text:
In a game filled with momentum swings, the University of Nebraska at Omaha men's basketball team was able to get the final one as it nabbed a 79-75 nonconference win against Chicago State on Tuesday in front of a Ralston Arena crowd of 830.
Justin Simmons scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the final six minutes for the Mavericks. CJ Carter added 15 points and Caleb Steffensmeier matched a season high with 14 points.
UNO coach Derrin Hansen said the game featured a lot of "spurtability."
"I thought there were a lot of spurts in the game," Hansen said. "I just felt that we had the last one.
"We jumped them early, and they came back and got on us and got ahead of us and we finally put a spurt on them with four or five minutes to go when we went zone."
Chicago State had the Mavs (10-18) on the ropes with 5:13 remaining, leading 62-55 and frustrating a UNO team that made inbounding the ball look difficult for several minutes.
That's when the Mavs switched to a zone defense and went on a 14-0 tear to take a 69-62 lead with 1:53 left.
Steffensmeier, who had two key steals in that final run and was 3 for 3 from 3-point range in the second half, said that defensive adjustment was key.
"I think it started on our defensive end," he said. "We kind of changed up a bit and went zone, and that really helped us get steals and get them out of their offense."
Join the conversation on the Mavericks Today Facebook page. |
Simmons agreed that the switch to zone, which UNO rarely utilizes, confused the Cougars on offense.
"That slowed them down," Simmons said. "They took tough shots, then bad shots, which led to our run-ups. That just changed everything."
The Mavs jumped to a 12-2 lead, making four of their first five field-goal attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers by Alex Phillips and Alex Welhouse.
But the Cougars responded with a 13-2 run as Quinton Pippen knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Jeremy Robinson added a third to give Chicago State a 15-14 lead with 13:12 left in the first half.
UNO led 36-30 at halftime, but the Cougars roared out of the break by hitting their first six shots of the second half en route to an 18-3 burst for a 48-39 advantage with 15:04 left.
The Mavs cut their deficit to 50-47 with 12:45 left after a pair of 3-pointers by Steffensmeier and another by Simmons.
UNO makes its first appearance in the ESPN BracketBusters event at 1 p.m. Saturday when it hosts North Dakota at Ralston Arena.
The Mavs conclude their season next week with home games against South Dakota State and North Dakota State.
The Mavericks are ineligible to compete in the Summit League tournament as they continue to reclassify as a Division I program.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1201, firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
- Quick Links
- Academics (Credit)
- Continuing Education (Non-Credit)
- ----------------------
- HCC Portal
- Moodle
- WebAdvisor
- Student Email
- College Central Network
- Emergency Alert Sign-Up
- Transcript Requests
- ----------------------
- Alumni Association
- HCC Foundation
- Volunteers
- ----------------------
- Administrator on Duty
- Directions and Maps
- News and Events
- Athletics
- Library
- Jobs
MD Defense Force Band performs June 9
Submitted by Leigh-Anne Mauk on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 9:26am
The Hagerstown Community College Alumni Association will host the Maryland Defense Force Band as part of its annual Red, White and Blue Concert Series, on Sun., June 9, at 6:15 p.m., in HCC's Alumni Amphitheater.
The Maryland Defense Force (MDDF) Band consists of more than 20 volunteer musicians who perform at military ceremonies and events for the Maryland Defense Force and also provide musical support for the 229th Army Band, the Maryland Military Department (MMD), and the Maryland National Guard (MDNG). The band currently performs under the direction of Major Jari Villanueva, commander and conductor, MDDF Band.
Co-sponsored by the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, this concert is free and is open to the public. Concessions will be available for purchase. Please note that no outside food is permitted on the amphitheater grounds.
For more information about the Red, White and Blue Summer Concert Series, call 240-500-2346, or go to www.hagerstowncc.edu/alumni-friends. To learn more about the Maryland Defense Force Band, go to http://mddf.maryland.gov/band.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The World's Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities!
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text:
Crystal Body Deodorant Travel Stick -- 1.5 oz
Best Deodorant I've Ever Used!
I wish I would have known about this long ago...I love it! For me, it's the best. I have tried everything from the "natural" ones to the "regular" ones and I have no odor when I use the crystal. Great quality product and great price! I highly recommend it.
November 16, 2012
very helpful!
i love this little thing!
September 8, 2012
Am really impressed with this odor control
I am very impressed with this odor control. I have heard of the "crystal" stick for years and never tried it because I thought, "How could a rock keep you from smelling bad?"
Earlier this year a friend was saying how he used the Crystal so I asked my dumb question. He said, "It's not a rock. It's a rock of salt."
So I was traveling and saw a mini version and bought it. Very impressed. And it lasts a very long time. I am still on my "trial size" 4 months later, which rattles now but hasn't fallen off the plastic cap yet.
One note, if you are not clean this will not help as much. This must be applied to clean skin so wash those pits twice before applying. Bacteria is what causes odor so a double wash is better, or use a Tea Tree Soap.
September 6, 2012
Not to be enough for Israel hot summer. But I suppose will be good for winter.
June 22, 2012
Thumbs Down!
I was never able to use this deodorant because after i took the top off, the deodorant was like sealed and i break it trying to get to the deodorant but ended up destroying it. I put it in the trash!!
I did not a good experience with this product.
May 22, 2012


text:
Sep 14, 2012, 10:29 AM | #1 |
30-pin male to lightning female adapter?
Just a curious thought, I wonder if a 30-pin male to lightning female adapter will come out. Pre-ordered an iPhone 5 last night with an extra lightning USB cable but i have an ipod nano too that stays in my car and i'd much rather use lightning cable with this type of adapter on that so if i need to plug my phone in I don't need a second cable or a lightning to 30-pin adapter laying around. (would leave the 30Male to L-Female attached to the nano when not hooked up). Also because of the size it would seem like there wouldn't be much added stress either since you are going from big to small not small to big. Would basically just make the nano longer since it's about the width of the 30-pin connector anyway. Thoughts?
MacBook Pro 15" (early 2008)Mac ProPowerMac G5 (Dual 1.8GHz-Lep Srv)iPhone 5iPhone 4SiPhone 4iPhone 3GSiPhone 2GiPad 2 (3G-Verizon) |
1 |
Dec 24, 2012, 10:08 AM | #2 |
I agree a 30 pin male to female Lightening adaptor makes sense
I saw the adaptor you are describing when I did a recent Google search. Now, I can't find it. I asked an Apple Store employee, he sheepishly said that he was getting requests for this type of connector, but that Apple decided something different. I hope to find the 30 pin male to Lightening female adaptor soon. I'll just leave it in my iPad2. The new Lightening adaptor rocks!
1 |
Dec 31, 2012, 12:24 AM | #3 |
I would love to find this adapter. I have an iPad 3 and an iPhone 5. I would love to just carry lightning cables and an adapter for when i charge the ipad. I found what i want here but i cant find anyone that sells it.
- RMBP 2.3GHz quad-core i7, 16Gb Ram, 256Gb - Mac Mini - 2.5Ghz i5, 8Gb Ram, 2x500Gb Raid 0 - 32Gb iPad 3 Verizon - 32Gb Black iPhone 4 AT&T |
1 |
Jan 1, 2013, 01:14 AM | #4 |
I guess there isnt a big market for this type of adapter....
- RMBP 2.3GHz quad-core i7, 16Gb Ram, 256Gb - Mac Mini - 2.5Ghz i5, 8Gb Ram, 2x500Gb Raid 0 - 32Gb iPad 3 Verizon - 32Gb Black iPhone 4 AT&T |
1 |
Jan 2, 2013, 09:45 PM | #5 |
Here's one, but can't find a North American source
Here is a link for the connector.
http://www.sandberg.it/product/Adapt...to-Lightning-F There is no source in North America that I could find. |
2 |
Jan 4, 2013, 10:22 PM | #6 | |
- RMBP 2.3GHz quad-core i7, 16Gb Ram, 256Gb - Mac Mini - 2.5Ghz i5, 8Gb Ram, 2x500Gb Raid 0 - 32Gb iPad 3 Verizon - 32Gb Black iPhone 4 AT&T |
1 |
Jan 4, 2013, 11:27 PM | #7 | |
Amazon UK has the white ones - I've seen them
I've suggested to a retailer to acquire this item, we'll see if it happens. Good luck! ---------- Sorry to report, Amazon UK no longer lists this item. I think that it is a highly practical connector for those of us migrating to lightning connections. It is the best possible connecter bar none! Last edited by Craigriver; Jan 4, 2013 at 11:31 PM. Reason: Correct a statement to something more precise |
1 |
Jan 6, 2013, 12:40 AM | #8 | |
- RMBP 2.3GHz quad-core i7, 16Gb Ram, 256Gb - Mac Mini - 2.5Ghz i5, 8Gb Ram, 2x500Gb Raid 0 - 32Gb iPad 3 Verizon - 32Gb Black iPhone 4 AT&T |
1 |
Jan 6, 2013, 01:40 PM | #10 |
That's not what they are looking for. They want a female 8 pin to male 30 pin adapter.
---------- But I'm still confused why anyone would need one.... |
1 |
Jan 6, 2013, 05:22 PM | #11 |
Sorry pardon!
1 |
Jan 7, 2013, 12:33 AM | #12 | ||
Why a male 30pin to female Lightning connecter?
