Paul Krugman at The New York Times writes—Et Tu, Bernanke?
For the most part, Ben Bernanke and his colleagues at the Federal Reserve have been good guys in these troubled economic times. They have tried to boost the economy even as most of Washington seemingly either forgot about the jobless, or decided that the best way to cure unemployment was to intensify the suffering of the unemployed. You can argue — and I would — that the Fed’s activism, while welcome, isn’t enough, and that it should be doing even more. But at least it didn’t lose sight of what’s really important.
Until now. [...]
The fundamental reason our economy is still depressed after all these years is that so many policy makers lost the thread, forgetting that job creation was their most urgent task. Until now the Fed was an exception; but now it seems to be joining the club. Et tu, Ben?
E.J. Dionne Jr. at the
Washington Post writes about the another Republican pile-up last week in—
Boehner’s House implodes over flawed farm bill:
The roof fell in on John Boehner’s House of Representatives last week. The Republican leadership’s humiliating defeat on a deeply flawed and inhumane farm bill was as clear a lesson as we’ll get about the real causes of dysfunction in the nation’s capital.
Our ability to govern ourselves is being brought low by a witches’ brew of right-wing ideology, a shockingly cruel attitude toward the poor on the part of the Republican majority, and the speaker’s incoherence when it comes to his need for Democratic votes to pass bills.
Roxane Gay at
Salon reminds us that
Paula Deen’s racism isn’t shocking at all:
The most interesting part of the deposition was the blitheness of Deen’s responses and her complete lack of shame. Her attitude was that of a person who is surrounded by like-minded individuals, a person who has been so thoroughly culturally conditioned that she doesn’t know any better and doesn’t even have enough of a sense of self-preservation to tell a few little white lies about her racial attitudes.
In truth, Deen does know better. She has, certainly, never said the N-word or made openly racist comments on the air or in any of the countless media interviews she has done over the years. In the deposition she even acknowledges that she, her children and her brother object to the N-word being used in “any cruel or mean behavior,” as if there’s a warm and friendly way for white people to use the word.
This entire debacle reveals that there are unspoken rules around racism. There is a complex matrix for when you can be racist and with whom. There are ways you behave in public, and ways you behave in private. There are things you can say among friends, things you wouldn’t dare say anywhere else, that you must keep to yourself in public.
In her deposition, for whatever reason, Deen decided to break these rules or ignore them. Maybe she knew she was rich and successful enough that the rules, frankly, no longer apply to her.
James K. Galbraith and Yanis Varoufakis at
The New York Times write—
Only the Left Can Save Greece:
Now, the government has turned a murky debate over austerity, confidence and credit markets into an open fight over democracy and national independence. In that fight, [the opposition party] Syriza stands as the alternative, and [its head, Alexis Tsipras], now has a chance of becoming prime minister.
If he succeeds, nothing vital would change for the United States. Syriza doesn’t intend to leave NATO or close American military bases. Of course, American complicity in the Greek dictatorship of 1967 to 1974 hasn’t been forgotten, and any Greek government will naturally disagree with the United States, to a degree, over the Middle East. But the fact is, Greece’s problem today is with Europe, and Mr. Tsipras doesn’t want to pick a fight with Washington.
John Nichols at
The Nation writes—
Glenn Greenwald is "Aiding and Abetting" Democracy:
By any reasonable measure, Greenwald is a journalist. While most of his work in the United States has been online, he is associated with Britain’s venerable Guardian newspaper. Yet, even if he had no such association, even if he was a freelance blogger who had not published widely-hailed books on civil liberties, Greenwald would qualify for the protections afforded by the First Amendment. He is, after all, an American writer following stories about what the U.S. government does in our name but without our informed consent. That’s a classic journalistic endeavor, as is protecting a source.
Gregory is also a journalist. He can and should ask probing questions. He should stir things up, even if that upsets or provokes guests -- including Greenwald. What was problematic was the approach, which seemed to go at the task backwards. Instead of providing context – by noting that lawmakers had been griping about Greenwald, or even by referencing the Department of Justice inquiry that targeted Rosen – Gregory simply popped the “aiding and abetting” question.
