Governor Scott Walker survives his nasty recall vote earlier this month, a dynamic triggered by his brutal reshaping of Wisconsin’s public sector unions. Pundits are interpreting all this in terms of November and what it means …
President Obama
The “Secret Deal”
Rep. Mike Turner, the Ohio Republican who chairs the armed services committee’s strategic subcommittee, remains alarmed by President Obama’s hot-mic chit-chat with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. In March, Obama told Medvedev that Obama would have “more flexibility” if he’s re-elected to hammer out a new arms-control …
Sequestration or Not, Defense Budget to Continue Its Decline
While many in Washington assume that Congress will solve sequestration by the end of the year–the problem Congress created when the Super Committee failed–recent comments by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) indicate …
“I were an Israeli leader, I think I’d have trouble coordinating with the United States government about something like [a military attack on Iran] for fear it would be leaked…The last thing you want to do is put your air forces in jeopardy by having it telegraphed that that’s something you’re doing. And if you tried to coordinate with this Administration, I would think that there is at least a reasonable chance that it would leak out, so I would anticipate that a responsible Israeli government, given the relationship, would very likely have to make a decision on their own and proceed.”
Countdown to Sequestration: Seven Months to Go
Over the weekend, the nation moved within seven months of End of the World Wednesday. That would be January 2, assuming Congress and the President can’t come up with $1.2 trillion in budget reductions over the next decade. Absent a deal, another $600 billion in defense cuts, would be piled atop the $487 billion already carved from the …
“If they get nuclear weapons, we will get nuclear weapons.”
Remembering Vietnam
In case you missed it, we began commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war Monday.
Don’t fret if you missed it, because you’ll have plenty of time to catch up: according to the proclamation issued by President Obama, the remembrance will last as long as the war itself did: until November 11, 2025.
Thirteen years? …
Focused Like a Laser, On All the Wrong Things
We used to cover the machinations of the House and Senate armed services committees very closely. Of course, 30 years ago all we cared about was whether 180 or 240 F-16 jets would be ordered in next year’s budget (that’s all our readers at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where the plane is still being built, cared about).
But …
NoKo Non-Nuclear Blast: A Secret Plea for Help?
North Korea has reacted sharply to criticism over the weekend from the working G8 lunch at Camp David. “All of us agree that North Korea is violating its international obligations and that there is a path for them to rejoin the international community,” President Obama said. “But that objective will not be achieved if they continue …
Obama Cleverly Leading from Behind — Again
Letters from Abbottabad: Bin Laden’s Bleak Final Days
The latest batch of Osama bin Laden documents shows what you’d expect from a one-time terror mastermind whose best years were behind him. He’d spent six years confined to a house with several of his wives, and where the only way he could get outside was to walk inside the walled compound, or atop the walled rooftop.
Nearly 200 …
Countdown to Sequestration: Eight Months to Go
We began Battleland’s countdown to sequestration a month ago. As of Wednesday, we’re 11% closer to the end of the Pentagon as we know it. That’s slated to happen, according to this provision of the so-called Budget Control Act:
Coming Soon to Your Town: Sequestration Road Tour
Americans will celebrate Memorial Day next month, and honor those who’ve died while serving to protect the rest of us. But some concerned members of Congress are going to skip their hometown barbeques so they can hit the road: …