R&D: President Obama Compromises with the GOP, Interest in Foreign Languages Increases, and Different Outcomes for the Ivory Coast’s Political Crisis

Here is your R&D for December 8th:

Obama charts his own course from the Washington Post
President Obama’s decision to compromise with Republicans on the Bush tax cuts has earned him a tongue lashing from liberal activists, but he has defended the decision by saying it prevents taxes from going up on Americans making less than $250,000 a year.

Colleges See 16% Increase in Study of Sign Language from the New York Times
America’s colleges are seeing an increase in the number of students who want to study foreign languages.  The numbers are fueled by an interest in Arabic, Koran, Chinese, and American Sign Language.

Scenarios: Possible outcomes in Ivory Coast’s power struggle from Reuters
In this piece, Reuters describes the political situation in the Ivory Coast and lays out how the country’s political crisis may go.  A great article for extempers in approaching this subject.

She’d like a do-over from the New York Post
Would Hillary Clinton like to reconsider her decision to join President Obama’s administration?  Accordng to columnist Michael Goodwin she would and he lays out why.

Iran Nuclear Talks: A Widening Chasm from the Council on Foreign Relations
In an interview piece, Robin Wright, Senior Fellow of the U.S. Institute of Peace, describes how recent talks concerning Iran’s nuclear program went nowhere and that longer talks might lead to the same result.