First, the new connecter rocks compared to the old style. It plugs in on either side of the pins. The old 30 pin was one way and much more difficult to insert with ease. I have an iPad 2, which has the old 30 pin connector and a new iPhone 5 which has the new connecter. I want the adaptor to place it in the iPad 2 and leave it there. I may possibly superglue it in place. Or, perhaps use some silicone which is easier to remove. I can plug the Lightning connecter into it and I only need carry one kind of charging cord. All my old 30 pin to usb connectors are shot and I hate using them. So, why not go with the new item, which is oh so much easier to use? I can stick with one connector and don't need to fuss with the old clunky one. ---------- Quote:
Last edited by Craigriver; Jan 7, 2013 at 02:10 AM. Reason: Clarification of a sentence |
1 |
Jan 7, 2013, 05:00 AM | #13 |
Who knows how good it will be. Overall, Apples Lightning to 30-Pin Adapter and Lightning to 30-Pin Adapter (0.2 m) are good rather than great accessories, dragged down by a combination of high prices, mixed electronic compatibility, and physically imperfect designs.
1 |
Jan 7, 2013, 02:03 PM | #14 |
Did you read the OP?
My adapters work fine. Not sure what you mean by the latter two. What specific problems are you having and how would you improve it? |
1 |
Jan 12, 2013, 01:21 PM | #15 |
Still have been unable to find a seller of these.....I will keep looking.
- RMBP 2.3GHz quad-core i7, 16Gb Ram, 256Gb - Mac Mini - 2.5Ghz i5, 8Gb Ram, 2x500Gb Raid 0 - 32Gb iPad 3 Verizon - 32Gb Black iPhone 4 AT&T |
1 |
Jan 12, 2013, 11:10 PM | #16 | |
We may have a solution shortly
I think they will be getting it soon! At least that is what they said when I sent them the page with the particular one you had suggested. You might send them the link also, because they had been looking for the thicker one - I agree the smaller one look better. |
1 |
Jan 13, 2013, 12:19 AM | #17 |
I just ordered several lightning cables from fast tech. I'll post a review of them all when I get them.
1 |
Jan 19, 2013, 08:34 PM | #18 |
Anything new from FastTech?
- RMBP 2.3GHz quad-core i7, 16Gb Ram, 256Gb - Mac Mini - 2.5Ghz i5, 8Gb Ram, 2x500Gb Raid 0 - 32Gb iPad 3 Verizon - 32Gb Black iPhone 4 AT&T |
1 |
Jan 20, 2013, 01:47 AM | #19 |
Nothing new insofar as the connecter
Only, that it is soon to be listed. Not holding my breath for anytime soon.
I think I've learned why many folks desire the female 30 pin to maie lightening connecter. It is all the accessories are built upon the 30 pin model. It looks like the manufacturers of accessories, such as bluetooth add-ons (rendered obsolete with Bluetooth 4.0?) and TV remote control transmitters all will need that kind of adaptor, as will the speaker/radio/alarm units all built upon the 30 pin paradigm. In fact some probably may never switch to lightening due to incompatibilities with lightning.
13" MacBooK Pro 07 Mac MIni iPad2 iPhone5 |
1 |
Jan 26, 2013, 12:14 PM | #20 |
Fast tech cable review.....#1 cabled adapter....fits fine, charges but does not do audio. Bummer cause I got it to use with my FM transmitter. #2 standard charge cable, fits and works like OEM, haven't tried a sync yet. #3 200 cm cable. Fit REALLY tightly and when I tried to unplug it, the hard plastic sheath slid right off, seemed to have no adhesive. #4 9cm cable, again fit too tightly and the plastic sheath on BOTH ends slid down, lightning and USB. To the companies credit, as soon as they get delivery confirmation, they send an email with links to report any problems, submit reviews etc. I liked that. Shipping took less than 10 days from China to Hawaii for free, with step by step tracking. I will try and get the two problem cables replaced.
1 |
Jan 26, 2013, 01:47 PM | #21 | |
There appears to be a company called "The Tech Lodge" in UK that sells the Sandberg 440-45 adapter and will ship to USA. You can order through Amazon.uk (at least two sellers appear to ship internationally), but I found that ordering direct from The Tech Lodge's website was cheaper. URL: http://www.thetechlodge.co.uk/Sandbe.../dp/B009KZZ3LC Adapter is £13.60. Shipping to US is quoted as £13 for one adapter and £20 for two. One adapter plus shipping would be £26.60, or about $42 dollars with current exchange rates. I placed an order for one and will see if it actually is shipped by them to the USA. Last edited by Craiguyver; Jan 26, 2013 at 01:55 PM. |
1 |
Feb 6, 2013, 12:03 AM | #22 |
An interesting story about Apple's moves on the adapter front
I think some may enjoy the above linked story on Apple's seemingly poor creations to smooth the connecter transition. Still no 8 pin female lightning to 30 pin male adapter of consequence in sight. Although apparently Apple Europe sells as micro-sim to 30 pin male connecter. I may purchase one, I can at least have a better connecter than my iPad's 30 pin connecter.
13" MacBooK Pro 07 Mac MIni iPad2 iPhone5 |
1 |
May 22, 2013, 02:42 PM | #23 |
I found this one, 8 pin female to 30 pin male adapter from google
http://www.guuds.com/product/iP5-902...d-Touch-4.html |
1 |
Jun 14, 2013, 12:26 PM | #24 | |
Charging and Sync ok |
1 |
Jun 25, 2013, 06:19 PM | #25 |
Does anyone know of a lightning female to 30 pin male adapter other than the Sandberg version referred to above?
I have a Bose SoundDock III, with a lightning connector. The reviews on Amazon indicate that the Sandberg adapter does not work on that device. |
0 |
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text:
These are chemical substances which alter the chemical composition of the cells in the body and brain, and in so doing, affect the way the cells function.
Drugs fall under many categories but on medicinal value, they can either be prescription medication or recreational drugs. The former are chemical substances which are made for the purposes of treating/ curing illnesses and are given with intake instructions (the amount to be taken and for how long). The latter (recreational drugs) are taken for leisure and they include drugs which are legally available and have only few legal restrictions such as alcohol and cigarettes and illegal and banned drugs by many authorities such as marijuana, crack cocaine, heroin and many others.
General drug classification
Drugs fall under any of the three categories of psychoactive drugs, which are those chemical substances which affect the functioning of the central nervous system and brain. The categories are: hallucinogens, stimulants and depressants.
Stimulants and their abuse
Stimulants are chemical substances, which when taken into the body, speed the functioning of the brain and CNS. This increases blood pressure, body temperature, bodily energy, mental alertness and sensitivity as well as hallucinations. Prescription stimulant drugs are used to treat attention deficit disorders, asthma and obesity among other dysfunctions and are abused for their effects of increasing energy levels, hallucinations and the body's internal temperature.
Depressants and their abuse
These drugs slow the functioning of the body and brain and their prescription (for legal prescription drugs such as morphine, suboxone, oxycodone etc.) are used to treat brain and body hyperactivity, numb pain, induce a state of stupor in the mind etc., so that the body and mind can have slowed functions. Depressant recreational drugs such as heroin and other prescription drugs are abused for their ability to slow the body and mind's functions, the pain numbing and drunkenness they induce.
Hallucinogens and their abuse
These are drugs which alter thinking such as marijuana and LSD and their abuse consists of too much intake of these drugs.
Drug abuse and addiction
Drug abuse is the intake of prescription drugs against prescription or intake of recreational drugs in excessive quantities. Addiction is a state of physical and mental compulsion for the drug which is perpetuated by withdrawal symptoms if the drug intake should be reduced or stopped.
Addiction develops fast from substance/ drug abuse because the cells' chemical composition gets altered so much that they develop tolerance. Increased tolerance is reduced action of both the body and mind's cells to the effects of the drug due to prolonged intake (use and abuse) and leads to physical dependence; if there is no intervention, addiction develops.
Interventions, in substance abuse and addiction, are the efforts put in place to prevent any of the stages of drug abuse from getting worse. The efforts include withdrawing of the abused substance and offering counseling that help the abusers/ addicts understand their situation, overcome the withdrawals and stay off the drug after treatment.
Intervention during abuse stages
Intervention during the drug abuse stage (whether prescription drugs being abused, recreational soft drugs or hard illegal drugs) comprise of sensitizing the abusers of the negative effects the substance abuse has on their mental and physical health as well as on their loved one and society. It is also important to limit the availability of the abused drug as much as possible (for instance keeping prescription medication under key and lock to avoid unauthorized access) as well as try to get into the core of the problem (why they are abusing the drugs in the first place).
Intervention during addiction
Addiction of any type of substance ruins the mental and physical health of the addict as well as their social relationships. There is also the danger of overdosing if too much of the drug gets into the system causing permanent organ damage or even death. To avoid the occurrence of all the above, it is important to get the addict into a treatment program which can be availed at home or at a rehabilitation center.
Addiction treatment is availed in public and private centers/ facilities which should comprise of:
- Qualified detox personnel
- A substance abuse counselor who is qualified and experienced
- A non- judgmental environment
- As much counseling for the addicts (as an individual and in groups) as possible
The treatment process
Substance abuse treatment, whether carried out in private or public institution/ facility is carried out in two main phases: therapy and detoxification. Detoxification is the process of cleansing the body of the drug by stopping further intake of the substance and treating the resulting withdrawal symptoms, often with a medication that works in similar mechanism as the abused drug; so that the body and the mind are blinded of the absence of the drug.
Therapy is counseling given on a one-on-one basis or in groups before, during and after the detoxification program. Counseling is as important as detoxification (the medical treatment of addiction) as it helps the counselor and doctor (helping the addict off the drug) identify the specific needs of the addict that need to be addressed as well as helping the addict understand their predicament and have enough will power to overcome the withdrawal symptoms of the drug they are withdrawing from.


