Pope: bullish on agriculture - Christian Science Monitor

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his message from his studio window, overlooking the Vatican's St. Peter's Square, Nov. 14, Italy's Thanksgiving Day. He addressed modern agriculture and its growing popularity.
Alessandra Tarantino / AP
Enlarge By Joshua M. Brown, Guest blogger / November 22, 2010
Uplifting news for ag bulls from, of all places, the Vatican.
Joshua M. Brown
Joshua has been managing money for high net worth clients, charitable foundations, corporations and retirement plans for more than a decade.

Pope Benedict XVI chose to discuss his thoughts on modern agriculture during a St. Peter's Square address on Italy's Thanksgiving Day...
"The current economic crisis," the Holy Father began, "must be taken in all its seriousness: It has numerous causes and sends a powerful message about the need for a profound revision of the model of global economic development."

And one area that needs revision and "a strategic re-launching," he added, is agriculture."I believe that this is the moment for the reevaluation of agriculture, not in a nostalgic sense, but as an indispensable resource for the future," the Pontiff affirmed.

His Holiness has even picked up on the trend of booming farmland and the new rural landgrab...
"More than a few young people have already chosen this path," The Holy Father concluded. "Also, many professionals are returning to dedicate themselves to the agricultural enterprise, feeling that they are responding not only to a personal and family need, but also to a 'sign of the times,' to a concrete sensibility for the 'common good.'"

The Pope rightfully points out the problem of the traditional production/consumption paradigm and calls for long-overdue change. Hopefully the people burning (gov subsidized) corn for (gov subsidized) fuel will heed his message. Of course they won't.
None of the reporters present managed to get his buy, sell, or hold opinion on soybeans or the Agribusiness ETF ($MOO), but at least we know he's on board with the theme in general.
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The Vote
'Dirty Sexy Politics' author Meghan McCain says she and her parents won't be discussing 'don't ask, don't tell' when she goes home for Thanksgiving.

Kim Hae Sung helps migrant workers and the urban poor, winning compensation and access to education and health care through his charitable group Global Sarang – ‘love’ in Korean – and his Korea Migrants’ Center.
Helping South Korea's foreign workers win fair treatment
Using a message of love, Kim Hae Sung provides legal counseling, language training, and schools to help foreigners fit into a tight-knit society in South Korea.

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Alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout whisked to America - Christian Science Monitor

Moscow

Russia reacted furiously Tuesday to news that former Soviet air force officer Viktor Bout, dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for his alleged global arms dealing, was hastily plucked from the maximum security Bangkok prison from which he's been fending off extradition efforts for more than two years, and bundled onto a plane bound for the United States.

Mr. Bout's extradition had been imminent since August, when a Thai court ruled that he could be sent to the US to face charges of gun running and abetting terrorism.

But Russian officials appeared blindsided by the sudden operation, in which the accused arms dealer was put on a special plane sent from Washington just hours after the Thai government issued final approval for his extradition.

Russia, which decries the prosecution of Bout as "politically motivated," had been pressing Thailand behind the scenes to resist US demands for Bout's extradition.

"Undoubtedly, the illegal extradition of Bout is a result of the unprecedented political pressure on the Thai government and the judicial authorities by the United States," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"This is nothing other than an intrusion into [proper] legal procedures. This makes questionable the independence of the Thai judicial system and decisions made by Thai authorities," it added.

Russian media on Tuesday broadcast an interview with Bout's wife Alla, who said she and Russian officials were deceived about the Thai government's intentions toward her husband.

"The operation [to send him to the US] was secret," Mrs. Bout told the Russia Today network. "The cabinet ordered the extradition of Viktor Bout, even though the prime minister of Thailand had said that while court proceedings are ongoing, he wouldn’t be extradited.... He was shipped to the United States as if he was just a thing, without his documents and without the Russian embassy being informed. The operation was so quick because it is illegal under Thai law. I plan to appeal," she said.

The diplomatic tug-of-war over Bout began in March 2008, after he was arrested in a joint sting operation by the Royal Thai Police and the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Bout had allegedly agreed to sell $5 million worth of weaponry, including shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, to people he believed were agents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which the US considers a terrorist group.

An earlier attempt to extradite Bout failed last year when a Thai court ruled in his favor, but the US appealed to a higher court, which decided to turn him over in August.

Bout denies being a weapons merchant and claims that he ran an air cargo business that specialized in delivering goods to difficult places. But the US says that the multilingual former Soviet officer made a huge fortune shipping arms from eastern Europe into conflict zones in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

Viktor Baranets, a military columnist for the Moscow daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, says that US authorities never attempted to cooperate with their Russian counterparts to bring Bout to justice.

"The Russian reaction to the prosecution of Bout might have been different if the Americans had come to our side and spelled out the case against him," says Mr. Baranets, who has interviewed Bout and says he appears to have many strong arguments in his own defense.

