Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

April 13, 2007 By Fausta

Surge, TIPS, Red Lights, and a fast

Dr Krauthammer notices that Surge Results are Visible, and asks,

How at this point — with only about half of the additional surge troops yet deployed — can Democrats be trying to force the U.S. to give up? The Democrats say they are carrying out their electoral mandate from the November election. But winning a single-vote Senate majority as a result of razor-thin victories in Montana and Virginia is hardly a landslide.

Second, if the electorate was sending an unconflicted message about withdrawal, how did the most uncompromising supporter of the war, Sen. Joe Lieberman, win handily in one of the most liberal states in the country?

And third, where was the mandate for withdrawal? Almost no Democratic candidates campaigned on that. They campaigned for changing the course the administration was on last November.

Which the president has done. He changed the civilian leadership at the Department of Defense, replaced the head of Central Command and, most critically, replaced the Iraq commander with Petraeus — unanimously approved by the Democratic Senate — to implement a new counterinsurgency strategy.

Dr Krauthammer also points out that

John McCain has had no illusions about the difficulty of this war. Nor does he now. In his bold and courageous speech at the Virginia Military Institute defending the war effort, he described the improvements on the ground while acknowledging the enormous difficulties ahead. Insisting that success in Iraq is both possible and necessary, McCain made clear that he is willing to stake his presidential ambitions, indeed his entire political career, on a war policy that is unpopular but that he believes must be pursued for the sake of the country.

I’ve participated in two bloggers’ calls with Sen. McCain and will continue to participate for as long as they have me.

————————————————

My favorite economist, Larry Kudlow, notices that

so far this year the 10-year TIPS inflation spread has risen about 21 basis points, putting it above its 5-year average

and that could signal inflation.

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El Cubano Cafe continues the Friday fast for all political prisoners
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Larwyn sent Fantasy Manhood from France, Thomas Lifson’s review of the movie Feux Rouges (Red Lights)

But for a French film director today to address the fear of the rise of Muslim violence, it would be necessary to operate at a purely metaphorical level, staying away from anything which might suggest a connection to politically incorrect hate-mongering against Muslims or Islam. After all, France locks up people for what it regards as inciting hatred. Keep the subject matter overtly unrelated, but throw in some telling symbolic details allowing viewers to realize what the game is.

Surprisingly, A French director has slyly made just such a thriller, a skillful one at that, superficially unrelated to the threat of violent Muslims, but obviously speaking symbolically to it. The film, Feux Rouges, or Red Lights, came out in 2004, to largely positive reviews internationally. In the United States, it even won the Independent Spirit Award (considered the OscarsTM of indies) for best foreign film.

Done in the style of Hitchcock and/or Chabrol, it is a tale of a French man standing up to a violent escaped con, one who doesn’t obey the same law as the rest of us, as the film observes. The movie scrupulously avoids any overt suggestion that the escaped convict is ethnically other than French. But by not giving him a name and having him wear a beard, it does not close that door either.

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Filed Under: Cuba, economy, France, Iraq, John McCain, movies, politics, terrorism

Comments

  1. Ken Adams says

    April 13, 2007 at 9:58 am

    “My favorite economist, Larry Kudlow”

    Fausta, please allow me to recommend The Skeptical Optimist, Steve Conover, as a possible replacement or supplement for Kudlow. He’s not as prolific as Kudlow, but his analyses are insightful.

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