text:
Target Restocks Some Missoni Items
Back in October we had heard through sources that Target was desperately trying to refill some of the Missoni items that essentially vaporized after they were lauched. The trick was, Target wanted them by holiday, making it an impossible feat for a lot of suppliers. But it looks like some were able to meet the breakneck turnaround time, though even since we looked last night a lot has already sold out again. Still, as we type, the bicycle–one of our faves–is still available here.
That being said, the site itself remains as slow and stodgy as ever, sort of like e-tail 2001 with pages hung up and whatnot, making for an entirely unfun online shopping experience.


text:
Roll Over Image to Magnify
& Click to Zoom |
Why Set & Save?
Just click "Add to Set & Save" when placing items in your cart.
The Born Free bottle system is designed to address the feeding needs of all babies - whether they are breastfed, formula fed, or both - making it the natural choice for all mothers.
The patented ActiveFlow Venting Technology helps mothers breastfeed longer by simulating mother's milk flow which is controlled by baby while nursing. This helps prevent nipple confusion and reduces the amount of air ingested by baby while feeding.
The Active-Flow Venting Technology is also clinically designed to reduce colic and gas which can be experience particularly after drinking formula.
5 Different Nipple Flow Rates Available.
One for every stage of your baby's development.
(1) Bonus bottle sleeve included
Easy to remove and replace
Silicone material for no-slip grip
Protects bottle
People Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed


text:
a place for zinesters - writers and readers
The Portland Zine Symposium aims to promote greater community between diverse creators of independent publications and art. This fun and free event helps people share their work while exchanging their skills and information related to zine culture. Through workshops, panels and discussions, Portland Zine Symposium explores the role and effect of all types of zines.
© 2014 Created by Krissy PonyBoy Press. Powered by


text:
Mobile Bridges the Digital Divide (06/05/2012) Three technological advances are giving rise to an Internet-based platform that is enabling business to reach an increasingly large segment of the world's population. The advances include:
- Inexpensive and smart mobile devices;
- Cloud computing, which is enabling the economical distribution of sophisticated services and apps to all those devices, and
- Broadband wireless networks linking it all together.
Philly's Text Messaging Pilot (06/05/2012) When you can't get to a public meeting to tell officials what you think, send them a text. Philadelphia city officials are encouraging citizens to share thoughts, ideas and feedback about planning initiatives on a project that runs for the next month. The tech solution was developed by fellows at Code for America.
Reorganizing Management Functions - Get smart about consolidation and infrastructure management functions (05/2012). A report by the Government Accountability Office provides a checklist of questions for managers. Key questions to consider include:
- What are the goals of the consolidation?
- What opportunities will be addressed through the consolidation and what problems will be solved?
- What problems, if any, will be created?
- Are sufficiently reliable data available to support a business-case analysis or cost-benefit analysis?
Older Adults and Internet Use (06/07/2012) For the first time, half of adults age 65 and older are online using internet or email. For most online seniors, internet use is a daily fixture in their lives.
UK Social Media Guidelines (05/2012) The UK Cabinet Office recently announced the publication of guidance for civil servants on the use of social media as well as guidance for Departments to overcome the technical barriers to civil servants accessing the internet and social media channels.


text:
Featured Events
We're sorry, but we currently have no tickets available for this event.
Check out our full selection of Rock tickets or sign up to be notified when tickets for this event are available.
Vains of Jenna are coming to town! Get ready to rock as Vains of Jenna bring their high-octane show to a stage near you. Vivid Seats is here to make sure you have a great seat as Vains of Jenna blows through your town. To purchase tickets to Vains of Jenna concerts, just click on one of the Vains of Jenna tour dates above. All sales are final and refunds will only be given in the event that Vains of Jenna cancel the show which you purchased tickets for. Vains of Jenna will rock you. Guaranteed. Vivid Seats has Vains of Jenna concert tickets. Guaranteed. So don't delay in choosing Vains of Jenna tickets that are right for you! View Vains of Jenna concert schedule and other tour information above.
Here is some information about Vains of Jenna tour ticket purchases from Vivid Seats:
Feel free to contact us for any reason, toll free, at : 1.866.848.TIXX


text:
San Francisco based photo magazine Hamburger Eyes releases MANKIND ISSUE No. 2 ($17), the second issue of our documentary series containing photographs of, about, and by earth humans from all over the planet featuring PHOTOGRAPHY BY: PIOTR PIETRUS, PAULO ARELLANO, AARON WYNIA, KINGSLEY IFILL, PETER McCOLLOUGH, JONNEK JONNEKSSON, GRANT HATFIELD, ELMO TIDE, ZEBULON ZANG, JOHN OLIVER HODGES, DAVID POTES, RAY POTES, RICKY ADAM, BRANDON GETTY, DAN THOMPSON, NINA MOURITZEN, NATE IGOR SMITH, GUY VINCIGUERRA, AND DAVID DUNNICO.
FFDG, located at 2277 Mission St & 19th is now in the "IT" neighborhood. And where do these millionaires go to get artwork to adorn their new homes? How about w/ us?! www.ffdg.net


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text:
U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Green Strides
- Resources
- Webinar Series
- Green Ribbon Schools Overview [MS PowerPoint, 3.3M]
- Fact Sheet [PDF, 119K]
- Related Grants at ED [MS Word, 53K]
- Key Potential Violations of Federal EPA Regulations At K-12 Schools [PDF, 78K]
Download U.S Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools Logo
Terms of Use
U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) are permitted to display their status using the ED-GRS logo and the year in which they received the award. They may not at any time display the logo or advertise their ED-GRS status without using the year in which the award was received.
If there are any questions about the manner in which you would like to display this logo or your ED- Green Ribbon School status, please feel free to email: email@example.com
Please note:
U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools is a federal recognition award and should not be confused with any green schools program conducted by non-governmental entities.


text:
Please enter your travel dates.
Fallsview Two Queen Suite
Fallsview King Suite w/Jetted Tub
Cityview Two Queen Suite
Two Room JR. Presidental Suite
Niagara high-rise overlooking the falls
With a stay at Embassy Suites by Hilton Niagara Falls Fallsview, you'll be centrally located in Niagara Falls, minutes from Journey Behind The Falls and Horseshoe Falls.
This 4-star hotel is close to Bridal Veil Falls and Niagara Falls State Park.
Make yourself at home in one of the 513 air-conditioned rooms featuring microwaves and minibars. Pay movies and video-game consoles are provided for your entertainment, while high-speed (wired) Internet access (surcharge) keeps you connected. Bathrooms have complimentary toiletries and hair dryers. Conveniences include safes and complimentary newspapers, as well as multi-line phones with voice mail.
Try your luck at the casino or dip into one of the 2 spa tubs. This hotel also features concierge services, babysitting/childcare, and an arcade/game room.
Enjoy a meal at one of the hotel's dining establishments, which include 2 restaurants and a coffee shop/café. From your room, you can also access room service (during limited hours). Mingle with other guests at a complimentary reception, held daily. Quench your thirst with your favorite drink at a bar/lounge. A complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast is served daily.
Featured amenities include a business center, limo/town car service, and audiovisual equipment. Event facilities at this hotel consist of a ballroom, banquet facilities, and exhibit space. Parking (subject to charges) is available onsite.
Hotel Amenities
- General
The Embassy Suites Niagara Falls offers guests a complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast daily, and a daily manager's reception with complimentary beverages and snacks, plus beer and wine for purchase. There are 2 restaurants on-site, TGI Friday's and the Keg Steakhouse and Bar, as well as a Starbucks coffee shop. In-room dining is also offered.
Recreational amenities include a heated pool and two spa tubs in an expansive pool-deck area on the ninth floor next to a large outdoor patio. A fitness center overlooks the pool deck; the hotel also has an arcade/game room and a coin laundry. A business center in the lobby has a computer workstation with high-speed Internet access (surcharge).
The hotel is connected to both the Fallsview Casino and the Incline Railway to the Falls via a unique bridge, The Skywalk, that is suspended 150 feet in the air.
Babysitting/childcare is available.
- Swimming pool - indoor
- Concierge services
- Free breakfast
- Complimentary newspapers in lobby
- Fitness facilities
- Room service (limited hours)
- Coffee shop or café
- Parking (surcharge)
- Limo or Town Car service available
- Secure parking
- Ballroom(s)
- Banquet facilities
- Business center
- Exhibit space
- Event catering
- Audiovisual equipment
- Total number of rooms - 513
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Porter/bellhop
- Express check-out
- Doorman/doorwoman
- Security guard
- 24-hour front desk
- Multilingual staff
- Number of floors - 42
- ATM/banking
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Currency exchange
- Tour assistance
- Laundry facilities
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Babysitting or childcare
- Patio
- Arcade/game room
- Air-conditioned public areas
- Elevator/lift
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Casino
- Wedding services
- Express check-in
- Luggage storage
- One meeting/conference room
- Parking limited (surcharge)
- Shopping on site
- Bar/lounge
- Number of spa tubs - 2
- Number of restaurants - 2
- Complimentary reception
- Internet
Available in all rooms: Wired high-speed Internet access (surcharge)
- Parking
Parking (surcharge), Secure parking, Valet parking (surcharge), Parking limited (surcharge)
- Room Amenities
- Video-game console
- Pay movies
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Separate sitting area
- Climate control
- Complimentary newspaper
- Air conditioning
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Multi-line phone
- Voice mail
- Microwave
- Minibar
- Coffee/tea maker
- Wake-up calls
- Complimentary toiletries
- Hair dryer
- Sewing kit
- Electronic check-out
- Electronic/magnetic keys
- Iron/ironing board
- In-room safe
- Daily housekeeping
- Clock radio
- Sofa bed
- Rollaway/extra beds available
- Cribs/infant beds available
- Wired high-speed Internet access (surcharge)
- Dining
A complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast is provided each morning. A daily manager's reception in the afternoon and early evening offers snacks, complimentary non-alcoholic beverages, and beer and wine for purchase.