"As it is, we have a lot of questions. Many people in Russia believe that Bout is being framed. Some think that Bout was removed because he's a competitor of American arms interests, or otherwise crossed them. The case against him contains a lot of strong accusations, but the substance looks thin."

Andrei Klimov, deputy chair of the State Duma's foreign relations committee, says the issue is unlikely to derail US-Russian relations, but says it sets a dangerous precedent.

"Bout is not a citizen of the US, nor do the Americans have any evidence of him breaking the law on US soil, so why are they doing this?" he says. "It appears the US is acting like a global prosecutor, and a world judge. But who gives them this power? This looks something like Guantanamo," where people fall into legal limbo, he says. "The principle is wrong."

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APEC countries agree to launch massive new free-trade zone - Christian Science Monitor

Yokohama, Japan

Asia-Pacific leaders today agreed to press ahead with plans to create an expansive regional free-trade zone in coming years.

After two days of talks in the Japanese port city of Yokohama, the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) agreed to "take concrete steps toward realizing a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific [FTAAP]," which will link fast-growing economies in the region with the world’s three biggest in the United States, China, and Japan.

The free-trade zone, which Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said may start by 2020, would slash tariffs on imports of everything from automobile parts to food in an area encompassing more than half the world’s economic production and two-fifths of its trade.

The agreement on trade contrasted with a failure to agree on how to resolve longstanding territorial disputes that have recently soured relations between Japan and its neighbors. But those disputes were not enough to overpower common economic interests.

“Although they are different subjects, it is still possible to see progress on the territorial issue as our economic relations deepen,” said Mr. Kan, despite growing domestic pressure to take a tougher line on territorial claims.

In their “Yokohama Vision,” APEC leaders said, “trade and investment liberalization and facilitation will continue to be APEC’s core objective. We have agreed that now is the time for APEC to translate FTAAP from an aspirational to a more concrete vision.” But that consensus – in fact a reaffirmation of an agreement reached by the body’s finance and foreign ministers last week – could not hide serious differences over economic policy and territorial claims.

President Obama returned to Washington Sunday after a 10-day, Asia-wide trip that culminated in a failure to close the gap with China over exchange rates.

Beijing has resisted pressure to allow its currency, the yuan, to rise and to make other adjustments that would help US exporters gain a foothold in the world’s second-biggest economy.

China has responded in kind, accusing the US of turning to quantitative easing to keep the dollar artificially low in an attempt to make its exports more competitive.

Chinese President Hu Jintao offered little comfort to Obama, whose standing at home after a disastrous showing in the midterm elections will not have been helped by the currency fudge in Yokohama.

“Advanced economies have to cope with serious unemployment problems, while emerging-market economies are confronted with asset price bubbles and inflationary pressure,” Mr. Hu said.

The APEC leaders did, however, pledge not to resort to “competitive devaluation” of their currencies. “Advanced economies, including those with reserve currencies, will be vigilant against excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates,” they said. “These actions will help mitigate the risk of excessive volatility in capital flows facing some emerging markets.”

Much of the bilateral chatter that characterizes APEC summits focused on the territorial disputes.

Kan said growing economic ties should remain unaffected by a recent row over a group of islands in the East China Sea claimed by both Japan and China.

Ties between the East Asia powers sank to their lowest level in years in September, after a Chinese fishing boat collided with Japanese Coast Guard vessels in waters near the Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyu in China.

The unauthorized release of video footage, which appears to back claims that the fishing boat was to blame, is fomenting a nationalist backlash in Japan.

Kan risked further angering his Chinese counterpart, Hu, by reaffirming Japanese claims to the islands.

“Japan’s position is that no territorial issue exists,” he told reporters. “If you look at other countries with territorial issues, it doesn’t mean that the two countries cannot engage in economic, cultural, and people-to-people contacts.”

But as long as tension over the Senkakus persists, it appears unlikely that negotiations will resume over a disputed gas field in the East China Sea. Restarting talks on joint development of the fields would require a certain “atmosphere,” said the Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi.

Kan also protested a recent visit by Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, to one of four islands seized from Japan by the Soviet Union in the waning days of World War II.

RELATED: Why the US should worry if Asian currencies strengthen

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Obama lauds Indonesia for religious tolerance, democratic reform - Christian Science Monitor

Jakarta, Indonesia

President Obama woke early on Wednesday to a clear Jakarta sky and hundreds of onlookers straining to get a glimpse or a photo of the man some consider an adopted son. Traffic backed up for miles around him, as commuters waited for Mr. Obama to make his first stop of the day at the expansive, white-domed Istiqlal Mosque, one of Southeast Asia’s largest.

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The mosque, whose name means independence, sits next to a Catholic church, a symbol of the diversity and religious pluralism Muslim-majority Indonesia seeks to promote. The country’s national motto, “unity in diversity,” is the foundation of its example to the world, said Obama, speaking before a crowd of nearly 6,500 at Jakarta’s University of Indonesia.