Doyle MacManus at the
Los Angeles Times writes—
Chance for a new approach on Iran:
We don't know yet whether Hassan Rowhani, the surprise winner of Iran's presidential election, will turn out to be a reformer or just another frontman for the clerical establishment. He won't even be inaugurated until Aug. 4.
In his post-election news conference last week, Rowhani said all the right things. Iran needs "moderation," not extremism, he said. It's time to "repair the wound" of Iran's bitter history with the United States. And, he added, Iran is ready and willing to make its nuclear program "more transparent" than it is today.
But Rowhani is no democrat. He has worked directly for the uncompromising supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for decades. And if there is to be a nuclear deal, it will be Khamenei who counts, not Rowhani.
Edward Wasserman at the
Miami Herald writes—
Secrecy, surveillance pose challenge to media:
Thinly covered is the ongoing trial of Bradley Manning, already jailed more than three years for leaking thousands of classified documents. Little more than a media punchline is Julian Assange, who heads Wikileaks, the global anti-secrecy network that brokered Manning’s sensational leaks to the media. Assange has just entered his second year of de facto house arrest in London.
Both men served up accurate, newsworthy and, often, uniquely revealing information. The media they served repaid them by developing what has become a standard trope that pathologizes their motives and belittles the dangers they courted. Our press may have many of the attributes of a watchdog, but loyalty isn’t among them.
Now, Edward Snowden.
Gary Younge at
The Guardian writes—
Obama's transformation from national security dove to hawk is the norm: any president is captive to America's imperial power:
America did not come by that power through its own innate genius. It acquired it, as do all empires, in no small part through war, invasion, subterfuge and exploitation. Spying and lying about it comes with the job description for which Obama applied and was reappointed.
None of this is inevitable. But changing it cannot be entrusted to a single person at the top. It will change because there is a demand from Americans that is both large in number, deep in commitment and active in pursuit, to enable a fundamental change in America's role in the world. That does not exist yet.
Bill Bigelow at
Portside writes—
Camouflaging the Vietnam War: How Textbooks Continue to Keep the Pentagon Papers a Secret:
The Pentagon Papers that Ellsberg exposed were not military secrets. They were historical secrets - a history of U.S. intervention and deceit that Ellsberg believed, if widely known, would undermine the U.S. pretexts in defense of the war's prosecution. Like this one that President Kennedy offered in 1961: "For the last decade we have been helping the South Vietnamese to maintain their independence." No. This was a lie. The U.S. government's Pentagon Papers history of the war revealed how the United States had sided with the French in retaking its colony after World War II, ultimately paying for some 80 percent of the French reconquest. By the U.S. government's own account, from Truman on, Vietnamese self-determination was never an aim of U.S. foreign policy.
Like today's whistle-blowers Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden, Daniel Ellsberg knew the consequences for his act of defiance. Ultimately, he was indicted on 11 counts of theft and violation of the Espionage Act. If convicted on all counts, the penalty added up to 130 years in prison.
James Kirchick at the
New York Daily News writes
Why Germany and Europe ended their romance with the American President:
Wednesday, Obama returned to Berlin, commemorating the speech that another young, dashing and internationally popular U.S. leader delivered there five decades ago. But the Cold War-rivenworld John F. Kennedy confronted in 1963 was much easier to explain than today’s, populated by international terrorist groups, failed or failing states and authoritarian powers that reject the liberal international order crafted by America and its allies. And the Europeans who were smitten with Obama before he assumed office feel more ambivalent about him now.
That mood was captured on the cover of this week’s Der Spiegel, which referred to the President as “The Lost Friend.” The feelings of betrayal were stirred this month by news that the U.S. National Security Agency has been monitoring the electronic communications of German citizens. In response, outraged voices have filled the newspaper columns and television talk shows, with more than a few commentators making unfavorable comparisons between the U.S. and the surveillance-state tactics of former Communist East Germany.