Press Briefing

Sep 14, 2010

US-Vietnam Relations
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/fileadmin/stored/pdfs/apb067.pdf

Remote Control: A Blind Man Goes Sailing With Help From Afar
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477612698984010.html

Advancing U.S.-Ukraine Partnership
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/advancing_ukraine_partnership

Europe Reverts to Type - The EU's response to anti-Semitism? "No comment."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489453411397686.html

Federal President Embraces the 'Pre-emption' Doctrine - Will federal law trump state law when it upsets the trial lawyers?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489571017923434.html

Jennifer Rubin on the reports that Obama aide Valerie Jarrett is the leading candidate to replace White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489891398680882.html

Can Turkey Defuse Iran's Nuclear Challenge?
http://www.idga.org/article.cfm?externalid=3133

Basel's Capital Illusions - The 2008 meltdown was not the result of lax regulation but of abuse of the U.S. financial system by the political class in Washington
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489592929851132.html

Boehner's Tax Bungle
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489834263214218.html

Back Door Card Check - Big Labor's man at the NLRB tries to rewrite labor law by fiat
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483882585485368.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147084.htm

Obamanomics Meets Incentives - Why cuts in marginal tax rates increase economic growth, but cash for clunkers merely created a boom and bust cycle in auto sales
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483562048654780.html

Message of Felicitation Amir-ul-Momineen Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid, on the Eve of Eid-ul-Fitr
http://worldanalysis.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1465

The 1099 Insurrection - The White House fights an effort to ease a burden on small business
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703897204575488272691514074.html

Realities of Biopharmaceutical Research & Development
http://www.innovation.org/index.cfm/NewsCenter/Newsletters/Newsletters?NID=185

Obamacare vs. the Rule of Law
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/14/morning-bell-obamacare-vs-the-rule-of-law

Press Briefing

Sep 13, 2010

Prez Obama & Gov Kaine: Moving America Forward
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMGhMbg5IGY

To Pressure Iran, Squeeze Russia and China - European governments have joined the international sanctions effort. But Beijing and Moscow aren't going along
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703453804575479791919603272.html

White House - Another Government Shutdown?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/10/another-government-shutdown

Darth Boehner - Democrats want voters to fear the GOP leader more than their policies
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703897204575487914103984430.html

U.S. Responds to Mudslides, Flooding in Guatemala
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/guatemala_mudslides

Sebelius Has a List - Political thuggery from HHS
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483900330728436.html

The U.S. Needs Its Own Industrial Policy - China's government incubates business with capital and other incentives. So should America's.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597204575483580272717818.html

The Size of Government and the Choice This Fall - In polls, Americans overwhelmingly prefer small government and low taxes to the alternative. Yet they've been given big government, one program at a time.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478141708959932.html

China's 'Finlandization' Strategy in the Pacific - Beijing is moving aggressively to counter US power projection in Asia to bring our allies under its sway.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421753851404076.html

The Afghanistan Study Group Report: An Exercise in Determined Ignorance
http://www.registan.net/index.php/2010/09/11/the-afghanistan-study-group-report-an-exercise-in-determined-ignorance/

Feed-In Tariffs Are Good for Expensive Renewables, But Are They Good for Consumers?
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/09/10/feed-in-tariffs-are-good-for-expensive-renewables-but-are-they-good-for-consumers/

Remarks by the First Lady at September 11th Memorial Service
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/11/remarks-first-lady-september-11th-memorial-service

Don't Expect Much From the R&D Tax Credit - Apple does little of the kind of research that would be eligible. Nor do the thousands of companies that develop applications and accessories for iPhones and iPads.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575481534193344088.html

IMF Working Paper: Bank Capital and Uncertainty
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24199.0

Mr. Obama hit Republicans hard for not passing his $42 billion Small Business Jobs Act
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465401201669056.html

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer Travels to India and China
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/146983.htm

Questions for Imam Rauf From an American Muslim - He may not appear to the untrained eye to be an Islamist, but by making Ground Zero an Islamic rather than an American issue he shows his true allegiance
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575481882969581708.html

The President's Press Conference: From the Economy to the Middle East and "What This Nation Was Founded On"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/10/presidents-press-conference-economy-middle-east-and-what-nation-was-founded

The ACLU Is Dismissed - Obama wins one for the Presidency on the state-secrets privilege
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575481802981541076.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion

Press Briefing

Sep 10, 2010

Strengthening U.S.-Russia Relations
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/strengthening_russia_relations

Why We're in for a Long, Hard Economic Slog - Evidence from 14 U.S. recessions shows that the economy doesn't recover until housing recovers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478083619331668.html

Pakistan Relief Fund Helps Bring Clean Water to Flood Victims
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/pakistan_relief_fund_clean_water

Half-Billion Dollar Schools Can’t Fix American Education
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/10/morning-bell-half-billion-dollar-schools-cant-fix-american-education

Treasurys and the Danger of Short-Term Debt - More than 60% of U.S. debt is set to mature within the next three years
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451580887189818.html

We'll Always Have Basel - In the fight over bank capital, more is better
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575481921638936434.html

From Zombie Banks to Zombie Mortgages? - Japan misallocated capital during its lost decade. How the U.S. can avoid its mistakes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478072373684644.html

Guiding Principles for Managing Sovereign Risk and High Levels of Public Debt ("The Stockholm Principles")
http://www.imf.org/external/np/mcm/stockholm/principles.htm

ObamaCare 'Amnesia' - Long ago, in a political galaxy far, far away, Democrats passed . . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477683320736458.html

Brookings: Five Myths About U.S. Exports
http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2010/0905_exports_katz_rothwell.aspx

President Obama Discovers Incentives - The president's proposed tax cuts for business are a welcome departure from Keynesian stimulus
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703453804575479981552545968.html

President Calderón is serious about restoring law and order. Here's how the U.S. can help.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477472352890934.html

The White House - The Affordable Care Act Did Not Cause Unjust Premium Increases
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/08/affordable-care-act-did-not-cause-unjust-premium-increases

The Obama Heyday Is Over - With so many Democrats running against the president's agenda in the midterm, change will come in the next Congress, regardless of which party is in control
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575482122517174884.html

The White House - Fighting Foreclosures and Strengthening Neighborhoods
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/08/fighting-foreclosures-and-strengthening-neighborhoods

Can You Smell What Is He Cooking? - Why the president's new stimulus won't work
http://reason.com/archives/2010/09/08/can-you-smell-what-obamas-cook

Press Briefing

Sep 09, 2010

In "Origins," Annie Murphy Paul explores current scientific thinking about how our lives are shaped by what happens to us in utero
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575448773639436854.html

Dr. Seuss and the Afghan Military - Afghan soldiers and police are plenty intelligent. Literacy will help them become a modern force
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478070008208694.html

The White House Blog - Boehner's Budget Gimmicks: Another Attempt to Hold Middle Class Tax Cuts Hostage
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/08/boehners-budget-gimmicks-another-attempt-hold-middle-class-tax-cuts-hostage

How ObamaCare Guts Medicare - The president's pledge that 'If you like your health plan, you will be able to keep it' clearly does not apply to America's seniors
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437311393854940.html

Joint Statement of Secretaries Geithner and Clinton on the Republic of Korea's Announcement of Sanctions on Iran
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg848.htm

The Federal Heath-Care Tease - Minnesota's Governor declines to take the ObamaCare bait
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478160851816780.html

Importance of Investment in the Global Economy
http://www.state.gov/e/rls/rmk/2010/146894.htm

Caricature in Cleveland - You can't restore business confidence by bashing business
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703453804575479982836215238.html

Symposium: What Should the Federal Reserve Do Next?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477580959771188.html

In Guyana, Saying Farewell to the HSV Swift 
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/guyana_swift_farewell

The health-care overhaul enacted last spring won't significantly change national health spending over the next decade compared with projections before the law was passed - government figures
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704362404575480161749608830.html

First Lady Michelle Obama Delivers Call to Action for Improved Childhood Nutrition and Physical Fitness
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/08/first-lady-michelle-obama-delivers-call-action-improved-childhood-nutrit

A President's Class War - Where on the income scale does Mr. Obama divide the country between us and them?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703453804575479831591176068.html

Corruption and Finance: Are Innovative Firms Victims or Perpetrators?
http://blogs.worldbank.org/allaboutfinance/node/614

Federal President's Foreign Policy: Neglecting Allies and Appeasing Foes
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/08/morning-bell-neglecting-allies-and-appeasing-foes