Rather than label Indonesia a Muslim-majority democracy, as some analysts feared, Obama focused his speech on development, democracy, and religious tolerance. And to show his connection with his former hometown, he sprinkled his delivery with cultural references.

IN PICTURES: Obama's Asia trip

He also used the speech as another opportunity build bridges with the Muslim world.

“He reminded his audience of the importance of the cultural approach in strengthening the relationship between the US and Muslim world,” says Aleksius Jemadu, a professor of international politics at Universitas Pelita Harapan. “So it’s clear there is a shift in the foreign policy of the US from security to a more personal approach.”

Only briefly did Obama draw a connection between US involvement abroad and his administration’s efforts to improve the economy at home.

“America has a stake in an Indonesia that is growing,” he said, one that is “shaping the global economy.” But more importantly, “America has a stake in the success of the Indonesian people.”

Those stakes will play out in a newly signed comprehensive partnership that focuses on three key themes: security; economic development; and socio-cultural cooperation, such as support for educational exchanges.

Obama said a US-Indonesia partnership was founded on shared values, such as freedom, tolerance, and respect for human rights, and would also include issues ranging from entrepreneurship to clean energy to science and technology.

Some of those initiatives have already gone into action. In July, visiting US Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the lifting of a 12-year ban on funding for the Kopassus special forces, who were accused of gross human rights abuses in the 1990s. The Peace Corps has returned to Indonesia after political turmoil drove them from the country in 1965, and Washington has promised around $165 million over the next five years to increase educational exchanges.

Many of those partnerships resulted from Obama’s call in Cairo last year for a new beginning between the United States and Muslim communities.

Bilateral talks between Obama and his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono did go deeper behind closed doors, which is where many believe tough issues, such as human rights, should remain. Other analysts say Obama had fewer deliverables to outline in Indonesian than he did in India, which is why he remained mum on economic cooperation.

The economic lynchpin to the president’s trip will come in South Korea, where Obama will meet other regional leaders on the sidelines of the G20. Indonesia will be there as well, cementing its place as the only Southeast Asian nation among the world’s top economies.

Despite most Indonesians' happiness at having the US president revisit his former hometown, some analysts say Obama's personal reflection and cultural references felt artificial.

“By entertaining us, using Indonesian words, saying he’s part of Indonesia, it sweeps over the more important issues,” says Noor Huda Ismail, a former hardline Islamist who founded and heads the Jakarta-based Institute for International Peacebuilding. “What tolerance is he talking about? Only the elite will enjoy the benefits of that tolerance.”

Mr. Huda referred specifically to the discrimination facing a minority Islamic group called the Ahmadiyah. In recent months Islamic extremists have attacked their homes and mosques, and the religious affairs minister has called on the group to disband for failing to acknowledge Muhammad as the last prophet, in keeping with the majority Muslim faith.

Obama’s brief nod to the equality achieved across a country that encompasses 17,000 islands also rang hollow for some.

“People say the situation is good for us in Papua, but it’s not,” says Markus Haluk, head of a group pushing for autonomy in Papua, a resource-rich province on the far eastern reaches of Indonesia. “We have no freedom, no liberty, genocide is a fact of life for us.”

IN PICTURES: Obama's Asia trip

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Opposition cries foul over Burma (Myanmar) election - Christian Science Monitor

Bangkok, Thailand

A landslide victory for a pro-regime party in Burma’s election has stirred anger among opponents, who claim there was widespread cheating in Sunday’s controversial ballot. Unofficial results suggest that the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) could take about 80 percent of seats in the new parliament. This reverses earlier forecasts of a sizeable opposition bloc that could check the executive’s power.

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While the victory was widely expected, as the government-supported USDP was contesting every seat, political observers say the scale points to systematic rigging of the results. They say that in some seats, apparent opposition wins were overturned by the 11th-hour arrival of uncounted advance ballots that tipped the balance toward the USDP.

Western governments have roundly condemned the election as a farce. But China, a key military ally, welcomed the vote. A government spokesman said Tuesday that the ballot had been “smooth and steady.” Vietnam issued a statement on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to which Burma belongs, calling the election a “significant step forward."

No official results have been released. In its Tuesday news program, Burmese state television made no reference to the polls, Reuters reported.

Opposition leaders have already filed complaints with authorities and are expected to demand recounts or reruns in disputed seats. Some losing candidates have refused to sign the official tallies, which is required under the election law, say observers. The conservative National Unity Party, which ran second to the USDP and whose candidates are mostly aligned with the previous military regime, has also said it would contest the results.

“We clearly saw how the ballots were manipulated. We have evidence,” Yuza Maw Htoon, an independent candidate in Rangoon who lost to the USDP, told the Monitor in a telephone interview. She says pro-democracy groups were still discussing how to press for redress and criticized the election commission as biased.

"I admit defeat but it was not fair play. It was full of malpractice and fraud and we will try to expose them and tell the people," Democratic Party leader Thu Wai told Reuters. Khin Maung Swe, leader the larger pro-democracy party National Democratic Force, also told Reuters: "We took the lead at the beginning but the USDP later came up with so-called advance votes and that changed the results completely, so we lost."