TGI Friday's - Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served daily at this memorabilia-themed chain restaurant. Patrons enjoy soups, salads, burgers, steak, chicken, pasta, and ribs; a children's menu is available. A separate lounge overlooking the falls offers alcoholic beverages and full menu service.
The Keg - Located on the ninth floor overlooking the falls, this restaurant offers lunch and dinner daily. A casual dining atmosphere and rich wood accents complement a grill menu featuring steak, ribs, chicken, and seafood. Two lounges offer bar and full menu service. Children's menu available.
The Brink - Ninth-floor atrium lounge offering drinks and light appetizers afternoons and early evenings.
Starbucks - A lobby-level coffee shop offering hot and cold beverages as well as pastries and snacks from early morning until late evening.
- Recreation
This Niagara Falls Embassy Suites has a heated indoor pool and two spa tubs located in an expansive atrium pool-deck area next to a large outdoor patio on the ninth floor. It also has a 24-hour fitness center overlooking the pool complex with three treadmills, two exercise bikes, one elliptical-type trainer, and a variety of strength-training equipment. A children's game room offers arcade games.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on-site or near the hotel; fees may apply.
- Golf - driving range nearby
- Golfing nearby
- Running track/path nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Helicopter/airplane tours nearby
- Bird watching nearby
- Swimming on site
- Accessibility
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the "Special or Accessibility Requests" section of "Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible path of travel
- Accessible bathroom
- Roll-in shower
- Accessible parking
- In-room accessibility
- Accessibility equipment for the deaf
- Braille or raised signage
Policies & Fees
- Check-in
Check-in time starts at 4 PM
- Check-out
Check-out time is Noon
- Payment types
Accepted at this hotel: American Express, MasterCard, Visa
- Pets
Pets not allowed
- General
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- Fees
- Unless otherwise indicated, the charges below are not included in the overall room price. If not included in the overall room price, they will be charged by the property at check-in or check-out. Charges can vary, for example, based on length of stay or the room you book. This property told us they will charge you for the following:
- A 16.8 percent city/local tax will be charged
We have included all charges provided to us by the property. However, charges can vary, for example, based on length of stay or the room you book.The following fees and deposits are charged by the property at time of service, check-in, or check-out.- Fee for in-room wireless Internet: CAD 9.95 per day (rates may vary)
- Fee for in-room high-speed Internet (wired): CAD 9.95 per day (rates may vary)
- Self parking fee: CAD 25 per day
- Valet parking fee: CAD 35 per day
The above list may not be comprehensive. Fees and deposits may not include tax and are subject to change.
- Additional Details
Children 17 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding.


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January 8, 2009
STATEMENT OF JOHN SCHMIDT "Helping State and Local Law Enforcement During an Economic Downturn" Senate Judiciary Committee, January 8, 2009 My name is John Schmidt. I am now a partner in the Chicago-based law firm of Mayer Brown LLP. From 1994 to 1997 I served as the Associate Attorney General at the Justice Department and one of my responsibilities was the implementation of all aspects of the 1994 Federal Crime Bill. A major focus of that Bill was the creation of the COPS Program to put 100,000 added police officers into communities across the country. I worked closely with local police and other public officials, and with organizations such as the Federation of Police, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, to move as quickly as possible to put that federal funding to work to add officers to the ranks of state and local police departments. The COPS Program demonstrated both how effective federal assistance can be and how quickly its impact can be felt if federal and local authorities work together to make that happen. For example, even before the President had signed the 1994 Act, I had a meeting with a delegation from the U.S. Conference of Mayors in which we agreed that if they would tell us then how many officers they were prepared to begin hiring and training, we would tell them immediately what minimum level of funding they could be assured of receiving. As a result we had new officers through the hiring process and into training academies across the country within a matter of a weeks. Local officials will respond with a similar sense of urgency to federal assistance today because, if anything, the need is even greater. In 1994 we faced a situation in which the level of criminal violence in communities across the U.S. was intolerable and we needed to expand police forces substantially so that they could work with communities to bring that violence under control. Over the rest of the 1990s, that expansion of forces continued, and by the end of the decade the number of sworn officers in the U.S. had increased by over 100,000, most of them funded through the COPS Program. Levels of violence across the country had also declined dramatically. After the change in Administration in 2001, federal funding for hiring additional officers largely disappeared. Fortunately the state of the economy was such that communities were overwhelmingly able to maintain their police forces at the new higher force level that had been achieved. The events of 9/11, however, imposed major new burdens on state and local law enforcement, including the need to participate in joint anti-terrorist efforts with the FBI and other federal authorities, to conduct pro-active security patrols at potential target facilities, and to respond aggressively to threats of any kind that emerged. As a result of these added burdens, and the normal growth of population and economic activity, even with forces maintained at the higher levels achieved in the 1990s, law enforcement came into the current time of economic crisis with its resources strained. We are now experiencing across the country a real decline in the size of state and local police forces. This has been brought about by severe reductions in public revenues in virtually every state and locality. Communities reduce the size of their police forces first by not filling vacancies and then, as an ultimate step, by the layoffs of existing officers. They take either of these steps only as a last resort--but that is the condition many communities are in today. My home city of Chicago is a good example. The Mayor very reluctantly presented, and in December the City Council very reluctantly passed, a 2009 budget that is balanced only by slowing down the filling of vacancies in the Police Department. The total number of vacancies by year end was something over 400, and there will be added vacancies during the coming year, but the budget allows for filling only 200 vacancies. The result is a reduction in the size of the police force--at a time when crime rates in Chicago, as in many other cities, are going up. Chicago's situation is by no means the most dire. In Michigan, hard-hit cities like Pontiac have been forced to reduce the size of their police force by more than 50%--and are experiencing a major wave of increased crime. Cities in Ohio are now going beyond simply not filling vacancies to actual layoffs of police officers. The problem is not at all geographically limited. The City of Sacramento, California recently announced that it had managed to come up with funding to fill 11 vacancies on its police force--but the total number of vacancies was 98, representing over 10% of the total force. Based on pervasive accounts of widespread unfilled vacancies, and in some cases outright layoffs, there is no doubt that the nationwide reduction in the total number of officers is in the tens of thousands. The real number may be even higher--and it is growing every day. Those reduced police forces will mean increased crime and violence in communities across the U.S. That would be true even in a time of prosperity. It is even more true as the same economic forces that dramatically reduce revenues for states and cities produce higher levels of desperation for individuals and families, greater social disintegration, and increased temptation for crimes of economic gain. The impact will be felt most severely in communities, or neighborhoods within them, that have recently escaped from a period of severe violence and now are most vulnerable to slipping back if police become less visible and pro-active, citizens lose confidence in their security, and gangs and other criminal elements take advantage of that deteriorating situation. Increasing crime rates will make economic recovery in those affected areas even more difficult. Federal aid to enable state and local police forces to fill vacancies, avoid imminent layoffs or hire back previously laid-off officers could make an immediate and substantial difference in this frightening scenario. Some particular elements of the COPS program of the 1990s do not fit the current environment. For example, the COPS program provided for maximum grants of $30,000 per year, representing no more than 80% of the total salary of an officer. Even in 1994 those limits were substantially below the real cost of officers in many communities, but the general economic strength allowed local communities to pick up the difference. Today those local economic resources are not available and I believe a current emergency program should be structured without that limit and without the required local share of funding. The 3-year limit used for COPS grants may continue to make sense in the current circumstances. That limit means that communities would have to hire today, with federal funding, on the assumption that by the end of 3 years they will be able to pick up the ongoing cost of the new hires. In areas other than law enforcement, communities might well hesitate to make that commitment, but the urgency of law enforcement, and the consequences of reduced police forces, are such that I believe affected communities will respond positively to a federal program with a 3-year limit. The average salary of a new police officer nationwide is between $45,000 and $50,0000 a year. Using the $50,000 average figure, an emergency federal program could provide funding for 15,000 officers at a total cost of $750 million over each of the next three years--a total cost of $2.25 billion. A program of that size would make a meaningful difference in communities across the country. Apart from its benefit in community safety, such a program has obvious value in terms of economic stimulus. All of the funding goes directly to pay the salaries of officers hired to work in police departments across the country. Those new hires will begin earning (and spending) as soon as they get through the hiring process and begin their training at police academies--within just a matter of weeks if the program follows the pattern of what was done in 1994. Thus, the positive economic impact will be felt even before the public safety benefits. While these numbers are not large in relation to the size of the overall economic stimulus now being discussed, it is hard to think of anything that will put money directly and faster into more communities than federal funding for the hiring of police officers. I strongly urge Congress to enact an emergency program of police hiring to minimize the substantial reductions in police force size that are now occurring nationwide on an accelerating basis. Such a program would make a measurable contribution to preserving, through a time of difficult economic circumstances and into a period of recovery, the hard-won gains achieved by police and citizens across the country in reducing crime and violence in our communities.


