Blowouts and Brownouts - Happy Monday!

Happy Monday... if only you had a restful weekend rather than one wracked by thunder, lightning, and gale-force winds. The weekend-long power outages in NoVa-Arlington and some parts of DC ranged anywhere from annoying to hazardous as thermometers continued to rise throughout the region. 

Yet in many parts of the world, constant and reliable electrical power is a luxury, if not downright impossible to obtain. Here, Nadia explains the concept and toils of  power "loadshedding:" A practice common in urban areas of many developing countries, including Pakistan and Iraq, and what Pakistan intends to do to solve its energy crisis (Hint: Israel would be pissed)

Pipelines
By Nadia Sheikh

Electricity shortages are one of Pakistan’s biggest vices. In its cities, loadshedding can occur anywhere from 6-10 hours a day; in the rural areas, it’s 10-12 hours at the least.  With the summer heat,  loadshedding only further intensifies. Recent protests in Khairpur and Lahore illustrate the level of frustrations Pakistanis have with their elected officials, who do not share the burden, and cannot relate to the impact on productivity, output, and the psyches of their constituents.

With these problems at hand, the Pakistani government has looked outward for solutions for years, recognizing the need for external sources of gas and energy as opposed to building up infrastructure within the country.

In particular,  Pakistan has gravitated toward the idea, the notion of  building pipelines of gas -- one with Iran,  known as Iran-Pakistan Peace Pipeline, much to the chagrin of the Americans; the other, with Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, & India (TAPI), which is hailed as a symbol of regional cooperation.­­. Whether these projects are feasible in  development and implementation, it is hard to say.

Tuesday Morning: Daily News Update

Mia Love, a black Republican, fitness instructor, and mayor of a growing town in Utah, stands to become the first black woman in Congress. She stands to compete against six-term Democrat Representative Jim Matheson.

Condoleezza Rice has gone on record to state that she has no interest in running for vice president alongside Mitt Romney.

Greece has appointed Yannis Stournaras, a former economic adviser and economist, as their new Finance Minister today. The position was originally appointed to Vassilis Rapanos, chairman of the National Bank of Greece, but resigned the position before being sworn in due to health problems.

On a lighter note, and great news for those coffee addicts out there, recent studies have shown consistent results that coffee drinkers are found to be living longer than abstainers. Coffee drinkers who started the study relatively healthy were less likely than nondrinkers to die of heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, and infection. So drink up my fellow coffee lovers, it's good for you.

Monday Morning: Daily News and Headlines

Immigration, a major issue in the upcoming presidential elections, has become a major focus today as the Supreme Court has decided to support a section of Arizona law allowing police officers to check the immigration status of people they decide to stop. Has this become a new legal version of racial profiling?

The new wave of marketing? Buying ad space on fire trucks. Struggling cities deal with the economic downturn by turning towards naming rights on city property, with fire trucks becoming the new potential target.

Egypt witnesses another milestone towards Democracy, as Mohamed Morsi wins the first competitive presidential election the country has seen. This marks Egypt's first elected Islamist head of state, as well as the first president outside the military.

And finally, Apple continues on its reevaluation towards the pay of their retail employees. With how expensive many Apple products are, you'd think they would give a little more bang for their buck towards those Apple Geniuses so many of us consider technological saviors.

Hump de Bump: The Trashy and The Classy

Good afternoon, readers on the hump of the week:

We here at Conflict Revolution were thinking of changing, or at least attempting to change, the subject of our discussions from Socialism to Capitalism - beginning a "Critique of Pure Capitalism" if you will. 

Instead, I'm going to post some barely SFW links and videos which involve massive cleavage and incredible hair. Welcome to: The Trashy and the Classy, comparing images of women in political news today. 

It's a tale of two Julias; a Tale of Two Cities of sorts, except you swap the first letter of Tale with the beginning consonant of Cities. 