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/146899.htm

Tax Contradictions - Obama says the economy needs a tax cut—and a tax increase
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477661420876100.html

Press Briefings

Sep 08, 2010

From Children's Grief, Signs of Growth
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703720004575477614058976560.html

Salvation in Small Steps - With the collapse of various ideologies and totalizing nostrums, human rights became ever more important in world affairs. Moyn's "The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477571192822084.html

Time for Emergency Economic Reform - How about a payroll tax holiday, funded by a federal spending, hiring and pay freeze?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451211979331930.html

Time for Emergency Economic Reform - How about a payroll tax holiday, funded by a federal spending, hiring and pay freeze?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451211979331930.html

Our Spontaneous Universe - I have never quite understood the conviction that creation requires a creator
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575469653720549936.html

Politics and the Cult of Sentimentality - Wilde said that sentimentality is the desire to have the luxury of emotion without paying for it
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703417104575473932096641548.html

New START: Security Through 21st-Century Verification
http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2010_09/Gottemoeller

Conservative: New Start Is Unilateral Disarmament - The treaty's little-noticed limits on conventional weapons systems will reduce our ability to project power around the world
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703618504575459511831427690.html

External demand shocks are not historically associated with sharp declines in output growth in Low-Income Countries
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24190.0

'Sword of Damocles' - A welcome White House legal rebuke to the mass climate tort
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455630272135688.html

Are Ethicists More Attentive Daughters and Sons?
http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2010/08/are-ethicists-more-attentive-daughters.html

Iran's Shadow Games - Now you see a nuclear proliferation threat, now you don't
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575477761797589920.html

Wild chimps outwit human hunters
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8962000/8962747.stm

The German Miracle: Another Look - Germany has cut government spending and its economy is growing smartly. It's not the first time that market-friendly policies have led the nation out of crisis.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461873411742404.html

Nongoloza's Children: Western Cape prison gangs during and after apartheid by Jonny Steinberg
http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/correctional/nongolozaschildren.pdf

Housing Crisis? Look to Canada for Answers
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12115

Greenspan Calls for Repeal of All the Bush Tax Cuts
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/business/economy/07greenspan.html

Orszag: Let’s continue the tax cuts for two years but end them for good in 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/opinion/07orszag.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Press Briefing

Sep 07, 2010

The Right Comparison Between Recoveries
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/06/right-comparison-between-recoveries

The Hazards Of Doing Good - From Live Aid in the mid-1980s to today, Western attempts to help famine-plagued Ethiopia have had little effect. Peter Gill's "Famine and Foreigners"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703618504575460680218948348.html

Global Shale Gas Initiative: Balancing Energy Security and Environmental Concerns
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/global_shale_gas_initiative

In Defense of Physician Autonomy - Politicians hurt patients when they make doctors follow bureaucratic algorithms
By SAUL GREENFIELD
WSJ, Sep 07, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575464071972916464.html

The auditorium was filled with young, newly minted physicians sitting nervously in white jackets. When the chairman of surgery mounted the stage to address me and my fellow surgical interns, we immediately hushed and gave him our attention. I don't now recall most of what he said, but one remark has stayed with me through my 25 years of surgical practice: "You can't practice medicine by committee."

He didn't mean that we shouldn't listen to associates or seek their advice, or that we shouldn't be aware of scientific literature conveying the opinions and research of others. He meant that every physician must, at some point in the patient-care process, make decisions and take responsibility for them. And unless the doctor does so, the outcomes will be compromised. He was warning against groupthink and telling us that patients often present challenges that cannot be solved by easily consulted algorithms.

The chairman's admonition was a succinct definition of the parameters of the doctor-patient relationship. And in the eyes of many contemporary medical thinkers—those who seek to reorder the universe of medical care in this country—it would be heretical.

In recent political debates, the autonomous physician has been portrayed as a problem to be solved, an out-of-control actor motivated by greed—and a major cause of rising health-care costs. Insurance companies and the federal government have sought to control physician behavior with the dual aim of decreasing costs and improving care. In their view, individual and regional disparities in rates of medical testing, hospitalization and surgical procedures are ipso-facto demonstrations of physician autonomy run amok.

In the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Clinical Effectiveness (NICE) provides guidelines for clinical care in order to ensure greater uniformity of practice and, it claims, better care. In this country, the recent health-care reform law established a Comparative Effectiveness Institute with the same aims.

Such institutions are illegitimate and undesirable. My field of pediatric urology is only a small subset of medicine, but recent experience demonstrates the dangers of bureaucratic, committee-based practice.

In 2007, NICE published guidelines for the care of children with urinary tract infections. A committee of diverse specialists reviewed the literature and voted on the final recommendations. Without going into great detail, these guidelines enacted a significant departure from then-current practice by recommending against thorough radiographic evaluation in many instances.

One member of the committee who was out-voted on the final guidelines publicly castigated NICE and accused the committee of misusing statistics, failing to involve the proper specialists, and seeking mainly to decrease costs. The criticisms were correct.

Since the NICE recommendations were promulgated, publications in peer-reviewed journals have shown that many children with significant underlying conditions—some leading to serious kidney disease—would go undiagnosed if the NICE guidelines were followed.

Over a decade ago, researchers at Dartmouth College documented disparities in rates of tonsillectomy in children. They famously asserted that certain high rates of tonsillectomy were inappropriate and did not improve health outcomes. To do this, they relied only on insurance claims and hospitalization rates; they had no data on the prevalence of recurrent tonsillitis or long-term cardiovascular morbidity from obstructive sleep apnea. In fact, they had no data comparing the quality of life of individuals denied the procedure with that of individuals who underwent surgery. Their broad statistical overview was simply unable to answer many important questions.

Physician autonomy is a major defense against those who comfortably sit in remote offices and make calculations based on concerns other than an individual patient's welfare. Uniformity of practice is a nonsensical goal that fails to allow for differing expression of disease states.

This is not to say that clinical research, randomized controlled trials, literature meta-analyses and guidelines are not necessary and useful. They are all essential. It is also not an argument against rigorous oversight of physician behavior, licensure and training. But we must recognize that many physicians will often make decisions that deliberately do not conform to "community standards"—and that patients will be better for it.

Dr. Greenfield is director of pediatric urology at the Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo and a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.


Europe's Bank Stress Tests Minimized Debt Risk
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704392104575475520949440394.html

Whatever Happened to Walking to School? - Those of us who remember using our own legs for transit now run the risk of sounding Abe Lincolnesque
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575469542721199832.html

Learning From Experience on Arms Control - Russia and the United States have made steady progress on verification since the 1980s
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467654209460656.html

School Voucher Breakout - A bipartisan endorsement in Pennsylvania
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455782883586338.html

Statement by President Obama on the Passing of Jefferson Thomas
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/06/statement-president-obama-passing-jefferson-thomas

Washington and the 'Recovery Summer' That Wasn't - The nation's capital endures recessions with less discomfort than anywhere else, and that's truer than ever today
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467900196619676.html

Krueger Op-Ed: Measure Succeeds in Promoting Private-Sector Hiring
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg845.htm

The Obama Economy - How trillions in fiscal and monetary stimulus produced a 1.6% recovery
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703444804575071281687927918.html

Press Briefing

Sep 06, 2010

President Obama to Announce Plan to Renew and Expand America’s Roads, Railways and Runways
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/06/president-obama-announce-plan-renew-and-expand-america-s-roads-railways-

Rocks, YouTube Undergird Kashmiri Protests
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704855104575469850119145276.html

How Government Unions Became So Powerful - While politicians have opposed the right to strike, public-sector labor leaders have focused on pay increases and constitutional guarantees
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467642879738582.html

Eugene Robinson: The American people are acting like a bunch of spoiled brats
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575469663663590510.html

The Wages of Stimulus - More spending, higher unemployment
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703946504575469702542446716.html

Okada and Westerwelle: The Moral Challenge of a Nuclear-Free World
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453900642425906.html

In 2007, 239 patients died of malnutrition in British hospitals
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463772676581084.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/146825.htm

The Diviner of System Risk - Ben Bernanke as Carnac the Magnificent
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467872819971324.html

Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell Briefs on Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/mitchell_israeli-palestinian_negotiations

On Employment Numbers, Romer and Econometric Models
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/03/morning-bell-the-audacity-of-failure

Statement at Round Table 1: Article 19 - Living Independently and Being Included in the Community. By Judith Heumann, Special Advisor for International Disability Rights
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/rm/2010/146772.htm

Second Gulf Explosion Doesn’t Take Away Need for Drilling
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/02/second-gulf-explosion-doesn%E2%80%99t-take-away-need-for-drilling