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Home > Categories > Category
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sorted by: Alphabetical: A-Z Alphabetical: Z-A Newest (by date approved) Newest (by date created)
Heidenmauer - Bad Dürkheim/Germany
in In Search of the Celts
The "pagan wall" at the Palatine town of Bad Durkheim in Rhineland-Palatinate is a two and a half kilometers long ring wall.
posted by: KaPsTeam
location: Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
date approved: 1/25/2014
last visited: never
Römermuseum Wien - Vienna, Austria
The Römermuseum has a small collection of Celtic artifacts on display.
posted by: RakeInTheCache
location: Wien, Austria
date approved: 10/12/2013
Prehistoric Section of the Archeological Museum in the Sforza Castle - Milan, Italy
The prehistoric section illustrates the La Tène culture, which imposed itself in northern Italy at the end of the 5th century BC.
location: Lombardia, Italy
date approved: 7/27/2013
Civico Museo Archeologico - Milan, Italy
Milan was founded by the Insubres, a Celtic people. The city was later conquered by the Romans, becoming the capital of the Western Roman Empire.
date approved: 7/26/2013
Santa Giulia Museum Complex - Brescia, Italy
The Museum's special distinguishing feature is the close relationship between the historic buildings and the objects on display, which number about 11,000 and include Celtic helmets and horse harness ornaments.
date approved: 6/28/2013
Hornfels - Grenzach, BW, Switzerland
Remnants of a hill fort above Grenzach.
posted by: fi67
location: Baden-Württemberg, Germany
date approved: 6/18/2013
Ringwallanlage am Heunstein - Dillenburg, Hessen, Germany
[DE] Die keltische Ringwallanlage am Heunstein ist vermutlich in der Spätlatènezeit errichtet worden | [EN] The Celtic ring wall at the Heunstein hill was probably built in the late La Tène period
posted by: Eibacher Kuckuck
location: Hessen, Germany
date approved: 4/16/2013
Keltische Siedlung - Stöffling, Lk. Traunstein, Bayern, D
Rekonstruktion einer keltischen Siedlung in Stöffling.
posted by: Tharandter
location: Bayern, Germany
date approved: 2/17/2013
last visited: 3/2/2013
Warham Camp - Warham, Norfolk, UK
Warham Camp is an ancient Iron-Age fort located in the countryside of North Norfolk.
posted by: Dragontree
location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
date approved: 1/13/2013
Keltenschanze - Truchtlaching, Lk. Traunstein, Bayern, D
Die Rekonstruktion einer Keltenschanze.
date approved: 12/18/2012
last visited: 3/5/2014
Asarkaya - Karalar, Turkey
Asarkaya - the Celtic castle near Karalar village
posted by: puczmeloun
location: Turkey
date approved: 12/5/2012
Musée Saint-Loup - Troyes, France
[FR] Le musée Saint-Loup est de type « encyclopédique » et abrite des collections très variées. [EN] In this museum, you can find ancient iron age celtic relics from around the area.
location: Champagne-Ardenne, France
date approved: 11/15/2012
Celtic circular stone wall in Otzenhausen, Germany
Celtic fortification (oppidum). / Ein keltisches Oppidum.
posted by: DieCacherGirls
location: Saarland, Germany
date approved: 10/15/2012
last visited: 9/17/2013
Le camp celtique de La Bure (St-Dié))
Un camp celtique en pleine nature dans le massif de la Bure
posted by: gemeloj
location: Lorraine, France
date approved: 10/14/2012
last visited: 10/15/2012
Tours - France
[FR] Tours tient son nom des celtes Turones ou Turoni, devenu peuple gallo-romain de l'Empire. [EN] The town's name evolved in the 4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones, became first "Civitas Turonum" then "Tours".
location: Centre, France
date approved: 10/12/2012
last visited: 5/16/2013
Evreux - France
[FR] Évreux représente une évolution phonétique à partir du nom de la tribu gauloise des Eburovices. [EN] The present-day name of Évreux originates from the Gallic tribe of Eburovices, from the Gaulish root eburo.
location: Haute-Normandie, France
date approved: 9/26/2012
Musée d'Évreux (Eure) - France
[FR] Parmi les collections archéoloiques de ce musée, on trouve des objets datant des périodes de Halstatt et de La Tene. [EN] Among the collections of this museum you can find objects from the Halstatt and La Tene periods.
date approved: 9/20/2012
Inverness - Scotland, UK
Inverness, from the Scottish Gaelic "Inbhir Nis", meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"
posted by: tmob
location: Northern Scotland, United Kingdom
date approved: 9/1/2012
last visited: 8/5/2013
Celtic Oppidum Trísov, Czech republic
Keltské oppidum z poloviny 2. stol. prnl. / The fortifided Celtic settlement on the confluence of the Vltava river and the Kremežský stream from around the half of the 2nd century BC.
posted by: Noe1
location: Jihocesky kraj, Czech Republic
date approved: 6/3/2012
Chaument-en-Vexin (Picardie) - France
[FR] Le nom du Vexin est issu du bas latin Veliocassinus, dérivé du nom du peuple gaulois des Véliocasses. [EN] The name of the Vexin is derived from a name for a Gaulish tribe now known as the Veliocasses that inhabited the area.
location: Picardie, France
date approved: 5/27/2012
Musée Saint-Raymond - Toulouse, France
[FR] Près de 1000 pièces retracent le quotidien des Celtes et des Romains dans la région toulousaine. [EN] Approximately 1000 pieces recount the daily life of the Celts and Romans in Toulouse and the surrounding region.
location: Midi-Pyrénées, France
date approved: 5/10/2012
Slwch Tump Fort, Brecon, Powys, Wales.
An exilarating walk under a tree canopy and across fields to the top of Slwch Tump, a 800ft high, Iron Age hill fort, just North of Brecon. From the top there are fantastic views over the town, and to the south, Pen-y-Crug (another hill fort).
posted by: Lord Abercrombie
location: South Wales, United Kingdom
date approved: 4/17/2012
last visited: 12/25/2012
The British Museum - London, UK
The British Museum currently lists 2754 Celtic objects of art on their database. The celtic objects on display can be found in room 50.
posted by: Metro2
location: London, United Kingdom
date approved: 10/27/2011
last visited: 12/15/2013
Höhensiedlung Burg in Schwarzenbach
Wiedererrichtete keltische Wallanlage. Größte keltischer Fund Österreichs.
posted by: Reini68
location: Niederösterreich, Austria
date approved: 10/12/2011
last visited: 6/17/2013
Celtic Oppidum Závist, Czech Republic
The largest Celtic oppidum in Czech Republic
posted by: ToRo61
location: Hlavni mesto Praha, Czech Republic
date approved: 10/2/2011
last visited: 5/8/2013


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GoffonRugby: The Big Deal |
Columns - Goff on Rugby |
A GoffonRugby Opinion Column by Alex Goff Crowds Just about every year, the USA 7s has improved attendance. The trend has always been upward, from about 15,800 (over two days) in 2004 to 36,600 in 2010. That's an average increase of 22%. But from 2010 to 2011 the attendance increased a whopping 36%. Since moving the Vegas, the USA 7s attendance has increased almost 70%. So, yes, that's pretty amazing. Fun The USA 7s Festival, which was set up to be part of the stadium enclosure, expanded and allowed fans to stretch their legs and do some other fun things without leaving the stadium. The Schedule As for holding the Cup Final before the Shield, Bowl, and Plate ... well it didn't seem the take the momentum out of the final, and the fans stayed to see the other matches (rather than run off to get a beer before the Big Game). It could be that after careful review the IRB might recommend no more four-game days ... we'll see. But judging from what IRB CEO Mike Miller told me (see upcoming RuggaMatrix interview), I don't think so. Fans
What was with New Zealand holding a team meeting in-goal when their game was over? USA was trying to beat Uruguay and the New Zealanders were on the field. Not cool. The USA 7s is the big one. It's an international rugby tournament, and if it's profitable, lots of other good things can happen to the sport. And once the sport gets more notice, more legitimacy, and more commercial heft, then anyone associated with rugby can get more done. |


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Jacob Heilbrunn
A New Franco-German Feud
For decades the Franco-German alliance has been at the core of the European Union. But under the pressure of the European economic crisis, the two sides are increasingly sniping at each other in a war of memos. The tensions between Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande after the loss of Merkel's chum Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012 that both sides seemed initially to have successfully suppressed are now out in the open. Gallic pique is running up against Teutonic stubborness, and it's not hard to see who is going to win this latest round in the Franco-German confrontation.
First a memo from the French socialists leaked in which they urged "confrontation" with Germany and attacked its economic "selfishness." The Socialists see a German-British cabal that is trying to enforce a free-market diktat upon Europe. Their summation is pretty accurate, minus the petulant tone:
The [EU] community project is now scarred by an alliance of convenience between the Thatcherite accents of the current British prime minister – who sees Europe only as à la carte and about rebates – and the selfish intransigence of Chancellor Merkel who thinks of nothing else but the savings of depositors in Germany, the trade balance recorded in Berlin and her electoral future.
Is Merkel not supposed to be thinking about the savings of German depositors, the trade balance, and the matter of her political future?
Now a memo has leaked from the German side, authored by members of Merkel's coalition partner, the Free Democrat Party, a band of doughty free marketeers who incline toward classical economics. The memo announces that France is on the skids, close to a lost cause. "Europe's problem child" is what it calls France—"French industry is increasingly losing its competitiveness. Businesses continue to move overseas, and the profitability of businesses is low."
