I am watching this encore presentation now - very powerful.
You can (and should) watch it online.
The next president of the United States will inherit a foreign policy nightmare: wars on two fronts, an overstretched military, a resurgent Taliban and a reconstituted Al Qaeda based far from America's reach.
In The War Briefing, award-winning FRONTLINE producer Marcela Gaviria and correspondent Martin Smith offer harrowing on-the-ground reporting from the deadliest battlefield in the mountains of Afghanistan, and follow the trail to the militant safe havens deep inside the Pakistani tribal areas, probing some of the most urgent foreign policy challenges facing the next president.
"The situation is worse; there's no question about that," says Ronald Neumann, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007. "Provinces close to Kabul are now having incidents that didn't have incidents before. And to my mind, that is clearly a strengthening insurgency."
The War Briefing begins in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, where FRONTLINE embedded with Bravo Company, a unit posted on one of Afghanistan's deadliest fronts. Bravo Company comes under fire almost daily. Attacks have reached an all-time high, now making Afghanistan a deadlier battlefield than Iraq. Often called the "forgotten war," top U.S. commanders concede that the next president will inherit a security situation that has deteriorated markedly over the last two years.
December 30, 2008
Bloomberg Aide Drops Kennedy Push
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's top political aide, Kevin Sheekey, "is pulling back on his lobbying campaign to propel Caroline Kennedy into the U.S. Senate because 'it wasn't working,'" the New York Post reports.Said the source: "They tried to take everybody else out. It didn't work. They were out there way, way too early."
BW: A Hazy Forecast for Green Jobs
Whether or not a "green" stimulus will create millions of American jobs is hotly debated by economists. Many executives and experts say the most effective policy to push America toward a clean, efficient energy future is putting a price on emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, thus raising the price of energy. That's a tough sell now to Americans struggling to pay their bills. There's also a danger that the government could steer investments to the wrong technologies. Remember synfuels, President Jimmy Carter's experiment to reduce dependence on foreign oil?
Fear not where the ideas come from
In speeches and policy statements, Obama has repeatedly emphasized a need to maintain America's technology leadership in the world and to invest government funds to do so. His campaign platform declared that government policy must "foster home-grown innovation" and "help ensure the competitiveness of United States technology-based businesses." Two of his favorite proposals — roundly endorsed by technology industry leaders and university scientists — are to double federal funding for basic research over the next several years and to train many thousands more scientists and engineers.
But such steps would likely amount to well-intentioned but misguided policies that risk doing more harm than good, according to Amar Bhide, a professor at the Columbia Business School. In a new book, "The Venturesome Economy" (Princeton University Press), Bhide makes a detailed argument that contradicts the prevailing view of expert panels and authors who contend that the nation's prosperity is threatened by the technological rise of China and India, and that America's capacity for innovation is eroding. To arrest the decline, they insist that more scientists and engineers, and more government spending on research, are sorely needed
But such steps would likely amount to well-intentioned but misguided policies that risk doing more harm than good, according to Amar Bhide, a professor at the Columbia Business School. In a new book, "The Venturesome Economy" (Princeton University Press), Bhide makes a detailed argument that contradicts the prevailing view of expert panels and authors who contend that the nation's prosperity is threatened by the technological rise of China and India, and that America's capacity for innovation is eroding. To arrest the decline, they insist that more scientists and engineers, and more government spending on research, are sorely needed
NYT: Agency Predicts a Return of Triple-Digit Oil Prices
The International Energy Agency, which advises industrialized nations on energy policy, warned that the supply shortfalls that pushed oil prices into triple-digit territory this year are far from resolved, and could lead to a new period of high prices.
But even with the lowered demand forecast, the agency warned that the period of lower prices may not last as producers fail to increase oil supplies to meet the developing world’s rising needs. It expects prices to average more than $100 a barrel through 2015, and possibly rise to $200 a barrel by 2030.
But even with the lowered demand forecast, the agency warned that the period of lower prices may not last as producers fail to increase oil supplies to meet the developing world’s rising needs. It expects prices to average more than $100 a barrel through 2015, and possibly rise to $200 a barrel by 2030.
NYT: Energy Goals a Moving Target for States
In hopes of slowing global warming and creating “green jobs,” Congress and the incoming administration may soon impose a mandate that the nation get 10 or 15 percent of its electricity from renewable sources within a few years.
Yet the experience of states that have adopted similar goals suggests that passing that requirement could be a lot easier than achieving it. The record so far is decidedly mixed: some states appear to be on track to meet energy targets, but others have fallen behind on the aggressive goals they set several years ago.
Yet the experience of states that have adopted similar goals suggests that passing that requirement could be a lot easier than achieving it. The record so far is decidedly mixed: some states appear to be on track to meet energy targets, but others have fallen behind on the aggressive goals they set several years ago.