STORY: 10 women in Congress who won’t be back

So far, none of the parties have called for street protests, which are illegal in Burma and have been brutally suppressed in the past. Still, more than 10,000 ethnic minorities have fled Burma amid violence that came one day after the rare elections.

A Burmese scholar living overseas, who declined to be named, said the election was never intended as a true test of public opinion. Instead, it was engineered to create a new system in which the opposition would have a small voice. “The question was always how small a voice was going to be allowed. It now looks like it will be smaller than even some cynics had hoped,” he says.

In a report issued Monday, an independent monitoring group described the use of advance votes as “a serious concern” and pointed to collusion between election officials and USDP members in collecting the ballots. The group also highlighted other voting irregularities, such as the intimidation of voters who feared reprisals if they voted against the government.

The opposition may also have suffered from a boycott campaign by the former party of imprisoned democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which refused to participate. Ms. Suu Kyi’s current term of house arrest ends Nov 13. There has been no official announcement on her release, but her lawyer has said that he expected her to be freed.

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Meg Whitman concedes defeat, asks supporters to unite - Christian Science Monitor

LOS ANGELES

Republican Meg Whitman conceded defeat Tuesday night in her quest to become California's first female governor, telling supporters the journey is ending "but our mission is not."

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The billionaire former chief executive of eBay spent a record $142 million of her personal fortune on her campaign, but it was not enough to overcome Democrat Jerry Brown, the 72-year-old state attorney general who was governor from 1975-1983.

Whitman took the stage at Universal City before hundreds of cheering supporters waving signs with pictures of California poppies, telling her volunteers they should be proud of their hard work.

She said she had called Brown, "to wish him well," a statement that was met with boos from her supporters.

"It is time now for Californians to unite behind the common cause of turning around this state that we love," she said.

In her first run for office after spending decades in corporate America, Whitman campaigned on a pledge to cut state spending, promote job creation by cutting taxes and fixing California's troubled schools. In months of wall-to-wall advertising, she said California needs a business leader to help it emerge from a deep recession and seemingly endless budget deficits.

"In many ways, this election was much bigger than Governor Brown or me. It was about the struggles and dreams of millions of Californians," Whitman said Tuesday. "Our challenges are daunting and they won't be solved by politics as usual. But we do need leaders in Sacramento to rise to the occasion and work together. It is my hope that a new era of bipartisan problem-solving can begin tonight because the people of California deserve no less. And tomorrow we are all Californians."

Whitman, 54, jumped into politics at a relatively late stage in life. She became politically engaged only a few years ago when her friend and one-time boss, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, launched his GOP presidential campaign and she signed on as an economic adviser.

She spent nearly two years introducing herself to California voters. As that journey ended Tuesday night, Whitman appeared to get teary-eyed as supporters crowded around to hug her. She urged Republicans not to give up on trying to fix California, despite the loss.

"Because we are about California's future, I have one more request of you. If we all work together to demand change from Sacramento, a new California will rise. Let's never lose sight of what united us: a hope of good jobs, smarter government and better schools for our kids and our grandkids," Whitman said.

Christine Rubin, 51, of San Diego, was one of many Whitman supporters who had hoped to see California's first female governor swept into office and said she was grateful for Whitman's candidacy.

"I'm hopeful for Republican women in California and throughout the nation," Rubin said. "One day, we'll make it."

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Dilma Rousseff set to win Brazil election. Did she really need Lula to play ... - Christian Science Monitor

Rio de Janeiro

As Brazilians flock to the polls today, the South American giant appears set to elect is first woman president.

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Dilma Rousseff, the handpicked successor of wildly popular President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, headed into today's runoff vote a good 10 percentage points ahead of more centrist challenger, Jose Serra, according to polls.

Ms. Rousseff would be the third woman elected president of a South American country in just the past few years, following former President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, who held office from 2006 to 2010, and President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina, who was elected in 2007.

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But far from capitalizing on what analysts and recent polls say is a high receptivity to a woman president, the former Marxist rebel and obscure career bureaucrat has shied away from making her gender an issue in the campaign. Instead, she's allowed Mr. da Silva – known widely here simply as "Lula" – to play the gender card in a series of remarks intended to evoke either chivalry or predict voter sexism.

“I think this strategy here is a very male thing," says Arthur Ituassu, an adjunct professor of social communication at Rio de Janeiro’s Pontifícia Catholic University. "When [Rousseff] is pressed about something now, Lula says: ‘Oh c’mon, she’s a woman. Don’t put too much pressure on her.’ [It's designed] ... to remind people that in a male culture you should not put that much pressure on a female.”

He calls this strategy “intelligent,” adding that if Rousseff were to say those things, voters would see it as a sign of weakness.

So what has Lula said?

After Rousseff faced a tough interview in August on Brazil’s Jornal Nacional TV, Lula came to her rescue: “I hoped that for the fact that you [Rousseff] are a woman and a candidate, the interviewer would have a bit more courtesy.”