There is a lot of truth to both memos. After visiting Germany last week, it became clear to me that Merkel is going all-out for reelection which means that she is not going to budge on the German insistence upon further auterity in Europe. She is thinking politically rather than economically, and she knows full well that German voters are transfixed by the prospect that their decades of savings may be sacrificed on the pyre of European unification, squandered by shiftless southern countries. A new political party has emerged on the right that is called the Alternative for Germany. It probably will not pass the 5 percent voting hurdle to enter the German Bundestag, a measure enacted to avoid a repetition of the Weimar Republic when tiny political parties tied the first German democratic republic in parliamentary knots. But the party is already attracting much attention as a populist, right-wing threat to the ruling coalition. It only needs to siphon off a few percentage of votes from Merkel's Christian Democrats and the Bavarian Christian Social Union to pave the way for a Red-Green—Socialist and Green party—coalition to return to power. Merkel is too shrewd to allow that to happen. So she and finance minister Wolfgang Schauble are pouring scorn on the notion that the way out of the European crisis is to abandon austerity and return to the free-spending of the days of yore. At the same time, the German Bundesbank continues to attack the European Central Bank for failing to remain sufficiently vigilant about combatting inflation.
Are the Germans, as the French suggest, being selfish? Well, yes. But it's hard to blame them. A famous German saying has it that "Bei Geld hoert die Freundschaft auf"—when it comes to money, there friendship ends. Perhaps the Germans are hostage to a mindset formed in the 1920s when the Reichsmark was debauched by hyperinflation and it took a wheelbarrow of cash to buy a cup of coffee. But that searing memory is based on real experience, not fantasy. The more the Germans look at Europe, the greater the mess looks. So the temptation to try and minimize the damage, particularly at a moment when the Germany economy itself is markedly slowing, is proving overwhelming.
For the Germans the crisis raises a host of older questions about the true nature of German identity. European? Or German? So far, the political elites have been firmly committed to European unity. There is no reason to believe that a rhetorical shift looms. But Merkel is making it clear that her priorities are winning reelection and safeguarding German assets. She is not about to break with the orthodoxy that more austerity is the road to prosperity. Instead, she is bolstering it. While the verbal brickbats that the two sides are hurling at one another hardly portend the dissolution of the EU, they do suggest that the fabled goal of European unity is like the horizon, always receding as you approach it. As the head of the most powerful country in Europe, Merkel is going to do it the German, not the French, way.
Chechen Terrorism and the Vindication of Vladimir Putin
So the two suspected bombers—if suspect will even be the operative word later this day—are Chechens. Nothing illustrates the hollowness, the grandstanding of American foreign policy better than the fact that America has antagonized the one country that might have been able to help avert the blasts in Boston. One can only speculate what Russian president Vladimir Putin is thinking as he sees Chechen terrorists wreaking havoc in a major American city.
Over the past few months in particular Congress has been engaging in reckless posturing toward Russia, which is itself incontestably behaving in ways that are often repugnant. Congress' response has been to pass the Magnitsky Act which, as Matthew Rojansky astutely pointed out on National Public Radio this morning, targets some of the very intelligence officials who might have been more inclined to cooperate with America when it comes to stopping terrorists. The act is pyrrhic, an expression of disapproval that is counterproductive. Russia and America have a common interest in stopping terrorism. When it comes to Chechnya, Russia knows more about the region than anyone else. Has it employed brutal methods to try and subdue it? Absolutely. But it is a hotbed of Islamic militants who also fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they appear to be heading toward America itself in their deluded belief that they're waging a battle against the evil Western empire.
The Obama administration will have to study what went wrong. Part of studying that should include a reassessment of relations with Russia—not an ally under the Putin regime. But surely a country that America can cooperate with on mutual matters of national interests. Halting, as far as possible, terrorism is one such interest. No one can expect that the Obama administration will have a perfect record. But this event is another wake-up call. Only a few days ago the Washington Post featured an article with security experts who claimed that the threat from abroad had diminished perceptibly. But if these two Chechen brothers trained abroad—and are there others as well?—then that sanguine assessment suggests that the expertise of some experts may be wanting.
It is also revealing to listen to the contortions of National Public Radio, which has gone out of its way to avoid dubbing the brothers Tsarnaev "Islamic militants." This delicacy is touching. They may hail from Chechnya. They may not smoke or drink. But are they militants? Who knows is the response from NPR.
This won't do, and the political correctness will only prove temporary even if it reveals a timorous mindeset. But by the same token, this is not evidence of a vast Islamic uprising that some more excitable conservatives purport to detect abroad. We are not in war against the Islamic world even if some on the right would like to provoke one. Clarity, not panic, is required. But when an entire city has to batten down the hatches because of a sinister duo from Chechnya, then it's abundantly clear that the worst terrorist incident since 9/11 is taking place on American soil. It's a time for introspection, for grieving for the victims, and for getting serious about foreign policy rather than trying to score cheap political points. The costs are too high, the price too exorbitant for America to spurn a potential helping hand from abroad. President Obama needs to call Putin ASAP.
The Constitution Project's Vital Terrorism and Torture Report
With the terror attack in Boston, the debate about how to deal with the perpetrators (or perpetrator), whether domestic or foreign, is likely to acquire a new virulence. As terrible as the blasts in Boston are they pale in comparison to 9/11 or the threat of a nuclear detonation in a major American city. One of the debates that has roiled America is the issue of whether or not torture is an efficacious and necessary measure to combat terrorist acts.
Now a new report issued by the Constitution Project that appears today says that what occurred after September 11 was not only unprecedented, but also completely unjustified. I have not yet read the report, but judging by the excerpts that appear in the New York Times, it sounds wholly sensible. Read in the context of Russia's response to the Magnitsky Act, which included banning the authors of torture such as John Yoo from setting foot in the Russian motherland (a move that he seems to be taking in stride), it provides a further reminder of the degradation left behind by the George W. Bush administration, which claimed to be advancing democracy while acting undemocratically. The point would seem to be simple: you can't purport to stand for human rights abroad even as you systematically violate them. This legacy continues to haunt the CIA, which was suborned into acting illegally and whose new chief, John Brennan, now claims he can't really remember with any degree of exactitude what he did or did not witness during the Bush years.
What is novel about the Constitution Project's report is that it was headed by Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, and James R. Jones, a Democrat. It flatly states that America engaged in torture. The report notes that "as long as the debate continues, so too does the possiblity that the United States could again engage in torture." The report also suggests that the use of torture was analogous to one of the darkest passages in America history, the detention of Japanese Americans after World War II. "What was once generally taken to be understandable and justifiable behavior can later become a case of historical regret," the Times says the report concludes. There may be some truth to this.
But the detention of the Japanese Americans also had economic as well as racial motives—in California growers were eager to confiscate their farms, which they did. In both cases, however, it would be mistaken to exculpate officials at the time. There were protests in the Roosevelt administration and there were warning voices at the time in the Bush administration as well. It was high-ranking officials (John McCloy, the John Yoo of his day, in the then War Department) and vice president Dick Cheney and his neocon coterie who pushed through malignant policies that they claimed would help protect Americans even as they subverted constitutional liberties. It also seems clear that President Bush was not always aware of what was taking place in his name, as Barton Gellman's Angler, among other books, has revealed.
Where does President Obama fit into this tawdry saga? He has essentially held his nose when it comes to the torture issue. He stated at the outset that he wanted to "look forward." This was an evasion of his responsibilities. How can you know where you are without knowing where you came from? So thanks to Obama's pusillanimity there has never been a national commission to study what went wrong
The lawless lawmakers, the proponents of torture—the Addingtons, Yoos, and Cheneys—will doubtless continue to asseverate that they acted, and would always advocate acting, to preserve American freedoms by endorsing the methods they employed to try and extort confessions and information from the bad guys. But apart from the question whether torture even elicits reliable information, it is staggering that they would conclude that it takes the Stalinist conveyor belt system of torture to safeguard the country. Perhaps the Constitution Project's timely report will help preserve us in the future from the fanatics who jeopardize what they purport to protect.
Is Dick Cheney Right About North Korea?
Former vice president Dick Cheney has reemerged periodically from wherever he's holed up these days to snarl at the media or complain about the Obama administration's laxity when it comes to national security. Cheney's take invariably seems to be that he did it better and more successfully. Yet his actual record of prognostication over the past decade has, of course, been spectacularly wrong. This is the fellow, after all, who instructed the American public that the Iraq insurgency was in its "last throes" just as it was really getting under way, not to mention the flowers he predicted would be showered upon invading American soldiers once they liberated Baghdad, as though it would be a rerun of Paris in 1945, when an entire city went on something of a bender after being freed from Nazi tyranny. Cheney, you could say, is a master at specializing in apocalyptic predictions that are aimed at frightening everyone into doing what he wants, whether or not the actual facts merit it. Then, when the rubble starts to rain down on everyone, he says it's only because his prescriptions weren't followed closely enough.
And yet when it comes to North Korea Cheney may be on to something in telling GOP congressional leaders this week, in a phrase first given prominence by George H.W. Bush, that "we're in deep doo-doo." Cheney's point—and it is not one that can be dismissed—is that we simply don't have a clear handle on what the North's new dear—and very young—leader actually wants or intends, or, to put it another way, thinks he desires. Is he simply trying to establish his bona fides in a Stalinist system? Is he attempting to upset South Korea's economy? Or is he aiming for economic concessions from North Korea's adversaries? Or does he actually mean what he says? Is he, in fact, preparing for war with the South?
In the New York Times, Andrei Lankov, who has written a book about the North, offers what might be termed the cool and sophisticated argument. He treats everything North Korea is doing with a big yawn. Been there and done that is his take. And so he maintains that Kim Jong-un is merely taking the world for a ride on his own giant ego trip. Far from being a fruitcake, the young lad in charge of the Hermit Kingdom, we are told, is unlikely to want to "commit suicide; he is known for his love of basketball, pizza and other pleasures of being alive. The same logic applies to his advisers, old survivors in the byzantine world of North Korean politics who love expensive cars and good brandy." Fair enough.