Press Briefing

Sep 03, 2010

The White House - West Wing Week: "Dispatches from Iraq"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/03/west-wing-week-dispatches-iraq

Federal President Is Still AWOL on Sudan / The country may soon return to war, and the perception of U.S. indifference isn't helping
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439274119871804.html

The White House - Making Preparations Prior to the Impacts of Hurricane Earl
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/02/making-preparations-prior-impacts-hurricane-earl

Want Middle East Peace? Deny Iran Nukes / Israeli-Palestinian talks are good, but Tehran's nuclear drive continues
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575464062562925390.html

The White House - Two New Studies: Health Reform Benefits Small Business
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/02/two-new-studies-health-reform-benefits-small-business

Tony Blair on the Panic - Britain's former prime minister understands better than most the origins of the financial crisis
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467523488193204.html

The White House Blog - There’s Courage in Our Country’s Classrooms
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/02/there-s-courage-our-country-s-classrooms

The Small Business The 97% Fallacy - The president's plan to raise top marginal rates is holding back the very people who should be leading the economic recovery
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575454061524326290.html

Three Software Tricks for Sorting Through the Barrage of UAV Footage
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/software/three-software-tricks-for-sorting-through-barrage

Democratic Salvage Plan - How Nancy Pelosi might save her majority
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467353597659766.html

The French ambassador to Iraq says it's "the true laboratory of democracy in the Arab world."
WSJ, Sep 02, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463900304368796.html

Boris Boillon, the French ambassador to Iraq, in an interview with Le Figaro, Aug. 31:

The tactic of al Qaeda, which aims to put the country in fire and blood, to rekindle the civil war, has failed. The specter of partition in Iraq is behind us. . . . The record has improved since we passed a hundred deaths per day four years ago, to ten deaths per day today. In fact, the trend reversed itself when U.S. troops began leaving the cities, in June 2009. With the final withdrawal, this trend should continue and stabilize. . . .

Of course, the Iraqis say that the allied intervention of 2003 cost them dearly in lives and destruction of infrastructure, but they are aware also that it has liberated the country. The picture is therefore both positive and negative. Iraqis enjoy the fruits of democratization: the blossoming of the press, the emergence of a civil society, the free political parties, the exemplary nature of elections. These are all facts.

It is absolutely necessary, when one speaks of Iraq, to reason nonideologically. Iraq is the true laboratory of democracy in the Arab world. It is there that the future of democracy in the region will play itself out. Iraq could potentially become a political model for its neighbors. And, whether one likes it or not, all this has come about thanks to the American intervention of 2003. . . .

That no consensus has emerged around a [new] head of government proves that the political game occurs in Iraq and no neighboring country is able to impose its choice on Iraqi politics.

Even if the door is broken open, it must be restated that the last election constituted a victory for democracy. There are not many other countries in the region where results are not known before the vote.


In Sudan and Kenya, Grassroots Diplomacy
http://blogs.state.gov/sudan/index.php/site/entry/in_sudan_grassroots_diplomacy

Hooray for the U.N. - A dispute tribunal vindicates a whistleblower, Artjon Shkurtaj
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465882341825778.html

Press Briefing

Sep 02, 2010

What Do We Know About the Impact of Remittances on Financial Development?
http://blogs.worldbank.org/allaboutfinance/what-do-we-know-about-the-impact-of-remittances-on-financial-development

Teachers for Coverups - The Wall Street Journal applauds the L.A. Times's decision to publish evaluations of public school teachers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463841606641572.html

Briefing on U.S. Government's Continued Efforts to Disrupt and Dismantle Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rm/2010/146597.htm

The Lawfare Wars - The al-Nashiri bugout, and attack of the killer lawyers—on drones
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463721720570734.html

The White House - Continued Recovery for America’s Agricultural Economy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/01/continued-recovery-america-s-agricultural-economy

If Saddam Had Stayed - Saddam would have joined the nuclear bad-boys club with Iran and North Korea
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465721991599994.html

The White House - Forging Ahead on Middle East Peace Talks
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/01/forging-ahead-middle-east-peace-talks

Projects To Develop Novel Monitoring Networks for Advanced Power Systems Selected
http://www.fossil.energy.gov/news/techlines/2010/10040-Projects_To_Develop_Novel_Monitori.html

Update: US Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/146606.htm

Some Coal-Fired Power Plants Were Built Last Year, is This the Start of a New Trend or Are New Coal Plants Dead?
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/09/01/some-coal-fired-power-plants-were-built-last-year-is-this-the-start-of-a-new-trend-or-are-new-coal-plants-dead/

White House - New Resources for Employers and Unions to Help Keep Health Coverage Accessible and Affordable
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/31/new-resources-employers-and-unions-help-keep-health-coverage-accessible-and-affordab

The administration's 'summer of recovery' has fizzled in almost every way imaginable. The growth rate is less than half what it was at this stage after the 1974-75 and 1981-82 recessions.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465462926649950.html

Press Briefing

Sep 01, 2010

Bring Back the Estate Tax Now - Allowing it to lapse has cost us billions of dollars in revenue this year
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575454073982825164.html

Shikha Dalmia on the General Motors IPO
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463972500361374.html

From the Desk of Maria Otero, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs
http://www.state.gov/g/146541.htm

Letters From the Imam - Feisel Abdul Rauf on Israel and Iran
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451762406545760.html

Readout of President Obama’s Briefing Call with FEMA Administrator Fugate on the Preparations Being Made in Advance of Hurricane Earl
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/01/readout-president-obama-s-briefing-call-with-fema-administrator-fugate-p

Office 39, Call Office 99 - More useful pressure on North Korea
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463934062014778.html

Ben Rhodes Answers Your Questions About Iraq Following the President's Oval Address
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/31/ben-rhodes-answers-your-questions-about-iraq-following-presidents-oval-address

Conservatives: The Obama Doctrine
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/01/morning-bell-the-obama-doctrine

President Obama's Address on the End of the Combat Mission in Iraq
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/31/president-obamas-address-end-combat-mission-iraq

'Systemic Risk' Stonewall - Some bailout questions the Fed still hasn't answered
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463781244452958.html

It’s Time for Reality, Not Deadlines, in Iraq and Afghanistan
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/31/morning-bell-its-time-for-reality-not-deadlines-in-iraq-and-afghanistan

Press Briefing

Aug 31, 2010

Camille Paglia writes that pressuring middle-class young people into "word jobs" is cruelly shortsighted - "The elite schools, predicated on molding students into mirror images of their professors, seem divorced from any rational consideration of human happiness."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461691182268962.html

The White House - Economic Recovery for Small Businesses: Now is Not the Time to Pull Back
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/30/economic-recovery-small-businesses-now-not-time-pull-back

TARP and the Continuing Problem of Toxic Assets - It was a bold bet that the Treasury and Fed could engineer an economic recovery without allowing the repricing of US housing stock
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455951017059416.html

White House - Landmark: Number of Donut Hole Rebate Checks Passes One Million
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/30/landmark-number-donut-hole-rebate-checks-passes-one-million

Tire-d Old Trade Policies - You can't boost exports by trashing imports
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703669004575458523112347824.html

Abolish tenure, require more teaching, put star professors online
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703618504575460252029820466.html

The White House Blog - Agent Orange and Veterans: A 40-Year Wait
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/30/agent-orange-and-veterans-a-40-year-wait

J McCain: The Surge and Afghanistan - Unless he understands the reason for success in Iraq, the president is unlikely to lead a successful strategy against the Taliban
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703618504575459983690019468.html

White House: Katrina - Five Years Later, Our Commitment Continues
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/30/five-years-later-our-commitment-continues

Why We Fought and What We Achieved - Saddam had launched multiple wars, used weapons of mass destruction and aided global terrorism. Now Iraq's government is an ally and represents all the Iraqi people.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461452331806476.html

Remarks on the 47th Anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" Speech. By Hannah Rosenthal, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism . Imam Yahya Hendi From Clergy Without Borders, Washington, DC, August 28, 2010

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/rm/2010/146434.htm

Social Security Bait and Switch - 'Harry, am I making this up?' Yes, Mr. President, you are.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461601764263106.html

IMF Enhances Crisis Prevention Toolkit
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2010/pr10321.htm

Alvin Greene Mocks White House Staff As 'Harvard Rich Kids'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453211943767790.html

Press Briefing

Aug 30, 2010

Muslim: It was only after losing the fight for total state power against democracies and dictatorships alike that Islamists launched their war against the West
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453211943767790.html

