recent reading

A good update (with lotsa links) on the path of democracy in the Middle East:

Will 'Arab spring' lead to 'summer of liberty'?
Some experts worry US 'triumphalism' masks more complicated issues in push towards Arab democracy.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

I just discovered The Carpetbagger Report blog which has a couple of thought-provoking entries about "Americans' increasing inability to grasp a moral argument":

Killing kids: It's just plain wrong

And:

'Yes, yes! Elvis and I assassinated JFK! Now will you please remove the electrodes from my scrotum?'

Which begins:

We should not even be having this debate. Terrorists blow children to bits and torture people, not great world powers that are supposedly guided by a commitment to human rights, decency and the rule of law.

Would the pro-torture right-wingers please read a book? It's one of the oldest stories in the world: While fighting the horrible thing you fear the most, you become that thing yourself. It's downright archetypal – and it's happening to us. Roll over George Orwell.

Dig up the Feb. 14 issue of The New Yorker and read Jane Mayer's piece, "Outsourcing Torture." Then weep for your country because you won't recognize it any longer.

Over at TomDispatch there is an update on the legalities involved in the GWOT: Tomgram: Greenberg on the Legal War on Terror at Home