But not dispositive. Cheney is correct to suggest that we simply can't assume that North Korea will behave rationally. Rep. Steve Southerland says that Cheney observed,
Here's a young guy we don't know very much about – have very little intel on him, so we just need to make sure that we don't assume why he's doing what he's doing because he could be doing what he's doing for any number of reasons.
If the North does miscalculate and launch a serious strike on South Korea, President Obama would presumably not hesitate to authorize a devastating strike on the North's nuclear facilities. A full-blown war could result, but only if China was prepared to cut the North loose, which is wholly improbable. The optimal scenario for all the parties is, of course, to muddle through and hope that the North's bluster is exactly that and no more.
For now, North Korea is angering its neighbors, including Japan, which has installed Patriot anti-missile battery systems in Tokyo. It's possible that debris from a North Korean missile launch may rain upon Japan. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says that North Korea is "skating very close to a dangerous line." As always, the only predictable thing about North Korea is its unpredictability. But that is no reason to become habituated to the North's posturing. Ramping up the military response to the North's provocations and trying to work more closely with China to curb them are the right responses.
The Lady's Not For Turning: the Thatcher Legacy
Few figures in twentieth century history aroused as much enmity and admiration as Margaret Thatcher, who died at the age of 87. "The Lady's not for turning," she declared, and, for the most part, she was not. The high points of her tenure were breaking the 1984 National Union of Miners strike, winning the 1982 Falklands War, keeping Britain out of the Euro, and, not least, recognizing that Mikhail Gorbachev was the real thing. But then again so was the Iron Lady who snubbed the British establishment—the ultimate boys club—to climb to the top of the greasy pole.
When Thatcher became prime minister in 1979, Britain—a swan's nest in an English lake, as Shakespeare put it—had been stripped of its empire, its self-confidence. Thatcher—and Thatcherism—sought to revive what could be revived. To a large extent, Thatcher set the stage for the boom that took place under Tony Blair, though the current downturns that England is experiencing have reemboldened her critics to charge that her legacy was toxic. But Thatcher didn't just have beliefs. She had convictions. In his important new book Strange Rebels, Christian Caryl notes that Thatcher devoted great energy to studying classic texts about economics, that she loved to debate ideas, that she would, more often than not, wipe the floor with her opponents, and that it was "the force of her drive to realize her radically conservative ideas that made her unique."
She was not the greatest prime minister in British history, a claim that even she, who had fallen prey to hubris in her final years at Downing Street, probably would not have advanced. But she was the first great Tory Prime Minister since the incomparable Winston Churchill and certainly one of the most formidable. By the mid-1970s, Great Britain had become a calamitous mess. England, once a byword for gleaming efficiency, had become sunk in sloth and ennui. The miners didn't mine. Teachers didn't teach. Workers didn't work—unemployment had reached 2 million. Manufacturing output had plummeted by about 16 percent in 1980 alone.
Into this morass strode one Margaret Thatcher, determined to restore not only economic liberty but also traditional morals. Her determination impressed even her most ardent detractors. In his memoir, for example, the late Christopher Hitchens recounted that in the late 1970s, the "worst of 'Thatcherism,' as I was beginning by degrees to discover, was the rodent slowly stirring in my viscera: the uneasy but unbanishable feeling that on some essential matters she might be right." The tough economic medicine she administered—cuts in public spending—unsettled the Tory wets. Rather than try to placate them, Thatcher mocked them at a 1980 Tory party conference, where she told them they could cut and run, but she would not.
What might she have been right about? For one thing, she went about selling state-owned enterprises such as the British Gas and British Telecom. She refused to accept that the state, and the state alone, had a responsiblity to shore up faltering businesses or to keep the population on the dole permanently. Instead, she stressed thrift and hard work. She was also interested in ideas—ideas about private enterprise, liberty, morality. She refused to accept that Great Britain was a spent force. Instead, she argued that it could become great again, partly by maintaining its distance from the European Union.
In the long sweep of the twentieth century, she, together with Ronald Reagan, exercised a decisive impact on the fortunes of the West, both in domestic and foreign policy. When it counted, she also bucked up George H.W. Bush, telling him not to "go wobbly" in facing down Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War. Thatcher is perhaps best-known in America as a cold warrior who was vigilant in warning about the Soviet threat. But she was also the first to declare that she could "do business" with Mikhail Gorbachev, then a young, by Kremlin standards, reformer who ended up demolishing the Soviet system of government. One of the few to pick up on the centrality of Thatcher's stance toward the Soviet Union is the Los Angeles Times, which notes "it was Thatcher who heralded his rise as more than another new face on a failed ideology. She urged President Reagan to give Gorbachev a chance to make good on pledges to stand down from the nuclear face-off and work for a less confrontational relationship between the superpowers." Together with Reagan, she helped to wind down the cold war that both had done much to fight. It was a great act of statesmanship.
So was a Thatcher a realist? No doubt her great mistake after the Cold War ended was to oppose German reunification. Here she was stuck in the past. But once again, her concerns were rooted in a balance of power. She had fought to preserve Britain's reputation and credibility and honor in the Falklands War. So, too, she tried in vain to persuade France's Francois Mitterand that they should together oppose the rise of a new and united Germany. She failed. She never seems to have lost her antipathy toward the Germans, the notion that they were itching for a fresh try to subjugate the continent and England. She was wrong.
But her overall record suggests a fairly pragmatic record when it comes to foreign policy. Thatcher left an indelible mark not only on England, but also the rest of the world. Perhaps her true proteges now reside in Beijing, where a kind of unbridled capitalism reigns that even she could never have reintroduced to the United Kingdom. Thatcher's economic legacy is once again the subject of debate, particularly in England, where the battles over the implications of her tenure have never really ended. But no one can dispute that she made the free market, not socialism, the center of that dispute. Thatcher may be gone, but not Thatcherism.
Who Says North Korea Is Bluffing?
Why is everyone assuming that the latest supreme leader of the Hermit Kingdom is bluffing when he says he intends to settle accounts with South Korea and the United States? Apart from Victor Cha in Foreign Policy, the consensus seems to be that Kim Jong Un doesn't really mean anything he says. But maybe he does. Maybe he's spoiling for a fight. As he orders rockets to be readied for attack, the Dear Leader may be out to show that he's not so dear and that he has other things on his mind than hanging out with the eccentric basketball star Dennis Rodman.
It's not like anyone in North Korea could really stop him. The Generals would be hard-pressed to countermand an order to attack. If he lobs some short-range missiles at South Korea, how would America and its ally react? Would they stand by passively? Or would they respond and risk all-out war? In a situation like this the fruitcake has the upper hand, and Kim may just be delusional enough to go for it. The reckless gamblers, the Hitlers who try to overthrow the board and dice of international relations, don't show up that often. Before Hitler it was Napoleon who tried to thwart the natural balance of power. He failed. But it didn't stop either of them from trying. Perhaps young Kim is operating on the same faulty logic, though Victor Cha suggests that it would be premature to conclude that he is insane. Though anyone who runs North Korea, which amounts to a massive concentration camp, must, by definition, have a somewhat different grasp on reality than most other leaders.
Whether or not he actually wants a conflict, the Korean imbroglio also suggests that, like the man searching for his keys under the streetlamp because that's where it's bright, most American analysts have been focusing too much on Iran's efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon and not enough on the country that already possesses them. It's an interesting irony that Iran hasn't really made the kind of threats against America that North Korea has uttered against Washington, but it has been Iran, by and large, that has been the dominant topic of debate over the past year. Perhaps Kim is only seeking to rectify the imbalance by drawing attention to himself. Perhaps he's just in a snit because the U.S. sent several B-2 bombers over the Korean peninsula to drop dummy munitions.
But given the stakes, the U.S. is doing all the right things. Contrary to the prescriptions of some self-described realists, it would be wholly unrealistic for Washington to abscond from the area. It would be deserting an ally. It would effectively cede a sphere of influence to China. And it would be tantamount to deserting Japan, which would be bound to develop, almost overnight, its own atomic weapons. This is not a prospect that Washington could contemplate with indifference.
Still, the country that probably has the most to lose isn't America. It's China. The sight of America being further drawn into the region is anathema to it. But already President Obama is beefing up American defenses against North Korea. Maybe Kim figures time is not on his side. Better to take a swipe at South Korea and the imperialist running dogs sooner rather than later. He is, after all, running a country that doesn't have all that much to lose. The scary prospect isn't that North Korea is playing a game. It's that it might not be playing.
Image: Flickr/(stephan). CC BY-SA 2.0.
The CIA's Moral Abyss
The CIA is once again staring into a moral abyss. Its new head John Brennan, who I argued should not have been confirmed to run the agency, is now confronted with a dilemma, as the Washington Post reports, about whether or not to approve the appointment of a senior official who was deeply involved in the torture program of suspected terrorists and who, moreover, sanctioned the destruction of dozens of torture tapes to head the clandestine service. The brouhaha further suggests why Brennan was a dubious selection on President Obama's part.
What Obama—and, by extension, the CIA—faces, or is refusing to face, is the corrupting legacy of the Bush administration. As a new documentary about vice president Dick Cheney shows, he remains unrepentant about his destructive role in the administration, claiming that he had "a job to do." What he did, however, was pull off a con job on both the president and the rest of America. He blustered and prevaricated his way to war in Iraq, attempting to scare the bejeezus out of ordinary Americans and inflating the terrorist threat out of all significance to its true proportions. In dealing with this legacy, Obama has stumbled.
There can be no doubting that Brennan has performed ably for Obama and has, according to numerous reports, pushed for a codification of drone policy. To deem him a villain would be stretching matters. But as someone who truckled to Bush and Cheney and who, despite his professions of an inability to recall all of his actions, appears to have been involved in some of the more unsavory interrogation practices not only countenanced, but actively promoted by the Bush camarilla, he is not an official who has the standing to rehabilitate the CIA.
