An Analysis of US Foreign Policy

Yeah, yeah, Condi as sec state. Bush is putting his most loyal people into cabinet agencies (instead of "names") giving him tighter control over things. Probably what you will see is Condi stil playing a huge role as a Bush advisor but from Foggy Bottom-- and doing so at the expense of the career officials at State who could still find themselves out of the loop.

The real issue that has been concerning me of late is the Dollar. Its falling, and falling fast. This column by Robert Samuelson hits the issue on the head better than most. The falling dollar makes all that you own worth less globally. High budget deficits exacerbate the problem. If left unchecked, it could lead to higher interest rates and inflation. That's not all, though, for if foreign investor stop buying US bonds and stocks, you have the begining of a global recession, and that really sucks. Part of this is Bush Administration policy. Part is the fact that the rest of the world has used a strong dollar to export to the US. The Administration wants them (China most importantly) to devalue thier currencies to bring things back into balance and fix some of our trade issues.
Its a pretty dangerous gamble, cause if they get this one as right as they got Iraq, everone loses everything, and that's not good at all.

Yassir Arafat died. As I said before, without him, there would be no Palestinians as you know them today.

So, the obvious question is now what?
Who leads the Palestinians? Can anyone replace Arafat and keep them together, or is there some sort of struggle for power?
There are a lot of people who think that Arafat was as much an impediment to peace as he was a promoter of it. He signed the Oslo accords but wouldn't sign onto Clinton's plan in 2000.
It might be the case that an elected leader can do this.
It might also be the case that no one will have the legitimacy to make a deal and make it work.

We shall see. But the Middle East will never be the same, that's for sure.

Frustrated Democrats who want to move to Canada-- tough!
The Canadians don't want you.

Perhaps Mexico might be an option.
And, they have a shortage of Donkeys there, so any immigration from Democrats would probably be welcome.

(you think I jest-- they really do have a buro shortage. How can something like that happen? Globalization, baby. Globalization.)

Bush won....

So, prepare for 2 years of very conservative governing and a bloodbath in the democratic party.
Bush won due to his base, not by appealing to the middle or by making compromises.

Why was Kerry doomed in Red America? Kristof knows...