Exhibit A: A woman who has received international attention, winning the hearts and minds of the Mexican people

Ms. Julia Orayen, former Playboy Playmate and sometimes TV show messenger girl of 17 seconds

Exhibit B: A woman who has received international attention, winning the hearts and minds of the Ukrainian people

  

Mrs. Yulia Tymoshenko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine and hero of the country's democratic "Orange Revolution" [NYT]

Compare and Contrast:

Ms. Orayen enters the public arena (?) as...well, just see for yourself:



Clearly the Mexican Presidential debates are more interesting than our own - gotta give Telemundo credit where such credit is due.

Mrs. Tymo, though having been the leader of a freakin' country in the former Soviet Union, is now serving some combination of jail time in the Ukraine, imprisoned (and wrongly accused, many human rights activist groups claim) under nebulous indictments of corruption by other political factions.

Both Julia/Yulia get the same amount of airtime. Discuss. 

Monday: Because You Wish You Were Just Waking Up

Hope everyone enjoyed their Cinco de Mayo, perhaps if Global Warming is really occurring as fast as Matt thinks, then in a few you years you can all enjoy it at the beach like I did.

1- The weekend saw some extremism develop in Europe as a socialist will replace Nicholas Sarkozy in France and anti-austerity parties won in Greece... including the neo-Nazis? Yep, the neo-Nazis will get their first seats in the Greek Parliament since the end of the country's military junta...

2- The markets didn't seem to like this news, and the Euro tanked.

3- France's wealthy also don't seem excited about their new socialist leader, and are looking to flee to England. It could be his open disdain for the rich, and finance...

4- Germany also doesn't seem too pumped by all this socialism and is already warning that EU fiscal policies, which were largely rejected at the polls this weekend, cannot be renegotiated. I guess someone has to be the adult here.

5- Finally, this weekend's anti-incumbent sentiment might be coming back to the US. The most recent Gallup poll shows it will be a close one. I guess the US has to decide if it wants to be France or Germany.

Week in Review: Occupy US, Baby

From Guy Fawkes to bin Laden, from Obama to the Titanic, Tommy, Iraq, and the burning
Übermensch, we've covered a lot of ground this week on Conflict Revolution. Don't miss a beat in our weekly countdown:

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1) Matt raises the roof on D.C.'s building height ordinances. Is building skyscrapers (or even just above the 20th floor) just about real estate developer greed? Or is the character of the city itself at stake?

2) Speaking of capitalist hubris - and no, I'm not at even at the May Day socialist posts yet - would you like to take a voyage on the new Titanic?

3) We enter the complex and conflicted world of the Middle East with Kennan K. as our guide, as he breaks down Iraq's tenuous present and future dilemmas vis-a-vis Iran and the rest of the region like a boss;

4) Phil rambles about the unlikely but politically feasible alliance between socialism and anarchy as the Occupy Wall Street movement prepares itself for an "American Spring (& Summer)"

5) The man, it burns! The Burning man and his furry friends;

6) Matt likewise burns some straw men over why we should continue to support American space exploration;

7) And he also burns some Caps fans for leaving the Verizon Center too soon.

8) Tommy's inaugural Take (TiT?) blasts off into cyberspace - believe us when we say, now there will be blood

9) Das Übermensch Brett Aho cometh: "Not everyone needs to go to college...Fraulein."

10) And last but definitely not least, the crown jewel of Conflict Revolution itself, the master-debaters Stephen and Matt:

OSAMA BIN OCCUPIED PART 1: WILL OWS SURVIVE??

OSAMA BIN OCCUPIED PART 2: OBAMA CAN HAZ CREDIT??

MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU!

Email Discussion: Osama bin Occupied, Part II

Yesterday, Conflict Revolution began to explore the media convergence between the Occupy Movement's spring coming-back-out party and the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death.  After Stephen slung a few insults in the direction of OWS, and Matt expressed his disappointment in the movement's outcomes thus far, we're at it again this afternoon, this time exploring the other side of the week's big news in a discussion on how much credit Barack Obama should get for the killing of the fallen al-Qaeda leader. Without further adieu: 

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Stephen: Matt, we always hear about how the economy wasn't Obama's fault and that he inherited it from Bush. The wars the same thing. If you believe there is credence in this (and I'd agree) should he not also give credit to Bush for laying the groundwork for killing Osama bin Laden? This seems necessary unless you have some evidence that Obama tossed out all the intelligence gathered before his term.

