree with everything he says. I'll also note that it looks to me like different advocates of R2P are saying different things, and opponents respond to some points from some advocates, so the arguments tend to run all over the map. While I may not agree with all of Posner's views, I think that the ground he's arguing on is the one that will ultimately yield the most usable insights.

Steve Clemons would like to know how to spell, in English, the name of that Libyan dictator. So would I.

Added Later:
Stephen Walt, as usual, has some very sensible things to say about America's place in the world. It's not all as pessimistic as the title. Read to the end.

Where are all the big players in the financial meltdown? Not in jail.

1 comment:

troutsky said...

Ian Fraser says "they want to replace crony capitalism...with a saner version of capitalism."

He is mistaking OWS with Sarah Palin. This clever knife in the back disguised as a pat on the back misses the point that many participating are sick of liberalism and it's pathetic, servant role of picking up after capitalists and making nice. They easily see through this tripe and recognize that EVERY form of capitalism, from the magical free market to the "casino" variety has the same inherent destructive, unjust tendency.