Weeks later, when an alleged scandal broke in the Brazilian media accusing members of Rousseff and Lula's Workers’ Party of hacking into tax records of the opposition, Lula again defended his candidate in chivalrous terms. "Trying to harm a woman of Dilma Rousseff's quality with lies and calumny is a crime against Brazil, and in particular, the Brazilian women," he said.

Lula has been peppering appearances with similar remarks for months.

Back in March, he spoke with Rousseff by his side, predicting “prejudice” to come. “A macho society like ours is not 100 percent ready to see a woman fight over the important job of mayor, of governor, and of the president,” he said.

Was this protectionism really necessary? Many political analysts and sociologists in Brazil say "no."

A September Global Attitudes poll conducted by Pew Research Center found that at least 70 percent of Brazilians viewed the election of a woman president positively.

Indeed, many election watchers say that Rousseff actually missed an opportunity to play up her feminine credentials as much as the Brazilian voters would accept and even welcome.

“The image of women in politics is very positive,” says Fátima Pacheco Jordão, a sociologist and polling expert with the São Paulo Patrícia Galvão Institute, who adds that polls show that Brazilians view female politicians as more honest and likely to fulfill promises.

Ms. Jordão points out that the two main female candidates in this election – Rousseff and the Green Party’s Marina Silva, who came in a strong third-place finish in the first round of voting – never went beyond the slogans of “primeira” president.

Compared with the 2006 election of Chile's popular president, Ms. Bachelet – the second democratically elected female president in Latin America, after Nicaragua’s Violeta Chamorro in 1990, and then followed by Argentina’s Ms. Fernández de Kirchner and Costa Rica’s Laura Chinchilla – Rousseff does not stress women’s issues in her campaign, says Rosângela Bittar, editor-in-chief in Brasília and political columnist of the Valor Econômico newspaper.

“She’s not doing any female themes,” says Ms. Bittar. “Her themes are Lula’s programs.”

As Jordão puts it: “The voter is more mature than the female candidates.... He’s more comfortable with a woman than [the female candidates were].”

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Election 2010 all about tea party? It's more: It's year of the outsider. - Christian Science Monitor

Coral Gables, Fla.

Rick Scott hardly seems the slick, glad-handing politician that voters are used to. He speaks softly, almost mumbling, as he lays out his plan for taxes and insurance at a recent town-hall meeting at the swanky Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Fla. Mr. Scott, a former health-care chief executive, is new to politics. He is very rich and very conservative – tea party conservative. And he may be the next governor of Florida.

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Most surprising to longtime observers of Florida politics is that Scott seemed to appear out of nowhere. The state has its share of wealthy businessmen, but Scott was not part of that social milieu. "It's almost like he landed from Mars with all this money. Next thing you know, he wins the Republican primary," says Brad Coker, president of Mason Dixon polling, who is based in Jacksonville, Fla.

The 2010 election cycle will be most remembered for the birth and rapid rise of the low-tax, limited-government tea party movement, which has energized frustrated conservatives nationwide heading into the Nov. 2 midterms, mostly to the Republican Party's benefit. But the tea party is actually part of the larger trend of this election: the rise of the outsider.

VIDEO: Voices of the tea party

Wealthy businesspeople, women, minorities, and first-time candidates have all grabbed Republican nominations this cycle to a noteworthy degree. Some were recruited to run by the party, others ran in defiance of the GOP establishment. The net result is the most diverse field of candidates Republicans have ever seen.

"Part of it was a concerted outreach on the part of party leaders to get a diverse range of candidates, which was a very smart thing," says Republican pollster Whit Ayres. "Part of it was the obvious political opportunity that savvy candidates saw in this year."

In addition to Scott in Florida, wealthy Republicans with open checkbooks – most of whom have never run for office before – are competing for the governorships of California and Michigan and for the Senate in California, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. Self-funding by no means guarantees election; first-timers can be prone to rookie mistakes. Lavish spending out of one's personal fortune can also seem off-key at a time of financial hardship for many voters. But wealthy candidates argue that they can't be bought by special interests.

Republican women have also burst onto the scene this cycle. Call it the "Palin effect" – a wave of conservative women inspired by the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee's sudden stardom. A record number of women, 298, filed to run for the House and Senate, and for the first time, the Republicans nearly matched the Democrats in numbers. Still, many lost their primaries, and so an anticipated "Year of the Republican Woman" hasn't quite materialized.

And not all GOP women have wrapped themselves in former Governor Palin's "mama grizzly" mantle. Both of California's high-profile Republican women candidates – Meg Whitman for governor and Carly Fiorina for Senate – managed to have scheduling conflicts when Palin appeared at a big GOP rally in Orange County on Oct. 16. But there's no doubt that conservative women are emboldened by a new sense of possibility in a party whose right wing has moved beyond the notion that women with children should be at home full time. Hillary Rodham Clinton's strong run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 may also have provided feminist inspiration across the aisle. Tea partyer Christine O'Donnell, the Republican Senate nominee from Delaware, has said more than once that she admires Secretary of State Clinton.