Conservative: The World Trade Center Mosque and the Constitution
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455503946170176.html

Export Controls for the 21st Century - The current system is a legacy of the Cold War and fails to distinguish between low-tech items and the most advanced proprietary technology
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575454313481209990.html

On the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) Tax Task Force Report
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/27/perab-tax-task-force-report

Jimmy Carter in Pyongyang - Back to the same old North Korean games
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703669004575458422510924854.html

Our Man in Caracas - Good news: Chávez doesn't like him
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449933853736568.html

Ten Fallacies About Web Privacy - We are not used to the Internet reality that something can be known and at the same time no person knows it
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455192488549362.html

Alinsky Wins at the SEC - A new proxy access rule will help activists and unions, not shareholders
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455791673609002.html

Kirchner's Assault on the Press - This week's target: Argentina's two most influential daily newspapers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455483542041338.html

The White House Blog - Preparing Workers for New Careers
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/27/lost-and-found-preparing-workers-new-careers

The Folly of Subsidizing Unemployment - My calculations suggest the jobless rate could be as low as 6.8%, instead of 9.5%, if jobless benefits hadn't been extended to 99 weeks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575454431457720188.html

Energy Dept: Setting the Record Straight on Weatherization
http://blog.energy.gov/blog/2010/08/27/setting-record-straight-weatherization

The $31 Billion Revenue Fantasy - Those who make $200,000 a year are 3% of all taxpayers but pay 52% of all income taxes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703876404575200621394266894.html

The White House Blog - Helping New Orleans Rebuild Its Schools
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/28/helping-new-orleans-rebuild-its-schools

Spreading Hayek, Spurning Keynes - Professor Leads an Austrian Revival
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703418004575455911922562120.html

When Justice Comes Naturally - The Constitution can 'live' without losing its core meanings. Review of Hadley Arkes's Constitutional Illusions & Anchoring Truths.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575448761803060070.html

The 1.6% Recovery - The results of the Obama economic experiment are coming in
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455823740024224.html

Remarks by the President on the Fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/29/remarks-president-fifth-anniversary-hurricane-katrina-new-orleans-louisi

Lebanon's parliament amended a 1946 law that had been used to bar the 400,000 Palestinians living in the country from taking any but the most menial jobs
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435933047619568.html

Press Briefing

Aug 27, 2010

USAID Launches Pakistan Flood Relief Info Sharing on “Humari Awaz” Cell Phone Network
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/pakistan_flood_relief_info_sharing_humari_awaz

A new study confirms what I've been saying for decades: Paying high fees to fund managers is the route to lower returns
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447531979322798.html

The SEC's Sop to Unions - Under the new rules, average shareholders won't muster the numbers to influence corporate elections
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451343422958522.html

A Challenge for WTC Mosque Opponents - The rights of American Muslims are being questioned in other locations. Will Gingrich and Palin speak out on their behalf?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453123857886644.html

Blanche Lincoln's Last Earmark: changes to Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE) - The spending problem, in profile
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449422819519354.html

Protecting Medicare Benefits and Offering Clear Choices for Seniors
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/26/protecting-medicare-benefits-and-offering-clear-choices-seniors

Intel's Otellini: "the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here. And wealth will not accrue here. Ultimately, we will face an inevitable erosion and shift of wealth—much like we are witnessing today in Europe."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453803561625516.html

Women's Equality Day and the 90th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/26/womens-equality-day-and-90th-anniversary-19th-amendment

Scapegoating For-Profit Colleges - Obama tees up another private industry for punishment
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425830335709738.html

200,000 Homes Weatherized Under the Recovery Act
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/26/200000-homes-weatherized-under-recovery-act

Time for Obama to Pull a Clinton - When I met with the president in early 1995, I warned him he would not be re-elected unless he changed his reputation
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575453450250159546.html

UN mapping report leaked: Crime of genocide against Hutu center of controversy
http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/2010/08/un-mapping-report-leaked-crime-of.html

Public Pensions and Our Fiscal Future - Few Californians in the private sector have $1 million in savings, but that's effectively the retirement account they guarantee to many government employees
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449813071709510.html

Press Briefing

Aug 26, 2010

Jared Bernstein on Republicans, the Recovery Act and "jobs created or saved"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/25/increasingly-awkward-dance

The Military Should Mirror the Nation - America's Armed Forces are drawn from an increasingly narrow segment of society
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451531529098478.html

Five Principles to Make “Contingent Capital” More Like Capital and Less Contingent
http://www.cambridgewinter.org/Cambridge_Winter/Archives/Entries/2010/8/25_NOW_MORE_ABSORBENT!.html

Stop the Madness - Washington is spending the country into economic decline
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449961346648370.html

The IRS Targets Incompetent Tax Preparers - That's good news. But the agency is going overboard
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447873306166034.html

U.S. Provides $50 Million in Early Recovery Aid to Pakistan Flood Victims
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr100825_1.html

Big Foot on Campus - Why colleges want a waiver from ObamaCare
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451710632099560.html

Minutes of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy July 2010 Official Meeting
http://www.state.gov/r/adcompd/146252.htm

Oil Spill & The Gulf Claims Racket - The lawyers are upset they aren't getting more of the action
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449692864994262.html

A Muslim Reformer on the Mosque - The warriors for tolerance and the antimosque crusaders are both wrong
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451433090488678.html

The Fed Is Running Low on Ammo - It still has options if more monetary easing is needed. But they're not very effective
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575448022122679194.html

IMF Paper: Can Global Liquidity Forecast Asset Prices?
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24164.0

The White House is having a disastrous 'summer of recovery.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451502211231456.html

Press Briefing

Aug 25, 2010

Working Together To Save Lives in India
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/india_leh_flooding

Cleaning Up the Mortgage Mess - Obama's program to help homeowners has unfortunately made things worse
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704075604575356663725805580.html

Countering Piracy: International Partnership Achieves Steady Progress
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/piracy_international_partnership_progress

Our Blue-Collar Great Depression - American workers who are less well-educated need a lifeline until new opportunities emerge.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704023404575429864088150270.html

The Case for Economic Optimism - Investment in equipment and software is strong, as is the outlook for exports
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703995104575389041193020822.html

Why the Senate Should Block 'New Start' - The nuclear treaty is the first step toward unilateral disarmament
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405634208565808.html

U.S. Government Hosts Conference on Improving Southern Sudan's Agriculture
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr100824.html

The Trial Bar Heads to Iraq - A lawsuit that would create civil damages for wartime decisions
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447613501672210.html

Wireless in Gaza - If young Palestinians have access to better information today, they may make better decisions tomorrow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435923218083624.html

Human Rights Kowtow - The Obama Administration makes itself an accomplice to U.N. corruption
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449960554393200.html

Vice President Biden Releases Report on Recovery Act Impact on Innovation
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/24/vice-president-biden-releases-report-recovery-act-impact-innovation

The Housing Mirage - Homeowner subsidies have only delayed the day of reckoning
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449751158395676.html

The Afghanistan War Is Mainly About Pakistan and India - Actually, it's about the whole region.
http://www.slate.com/id/2264918/

Putting the Brakes on ObamaCare  How a Republican Congress could begin the process of repealing this unpopular law
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437271015655924.html

Press Briefing

Aug 24, 2010

The White House Blog - Their Economic Policies Haven’t Changed, So They Won’t Bring the Change We Need
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/24/their-economic-policies-haven-t-changed-so-they-won-t-bring-change-we-need

Wind Power Won't Cool Down the Planet - Often enough it leads to higher carbon emissions
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703792704575366700528078676.html

White House: 31,000 Homes Weatherized in June
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/23/31000-homes-weatherized-june

Virginia Is for Surpluses - Erasing red ink without a tax increase
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703579804575442063233671300.html

The White House Blog - Your Credit Card Bill of Rights Now in Full Effect
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/23/your-credit-card-bill-rights-now-full-effect

The Politics of Plastic - The war against credit cards is raising costs and harming consumers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447613154049510.html

Identified a family of retroviruses in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (update)
http://digs.by/cFFWeq

Cracks in the Iranian Monolith - Opposition is spreading in the streets, in prisons, and even in the military
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409611936612020.html

Like Bush, Not Clinton, Obama Follows His Heart Not Polls
http://blogs.wsj.com/capitaljournal/2010/08/22/like-bush-not-clinton-obama-follows-his-heart-not-polls/

Press Briefing

Aug 23, 2010

Lorenz Of Arabia - As a wartime strategy, Germany tried to foment a Grand Jihad in Muslim lands
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703461504575444532238358048.html

