The Corsair

2012-01-28T11:33:00.001-05:00

2012-01-28T11:20:00.001-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "France took the lead in the EU approval of the latest round of Iranian sanctions. The move is a low-cost strategy for France, which, in light of the European financial crisis, needs to reassert itself alongside Germany as Europe's co-leader ... The European Union agreed Jan. 23 to implement a new round of sanctions against Iran, including an unprecedented embargo on

2012-01-26T14:30:00.001-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "Michael McCarty, the man behind the power lunch spot Michael's, recently launched a new Korean-influenced bar bites menu and seasonal cocktail list that's drawing younger media types to the bar after work. His 27-year-old executive chef, Kyung Up Lim, has developed delicious snacks like spicy beef tacos, fried oysters and Korean-style, fried chicken drummettes to go

2012-01-25T12:19:00.000-05:00

Obama Veers Populist Right before our very eyes last night, as if by magic, the President veered towards the populist left. It has been a long and treacherous journey, a move he had resisted in 2008 -- where he was cast as the brainy, intellectual, lofty rhetoric spouting pol with the dazzling smile. Populism, to be quite frank, was inorganic to Obama, a Democrat in the stiff Dukakis-Kerry

2012-01-25T09:56:00.003-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "China will break with a 30-year tradition by not sending high-level officials to the World Economic Forum at Davos, which falls this year in the middle of Chinese New Year festivities. Beijing approached WEF organisers early in 2011 and suggested they move this year’s gathering to an earlier date, making it possible for senior Chinese officials to attend the event.

2012-01-24T14:47:00.002-05:00

Some Thoughts on Mittens Versus Gingy Romney, barely concealing his patrician disgust at the oily Gingrich This blogger has several thoughts on the present epic political GOP struggle: Pisces (Romney, the two fish) versus Gingrich (Gemini, the twins) battle. My thoughts: An Early White House Christmas "Axe" Axelrod and Plouffe are probably arrogantly smoking cigars -- as smugly as Joseph

2012-01-24T13:52:00.000-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "Last week, I wrote on the strategic challenge Iran faces in its bid to shape a sphere of influence stretching from western Afghanistan to Beirut on the eastern Mediterranean coast. I also pointed out the limited options available to the United States and other Western powers to counter Iran. One was increased efforts to block Iranian influence in Syria. The other was to

2012-01-23T11:08:00.001-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "While some were off to the sliding, others were working, like this entrepreneur across the street from me. You can’t say these people aren’t willing to do anything. As I’ve noted before about this growing recycling workforce, it’s not a job that would be anyone’s first, second, or third choice. Maybe it’s the very last on anyone’s list. But it pays something, no

2012-01-21T10:52:00.001-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "The year 2012 will see a stream of new books in the patented Thomas Friedman 'Oh My God the Chinese Are Eating Our Lunch with Environmentally Friendly Chopsticks' mold. Some will be more worthwhile than others. One book in particular, however, is sure to stand out, if only for the title: "Becoming China's Bitch: And Nine More Catastrophes We Must Avoid Right Now." The

2012-01-20T10:54:00.002-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "We may be in the thick of a presidential race, but on 19th street in Washington the thousands of World Bank employees can be forgiven for being more interested in the significantly more opaque process of selecting a new Bank president. The term of Robert Zoellick, the Bank's current president, ends later this year. In a fully meritocratic world, a global talent

2012-01-19T14:59:00.001-05:00

Gallery hopping: Milk Studios Aaron Stern Exhibition Annie Clark, St Vincents Last night at Milk Studios' party for Aaron Stern's exhibition of rock photography and the launch of his book Everyone Must be Announced drew a lot of rock stars, models and what can only be properly construed as rock royalty throwing back the vodka. Among the crowd was Zoe Kravits, Alexa Chung, Penn Badgely,

2012-01-19T09:49:00.002-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "'I think a lot of punditry on this thing doesn’t make any sense,' said Bill Carrick, a veteran Democratic consultant who grew up in Aiken as a contemporary of Lee Atwater’s and now plies his trade in Los Angeles. Carrick hasn’t lost his drawl, or his familiarity with the state. 'With all its conservatism, South Carolina is still a pretty orderly place, and the truth is

