It was difficult to avoid focusing on the foreign policy issues facing America this week, but I limited myself to the two articles which most clearly explained our current situation.
I really appreciate the feedback I’ve been getting on these articles, and have thought about the different ways to share them with you all. While I’m working on it, I have set up a special twitter account where I store the most interesting articles I read throughout the week. You can receive these articles in real time (as opposed to this digest form) by either following @egaggregate on Twitter, or subscribing to the RSS feed.
As always, let me know what you think about all of this!
1
Written prior to Obama's abandonment of the Bush European missile shield, this Stratfor intelligence report describes (in great and frightening detail) the current situation between the United States, Russia, Israel, and Iran. Promises were made, but whether or not people can keep them leaves Israel's national security waving in the balance.
2
After giving up the European missile shield as a concession to Russia in hopes that they'll back off their undying friendship with Iran, the US gets yet another example of our appeasement efforts resulting in a swift kick to our national family jewels. President Obama's insistence on folding to leaders of countries like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela is dreadfully reminiscent of Jimmy Carter's impotent foreign policies. As it turns out however, the missile shield might have been scrapped in part due to concerns about costs. Sure, how could we not do some cost-cutting in the (inter)national defense department, we have ObamaCare to pay for.
3
This creative video is part of a project investigating interaction through mobile phones. In addition being very well made, it is highly reminiscent of one of my favorite commercials: The Honda Accord Cog. For those interested, both of these types of creations are examples of what's called a Rube Goldberg Machine, which is a "deliberately overengineered apparatus that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion."
4
Written by Dennis Prager, this article tackles one of the arguments heard so frequently on the left side of the political spectrum: that progressive taxation is what morality demands. The article makes excellent points, but didn't answer the one taxation question which has stood out in my mind for a while now: isn't taxing a percentage of everyone's income already progressive? Our tax system seems to double count, first with a percentage, and again with an increasing one.
5
Being a conservative living in the Bay Area (a young one at that), this article particularly resonated with me, despite the fact that the liberals of Noe Valley treated Harry Aleo as their token rightwing nut-job at best, and a ironic threat to their "diversity" at worst. Of particular interest are some of the letters that Harry Aleo posted in his window (you can find them attached to the article on the left side). It is difficult to read about Harry and not feel a renewed sense of conviction, particularly in a place where the abundance of tolerance seems to stop at a differing opinion.
