Why Powell can save ObamaDavid Petraeus has bet his career on counterinsurgency strategies in Afghanistan, so there’s a good chance he will resign and turn on Obama if the President pulls the plug. Only one man can protect Obama from that kind of threat and his name is Colin Powell, writes Peter Beinart.
October, 2010
Debating Afghanistan: furious agreement
Crikey media wrap: Yesterday heralded the opening day of Australia’s first parliamentary debate into the war in Afghanistan, including PM Gillard’s surprise admission that Aussie troops may not leave Afghanistan for a decade.
More Morgan Reactor testing of US midterm ads
We have a new batch of US midterm ads that have been run through the Roy Morgan Reactor audience response testing, giving some pretty interesting results - especially by party breakdown, writes Possum Comitatus.
3,600 reasons why the Oz music industry is in trouble
How many records do you need to sell to get to No 1 on The ARIA? Well this week metal band Bring Me the Horizon managed it after selling only 3,600 albums. What a sad state the music industry is stuck in, explains Tim Dunlop.
The interest rate blame game: the RBA isn’t playing along
For the umpteenth time, the RBA has declined to accept the claim that Government spending has anything to do with pressure on interest rates.
ALP makes lefty election pitch, but Cleary could spoil
The ALP has moved to shore up its credibility with inner-city leftistes in the lead-up to the Victorian state election, in a last ditch bid to avoid the federal debacle that saw its 104-year old fiefdom of Melbourne fall to the Greens.
Refugee groups join Greens in push for free-kids law
Refugee groups are urging the government to go further with its decision to allow children of asylum seekers to be released from detention, with the Greens pushing for the policy to be enshrined in law.
Is Brisbane’s sewer broadband a crock of …?
Broadband through the sewers? Obvious jokes aside, does Brisbane’s plan to roll out its own fibre rather than wait for the National Broadband Network prove Australia’s need for speed?
Bloody farmers: topics for the Murray Darling Technical Background report
Following community pressure it was announced at Senate Estimates this morning that the MDBA technical background report will be available online from Friday, says Crikey naturalist Lionel Elmore.
Mandatory detention: won’t somebody please think of the adults
It’s less than two months since the federal election, but the Greens already have a concrete achievement to show their supporters.
The independent water report by the board member’s colleague
A report that sparked deep anxiety in regional communities about the impacts of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan was less independent than it seems.
Guy Rundle: Rundle’s mid-terms: tea with Christine O’Donnell in Dover, Delaware
The music cranks up, as the crowd swells towards low triple figures, “don’t stop believin”, “walking on sunshine”, ancient pop-rock that’s become the house music for these events.
Afghanistan: respecting expertise, seeking knowledge
The problem with war coverage is just this: we are given a simplistic view of a complex situation, writes journalism student Andrew Riddle, a former soldier in the Australian Regular Army
Australian companies trail trading partners on pricing carbon
Two new studies have dispelled a couple of the myths that still hold some currency in the climate change debate, writes Climate Spectator’s Giles Parkinson.
… 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, foreclosure crisis countdown continues
The US foreclosure crisis continues with the “robo-signing” scandal already costing US banks $US50 billion in market value.
Possum: insulation fire risk — the data is in
What we found was that under every possible scenario, the government insulation program — far from increasing the rates of fire occurring from installing insulation — actually reduced the rate of fires and likely reduced the rate in a quite substantial manner.
How Rupert compares himself to Warren Buffett
It will be amusing to read the Murdoch press cover all these forthcoming remuneration votes in Australia when their own top five executives trousered $US80 million in 2009-10 and actively deny News Corp shareholders a chance to reflect on this.
Neither side get the Murray Darling basics right
On the Murray-Darling, Labor is doing what it always does — allow its opponents to frame the debate. Luckily, the Coalition still hasn’t learnt the basics either.
Morning Market Report: Markets up as financials close strong
Financials were up 2.3% on better than expected results from Citigroup.
Daily Proposition: Read a book that cuts to the truth
Truth in media. Truth in justice. A word which occupies the minds of many academics and has flowed through the annals of Australian justice. A legendary South African forensic scientist, Dr David Klatzow, offers some meaningful insight, says France-based writer Simon Burrow.
Media briefs: Oz leaks update … Facebook and the WSJ …
Detective Senior Constable Simon Artz of the Victoria Police appeared briefly in the Melbourne Magistrates Court this morning, facing charges of leaking details of the anti-terrorism Operation Neath to The Australian’s senior journalist Cameron Stewart. Plus, what’s Facebook when you tap phones?