Matt: Absolutely, Barack Obama does not get full credit for the raid.  For one, he didn't crash land any helicopters or charge up any stairs to shoot the world's most wanted terrorist in the head.  And a lot of that intelligence was in fact gathered during the later Bush years.  However, since it WAS Obama who came into office ordering his national security team to re-focus on bin Laden after the effort had stalled, and since it was Obama who ordered the raid itself over the advice of his Vice President and top general (not saying Bush wouldn't have, but BHO did), he certainly gets to take his share of the credit, especially if holding it up as an example of gutsy national security leadership under pressure.  

Stephen: So how often does he mention this? Because he definitely mentions that Bush was responsible for the economy all the time.

Links for Lunch: Thursday Edition

Stephen and I have several debates brewing right now.  It's actually been kind of a joy, exchanging occasionally mean-spirited messages with a friend thousands of miles away while I step away briefly from whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing instead.  Very Mean Girls, if you get where I'm going.  Stephen's even got a burn book, but he only writes about me.

 
Just know this: when we unleash these debates from the shackles of their cyberspace cages, the ripples will cascade down the information superhighway like a torrent of toxic chemicals.  That may not seem like an appealing analogy to you, but my worthy debating opponent - and his preferred presidential candidate - definitely likes it when people (corporations are people, my friend!) spill toxic chemicals just about anywhere, so you can surely bet that he'll be in support.

In the meantime, here's some links to tide you over while we fine-tune our latest snark:

1) Slate examines the possible consequences of a possible cyberattack.  I wrote a paper about this once, but I think I came to a far more ominous conclusion ["How Dangerous is a Cyberattack?" Slate, 4/27/12].

2) The Basketball Franchise Formerly Known As The New Jersey Nets makes their move to Brooklyn official ["Brooklyn Nets unveil logos," ESPN, 4/30/12]

3) Obama beats his chest over Osama, and then makes a surprise visit to Afghanistan to share the high fives with Hamid Karzai ["Obama makes surprise visit to Afghanistan to sign key pact, mark bin Laden raid," Washington Post, 5/1/12]

4) Speaking of bin Laden's bad day, why Republicans are the last political party with any credibility to criticize the President for politicizing national security.  Did these guys forget they had a 2004 nominating convention?  ["How the GOP Became a Party of Whiners Over Osama," The Daily Beast, 5/1/12]

Stay with us throughout the day for the second leg of Osama bin Occupied, and some philosophy to your dome from a loyal Conflict Revolution reader who likes to write about this stuff.  Go eat lunch outside on this lovely Thursday... and then come back to your favorite blog, for some mid-afternoon delight.

Over and out.

Steve's Jobs: Open Positions at the Council on Foreign Relations

Looking for a great job in international affairs research and journalism?

The Council on Foreign Relations, publishers of the venerable Foreign Affairs magazine, is hiring for multiple positions in its New York and D.C. offices:

Over the summer, we at CR will be putting together a calendar of events, career fairs, speeches, and more in the D.C. area for the convenience of our readers. This "District Events Calendar" will be available only to readers who take the effort to "Like" our site on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. In the meantime, we'll be posting D.C.-area job openings that we feel our readers would be very interested in, so please be sure to visit us early and often!

Hump de Bump: Wednesday Links After the Jump

As we hurtle into the middle of the week, it's time for another morning update - this one, Politico-themed:

- President Obama made a "surprise visit" to troops and Afghan leadership yesterday in Kabul, pledging to abide by existing plans for a full withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by 2014. NATO troops will stay in the country for at least a decade after 2014, ensuring that some U.S. presence in the region will remain [Politico; CNN].

- Ric Grenell, Foreign Policy spokesman for Mitt Romney's campaign, has resigned over "personal issues"

- Think you've seen it all before? Think again: Congress is getting even more bipartisan and split along the "core ideologies" of both parties. But does this necessarily preclude passing critical legislation?

Speaking of seen it all...Anyone familiar with The Burning Man festival?



one of the tamer images that come up in a search. He will be burning.


