Russia

As a foreign affairs columnist, it feels a bit odd to be writing about the Black Sea when so much is going on at home:: the overdue firing of US general Stanley McChrystal, Britain’s impressive attack on its debts, new US bank regulation, and the hugely expensive and mostly unnecessary G20 jamboree in Toronto, which has turned that normally sedate metropolis into a version of “Escape from New York.” More on McChrystal and his Crusaders next week. To me as a military historian, Yalta is a nexus of history, the site of events that continue to affect our world to this day.

We’re so lucky in California to have two wealthy women running for political office in our upcoming primary. Who says we haven’t come a long way, baby? But while I’m a big fan of eBay, the candidate I want to focus on is Carly Fiorina, who wants to be our next female senator and promises to bring jobs, jobs, jobs to our beleaguered state. As opposed to that liberal do-nothing Barbara Boxer. Let’s review her credentials.

Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics Marc J. Hetherington, Jonathan D. Weiler Cambridge University Press Paperback, 234 pages, $23.16 Kindle edition 9.99 August, 2009 Money quote: Considering our story up to now, we believe we have adduced powerful evidence for the increasingly central role that authoritarianism has come to play in structuring party competition, mass preferences and the relevant issue agenda of the past forty years.

President Barack Obama has been the target of endless tirades from the Republican opposition, nonetheless, the president has remained poised as he has made progress on a wide range of important issues. But will the “Yes we can!” voters of 2008 be energized enough this fall to overcome those whose rallying cry is “Hell no!”? The incumbent party almost always loses House and Senate seats in a midterm elections, and that will certainly be the outcome this coming November.

WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin poked fun at herself in a speech to journalists Saturday night, drawing laughter when she announced she “came down from my hotel room and I could see the Russian Embassy.” The 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate also joked that she had orginally thought of titling her book “How To Look Like a Million Bucks For Only $150,000″ before settling on “Going Rogue.” In one of the controversies surrounding her candidacy, the campaign spent about $150,000 on her wardrobe.

With Sarah Palin drawing crowds like this , we may yet have the good fortune of seeing Alaska’s governor atop the GOP ticket in 2012: Palin draws 20,000 to New York appearance Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) vowed to keep fighting the policies of Washington and its growing government solutions to the nation’s economic problems in a Saturday speech in Auburn, N.Y. celebrating the city’s Founder’s Day. Palin was on hand to help raise money for a museum honoring William Seward, the 19th secretary of state who purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel rejected international pressure to suspend its air offensive against Palestinian militants whose rocket barrages are striking close to the Israeli heartland, sending warplanes Wednesday to demolish smuggling tunnels that are the lifeline of Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers. The diplomatic action was set in motion by the scale of destruction in Gaza since Israel unleashed its campaign Saturday, and a casualty toll that Gaza officials now put at 390 dead and some 1,600 wounded.

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE… [ Bounce! Bounce! Bouncy Bounce Bounce! ] Ah, yes. The distinctive sound of the wheels coming off the Straight Talk Express. That was quite a thing to watch in the third quarter of the year, wasn’t it? Flashback to August 20, when John McCain raised eyebrows by asserting that “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.” When he repeated it on September 15—the day the Dow Industrials lost 504 points—he looked like an idiot.

Like it’s not bad enough. I’ve been hearing loons talk about secession up here my whole life. In Alaska, the three top ballot seats: President, Senate and House of Representatives, have candidates on the ballot from the secessionist Alaska Independent Party. In two of the three, the AIP holds at least 4% of the vote. The felonious Ted Stevens looks like he has convinced over a hundred thousand Alaskans what he couldn’t convince 12 jurors of a few weeks ago. Now, Keith Olbermann has the temerity to ask if it’s too late to sell Alaska back to the Russians.

International Republican Institute