The Iraqi Parliament met Sunday to approve a security pact with the United States by which the US would withdraw troops from the streets of Iraqi cities in 2009, turning those duties over to the Iraqi Army and police. In addition, the American military will withdraw from Iraq in 2011. The current UN mandate by which the US is operating expires next month in December.
Michael Yon, an imbed blogger in Iraq, and a former serviceman, reported recently that he was with the 10th Mountain Division in Baghdad. The 10th has been there for about 8 months, half of them are veterans of fighting in either Iraq or Afghanistan, and none of them have fired their weapons this tour.
Russian President Medvedev has suggested that if the United States cancels its plans to deploy anti-missile defense systems in Poland and other Central European countries, then Russia might not deploy missiles of their own near their own borders.
The anti-missile systems are entirely defensive, and cannot be used to attack another country, such as Russia, but Medvedev believes that such a defense system poses a thread to Russian security. Medvedev has reached out to President-elect Obama to scrap plans for the defense shield.
"We hope to create frank and honest relations with the new administration and resolve problems that we were not able to resolve with the current administration," Medvedev told the French newspaper La Figaro. "We are ready to negotiate a 'zero option'. We are ready to reflect on a system of global security with the United States, the countries of the European Union and the Russian Federation."
Medvedev appears to want to return to the period of "Detente" that marked the 1970s under President Carter.
Yet again North Korea has produced still photographs of Dictator Kim Jong-Il, this time attending a military art festival, providing evidence that rumors of his ill health are not true. The photos are not dated, nor is the date and location of the festival specified.
The 66-year-old dictator has not been seen in public for several months, amid rumors that he suffered a stroke.
A negotiated agreement between North Korea and the United Nations to dismantle its nuclear weapons program has been slow to be implemented.
A state of emergency has been declared in parts of Southern California as Santa Ana winds have whipped wildfires into destroying thousands of acres and endangering hundreds of homes.
More than 10,000 people have been forcibly evacuated from the San Fernando Valley. Fires along Highway 5 have threatened power transmission lines that provide power to the city of Los Angeles, as rolling power blackouts throughout Southern California are predicted.
While Southern California has long been subject to dry weather conditions that make these forest fires common, some residents blame environmentalists who prevent thinning of the underbrush in California's National Forests for these devastating blazes. Responsible forest management, they say, could have prevented this huge toll in human tragedy.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has announced plans to extend additional aid to ailing Detroit automakers as part of the $700 billion bailout package passed by Congress in October.
According to a statement from Pelosi, that bailout to the automakers will come with strings; new tougher fuel-efficiency standards, and restructuring toward "advanced" technologies that would redirect the auto industry away from gasoline powered vehicles.
Her statement included, "A restructured, competitive American automobile industry will continue to play a crucial role in our national economy and in the global marketplace."
Critics suggest that the auto industry would profit instead by going through bankruptcy and shedding their long-term legacy costs that have prevented them from being competitive in the global automotive market.
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have all shown profits in their international products, but have suffered heavy losses in recent years in the American automobile market.
The G20, the so-called twenty most industrialized nations, met in Washington over the weekend to discuss ways in which a global recession might be averted, or at least mitigated.
According to published reports the topics discussed and agreed upon in principle included:
* reform of international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
* an agreement by the end of 2008, leading to a successful global free-trade deal
* improvements to financial market transparency and ensuring complete and accurate disclosure by firms of their financial conditions
* making sure banks and financial institutions' incentives "prevent excessive risk taking"
* asking finance ministers to draw-up a list of financial institutions whose collapse would endanger the global economic system
* strengthening countries' financial regulatory regimes
* taking a "fresh look" at rules that govern market manipulation and fraud.
That last agenda item should leave certain billionaires, and several politicians, concerned.
