During an interview with The Atlantic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Either, he said, the international community puts tighter sanctions on Tehran, or military action will have to take place. If this latter is the only option left, Israel hopes the U.S. will do it but, if not, the Jewish nation-state will do it herself.

The Atlantic summarizes Netanyahu’s words of warning as follows: “Netanyahu to Obama:| MORE ›

Who said miracles don’t exist? Liberal newspaper NRC Handelsblad published an article today in which it praises the Pope for his take on the AIDS problem in Africa. The headline: “factually, the Pope is right.”

The rest of the article explains that the Pope is right when he says that not the condom but monogamy will help Africa fight AIDS. Condoms may be effective in the Western world, but Africans simply refuse to use ‘em.| MORE ›

Shocking. No, really, shocking:

Home prices in 20 U.S. cities fell 19 percent in January from a year earlier, the fastest drop on record, as demand plummeted and foreclosures rose.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index’s decrease was more than forecast and compares with an 18.6 percent decrease in December. The gauge has fallen every month since January 2007, and year- over-year records began in 2001.

There is good news, however:| MORE ›

Moderate conservative columnist David Brooks opines:

Well, the president certainly acted tough on Monday. In a show of force, he released plans from his Office of People Who Are Much Smarter Than You Are. These plans insert the government into the car business in all sorts of ways. They pick winners (new C.E.O. Fritz Henderson) and losers (Rick Wagoner). They basically send Chrysler off into the sunset. Joe Biden will be doing car commercials within weeks.| MORE ›

The Associated Press thinks so:

During the election campaign, Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed peace talks with the Palestinians, supported expanding West Bank settlements and warned that concessions only embolden Israel’s enemies.

But preparing to become Israel’s prime minister Tuesday, Netanyahu adopted a more conciliatory tone, reflecting the same pragmatic streak that in the past allowed him to navigate complex domestic and global politics.| MORE ›

Wonderful:

President Nicolas Sarkozy has raised the stakes ahead of the London G20 summit, warning France will not accept any agreement that ignores his calls for tighter financial regulation.Since the onset of the financial crisis in August last year, Sarkozy has insisted that capitalism must be “refounded” under a strict new international framework of accountancy standards and limits on speculation.| MORE ›

Bloomberg is reporting that total commitments from the U.S. federal treasury in response to the continuing global financial crisis are approaching the total value of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — the total value of all goods and services produced in the United States in a year.| MORE ›

The OECD said Tuesday more stimulus is needed to pull the world economy out of a recession.| MORE ›

A reader pointed this video at YouTube out at me. It’s a great movie about Americanism and the American system. Watch it. We’ve heard much about ‘democracy’ in recent years. Democracy has become ‘goal’ in itself, the ultimate system. When George W. Bush declared war on Afghanistan and Iraq, he did so in order to “spread democracy.” One democracy in the Middle East would lead to several others.

But is the United States a democracy? No, and for good reason:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7M-7LkvcVw[/youtube] (more…)