18 September 2008

Election Thursday: Losing Repercussions

There's been some sort of attack/disturbance at the American embassy in Yemen. (CNN, BBC, Guardian, Times) Yemen's in rough shape, as I've noted previously. Robert Kaplan has an excellent chapter on Yemen's dysfunction in Imperial Grunts. The Yemenis have also instituted a religious police force, a la Saudi Arabia, Iran, and pre-war Afghanistan. Not good, not good.

As if Lebanon didn't have enough problems, two rival Christian groups are fighting one another. How one of them could be pro-Syrian, I don't know.

Following up on yesterday's coverage of the French rescue operation in Somalia (and there's another article about it from the AP), the London Times has an article about just how much of a threat Somali piracy is to the world at large.

Believe it or not, what you're reading is known in some circles as Open Source Intelligence analysis (OSINT). Open source intelligence is basically unclassified data, often news stories or other information on the Internet or in print media, that has intelligence value for either government or corporate intelligence purposes. There are a couple of interesting articles about the sensitivity of government-prepared OSINT products. (Wired, UPI) The stuff is unclassified by its very nature, but it's becoming more and more sensitive. Don't take my word for it, read the articles.

Okay, in lieu of interesting stuff about me (which will be covered in excruciating detail tomorrow), today is Election Thursday. I actually don't have that much this week, so I'll post it and then be on my way to accomplishing great things for the day.

Good ol' Harley linked me to an interesting article by one of the best writers working today, Richard Miniter. He asks the question: What if Obama Loses? Very much worth the read. Also, one of the main issues in this campaign is character, and last week America saw an event that was covered by the media: Senators McCain and Obama visiting Ground Zero in New York to mark the seventh anniversary of 9/11. What wasn't really analyzed by most in the media is how Senator Obama handled himself. I realize that that I'm a partisan, but let's say that I wasn't; would such behavior impress me, a moderate, patriotic, working class voter? I don't think it would No matter how it works out in the end, this is going to be a very interesting election to watch, all the way up to the finish.

I could come up with a pithy and interesting video that you haven't seen before, but I'm going to be lazy and post an awesome video that doesn't require much editorial consideration: Governor Palin's speech from the Republican National Convention.



Alright, folks, time for me to get things done. Check back tomorrow, because this week's AMF is going to be extensive and excellent.

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