The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility - The idea that companies have a duty to address social ills is not just flawed, argues Aneel Karnani. It also makes it more likely that we'll ignore the real solutions to these problems.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703338004575230112664504890.html

The White House Blog - At the Indiana State Fair: Farmers, The First Entrepreneurs
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/20/indiana-state-fair-farmers-first-entrepreneurs

The Guns of August, 1990 - The last 20 years would have been very different had American forces taken that open road to Baghdad the first time around
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703589404575417820146420794.html

Reducing Energy Costs while Creating Green Jobs for Americans, by Secretary Shaun Donovan
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/20/reducing-energy-costs-while-creating-green-jobs-americans

Australian Boomerang - Another big spending center-left party loses its majority
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703461504575442693926568832.html

President Obama Challenges Politicians Benefiting from Citizens United Ruling to Defend Corporate Influence in Our Elections
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/21/weekly-address-president-obama-challenges-politicians-benefiting-citizen

ObamaCare's Tax on Taxes - The latest gambit to punish for-profit health insurers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435473272964804.html

How States Hide Their Budget Deficits - The SEC's charges against New Jersey for misleading investors should warn other states against sweeping the truth under the rug
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703579804575441240180244472.html

Iran Unveils New Drone
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704504204575444872540980904.html

Treasury Concludes Three Weeks of Global Engagement with Governments, Private Sector on Iran
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg835.htm

$4.4 Trillion - That's how much the spending baseline has increased in 31 months
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439543402718272.html

Obama Administration Housing Scorecard Shows Continued Progress in Housing Market, but Challenges Remain
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg833.htm

Gates and Buffett Take the Pledge - Wealthy businessmen often feel obligated to 'give back.' Who says they've taken anything?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575438993318888822.html

Press Briefing

Aug 20, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/146107.htm

The Lockerbie Bomber and Scotland's Disgrace - A political stunt freed a mass murderer and brought needless grief to many in the US
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437221006992494.html

Bashing Beijing Will Not Help Our Trade Deficit - Higher wages, not a stronger yuan, will help Chinese workers and reduce US imports
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704023404575429843465266202.html

State Dept: A Critical Milestone in Iraq
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/milestone_iraq

The SEC's Jersey Score - At last, a state gets hit for securities fraud
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439431857019668.html

Seniors Already Seeing Lower Prescription Drug Costs
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/18/seniors-already-seeing-lower-prescription-drug-costs

More Countrywide Loans - What Senate ethicists didn't tell us on Dodd
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435851680516676.html

Remarks by the President at a Discussion with Ohio Families on the Economy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/18/remarks-president-a-discussion-with-ohio-families-economy

Victory in Iraq  -American arms created a republic, if Iraqis can keep it
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439743828817562.html

An assessment of the long-term economic impact of stronger capital and liquidity requirements
FSB & BCBS, August 2010
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs173.htm

The Basel Committee's assessment of the long-term economic impact finds that there are clear net long term economic benefits from increasing the minimum capital and liquidity requirements from their current levels in order to raise the safety and soundness of the global banking system. The benefits of higher capital and liquidity requirements accrue from reducing the probability of financial crisis and the output losses associated with such crises. The benefits substantially exceed the potential output costs for a range of higher capital and liquidity requirements.

The FSB-BCBS MAG assessment of the macroeconomic transition costs, prepared in close collaboration with the International Monetary Fund, concludes that the transition to stronger capital and liquidity standards is likely to have a modest impact on aggregate output. If higher requirements are phased in over four years, the group estimates that each one percentage point increase in bank's actual ratio of tangible common equity to risk-weighted assets will lead to a decline in the level of GDP relative to its baseline path by about 0.20% after implementation is completed.  In terms of growth rates, this means that the annual growth rate would be reduced by an average of 0.04 percentage points over a four and a half year period, with a range of results around these point estimates. A 25% increase in liquid asset holdings is found to have an output effect less than half that associated with a one-percentage point increase in capital ratios. The projected impacts arise mainly from banks passing on higher costs to borrowers, which results in a slowdown in investment. A two-year implementation period leads to a slightly larger reduction from the baseline path, with the trough occurring after two and a half years, while extending the implementation period beyond four years makes little difference. In all of these estimates, GDP returns to its baseline path in subsequent years.


Winning the Peace in Iraq - The last American combat troops left Iraq this week. But when 'Operation New Dawn' begins on Sept. 1, the U.S. will still have a vital mission—and interests—there
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439381641164538.html

Get Ready for Ads in Books
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435243350910792.html

Proposal to ensure the loss absorbency of regulatory capital at the point of non-viability - consultative document
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs174.htm

Press Briefing

Aug 19, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/146066.htm

Barney Frank to Fannie Mae: Drop Dead - Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437574151872544.html

Barney Frank has been all over the airwaves this week with a clear and—we never thought we'd say this—perfectly sound message about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: "They should be abolished."

Well, praise be. Two years ago next month, then Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put the two government-sponsored mortgage-finance giants into conservatorship, and Congressman Frank declared himself pleased that there was a good chance, according to government bean-counters, that the rescue wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime. Also at the time, Mr. Frank scoffed at the Bush Administration's view that Fan and Fred should be wound down, saying it would never happen. One and a half trillion dimes ($149 billion) later, Mr. Frank appears to have seen the light.

Recall that in 2007 Mr. Frank had complained that the reason Fannie and Freddie hadn't been reformed earlier was "the insistence of some economic conservative fundamentalists in the Bush Administration who, to be honest, don't think there should be a Fannie Mae or a Freddie Mac." Welcome aboard, Barney.

In another sign that he's an avid reader of these columns, Mr. Frank even told Fox Business, "If we want to subsidize housing then we could do it upfront and let the budget be clear about that." That is certainly a more honest way to subsidize housing and makes us think we don't write in vain.

We prefer no subsidy for homeownership, not least because the painful experience of the last 40 years is that such policies lead to boom and bust and awful economic harm. Canada has neither a Fannie Mae nor a mortgage-interest tax deduction, and yet its homeownership rate is higher than America's. The homebuilder-Realtor-mortgage banker lobby will object, which is no doubt why Treasury chief Tim Geithner continued to call for some federal role in guaranteeing mortgages at his housing finance gabfest this week. But that road inevitably leads to the Son of Fannie.

The housing reform debate is only beginning, but for now we'll associate ourselves with Mr. Frank's view that if Congress wants to subsidize housing, it ought to do so directly out of annual appropriations, allocating dollars in open and transparent fashion against other priorities.


Assessing the macroeconomic impact of the transition to stronger capital and liquidity requirements - Interim Report
BCBS & FSB
http://www.bis.org/publ/othp10.htm

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Financial Stability Board set up the Macroeconomic Assessment Group (MAG) to assess the macroeconomic effects of the transition to strengthened capital and liquidity regulations. The MAG comprises economic modelling experts from central banks and other authorities. In its Interim Report, the MAG concludes that, for each percentage point increase in the target capital ratio implemented over a four-year horizon, the level of GDP relative to the baseline path declines by a maximum of about 0.19%. The maximum GDP loss occurs four and a half years after the start of implementation, after which GDP recovers towards its baseline path. The associated rise in banks' lending rates would amount to about 15 basis points for each percentage point increase in capital. These costs will slowly dissipate during and after the phase-in, returning GDP to the path it would have followed in the absence of the changes. The impact of the new regulatory framework on specific national financial systems will depend on current levels of capital and liquidity in those systems, and on the consequences of changes to the definitions used in calculating the relevant regulatory ratios. These results imply that the reforms proposed by the Basel Committee are likely to have, at most, a modest impact on aggregate output, provided that appropriate transition arrangements are in place.