2012-01-18T09:48:00.001-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "Since the 2008 financial crisis, Wall Street has been the perpetual whipping boy for the ensuing recession that has rocked the global economy. In the United States, Manhattan bankers relied too heavily on subprime mortgages, the story goes, sparking the crisis -- in bureaucratic jargon, what is dubbed a 'regulatory oversight failure.' In Europe, the debt crisis --

2012-01-17T09:46:00.000-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "Have you had it up to here with supposed allies who issue ultimatums to Washington? Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, seems to come up with a new one whenever he's in a bad mood. Last week's was: Hand over all the prisoners in the main detention facility in Parwan within a month. And what about the Pakistanis? In the aftermath of the NATO raid that killed 24

2012-01-13T10:52:00.000-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "Six weeks ago in Washington, on the sidelines of a major U.S.-Israeli meeting known as the 'strategic dialogue,' Israeli Mossad officers were quietly and obliquely bragging about the string of explosions in Iran. 'They would say things like, ‘It’s not the best time to be working on Iranian missile design,’ one U.S. intelligence official at the December parley told The

2012-01-12T14:51:00.000-05:00

Last Night's Paley Center Screening: Kevin Breslin's While We Watch Last night The Corsair went to see a screening of Kevin Breslin -- son of the legendary Jimmy -- and his new documentary on the Occupy Wall Street movement While We Watch. The documentary was absolutely fascinating, the first of its kind, going behind the scenes, into the tents, chronicling what it was like to be a part of

2012-01-12T09:52:00.000-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "Meet the three billionaires who could drag out the GOP presidential primary, bloody up front-runner Mitt Romney and weaken the odds of defeating President Barack Obama: Sheldon Adelson, Foster Friess and Jon Huntsman, Sr. The three men are contributing millions of

2012-01-10T14:10:00.001-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "In a bombshell revelation sure to reverberate around the world, the Washington Post quotes a senior U.S. intelligence official seeming to suggest that the United States goal is now the collapse of the Iranian regime. The story's headline: 'Goal of Iran sanctions is regime collapse, U.S. official says.' I say 'suggest' because the Post never directly quotes the official

2012-01-09T14:05:00.002-05:00

The Delicious Multidimensionality of Stephen Colbert I was particularly struck by the New York Times magazine profile of Stephen Colbert and, in particular, the multidimensionality of his satire. As someone who has more than a passing interest in the idea of multiple dimensions, multidimensionality and irony is a subject that deeply piques this blogger's curiosity. Eric Drysdale, who

2012-01-09T13:20:00.000-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "It would have been almost unimaginable five years ago that the Financial Times would convene a series of articles on 'Capitalism in Crisis'. That it has done so is a reflection both of sour public opinion and distressing results on the ground in much of the industrial world. Americans have traditionally been the most enthusiastic champions of capitalism. Yet, a

2012-01-07T10:21:00.000-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "An unexpected name started popping up after President Barack Obama laid out his new defense strategy: Donald Rumsfeld. Obama and Pentagon leaders used words like 'leaner' and 'agile' Thursday in describing the kind of military they intend to build. Senior Pentagon officials said the leaner, more agile force Obama’s new strategy envisions is necessary so the force can

2012-01-06T10:14:00.000-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "When the euro officially entered circulation at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2002, fireworks lit up the night sky across Europe to celebrate the scrapping of the French franc, German deutsche mark, Greek drachma, and a clutch of other ancient currencies. Brussels hosted an extravagant sound-and-light show, while Frankfurt unveiled a five-story statue of the

2012-01-05T13:13:00.001-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "Surprisingly, an eight-vote victory is not the most closely contested presidential nominating contest in recent memory -- Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton by a mere seven votes in the Guam caucuses in 2008. And there have been many other close calls over the years. There are three big winners from the Iowa caucuses. The first, and most important, is Mitt Romney, who

2012-01-04T09:50:00.000-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "G-Zero and the Middle East -- The inability/unwillingness of major powers to bolster the region's balance of force will generate greater turbulence across North Africa and the Middle East as unresolved religious, sectarian, and ethnic tensions threaten more unrest. The lack of a viable regional security framework, continuing protests, autocracies at risk, and enormous

2012-01-02T12:47:00.002-05:00

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres "Even before the final results are known, there are more than a few indicators of how the evening will go on caucus night. Performance in key counties is revealing, and turnout, weather, and energy all play a role, too. As the evening progresses, there will also be signs of who has the endurance and support to go beyond Iowa once the voting is over — and who doesn’t.