The woman whom Brennan is considering to run the clandestine service apparently has an extremely accomplished record when it comes to her overall career. But Brennan is hedging his bets. The Post says the official "was also heavily involved in the interrogation program at the beginning and for the first couple of years." Brennan has convened a board composed of three former officials to "evaluate" several candidates. This is unprecedented. It testifies to Brennan's irresolution and desperation, for, as the Post notes,
The move has led to speculation that Brennan is seeking political cover for a decision made more difficult by the re-emergence of the interrogation controversy and the acting chief's ties to that program.
But what does it say about his young tenure as CIA head that he doesn't even feel comfortable making his own pick to run the clandestine service? Does he really want someone who was, in effect, the torturer-in-chief to be promoted to a position of high responsibility?
The fundamental problem is that the CIA needs to be shielded better from the whims of presidents. Contrary to its image, at least in the past, of a rogue agency, the CIA has, more often than not, been the plaything of presidents. Its reputation suffered a body blow in the mid-1970s when reports of its ineptitude and assassination plots surfaced during the Church committee hearings, but it was the Kennedy brothers who had urged it to devise various schemes to overthrow the Castro regime. The George W. Bush administration once again soiled the reputation of the CIA by involving it in torture interrogations. Ambitious officials such as Brennan were only too happy to cater to the demands of their superiors rather than consulting their consciences.
Obama could have cleaned house. Instead, he shunned conflict and failed to repair the agency's moral deficit. Now the CIA is enmeshed in a fresh crisis that is a direct product of the Bush-Cheney era that Obama refuses to confront.
Does Obama Get Too Many Presidential Perks?
Is President Obama getting too perky? That seems to be the latest charge directed at him from the right. Michele Bachmann, speaking at CPAC, thundered that Obama is living high off taxpayer money, complaining that he has five chefs on Air Force One and even a presidential dogwalker. Confronted by CNN, however, she punted, blathering on about how the real issue was that Obama messed up in Benghazi. Bill O'Reilly has gone on to bash Bachmann and others--"cut the nonsense"--for failing to focus on the real issue--Obama's handling of the economy.
The source of these allegations is one Robert Keith Grey, a staffer from the Eisenhower administration, who introduces himself as "Bob." He's the author of a book called Presidential Perks Gone Royal: Your Tax Dollars Are Being Used For Obama's Re-election. He's an old codger and doesn't make the best case for himself in this video. Bob, if I may use the informal address, wants to appear folksy, but doesn't appear entirely confident of his case. He strains somewhat for effect--he even trots out the presidential dog walker story, claiming that someone on Obama's staff is paid over $100,000 to keep his cuddly Portuguese water dog named Bo exercising. Not so. It appears that the White House gardener takes him for a stroll. As has always been the case. It's also the case that Bo was the star of the 2012 presidential Christmas card. Did the White House waste too much money snapping his photo?
The problem that Grey has is that he is trying to pin the blame on Obama. That's unfair. But he actually could have made a broader case. The real problem--an ongoing problem--is that we treat presidents like royalty. The British thinker Walter Bagehot divided democratic government into dignified and efficient branches. The monarchy represents the country; the prime minister runs it. In America we don't make that distinction. The presidency is both ceremonial and governing. So the presidency is treated with reverence, which isn't necessarily the way the founders wanted it.
The cold war has greatly exacerbated this tendency. With the emergence of the atomic bomb, the president really does have life or death power over human civilization. So his importance has been further magnified.
All this translates into the kind of perks that Grey is talking about--an enormous White House staff, presidential limos, helicopters, airplanes. The president gets to live like a potentate. Given the stresses of the job, you could say that it's small potatoes next to what's demanded of a president.
But Grey is on to something. The more the president is treated like a monarch, the greater the powers he (or, eventually, a she) will assume. This was surely the case in the recent flap about drones. Senator Rand Paul drew a clear distinction between our democratic form of government and a despotism. The president, he noted, doesn't have the authority, will-nilly, to aim a drone at whomever he deems a threat inside American borders. That would turn him into judge, jury, and executioner.
This isn't the debate that Grey is trying to promote. Instead, by raising a host of picayune objections aimed at depicting Obama as living larger than he deserves, Grey and his ilk are further debasing American democracy. If the right wants to attack Obama, it will have to do better than to pick on his dog. Doggone it!
Europe, Russia, and the Mess in Cyprus
If you were a stolid burgher living in prosperous Bavaria who had conscientiously salted away his savings over the past several decades, would you really want to hand them over to Greece, Portugal, and even Cyprus? That's the conundrum facing the technocrats who are striving mightily in Brussels, Frankfurt, and Berlin to hold together the rickety contraption known as Europe. Now that Cyprus--which is more like a city-state than a country, with its one million inhabitants--needs a big bailout, the unresolved tensions of the European unification are becoming increasingly acute.
It seems like every few months Europe confronts a fresh crisis and then muddles through. But this time the Cypriots are putting up more resistance than usual to the financial engineers in Brussels and Berlin. What's more, there's a Russian connection that is also causing more than a bit of consternation among the Eurocrats. Cyprus is, at bottom, an old-fashioned kind of place--a country where you can park billions earned licitly or illicitly and figure, with a pretty high degree of confidence, that no pesky inspectors from the international community will be able to snoop around and discover the amount stashed away. Now that Switzerland is getting more transparent, Cyprus looks to be one of the last redoubts of a great banking tradition.
Which is why Russian president Vladimir Putin is having conniptions over the notion that a tax will be imposed upon deposit holders in Cyprus as an integral part of the bailout package. He's making the uncomfortable discoverey that Russia, too, is not immune to the European banking crisis. Putin says it would be "unfair, unprofessional, and dangerous" to impose a 9.9 percent tax on accounts worth over 100,000 Euros--a move that could cost Russian investors billions. For all we know, Putin himself may have stashed away a goodly amount in Cyprus. There is a solution: he could simply have Russia back its own bailout and buy Cyprus outright, turning it into an appanage of Russia. This would take Brussels off the hook and provide Moscow with a convenient banking station abroad. Putin wouldn't have to demand that the Cypriots learn to read and write Cyrillic, but he would certainly be within his rights to have the flag of the Russian federation flying over the island nation. In addition, Russian suzerainty would be another way of taking a swipe at the Cyprus-loving British, with whom Putin has frosty relations.
For now, it looks as though Cyprus and its 56-member parliament will reject the bailout package sanctioned by Brussels. The plucky Cypriots don't want to pay what amounts to a tax on their own debt. Who can blame them?
But at the same time, it's more than a little peculiar that Europe would be so eager to rescue Cyprus. As the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung points out, Cyprus is of negligible importance. It accounts for 1.2 percent of the European Union's economic activity. Whether a contagion would really spread from Cyprus to the rest of Europe that afflicts its banking system is dubious. Berlin, for one, would probably be better off letting Cyprus sink.
At the moment, Cyprus is on bank holiday. But the moment its bank do open, the chance of a run on them is dauntingly high. There is one plus to the crisis. At least the chance of renewed conflict between Greece and Turkey over the nation is low. Greece doesn't have the money to go to war, Turkey is preoccupied with Syria, and, by now, who other than Russia would really want to possess it?
Image: Wikimedia Commons/Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Wacko Birds And Republican Foreign Policy
Senator John McCain has apparently become a foreign policy ornithologist. He recently dismissed his fellow Senator Rand Paul and others who share his views on a less expansive American foreign policy as "wacko birds," a term, one might think, that would most appropriately apply to the woman from the frozen wasteland of Alaska that he selected to become his vice-presidential candidate. Paul's feathers appear to be unruffled. At the CPAC convention, Paul, fresh off his drones filibuster triumph, which earned him kudos on both the left and right, gave as good as he got, suggesting that McCain and his chum Senator Lindsey Graham are mossbacks, relics of a past era.
These verbal fusillades have prompted the media to conclude that a civil war is taking place in the GOP on foreign affairs (though the current attacks look more like preliminary shots than all-out combat). A case in point is an article about the GOP by Michael D. Shearer in today's New York Times. Shearer correctly suggests that the GOP is starting to revisit the question of whether America should intervene abroad or mind its own knitting. He quotes Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass (the author of a new book called Foreign Policy Begins At Home), who appears to approve of some aspects of Paul's approach to foreign affairs and worry about others. He also zeroes in on the views of neocons such as Dan Senor who profess to be worried about the prospect of a Pauline conversion in the GOP. Shearer's conclusion:
The question for the Republican Party is whether Mr. Paul and his followers will emerge as a vocal enough part of the Republican electorate to reshape the party's foreign policy without taking it back to the strictly isolationist approach.
It's true that the GOP was strictly isolationist before World War II. At the outset of the cold war, however, the GOP was more interested in Asia than Europe. To call it isolationist is a bit of a misnomer. Still, the point is clear. Paul does represent a challenge to both the realist-internationalist and neocon wings of the GOP. Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush were realists rather than neocons. But that didn't mean that they scanted the importance of international relations. Quite the contrary.
But it's premature to concludes exactly where Paul will land in these debates. For one thing, it's hard to believe that a truly isolationist platform would have much electoral appeal beyond a hardened rump of libertarians. The significant thing is that, after about a decade of neocon suzerainty, the GOP is recognizing, however belatedly, that it needs to entertain ideas other than the reflexive interventionism championed by the old guard. Once a realist, McCain, for reasons known only to himself, has turned himself into the handmaiden of the neocons. These days he doesn't espouse realism, but mindlessness. It is good to see him get his comeuppance. Wacko bird indeed.