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The United States, Germany and Beyond
By George Friedman

Three major meetings will take place in Europe over the next nine days: a meeting of the G-20, a NATO summit and a meeting of the European Union with U.S. President Barack Obama. The week will define the relationship between the United States and Europe and reveal some intra-European relationships.| MORE ›

Being the Romney-fan I am, I can greatly appreciate this Associated Press article:

Mitt Romney doesn’t have a job for the first time in his adult life. That hardly means he’s not working. In ways both subtle and overt, the 2008 Republican presidential contender, former Massachusetts governor, one-time Olympics chief and high-flying businessman is building toward a 2012 White House campaign by judiciously engaging and disengaging with the national debate.| MORE ›

Yes, I know it’s been done in a not-so-secret way for many years now.  Some networks have denied it (MSNBC, CNN, CBS, etc.) while others acknowledge it but have taken pains to not announce it too loudly (Fox).  Yet, with the opening of The FOX Nation, I think there can no longer be any doubt that the era of partisan news has truely begun.

I think the writing was on the wall, but this game the television networks have been playing with American (and world) viewers needs to end. (more…)

Fox News launched the Fox Nation today, a new website, in many ways similar to Huffington Post. Be sure to visit this site on a daily basis – it’s updated almost constantly, and features a lot of breaking and ‘most talked about’ news. Of course, Fox Nation is heavily biased, but so is Huffington Post.

Fox is doing what Andrew Breitbart suggested conservatives should do: take the battle online, fight like liberals fight. Is it a positive development for conservative bloggers, though? Hot Air’s view:| MORE ›

New PoliGazette contributor Eric Martin starts his career with a bang today, arguing that Gen. David Petreaus’ comments against torture make him an unlikely prospect for the Republican presidential nomination.

Of course, it is way too early to speculate on Petreaus’ actual intentions or the shape of the 2012 primary field. Other than retreads from 2008 like Palin and Romney as well as a couple of rising stars like Jindal and Pawlenty, it is not even possible to speculate usefully about who might be running.| MORE ›

Jason, consider this a follow-up to your post about Obama’s influence over General Motors. The AP reports:

President Barack Obama asserted unprecedented government control over the auto industry Monday, bluntly rejecting turnaround plans by General Motors Corp.| MORE ›

Like most conservatives and moderates, I am generally skeptical of government control of large areas of the economy. That skepticism is particularly prominent in the case of health care, where advocates of single-payer government health care usually breeze past concerns about rationing and the loss of incentives for equipment investments as well as research and development projects.| MORE ›

One of the most criticized U.S. Treasure Secretary’s in history, Tim Geithner – and the man has only been secretary for two months or so – refused to say Sunday whether more bailout money was needed in the coming weeks and months.

“We have roughly $135 billion left of uncommitted resources. The rest is out the door,” he said on ABC-TV’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” program.| MORE ›

Senator Norm Coleman is continuing his battle in the Minnesota courts to try to reclaim the vote-count lead from former (very nasty and unfunny) comedian and Democrat challenger Al Franken. But things look quite grim for Coleman’s prospects in front of both the current 3-judge appeals panel and the Minnesota Supreme Court. Coleman has been threatening for some time to continue the fight into the federal courts, hoping to use the internally-disavowed Bush v Gore precedent to pull out a win.| MORE ›

In a direct attack against the left’s apparent dominance of the blogosphere, Andrew Breitbart has identified what he believes to be a conspiracy established and funded by the Obama administration’s political wing to harass and hijack right-leaning web sites. The Other McCain signs on to the theory and its prescription for a conservative counterattack.

I cannot agree with the conspiratorial claims made unless there is a great deal more evidence provided first. But I do observe some of the same things that give rise to these conspiratorial theories. (more…)