Deconstructing Harry Reid - The Senate majority leader's inexplicable desire to debate taxes in September
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437413307858620.html

Somalia: Frozen Warfare in Mogadishu
http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Analysis/Somalia_Frozen_Warfare_in_Mogadishu_Intelligence_Brief_2.shtml

Blagojevich 23, Fitzgerald 1 - Chicago's jester politician humiliates the Justice Department
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437490986410482.html

Press Briefing

Aug 18, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/146049.htm

Obama Follows Nixon On Oil Spills - The overreaction to Santa Barbara in 1969 left the country dangerously vulnerable
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425541427252542.html

Ralph Nader: Where Left and Right Converge - Anticorporatist views are becoming more and more common
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435321716423354.html

FASB's Tort Bar Gift - New accounting rules would give lawyers a lawsuit roadmap
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704554104575435851610547946.html

If 10-year interest rates, which are now 2.8%, rise to 4% as they did last spring, bondholders will suffer a capital loss more than three times the current yield
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425384002846058.html

The Avastin Mugging - The FDA rigs the verdict against a good cancer drug
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405203894857436.html

Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner Opening Remarks at theConference on the Future of Housing Finance APFD
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg830.htm

Lift the wraps on the Himalayan border situation - Let facts speak for themselves on the India-China frontier
http://chellaney.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!4913C7C8A2EA4A30!1237.entry

Press Briefing

Aug 17, 2010

The White House Blog - Slowing Large Health Insurance Premium Increases
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/16/slowing-large-health-insurance-premium-increases

Comrade Duch and the Killing Fields - When will justice come to more senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703940904575395052402779036.html

The White House Blog - New Battery Technology and New Jobs in Wisconsin
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/16/new-battery-technology-and-new-jobs-wisconsin

Uncle Sam, Venture Capitalist - Meet the battery company that Obama visited yesterday
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433882374313148.html

Japan as Number Three - Beijing's rise, Tokyo's fall and the wealth of nations
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433212314778700.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145997.htm

The Future of Housing Finance - We'll never get a rational mortgage system until the government's affordable housing mandates are ended
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425231311880538.html

Press Briefing

Aug 16, 2010

Exploring the Many Facets of Deterrence, by Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/145954.htm

The Fed Can't Solve Our Economic Woes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575418964014417740.html

US Groundbreaking Effort to Provide Emergency Food Assistance to Earthquake Victims in Haiti - Two New Grants Utilize Cash and Food Vouchers to Complement In-Kind Food Aid
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr100813.html

Subsidy As a Way of Life - In the U.S. it's 'work, work, work.' A rock drummer in France gets a state stipend.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703960004575427731291231298.html

Presidential Memorandum--Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/12/presidential-memorandum-continuation-us-drug-interdiction-assistance-gov

How Not to Win Hearts and Minds - In a U.N. survey, 52% of Afghans said foreign aid organizations 'are corrupt and are in the country just to get rich.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703999304575399422302747074.html

Press Briefing

Aug 13, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145945.htm

State Sec Clinton On New START Treaty Ratification
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/08/145879.htm

Awlaki vs. Predator - American members of al Qaeda aren't merely criminal suspects. They're active enemy combatants who can be targeted like other terrorists.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704901104575423253031580156.html

Obama Administration Announces Additional Support For Targeted Foreclosure-Prevention Programs To Help Homeowners Struggling with Unemployment
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg823.htm

Georgia and the Limits of Russian Power - Moscow's occupation forces remain in the country, but the future looks bright for Tbilisi
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425090664809722.html

White House: Teaching Our Way to a Stronger Economy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/teaching-our-way-a-stronger-economy

Rosty and Reagan - A lesson in tax reform and bipartisanship
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425661456858140.html

Are Plastics Making Us Fat? - Health gurus claim chemicals—not calories—are the cause of obesity
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703545604575407201305888876.html

How did Sudan implode so catastrophically?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421901117532376.html

Hezbollah, Radical but Rational
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100811_hezbollah_radical_rational

The Dodd-Frank Bailout is Already Here
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/12/morning-bell-the-dodd-frank-bailout-is-already-here/

Nanostructured Metamaterial Enables Invisibility Cloak, Amplifies Light, Reduces Dramatically Absorption
http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/nanostructured-metamaterial-enables-invisibility-cloak

Press Briefing

Aug 12, 2010

Why Obama Is Still the Favorite in 2012 - Hispanic voters hold the balance of power—and Republicans aren't winning their support
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409300064389276.html

Europe Jumps Off the Keynesian Bus - The economy is looking bright in Britain and Germany after those governments announced plans to reduce spending
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421231390302638.html

Nuclear Reactor Renaissance - Nuclear reactor design is poised for a desperately needed revival. Here are seven contenders.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/nuclear-reactor-renaissance

The White House Blog - Another Step Towards Sustainable Recovery
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/another-step-towards-sustainable-recovery

No Bad Idea Left Behind - Congress turns even a border security bill into a job killer
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575422293810650232.html

Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore a Stimulus Success Story; Project to Add Desperately Needed Highway Capacity
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/caldecott-tunnel-fourth-bore-a-stimulus-success-story-project-add-desperately-needed

Gay Marriage: Leave It to the Voters - I support it as a policy matter, but having the courts mandate it promises trauma of the sort that followed Roe v. Wade
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421223725915454.html

Commerce Secretary: The Cost-Saving Census
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/cost-saving-census

Washington vs. Paul Ryan - What happens when a politician is more honest than his critics
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419473063003094.html

Press Briefing

Aug 11, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145860.htm

Washington Post economics columnist Robert Samuelson on avoiding the economic fate of Western Europe
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421721525088464.html

Pakistan's Project of Renewal - The floods are only the latest challenge to hit my country, says President Zardari
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419632502446788.html

The High Costs of Very Low Interest Rates - Money that should be invested to create jobs is instead funding government debt, while worried consumers sit on the sidelines
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405592876165452.html

The Case For Birthright Citizenship - Since the abolition of slavery, we have never denied citizenship to any group of children born in the U.S. Why change now?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421222258065684.html

Urging Iran to Respect the Fundamental Freedoms of its Citizens, by State Sec Hillary Clinton
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/08/145857.htm

Recusal Refusal - NLRB appointee Craig Becker's evolving definition of ethics
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421702003156386.html

Discussion on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145855.htm

Quantitative Easing 2 - The Fed revs up the helicopter
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421670983872464.html

Implementation of Iran Sanctions, by Robert J Einhorn, Special Advisor Nonproliferation and Arms Control
http://www.state.gov/t/isn/rls/rm/145348.htm

End of the Net Neut Fetish - What the Google-Verizon deal really means for the wireless future
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421434187090098.html

New START Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC)
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/145830.htm

Stimulus Pushers - The latest bailout for public unions and spendthrift states
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421613093659730.html

Press Briefing

Aug 10, 2010

Karachi's complex culture of violence
http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/08/09/karachis_complex_culture_of_violence

President Obama on Higher Education in Austin: "We Are Not Playing for Second Place"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/09/president-obama-higher-education-austin-we-are-not-playing-second-place

Hillary for Vice President? The movement is gaining traction.
http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052748704388504575419421407147424.html

The White House Asks: How do the Women You Know Continue to Break Barriers?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/09/white-house-asks-how-do-women-you-know-continue-break-barriers

Joel Kotkin on California as a "failed state."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419561240207650.html

The Calm Amidst the Smoke - I've never lived in a city where the bizarre is so interwoven into daily routines as in Moscow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419263127245830.html

Statement of President Barack Obama on Secretary Gates Reform Agenda
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/09/statement-president-barack-obama-secretary-gates-reform-agenda

In Lebanon, a Power Struggle and Pitiable Choices - A young prime minister pays court in Syria, while Iran also jockeys for more influence
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575418881692455798.html

The White House Blog - Top 5 Things You Should Know Before Heading Back to College
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/09/top-5-things-you-should-know-heading-back-college

Of CEOs and Congressmen - Private vs. public accountability
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419550839726076.html

Confronting China's Snarl - Beijing's truculence warrants a firm American response
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703309704575413112417865690.html

Compensation in Bell, California - Want $600,000 a year in retirement? Work for the government.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419600042368596.html

The False Fed Savior - Monetary policy can't make up for failed fiscal and regulatory policy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419231591024478.html

Unlocking The Genetic Secrets Of Autism
http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.1903/healthissue_detail.asp

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145814.htm

Naomi Campbell and the 'Blood Diamond' Hoax - Diamonds aren't a major reason for Africa's conflicts, and the Kimberley Process is no guarantee of a stone's pedigree in any case
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703589404575417460834079500.html

Critical Role of Women in Peace and Security, by Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues
U.S. Institute of Peace, Washington, DC
http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/rls/rem/2010/145786.htm

Building on Iran Sanctions - With the regime under pressure, now is not the time to ease up
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575408872075399544.html

Press Briefing

Aug 09, 2010

Tough new global financial rules are a must
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/08/AR2010080802478.html

Canada, Land of Smaller Government - Its corporate income tax rate is 18% and falling. America's is 35%
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703977004575393221638794924.html

Libertarians: Medicare's chief actuary vs. President Obama on the ObamaCare facts
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703309704575413263344491010.html

White House: The Employment Situation in July
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/06/employment-situation-july

