Month: November 2010 Page 3 of 7

Here is your R&D for November 15th:

Lame duck preview: The last hurrah for a Democratic Congress from the Washington Independent
This is a fantastic article that breaks down the major issues and party dynamics facing the lame duck session of Congress.

Bernanke’s worst nightmare: Ron Paul from CNN
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is likely losing sleep now that his harshest critic, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, will take charge of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy in January.

Arab League ‘likely to reject 90-day settlement freeze plan’ from Haaretz
Arab League officials announced today that it is likely that they will not support renewed Middle East peace talks if Israel suspended settlement construction in the West Bank for three months.  The Arab League contends that a settlement freeze must include Jerusalem.

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Here is your R&D for November 12th:

Four Lessons from Iraq’s New Government from Time
After eight months of negotiations, Iraq finally has a new government.  Nouri al-Maliki was tapped for a second term as the nation’s prime minister.  In this article, Time lays out four lessons that the world can learn from this parliamentary horse trading and discusses what the new government means for Iraq’s future.

Release of Myanmar Opposition Leader Anticipated from the New York Times
Now that Myanmar’s junta has won national elections, it is going to release democratic activist Aung San Suu-Kyi.  Kyi has spent 15 of the last 21 years under house arrest.

The Blue State Budget Crisis from the Washington Post (courtesy of RealClearPolitics)
Extempers are likely to get questions about state budgets for the rest of the season.  This article describes some of the budget problems that face Democratically-held states like California and New York.

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Here is your R&D for November 11th:

Fail safe from the Economist
In light of Ireland’s latest financial difficulties, the European Union is preparing itself for a potential default by one of its members.  How would the continent deal with a debt default?  The Economist seeks to explain that in this article.

Obama deficit commission drafts drastic cuts from the San Francisco Chronicle
President Obama’s bipartisan deficit commission released its plan to rebalance the federal budget.  The plan calls for cuts in the number of public sector employees, cutting benefits for Social Security, and eliminating $100 billion in tax breaks for individuals and businesses.  The commission believes that these steps will cut $4 trillion of the deficit within the next decade.

Transition processes in Argentina and Brazil seen from Washington from MercoPress
This MercoPress article recounts an opinion-editorial piece in the Washington Post, which noted that Brazil and Argentina are gradually moving away from populist economic policies to more pragmatic ones.

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