We've been speaking of anarchy for the past day, and The Burning Man is like the anarchist's Mecca - "radical inclusion," "decommodification," "radical self-expression" are the order of the day, but now the festival's organizers and lobbyists have descended upon the Capitol (as in D.C., not Hunger Games) to promote the event. The festival has been placed on probation this year by the Bureau of Land Management for exceeding its 53,000 capacity limit, but hopes to expand to 70,000 in the future.

The festival has captured the imagination of popular culture along with the likes of DayGlow, Warped Tour, Coachella et. al., but still retains its original indie vibe and distinctive character. In fact, long-time "burners" would probably regurgitate at my comparison of TBM with the aforementioned festivals.

- New York Times readership up, Washington Post not so lucky - although at less than a million online subscribers, the NYT can hardly be compared with the dedicated userbases of the social networking giants. I wonder how much the "Social Reader" app can help or harm the struggling journalism industry in general?

- Politico's Roger Simon: Stay outraged at the Supreme Court's (SCOTUS) blatant partisanship

- And finally, more of our favorite Secretary of State: Hillary sends rejection letter to Jason Segal

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Guest Post: Iraq, Five Months Later

Five months after the last American soldiers left Iraq, the country remains at a crossroads.  This post comes to us from Kennan Khatib, a fellow Georgetown grad and currently a Critical Threats Specialist with the DC-based American Enterprise Institute.  Given Kennan's intricate knowledge of Middle Eastern affairs and foreign policy, we asked him to comment on the state of the fledgling Iraqi democracy, and how Iran factors into the situation. 

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Iran's Got Her Eye on Iraq

By Kennan Khatib 

After nearly eight years of the Iraq War and over 4,000 deaths among U.S. troops, the abrupt end to military operations severely mitigated the gains made following the surge in 2007.[1] While the U.S. accomplished several goals including deposing Saddam, establishing a semi-functional democracy, and eliminating the threat that Iraq posed to its neighbors, Iran is bearing the fruits of America’s labor.

President George W. Bush’s aim of establishing a secular, pro-American democracy slowly crumbled with the election of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. America’s withdrawal made it even easier for Maliki to separate himself from America’s interests, most notably accepting aid from Iran and picking fights with Turkey.[2] While it is true that America’s relationship with the leadership in Iraq was always shifty, having boots on the ground actualized America’s investment in the future of Iraq and its people. The diplomatic mission in Iraq is strong with nearly 16,000 workers at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, but with al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) still active, albeit severely weakened, in its mission to incite sectarian violence between Shi’is and Sunnis (including the Kurds) paired with Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army, security remains a major issue.

Daily Links for Friday, 4/20/12

1) Straight out of the TV hit "Weeds," a window into the hidden use of marijuana among Washington's elite, and an indication of just how quickly our society's views toward the drug are evolving:

“This is a town where I could probably kill 200 major careers if I wanted to be a complete prick,” says Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which is headquartered on K Street. “Politicians, members of Congress and the Senate, many of their principals—legislative directors, chiefs of staff, communications directors—people in the private sector, Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute, Brookings, police, any number of notable journalists from television, print, radio, many brand names most Americans would recognize pretty quickly—I’ve smoked with all of them. There is more smoke in DC closets than there is sex.”

You won't want to miss this article, which follows an actual suburban mother who drives around selling pot-infused "baked" (see what I did there) goods to the DC intelligentsia. I told you it was straight out of Weeds! It's also got a clever title... ["High Society: Washington's Love Affair With Marijuana," The Washingtonian, published 2/2/12]

2) Speaking of suburban moms, the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne reminds us that the real difference between stay-at-home and working mothers is economic, not cultural ["Mommy Struggles, Not Mommy Wars," The Washington Post, 4/19/12]

3) Speaking of marijuana, here's one more reason to legalize it ["The Growing Eco-Movement to Build Houses out of Hemp," GOOD Magazine, 4/19/12]

4) Dr. Dre paid to create a hologram of Tupac for the Coachella Music Festival last week, and it may now go on tour ["Rapper's De-Light: Tupac Hologram May Go On Tour," The Wall Street Journal, 4/16/12]

5) All that and all we had to do to stop Iran was deny them marine insurance? ["Iran Oil May be Strangled by Lack of Insurance," CNBC, 4/17/12]

Raise your hand if you're excited for 5:00! Enjoy the Friday holiday, folks.

