President Lula: 'God is Brazilian' by Aimee Kligman If it's Sunday, there's usually something extraordinary happening on Fareed Zakaria's Global Public Square. Today, Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva sat down to talk with Zakaria. He's the only head of state who has a higher approval rating than President Obama; his is 80%. How is that possible?
Cranky North Korea plays its games by Eric Margolis Ah, springtime in lovely North Korea. As the first crocuses appear along the banks of the romantic Yalu River, Korea's annual rite of spring goes into full swing. North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il has apparently recovered from a medical indisposition and is again feeling his "kimchi," Korea's fiery and addictive version of sauerkraut.
Why Not Bank CEOs? by David Sirota The Associated Press reports that "General Motors Corp. Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner will step down immediately at the request of the White House, U.S. administration officials said Sunday." I'm not sure that's a good or bad thing, but I am curious about why the White House would make such a bold demand of a car company the federal government is lending to, but not a similar demand of the banks the federal government partially owns?
From War Crimes to Fiscal Folly: Cheney's Lurid Legacy by Bill Gallagher "Deficits don't matter."-- Former Vice President Dick CheneyThe Republican Party's most vile, and suddenly visible, toxic asset did more than commit war crimes, lie the nation into an unnecessary war, and mount wholesale attacks on the Constitution and Bill of Rights during his string-pulling stint in the White House. Dick Cheney was also a champion and defender of George W. Bush's fiscal madness.
White House rejects GM, Chrysler bailout plans by Philip Elliott Neither General Motors nor Chrysler submitted acceptable plans to receive more federal bailout money, the Obama administration said as it set the stage for a crisis in Detroit that would dramatically reshape the nation's auto industry.The White House pushed out GM's chairman and directed Chrysler to move quickly to forge a partnership with Fiat if it expects to receive additional government assistance.
America the Tarnished by Paul Krugman Ten years ago the cover of Time magazine featured Robert Rubin, then Treasury secretary, Alan Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Lawrence Summers, then deputy Treasury secretary. Time dubbed the three “the committee to save the world,” crediting them with leading the global financial system through a crisis that seemed terrifying at the time, although it was a small blip compared with what we’re going through now.
A Brave Man Who Stood Alone. If Only the World Had Listened to Him by Robert Fisk I don't know if I met Tom Hurndall. He was one of a bunch of "human shields" who turned up in Baghdad just before the Anglo-American invasion in 2003, the kind of folk we professional reporters make fun of. Tree huggers, that kind of thing. Now I wish I had met him because - looking back over the history of that terrible war - Hurndall's journals (soon to be published) show a remarkable man of remarkable principle. "I may not be a human shield," he wrote at 10.26 on 17 March from his Amman hotel. "And I may not adhere to the beliefs of those I have travelled with, but the way Britain and America plan to take Iraq is unnecessary and puts soldiers' lives above those of civilians. For that I hope that Bush and Blair stand trial for war crimes."
