Thursday, August 09, 2012

Bits and Pieces - August 9, 2012

Most of the noise takes place on the anniversary of the atom bombing of Hiroshima. Today is the 67th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki.

What would happen if a Tea Party-oriented militia took over an American town?

Mitt Romney, Tzipi Livni has something to tell you about the Palestinians.

Why the Iran oil sanctions are biting.

Turkey's relations with Iran are cooling.

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the United States has a highly classified report, possibly a National Intelligence Estimate, on Iran that backs up what Israel has been saying. Divulging the existence of such a report is forbidden, and it's extremely bad form for a supposed ally to speak so publicly. Or it's possible that Barak is lying in an attempt to put yet more pressure on the Obama administration. The Israelis have made so many claims about Iran for the last decade that it's hard to tell. Whether there really is a report or not, this doesn't increase US government love for Israel.

Update: Here's the US rebuttal. No change in evaluation that Iran is nowhere near having a nuclear weapon.

In other news, here's James Hansen's latest paper.

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