Daily News: Agents Gone Wild - Secret Services Edition

1) In case you haven't heard yet, the Obama White House has a sex scandal on its hands: 11 Secret Service Agents are accused of a) soliciting the services of Colombian prostitutes and b) starting a scene and later a fight after refusing to pay. They have been suspended from duty and have had their security clearance(s) revoked.

Oh, by the way, all members of the President's most trusted security detail were married, some of whom were security supervisors of the entire Presidential visit and the incident(s) happened BEFORE the Obama team even arrived in Colombia.

Prostitution is legal in (certain parts of) Colombia. Partying like dumbasses putting even The Hangover guys to shame when you're the personal bodyguards of the President of the United States, in a country often known for extensive drug-related violence and cocaine cartels, is not.

2) Not to be outdone, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton throws back a beer (or two) and parties from "dusk till yawn" (TMZ)

3) It's hard to say who will be the next Secretary of State, but you can make damn sure who's going to be running for the Dems in the 2016 general elections:

"I'm barely 18!!!"

CR Morning Update: 4/17/12

As we at Conflict Revolution recover from a weekend that included two birthdays and several minor injuries, get your week started with a healthy roster of links for your morning readership. Stephen had some fun with our link database this weekend, so you get a list of headlines more conservative than the Fox News ticker. Enjoy!

1) According to Stephen, "President Obama is as much a capitalist as I am a major league shortstop." Judging by Steve's wiffle ball swing (that's a rare compliment), I'd say he may want to look for a different analogy [Article at Investor's Business Daily]

2) The recently-passed JOBS Act includes some troubling fine print [CNBC]

3) Only in Florida? Steve lives there, and even he is a bit perplexed by Bank of America's decision to sue itself for foreclosure - 11 times [Huffington Post]

4) Kim Jong Un shoots a blank - more on the failed North Korean rocket launch [Wall Street Journal]

We'll be up with another email debate later today - in the meantime, heal your case of the Mondays with this gem, recorded during the presidency of Stephen's political demigod:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ealOvalS35A

BREAKING NEWS - NORTH KOREAN ROCKET FAILS, MAY TEST NUKE INSTEAD

The number of jokes about the tyrannical North Korean regime have increased exponentially, but watch out - they have the bomb.

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Responses?

P.S. Thanks to Matt for the warm welcome! Looking forward to the debates.

Debating the Obama Defense Cuts

Recently, the President announced $487B in defense spending cuts over the next 10 years. Meanwhile an additional $500B could be coming from Congress next year after the deficit supercommitee failed to reach an agreement on debt reduction. This debate seeks to determine if the US can afford to cut spending at a time when defense budgets are already on the chopping block. Still recovering from a severe economic recession and two military misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans are noticeably weary of spending money on overseas intervention. But should we be? And more importantly, can the US afford to pursue this course of action?

Posted by Stephen (1/12/12):

I'd like to start this week's debate by using my six years of Latin. "Si vis pacem, para bellum" which translates to "If you wish for peace, prepare for war". I'd also like to observe that the periods of time where wealth, science and culture flourished were also periods where a state completely dominated the known world militarily. Examples including the Pax Romana, the early Muslim Caliphates, the Pax Britannica and then the Pax Americana. Therefore, my argument essentially becomes that the US must maintain the sole military superpower for both itself and the world. Thus, if defense budget cuts would hamper our ability to maintain this Pax Americana, then they are something we cannot afford.

My first argument is that the US has an obligation to protect its people. This is a basic tenet of our government, outlined in the Preamble to the Constitution. Thus, the Defense cuts were shown to limit the government's ability to do so, it would fail my basic test. I believe that the 10-15% reduction in our Army and Marine Corps outlined in President Obama's plan will harm our ability to protect Americans and their interests. While we do not face threat of attack by an invading army, there still exist terrorists who wish to do us harm. According to the White House's own admissions the troop reductions will not allow us to participate in two simultaneous major wars.

More after the jump...