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Why is Karl Rove taking shots at Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell? - Christian Science Monitor

Boston

Karl Rove, Republican political strategist and the general behind George Bush's presidential victories, has been taking pot shots at some conservative favorites.

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His latest target, former Alaska governor and Tea Party darling, Sara Palin.

Palin, Mr. Rove told Britain's The Daily Telegraph, lacked the "gravitas" to be president in 2012.

He dissed her new Alaska reality series as a bad political move.

“With all due candour, appearing on your own reality show on the Discovery Channel, I am not certain how that fits in the American calculus of 'that helps me see you in the Oval Office’,” Rove told the Telegraph.

Sarah Palin has been an influential player in the midterm elections, traveling and speaking around the United States and endorsing a range of candidates, often the same candidates endorsed by the Tea Party movement. But Palin has not declared herself a candidate in the 2012 presidential election.

How serious is this conservative rift between Rove and Palin?

Rove's views often represent the Republican establishment. And he's got a reputation for knowing how to win. George W. Bush called him "The Architect" of Bush's gubernatorial and presidential victories. Rove also guided the successful campaigns of several governors and members of Congress.

But he's critical of some of the Tea Party-backed candidates endorsed by Palin, including Christine O'Donnell in the Delaware Senate race.

He's not a fan.

“I’ve met her. I wasn’t frankly impressed by her abilities as a candidate,” Rove said on Fox News last month. “One thing that O’Donnell is now going to have to answer in the general election that she didn't in the primary is her own checkered background.”

“There were a lot of nutty things she has been saying that don't add up,” Rove added.

“Why did she mislead voters about her college education? How come it took nearly two decades to pay her college bills so she could get her college degree? How did she make a living?”

Of course, one might say that Rove has said some "nutty things" too.

On Monday, during a discussion of the liberal media, he said "45 percent of NPR listeners were Saddam Hussein."

Huh?

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Karzai's acknowledgement of bags of Iranian cash: Why now? - Christian Science Monitor

New Delhi

The revelations that Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s office has taken “bags of money” from Iran are part of an effort to undermine Tehran’s role in negotiations with the Taliban, argues a regional analyst.

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Mr. Karzai confirmed Monday an earlier report that his chief of staff received a bag of cash from the Iranians.

The reaction from most experts was a collective yawn: It’s only natural that a neighboring country would be trying to influence Afghan affairs. But the revelation did pique some analyst interest in why the unnamed officials leaked this information now.

Read this story: Why Karzai readily admits receiving bags of Iranian cash

The leak came just days after the United States reiterated it was open to Iran playing a role in the tentative discussions with the Taliban, notes Kamran Bokhari, an analyst with the Texas-based intelligence group Stratfor.

“The purpose of such leaks is to at least undermine the existing dynamic … [that includes] involving Iran in this process,” said Mr. Bokhari in a video posted on Stratfor’s website.

“If the United States is forced to take a stand on this and come out and condemn Iran for providing the money, and then condemn the Karzai regime for accepting the money, it basically risks alienating both sides – both of whom the United States needs to be able to push forward on this settlement process,” he said.

After the press conference, the US Embassy in Kabul delayed responding to an influx of reporter queries. On Monday night, embassy spokesperson Caitlin Hayden finally sent a mass email saying: “The Embassy is going to decline to comment tonight…. We refer you to the State Department in Washington to address.”

The White House deputy spokesman did weigh in during a press gaggle.

“I think the American people and the global community have every reason to be concerned about Iran trying to have a negative influence on Afghanistan,” said Bill Burton. “But they have a responsibility just like all their neighbors to try to have a positive influence on the formation of a government there, and to ensure that Afghanistan is not a country where terrorists can find safe harbor, or where attacks can be planned on their soil.

Meanwhile, in recent days, US officials have been downplaying the extent of recent high profile talks with the Taliban, noting that they are more “talks about talks” at this point.

One country unhappy with the shape of the discussions so far is Pakistan. Media reports there reveal that Pakistani security officials are frustrated at being iced out of these early overtures between Karzai’s government and Taliban representatives.

“We would like to be part of it,” the Pakistani military spokesman told the Wall Street Journal, Gen. Athar Abbas said Pakistan has heard nothing from Washington or Kabul who is participating in the discussions.

“If they’re going to make the same mistake, let them do it,” said General Abbas in an apparent reference to past contacts between the two sides, which Pakistan is widely believed to have disrupted because Islamabad was not included.

STORY: Why Karzai readily admits receiving bags of Iranian cash

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NPR, Juan Williams: Did firing put network smack in tea party's crosshairs? - Christian Science Monitor

Has the firing of Juan Williams injected a new hot-button issue into the 2010 midterm elections?

