Big Five: Sitting Down with Iran and Syria
A roundup of opinions in today's Los Angles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and USA Today:
Iraq Talks: The LAT hails the Bush administration's decision to sit down with Iran and Syria to discuss Iraq, calling the move a "welcome about face" ... the NYT agrees that talks with Iran and Syria are "long overdue," but thinks that "the most important steps need to be taken by the Iraqi government itself." Most significantly, the Iraqis must approve a plan to equitably share their country's oil revenues.
Stock Market Crash: The WSJ argues that yesterday's stock-market tumble was "merely a correction" and not a forecast, and blames the fall on "problems in the housing credit markets" ... USA Today writes that instead of debating why the market crashed, we should be worried that American investors -- "especially the record 50 percent of American households that own stocks either directly or through mutual funds" -- don't understand "the risks they are assuming in a rapidly changing, global financial market."
Today's Editorials:
NYT ... urges the Supreme Court to allow the Freedom from Religion Foundation to sue the Bush administration over its faith-based initiatives, arguing that taxpayers have the right to bring about this type of suit ... applauds the buyout deal of Texas utility TXU, in which the company will abandon plans to build eight "old-style" coal-burning power plants ... isn't impressed by Barack Obama's proposed plan to save the public-financing system for presidential campaigns, and criticizes Obama and Hillary Clinton for their "mix of furious money-seeking and ritual umbrage at its excesses."
WaPo ... slams Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for jailing Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman, a blogger who criticized the Egyptian government online, and calls the sentence part of Mubarak's wide-spread repression of Egypt's "secular democrats who fight for free elections, a free press, rights for women and religious tolerance" ... supports the Department of Homeland Security's plan to test the feasibility of scanning cars and trucks entering Manhattan for radioactivity, but worries that our technology won't be able to detect threats effectively ... disapproves of Maryland Democrats' initiative to amend the state's constitution to allow early voting, and encourages voters to nix the measure if it shows up on the ballot in 2008.
WSJ ... applauds Vice President Dick Cheney for traveling to Pakistan to deliver "a stiff message to [President] Musharraf about the need for Pakistan to deny the Taliban sanctuary along its frontier with Afghanistan" ... encourages growth of foreign investment in the United States, and criticizes a bill scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives today that would curb that growth.
USA Today ... urges more states to add "variable-toll lanes," which allow drivers pay to get out of traffic to their expressways.
Today's Columns:
LAT: Max Boot argues that declining defense spending by American allies, especially Britain and Canada, means the United States must continue to act unilaterally to defend its interests around the world ... Erin Aubry Kaplan tells African-Americans to get angry over the slow-paced recovery of New Orleans, arguing that "black people need to stay on the offensive by staying mad when appropriate."
Plus ... Nicolas Retsinas on problems caused by the world's growing urban populations ... Brian Johnston on Los Angeles hospitals' dedication to treating the city's homeless citizens.
NYT: Maureen Dowd wonders what Al Gore is thinking after his Oscar win, and notes that with "Hillary overproduced and Barack Obama an unfinished script, maybe it's time to bring the former vice president out of turnaround" ... Thomas Friedman explains how "much of Israel's leadership seems to have blinded itself lately with all sorts of bizarre and criminal behavior."
Plus ... Eric Klinenberg offers policy proposals for the Federal Communications Commission that would "serve the public interest" ... Michele Wucker on why America should award more green cards based on job ability.
WaPo: In her role as representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie encourages the international community to prosecute those responsible for the Darfur genocide: "What the worst people in the world fear most is justice. That's what we should deliver" ... David Rivkin and Lee Casey argue that the United States should "vigorously resist" an Italian court's indictment of 25 CIA agents for "kidnapping" a radical Muslim cleric, noting that the case is an example of how "opponents of American foreign policy are increasingly turning to judicial proceedings against individual American officials as a means of reformulating or frustrating U.S. aims."
Plus ... David Ignatius on how U.S. sanctions against North Korea and Iran are working ... Ruth Marcus compares our fascination with the lives and deaths of Princess Diana and Anna Nicole Smith ... Robert Samuelson on mistaken predictions he made leading up to the Iraq war.
WSJ: Amy Finkelstein critiques plans for universal health care, noting that an increase in the number of Americans with health insurance leads to increases in health spending, and that expanding Medicare has not reduced elderly mortality rates.
Plus ... David Henderson on healthy competition in the satellite radio market ... Joseph Finnerty and John Merrigan on tort lawyers' forays into foreign policy ... Kim Holmes and Nile Gardiner on how Margaret Thatcher's heirs are threatening Anglo-American relations.
USA Today: Ralph Peters argues that President Bush is wrong when he says the war on terror is a "war of ideas": "Our enemies aren't fighting about ideas," he argues, "but over fundamental issues" of "faith and identity."
By Rob Anderson |
February 28, 2007; 6:29 AM ET
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Posted by: edward aaron | February 28, 2007 07:51 PM
I realize it is quite simple to see that Bush has looked at the calendar realizes March 2007 is a moderate month not a radicial month thus he decided to invite Syria Iran to the Iraq peace talks why not invite Japan too Pakistin should be there too may be even India but of course not Israel the old Christian pre W W II 1940 41 pre Pearl Harbor double standard this is acceptable to the Israeli p p leaders p p ?? I may not spell out what they mean abusive language not allowed GOOD LUCK BUSH ALL PARTICIPATING COUNTRYS RIGHT ??? THANK YOU... M. Segal
Posted by: M. Segal | February 28, 2007 10:15 PM
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Its about time for the veterans organizations to voicethemselves about the treatment of wounded veterans. They would prefer to stand behind the president in their uniforms and cheer him on at the closed sessions. I am a veteran of world war2 and the korean war and cant get myself to join the American legion or the veterans of foreign wars.