The scandal following the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich seems like something uniquely Chicago based to some of the commentariat, who have wondered about the President-Elect’s ability to distance himself from the seedier side of big city machine politics.  One thing, though – this is simply the latest of a long standing tradition, although it does have some Chicago connections.| MORE ›

According to the Financial Times, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev is starting to worry Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the latter’s allies. The reason: Medvedev is becoming increasingly assertive, paying less respect to Putin and being more outspoken about his own (constitutional) powers.| MORE ›

It is winter and ice cold – literally. It is approximately -10 at night which means that all lakes have frozen and turned into ice skating tracks.

The most popular winter sport in the Netherlands is ice skating, so all of us are thrilled that a true winter has finally arrived: we were not able to ice skate for several years.

Some photos of me in action (photos taken today – my father took them with ‘date’ on them but he forgot to adjust the date: the photos say 1-1-2004 but they were taken 12-31-2008):

The Israeli war against Hamas continued today for the fourth day in a row. Hamas targets were once again destroyed. The operation “Cast Lead” has severely weakened the terrorist organization’s infrastructure and it has resulted in the death of hundreds of terrorists.

Below follows a video of the IAF bombings of Hamas Headquarters in Gaza. We post this with a major hat tip to Power Line which published the video first and the IDF sent it to them.| MORE ›

Via The Moderate Voice comes this tidbit at Barcepundit (English edition): the economic financial crisis has now also hit Spain. Spain’s property market is “dropping fast”: ‘ Property fairs tout discounts of as much as 60% on new-built homes, or even “buy one, get one free” offers. “All the statistics show a fall,” concedes the housing minister, Beatriz Corredor. Yet pinning down just how big a fall is tricky. Tax-shy Spaniards do not always declare the true selling prices.| MORE ›

Although all politicians want their party to become the ruling party, being the minority has its advantages: the ruling party has to deliver no matter what. If it fails to do so, it will be held accountable, some members of the party will lose their office (and therefore their job) and they can be less ideological than members of the opposition can be.

The minority, on the other hand, can stay true to its ideals. It does not have to deliver anything since it is in no position to do so.| MORE ›

We at PoliGazette would like to wish all our readers a very happy new year: may 2009 bring you all you wish and more.

I’ve had numerous discussions with people, mostly fellow Muslims, in recent days about the Israeli attacks on Gaza and the civilian victims of these bombings. As these people point out to me, purposefully killing innocent people – especially children – is a major crime against humanity and it is forbidden in the Qur’an: killing children is one of the worst crimes imaginable. As the Qur’an says, he who kills one innocent person, ‘it is as if he had murdered all mankind’ (Sura al-Ma’ida: 32 – 5:32). | MORE ›

The President Elect has been receiving a great deal of support for his promise to change the old ways of politics.  Now he may be hoping for some change – sooner, rather than later.  Despite his wishes to deal with affairs of state, the matter of his succession is shaping up to be a serious problem.| MORE ›

The New York Times, like many big corporations, has not had a good year.  Advertising revenue is down, the paper has been hammered for one-sided editorial policies, and several large urban papers are looking like candidates for bankruptcy.  So the NYT is due for improved circumstances in 2009, right?  Wrong.| MORE ›