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Well, maybe that’s going a bit far. It’s not like congressional candidates all across the country are taking positions on whether the ex-National Public Radio commentator should have been dismissed for comments about Muslims he made on Fox News.

But the Williams affair has provided conservatives with an opportunity to label NPR itself as an example of government waste and liberal elitism. In that sense it’s become a symbol of just the sorts of things tea party groups and tea party-backed candidates often campaign against.

Take ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She’s chortled on her Twitter feed about the widespread reaction to the Williams dismissal.

“NPR & LSM: you’re shocked at public outrage over your censorship of Juan? This is what happens when our Constitution starts shaking her fist,” Palin tweeted on Thursday.

(LSM stands for “lame stream media”, Ms. Palin’s take on the mainstream media, in case you didn’t know.)

Newt Gingrich, at the end of a Fox News interview about midterm elections prospects, opined that the axing of Williams was “total censorship” and that Congress should investigate cutting off NPR's money.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R) of South Carolina, a sort of scoutmaster for the tea party movement and a gadfly to the GOP establishment, is one step ahead of Gingrich. He’s announced that he indeed will introduce a bill to end federal funding for NPR.

Such legislation has already been filed in the House. Last June Rep. Doug Lamborn (R) of Colorado introduced legislation to cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting after fiscal year 2012.

Taxpayer support for public broadcasting long has been a target for fiscal conservatives. However, NPR is not exactly a ward of the state. It gets just a bit more than 2 percent of its $166 million annual budget from the government. The bulk of the money comes from affiliate stations, corporate sponsors, and donations from individuals made to feel very guilty after they tune in to hear “Morning Edition” and find out it is fundraising week.

NPR has not strengthened its position with its reaction to the reaction to the Williams firing. Vivian Schiller, NPR CEO, said on Thursday that Williams’s comments about Muslims were between him and “his psychiatrist or his publicist – take your pick.”

(She later apologized for that intemperate comment on NPR’s website.)

Plus, the reaction has not exactly broken down along partisan lines. While some liberal bloggers are defending NPR and criticizing Williams’s remarks as anti-Muslim, some Democratic politicians are agreeing with the GOP on this issue. Kind of, anyway.

Williams should not have made the statements about Islam that he did, said Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania in a Fox interview.

“People are very sensitive about that stuff,” said Rendell. “But to fire someone with his incredible reputation for integrity is wrong.”

Meanwhile, Williams himself has actually made money out of getting fired, apparently. He signed a new $2 million deal with Fox that includes slots as guest host of the “The O’Reilly Factor.”

He continues to defend what he said, including remarks to the effect that he feels nervous if he spots someone in Islamic clothing on an airplane. And he professed himself offended by CEO Schiller’s “psychiatrist” remark.

“I don’t understand why she has to get that low,” Williams said Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

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Pakistan aid: US offers $2 billion more -- but attaches conditions - Christian Science Monitor

Washington

The US is offering Pakistan $2 billion in new military aid as part of a classic carrot-and-stick approach to what is perhaps the single most crucial country in the international battle with Islamist militancy.

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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced at the conclusion Friday of a three-day “strategic dialogue” with Pakistani senior officials a new five-year military assistance package designed to prod Pakistan into taking a harder line with militants. Those extremists range from groups bent on bringing down Pakistan’s fragile democracy to Al Qaeda and other organizations more focused on international terrorist acts.

“The United States has no stronger partner when it comes to counterterrorism efforts against the extremists who threaten us both than Pakistan,” Secretary Clinton said in announcing the Pakistan aid package. The two delegations, she said, had “productive discussions” about the need to root out extremist groups that “threaten the security first and foremost of the people of Pakistan, of neighbors, of the United States, and indeed of the world.”

But the offer of new military aid came with a privately issued warning – the stick in the equation – that Pakistan risks losing this and other aid the US offers if the government does not adopt a more aggressive stance toward militants.

Despite whatever tough words the US had for the Pakistanis in private, prospects for a radically different approach from Pakistan toward the extremists groups are not good, some regional experts say.

“I don’t perceive Pakistan changing its objectives, and that’s really the core issue here,” says Malou Innocent, a foreign policy analyst focusing on Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Cato Institute in Washington. “Since 9/11 we have pushed, prodded, and threatened ... and it’s clear to me that Pakistan is not going to alter its internal politics or shift its security policies no matter how much aid the US gives.”

Pakistan has undertaken offensives into some militant strongholds, but it has not launched into others like North Waziristan and has left unscathed other groups the US is focused on, Ms. Innocent says. Those groups include the Haqqani network, which some US officials now consider the most powerful Taliban-affiliated organization in Pakistan; the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban leadership located in Pakistan since being ousted from Afghanistan; and Al Qaeda.

During the three days of meetings, Pakistani officials emphasized their country’s role as a key partner for Washington in the international battle with extremism. But at the same time, they were adamant that Pakistan will do things its way and will not bow to American interests.

Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said at the meeting where Clinton announced the new military aid that the “prophets of doom” who predict an irreconcilable split between the US and Pakistan are “dead wrong.” But Mr. Qureshi also used his Washington visit to lay down red lines for the partnership, saying at a speech earlier in the week at the Brookings Institution, “Pakistan’s sovereignty is and will remain nonnegotiable.”

That comment appeared to refer to recent tensions between the two countries over a stepped-up US campaign of unmanned drone attacks against suspected militant havens in Pakistan’s northwest, and more specifically over a recent US helicopter attack that killed three Pakistani soldiers.

Pakistan closed a crucial border crossing for nearly two weeks over the attack, disrupting NATO supply lines into Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s military and civilian government have said that the country does not have the money or military equipment for launching large-scale offensives against militant havens. The US offer of a multiyear, multibillion-dollar military aid package – which would run from 2012 to 2016 and would be graduated in terms of the money offered – appears designed to answer that complaint and perhaps quiet that excuse for inaction.

But the US Congress has become increasingly impatient with Pakistan’s reluctance to go after groups like Al Qaeda, leading some analysts to anticipate resistance to another aid package to Pakistan. Congress last year approved a five-year, $7.5 billion package of civilian aid aimed at boosting development and strengthening Pakistan’s fragile democratic institutions.

Announcement of the new military aid package coincided with confirmation from Obama administration officials that existing US military assistance is to be cut off from a number of Pakistani Army units suspected of having committed abuses including torture and summary executions. The suspension of funding was issued in accordance with the so-called Leahy Amendment (after Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont), which bars US military assistance to units committing abuses.

“This will turn into a very, very messy fight in Congress,” says Innocent of the Cato Institute. “After a decade, there is just a lot of frustration with the effort Pakistan has put forward.”

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CNN says Pakistan protecting Osama bin Laden; France on alert for terrorist ... - Christian Science Monitor

Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are living comfortably in northwest Pakistan under the protection of members of the nation's intelligence service, a top NATO official has reportedly told CNN.

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The claim comes amid fresh warnings by Saudi intelligence of terror attacks targeting Europe – especially France – by the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an offshoot of Mr. bin Laden's group. A British official said Monday that the United Kingdom faces a "very serious threat" of terrorist attacks, reported Agence France-Presse, while the United States and Japan earlier this month both issued travel alerts for Europe.

The latest report could add pressure on Pakistan to eliminate safe havens on its territory for Al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

CNN quoted an anonymous NATO official saying that the top two leaders of Al Qaeda were living close to each other, but not together, in houses in northwest Pakistan, protected by locals and members of Pakistani intelligence. "Nobody in al Qaeda is living in a cave," the official told CNN.

The official said the general region where bin Laden is likely to have moved around in recent years ranges from the mountainous Chitral area in the far northwest near the Chinese border, to the Kurram Valley which neighbors Afghanistan's Tora Bora, one of the Taliban strongholds during the US invasion in 2001....

The area that the official described covers hundreds of square miles of some of the most rugged terrain in Pakistan inhabited by fiercely independent tribes.

Pakistan's interior minister denied Monday that bin Laden and Zawahiri are on Pakistani soil and said such reports had proven false in the past, according to CNN.

But their group, Al Qaeda, has remained active around the world. Saudi intelligence officials have issued fresh warnings of a possible attack in Europe, warnings that will likely add to weeks of jitters triggered by vague reports of possible attacks planned for Europe.

The latest warnings were made public in a radio interview Sunday with French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, who said that "several days" earlier, Saudi intelligence informed France that the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was "active or about to become active in Europe,"
according to Al Jazeera.

"This is not about overestimating the threat or underestimating it," he told France's RTL Radio. "I am indicating, based on all these elements, that the threat is real."

Hortefeux said, in the spirit of "informing, not alarming" the public, that the government had received a warning days earlier from Saudi intelligence about a terrorist threat to "the European continent, especially France," according to Le Figaro. "Our vigilance remains intact," he said, according to Le Figaro.

Hortefeux said the latest alert from Saudi intelligence followed other alerts, including a Sept. 9 Interpol warning, and a Sept. 16 alert warning of attacks by female suicide bombers, according to Le Monde. Hortefeux said an average of two terror plots against France were broken up per year, and 61 people were now in French prisons for involvement in terrorism.

France's current threat level is "reinforced red" (rouge renforce), the second-highest level after "scarlet red" (rouge ecarlate), according to Le Monde.

The Eiffel Tower was evacuated twice in recent months over terror fears. France has issued travel warnings to its citizens for the United Kingdom. The UK on Sunday updated travel advice for France and Germany, saying that there was a "high threat of terrorism" in those countries, "including in public places frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers," according to Agence France-Presse. The UK's threat level is "severe," also its second highest level.

Al Qaeda's Yemen-based offshoot has been reaching out to Muslims based in the Europe and the US with an English-language online magazine that encourages random attacks and instructions on bomb-making and do-it-yourself terror ideas such as welding steel blades onto a pick-up truck and driving into a crowd, according to Agence France-Presse.

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