Fairness and the Capital Tax Fetish - No serious economist thinks higher dividend and cap gains taxes are efficient ways to raise revenue. Why not limit deductions for high earners instead?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703700904575391463715177240.html

The Ongoing Administration-Wide Response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill
http://app.restorethegulf.gov/go/doc/2931/840851/

Why I'm Not Hiring - When you add it all up, it costs $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally's pocket and to give her $12,000 in benefits
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409733776372738.html

Will Iraq Fall Victim to the Oil Curse? - The Baghdad government runs a top-down command economy and only pays lip service to private jobs and economic diversification
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703748904575411231275371108.html

John Fund on Medicare's questionable financial condition
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703309704575413491311091442.html

Honoring Elena Kagan
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/06/honoring-elena-kagan

Government and the Uncertainty Trap - It's not a lack of liquidity that's holding back our economy. Investors and business leaders are waiting to learn more about future taxes and regulations.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405302726656506.html

Federal President's Weekly Address: Medicare Officially Safer After Health Reform
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/07/weekly-address-medicare-officially-safer-after-health-reform

The World Drills On - There's no ban in Norway, Brazil, Australia, Canada . . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575339290774710032.html

Deutsche CEO: West's Levies on Banks May Lift Asia's Role

Deutsche CEO: West's Levies on Banks May Lift Asia's Role. By ALISON TUDOR And PETER STEIN
WSJ, Jul 18, 2010

HONG KONG — Asia's already rising importance as a profit center for financial services could gain more momentum as governments in the U.S. and Europe levy new taxes on global banking profits, according to Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Josef Ackermann.

"The relative importance of Asia will even increase" as a result of regulatory moves against banks in the West, Dr. Ackermann said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "Asian countries would be well advised not to copy levies which are so popular in many other parts of the world."

The German bank's chief , who has become a prominent voice for bank interests in the wake of the financial crisis and heads the global lobby group Institute of International Finance, was in Hong Kong to attend the listing ceremony Friday for Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.

The levies cumulatively could translate into a substantial hit for lenders with branches in many countries, such as Deutsche Bank, which generates about three-quarters of its revenue outside of its home market, Dr. Ackermann said. Instead, he called for a home bias to the levies because the country of domicile was the one called on most to help out in the banking crisis.

Emerging markets could even take advantage of the backlash against banks in the West to grab market share in financial services, he said. "A lot of governments are determined, including the Chinese, to build up financial hubs at a time when other countries are more skeptical about the financial sector," he said, noting that Turkey and Russia are making similar advances.

Dr. Ackermann also warned that the war for talent in Asia is causing a bubble in bankers' compensation that is detrimental to the industry, even as he hired another rainmaker to keep business flowing.

Late Sunday, Deutsche Bank named Henry Cai its corporate-finance chairman for Asia as well as head of its corporate and investment bank in China. Mr. Cai is known as one of China's most consistent deal makers and is well-connected with the business and political elites in Beijing. He resigned from UBS AG in recent weeks as investment-banking chairman for Asia. It isn't known how much he will be making at Deutsche Bank.

Other senior banking executives in Asia complain that increasing competition for talent in the region is leading to excessive pay packages for bankers working in such areas as mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings. Compensation, a key cost for banks, can cause serious problems for management when one division's or one region's pay is out of kilter with the rest. The buzz over bankers' pay in Asia comes at a time when governments in the U.S. and Europe are seeking to curb excesses that in recent years contributed to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

"If the industry pushes compensation levels up by just poaching people from each other, in the long term it is not a sustainable model and not good for the culture of banks in the region," Dr. Ackermann said.

To combat this problem, Deutsche Bank has started recruiting more Asian graduates with the aim of steeping them in the bank's culture and later returning them to the region to run its businesses.

"It's not a short-term solution. It may take up to five years to see the first successes, but that is what we are working on," said Dr. Ackermann, who was also in Asia to give a speech at an International Monetary Fund conference in South Korea.

Like other banks weighing the prospects of the global economy, Deutsche Bank has made boosting its operations in Asia a top priority. "Europe's slow economic growth and the very competitive environment in the U.S. means Asia is a very attractive market, so it would be unwise not to do everything we can to be part of the market," Dr. Ackermann said.

The German bank is targeting four billion euros ($5.17 billion) in annual revenue from the Asian-Pacific region excluding Japan by next year, about double the amount it generated from the region in 2008.

Deutsche Bank already has a strong foothold, with operations in 17 Asian countries and over 17,000 employees.

Local regulators restrict foreign banks in ways that allow them to earn only about a third of their potential revenues, according to a recent report by consultancy McKinsey & Co., so the banks need to be careful not to compete in the same niches, such as high-profile underwriting deals in financial centers like Hong Kong. Deutsche Bank says only about 5% of its revenue in Asia comes from "public" deals such as initial public offerings.

One such deal that Deutsche Bank was involved in was the IPO for AgBank, which began trading Friday in Hong Kong. Clients like AgBank and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., which Deutsche Bank also helped take public four years ago, are potential competitors as their business grows in scope and sophistication.

"I have no doubt [China's banks] want to first strengthen their domestic operations by moving towards more fee income then expand internationally gradually," Dr. Ackermann said. "We will also be confronted with stronger competitors coming from China."

Somali Militant Group Built Training Camps, al Qaeda Links

Somali Militant Group Built Training Camps, al Qaeda Links. By WILL CONNORS in Kampala, Uganda, SIOBHAN GORMAN in Washington, D.C., and SARAH CHILDRESS
WSJ, Jul 17, 2010

The terror group behind last weekend's deadly Uganda blasts recruited a local man to coordinate the attacks and received funds from al Qaeda, say investigators, as it extends its reach beyond lawless Somalia.

Al Shabaab, the Somalia-based group that has claimed responsibility for July 11's triple suicide blasts that killed 76 people in Uganda's capital, Kampala, has in recent months built up Pakistan-style terror training camps. One top leader, Sheikh Muktar Robow, has helped to transform the group from a local insurgency into a global jihadist organization modeled on, and swearing allegiance to, al Qaeda.

That picture of the group, and its development under Mr. Robow, emerged from interviews with Ugandan, Kenyan and U.S. investigators; current and former U.S. intelligence officials; and Somalis, including a member of the militant group.

A U.S. intelligence official said information gleaned from militant communications shows links between al Shabaab and al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and Yemen. U.S. officials also see evidence of overlap in training and membership and say their working assumption is that al Shabaab has several hundred core members, similar to the numbers in al Qaeda in Pakistan and in al Qaeda's Yemeni outpost.

Intelligence officials say they believe al Qaeda is using the Somali group as a symbiotic host body, allowing its operatives access to other African countries. "As much as we're looking at al Shabaab, they are riding on the back of a more experienced player," said Col. Herbert Mbonye, the director of counterterrorism for Uganda's military intelligence body.

That relationship has raised red flags at U.S. intelligence agencies. In the past 18 months, militant training camps have emerged in Somalia similar to those that developed in Pakistan's tribal areas, a U.S. intelligence official said. Intelligence officials are now following about two dozen individuals from the U.S. and other Western countries who may have been affiliated with al Shabaab, or gone through these camps.

"It's quite an alarming story," the U.S. intelligence official said.

Al Shabaab's relationship with al Qaeda appears to have been cultivated in part by Mr. Robow, a top commander. Also known as Abu Mansur, he is among the U.S. government's most wanted terrorists.

Mr. Robow offered a warning of sorts ahead of Sunday's blasts, which hit a restaurant and a sports club where people had gathered to watch the final match of the World Cup. Speaking during a public address at Friday prayers earlier this month, Mr. Robow called for attacks against countries that had sent some 6,000 troops under African Union auspices to support the Somali government's offensive against al Shabaab. "We tell the Muslim youths and Mujahedeen, wherever they are in the Muslim world, to attack, explode and burn the embassies of Burundi and Uganda," Mr. Robow said, according to local media reports.

Mr. Robow grew up in southern Mogadishu as a devoted student of the Quran, according to public speeches he has made. He studied law at the University of Khartoum in Sudan, and then returned to Mogadishu to teach Arabic for several years. He is about 40, U.S. officials believe, based on a birth date on an Eritrean passport he used.

In 2000, Mr. Robow traveled to Afghanistan to train with the Taliban and al Qaeda, which used the strife-torn South Asian country to plot the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. In Afghanistan, Mr. Robow learned to fight, fire a sniper rifle and conceal roadside bombs, an al Shabaab official in Somalia said. He stayed less than a year, leaving before U.S.-led forces swept into Afghanistan.

Back in Somalia, Mr. Robow became a member of the Union of Islamic Courts, which aimed to establish strict Shariah law in the country, which had been largely lawless for a decade. The group came to power in 2006. Mr. Robow helped to establish an Islamist government and founded al Shabaab, a youth brigade that would serve as the union's armed wing.

The Islamist government soon collapsed. Al Shabaab endured. Mr. Robow, a skilled orator, became an al Shabaab spokesman and eventually deputy commander.

Al Shabaab, which controls vast territory in Somalia, has been engaged in a running battle with Somalia's transitional federal government. The group has pinned the government to a strip of the capital, Mogadishu, and largely prevented officials and parliament from meeting.

Beyond his ambition to overthrow Somalia's government, Mr. Robow has advocated linking the group's ambitions to global jihad. Through media interviews and in videos posted online, he sought to attract fighters in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Iraq, largely because foreign recruits could replenish al Shabaab's ranks and aid its finances. In a 2008 interview, he lamented that there "are not enough non-Somali brothers."

The same year, the U.S. Treasury Department declared al Shabaab a terrorist group and named Mr. Robow its "spiritual leader." Mr. Robow later released a statement saying the group was "honored" to be included on the list but expressed disappointment al Shabaab wasn't ranked higher.

Senior U.S. administration officials said some foreign fighters who answered Mr. Robow's calls—some of whom have "close links" with al Qaeda—came with experience, funding and the agenda of establishing Somalia as a base from which to attack Western targets.

The foreigners also brought new tactics. Roadside bombs and suicide blasts, once unheard-of in Somalia, are now part of al Shabaab's armory. The group's commanders have banned dancing, mustaches and, most recently, watching World Cup games on television. Fighters punish offenders with floggings or public amputations.

On Wednesday, armed al Shabaab fighters drove through towns in southern Somalia, blaring a warning to residents through megaphones mounted on their vehicles, according to witnesses contacted by telephone. "You must collaborate with [us] and allow your sons to fight the enemy of Allah," Abu Maryama, a senior al Shabaab official told crowds in the southwestern town of Baidoa. "If you pay no heed to this …you will be considered as another enemy and face punishment."

Harsh retribution and indiscriminate deaths have sapped public support for the group, and created rifts within it. Mr. Robow has been caught between those who want to focus the insurgency in Somali—and retain a measure of popular support— and the global jihadists who don't care about local backing, according the al Shabaab colleague. Mr. Robow, a Somali who has long opposed foreign intervention in his country, may not be considered radical enough for the new agenda, according to a recent report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels based think tank.In the Uganda attack, the group's two factions apparently found middle ground.

The blasts have presented U.S. officials with a quandary. They see a need to step up support and involvement in the region, but they haven't determined the best course. "Violence always breeds urgency," the U.S. intelligence official said. "The question is: What [to do]?" The U.S. has been tracking al Shabaab and al Qaeda in Somalia for years, officials say. The Central Intelligence Agency works with military special forces units to collect intelligence and pinpoint targets, a former senior intelligence official said. The U.S. also works closely with the Ethiopian and Kenyan governments on counterterrorism operations.

Those efforts have grown in recent years as U.S. officials discovered as many as 20 Americans from Minnesota making their way to Somalia, including one who was determined to have been among five suicide bombers in an October 2008 attack in northern Somalia.

The intelligence-gathering paid off last year when U.S. Special Forces killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a top operative linked to both al Qaeda and al Shabaab who was believed to be linked to 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

But U.S. Special Forces units and intelligence officials have been grappling with a broader response to the growing terror threat from Somalia. Calling in airstrikes could fuel retaliatory measures against a weak Somali government. It could also stir up anti-U.S. sentiment that would advance the group's agenda, said the U.S. intelligence official.

"If you strike a camp, it makes you feel good, but what do you do the next day?" the official said. "You don't effectively eliminate the threat."

On Thursday, an al Shabaab leader underscored that point, delivering a message on the radio in Mogadishu congratulating what he called the Martyr Saleh Nabhan Brigade for the Kampala attacks.

Intelligence agencies have warned about al Shabaab's growing ambition to attack other countries—particularly Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya—as well as the West, the U.S. intelligence official said.U.S. intelligence hadn't picked up many direct threats against Uganda, but there has been a general concern about attacks targeting countries that supply troops to A.U. forces.

Investigators in Uganda say they are questioning a Ugandan man, Ali Isa Ssenkumba, who they say has confessed to helping plan the attacks.

Mr. Ssenkumba, who is in his late thirties and hails from a farming community outside Kampala, told investigators he was recruited by Somali men who persuaded him that he could have success in business in Somalia, according to a Ugandan military official close to the investigation.

Posing as a businessman, Mr. Ssenkumba made frequent trips to Somalia, where he attended an al Shabaab training camp, the Ugandan official said. Mr. Ssenkumba told investigators many other Ugandans are at al Shabaab's Somalia training facilities.

This person says Mr. Ssenkumba become familiar with guards at the borders between Uganda and Sudan and Uganda and Kenya, and received money and coordinated logistics for roughly two dozen al Shabaab members in Uganda who are suspected of plotting the triple suicide blast. Mr. Ssenkumba said, and investigators say they separately determined, that the attack was partially funded by informal money transfers from al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Police in Kenya said they arrested Mr. Ssenkumba last week, before the attack, and handed him over to Ugandan investigators Tuesday, after the bombings.

According to Nicholas Kamwende, the commanding officer of Kenya's anti-terrorism police unit, Mr. Ssenkumba walked up to an immigration officer on the Kenya-Somalia border some time before the Kampala attacks and turned himself in.

"He said he didn't want to stay any longer with al Shabaab, that he wanted to go home," Mr. Kamwende said. "We didn't have anything to hold him on and we thought the Ugandans would be in a better position to exploit what he knew."

Mr. Ssenkumba wasn't made available to comment and it wasn't immediately apparent whether he was represented by a lawyer. Neither Mr. Kamwende nor Ugandan officials would say whether Mr. Ssenkumba provided information before the impending attack. Ugandan officials say Mr. Ssenkumba didn't turn himself in voluntarily.

—Nicholas Baryio in Kampala and Keith Johnson in Washington contributed to this article.

Press Briefing

Jul 16, 2010

We Need an Einstein Immigration Policy - When Americans see the benefits of a 'brain gain,' they'll view newcomers more favorably
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111704575355330311370068.html

Al Qaeda Goes Viral - The terrorists' latest recruiting device: an English language Internet magazine
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575363492443581352.html

The Natural Gas Revolution - Experts are so focused on analyzing the BP spill that they're overlooking the next big thing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575337140742410702.html

Diplomacy Briefing Series: Sudan and sub-Saharan Africa. By Tim Shortley, Deputy to the Special Envoy to Sudan
http://www.state.gov/s/sudan/rem/2010/144664.htm

The Uncertainty Principle—II - Only 30 times more complicated than Sarbanes-Oxley
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575369402612040086.html

The Yo-Yo Market and You - The stock market will suffer dizzy spells until the fog of monetary policy uncertainty is lifted
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703792704575366642167190202.html

Avandia on Trial - An FDA review panel shows more wisdom than the drug's critics
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575369232879016248.html

Welcome for South Asian Seeds of Peace Participants, by Judith A. McHale, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
http://www.state.gov/r/remarks/144666.htm

Youth Has Outlived Its Usefulness - American politics is desperately in need of adult supervision
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575369513252243680.html

Agent Orange in Vietnam: Recent Developments In Remediation. By Matthew Palmer, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment Committee on Foreign Affairs
http://www.state.gov/p/eap/rls/rm/2010/07/144702.htm

How to Liberate the NHS - Andrew Lansley's plan to break the bureaucracy of th National Health Service is bold, but risky
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575368823492682634.html

How Do International Financial Flows to Developing Countries Respond to Natural Disasters?
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24050.0

Europe has implemented Feed-In Tariffs. Shouldn’t We Learn from their Experience?
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/07/15/shouldn%E2%80%99t-we-learn-from-europe/

From the Lisbon Treaty to the Eurozone Crisis: A New Beginning or the Unraveling of Europe?
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0602_cuse_conference.aspx

Why Can't We Fire Failed Financial Regulators?
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11969

Thinking outside the box to avoid a double-dip recession
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/14/AR2010071405031.html

Why the Obama Stimulus Failed
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/07/15/morning-bell-why-the-obama-stimulus-failed

CBO’s Economic Forecasting Record: 2010 Update
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11553/ForecastingAccuracy.pdf