December 29, 2008
NYT: Money and Lobbyists Hurt European Efforts to Curb Gases
The EU started with a high-minded ecological goal: encouraging companies to cut their greenhouse gases by making them pay for each ton of carbon dioxide they emitted into the atmosphere.
But that plan unleashed a lobbying free-for-all that led politicians to dole out favors to various industries, undermining the environmental goals. Four years later, it is becoming clear that system has so far produced little noticeable benefit to the climate — but generated a multibillion-dollar windfall for some of the Continent’s biggest polluters.
But that plan unleashed a lobbying free-for-all that led politicians to dole out favors to various industries, undermining the environmental goals. Four years later, it is becoming clear that system has so far produced little noticeable benefit to the climate — but generated a multibillion-dollar windfall for some of the Continent’s biggest polluters.
USAT: Obama's 'green dream team' is warmly received
One is a Nobel Prize winner overseeing research of alternative energy. The three others all have one thing in common: experience working for the Environmental Protection Agency.
LAT: Debate over Sunrise Powerlink may be near decision
In the rural, arid flatlands near the Salton Sea, CalEnergy Generation is sitting on what California needs.
The Imperial County company taps steam heat from deep within the Earth's crust to generate clean electricity, enough to light 238,000 homes.There's more where that came from. But whether further development of renewable energy ever happens at this Calipatria operation and dozens of proposed projects in California's hinterlands may depend on what goes on in San Francisco, maybe as soon as today.
The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to vote on a controversial transmission project known as the Sunrise Powerlink. The $1.9-billion high-voltage line would stretch more than 100 miles from Imperial County to San Diego, linking power plants in the desert to coastal cities hungry for their energy
The Imperial County company taps steam heat from deep within the Earth's crust to generate clean electricity, enough to light 238,000 homes.There's more where that came from. But whether further development of renewable energy ever happens at this Calipatria operation and dozens of proposed projects in California's hinterlands may depend on what goes on in San Francisco, maybe as soon as today.
The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to vote on a controversial transmission project known as the Sunrise Powerlink. The $1.9-billion high-voltage line would stretch more than 100 miles from Imperial County to San Diego, linking power plants in the desert to coastal cities hungry for their energy
FT: The outsider's oracle
In the buzzy, scruffy warren of offices in New York from which Nouriel Roubini runs his economics aggregration and commentary website, one of the young cyber-serfs has taped a New York Post story about the boss to the chalky wall. "NYU Playboy Warns: Econ Party's Over", the sub-heading declares, next to a photograph of a smiling, open-shirted Mr Roubini, sandwiched between two attractive young women.
LAT: Energy dispute over Rockies riches
A titanic battle between the West's two traditional power brokers -- Big Oil and Big Water -- has begun.
At stake is one of the largest oil reserves in the world, a vast cache trapped beneath the Rocky Mountains containing an estimated 800 billion barrels -- about three times the reserves of Saudi Arabia.
Extracting oil from rocky seams of underground shale is not only expensive, but also requires massive amounts of water, a precious resource crucial to continued development in the nation's fastest-growing region.
At stake is one of the largest oil reserves in the world, a vast cache trapped beneath the Rocky Mountains containing an estimated 800 billion barrels -- about three times the reserves of Saudi Arabia.
Extracting oil from rocky seams of underground shale is not only expensive, but also requires massive amounts of water, a precious resource crucial to continued development in the nation's fastest-growing region.
NYT: Coal is returning to home furnaces
Coal is making a comeback as a home-heating fuel.
Problematic in some ways and difficult to handle, coal is nonetheless a cheap, plentiful, mined-in-America source of heat. And with the cost of heating oil and natural gas increasingly prone to spikes, some homeowners in the Northeast, pockets of the Midwest and even Alaska are deciding coal is worth the trouble.
Problematic in some ways and difficult to handle, coal is nonetheless a cheap, plentiful, mined-in-America source of heat. And with the cost of heating oil and natural gas increasingly prone to spikes, some homeowners in the Northeast, pockets of the Midwest and even Alaska are deciding coal is worth the trouble.
LAT: Charging ahead to push electric cars
A Palo Alto start-up company wants to electrify the global auto industry, one place at a time.Better Place created a stir last month when it announced an ambitious plan to install thousands of electric-car charging sites and battery-replacement stations around the Bay Area.
The idea is to jump-start the adoption of electric vehicles by providing places where people can easily charge them, leading, the company's founder hopes, to a reduction in global dependence on oil.Better Place and its competitors are betting that providing a variety of charging choices will help overcome the chicken-and-egg question that bedevils electric cars -- which do you build first, the cars or the infrastructure to keep them running?
If they succeed, the result could be the upending of Detroit's century-old business model -- an objective that Better Place founder Shai Agassi calls Car 2.0.
The idea is to jump-start the adoption of electric vehicles by providing places where people can easily charge them, leading, the company's founder hopes, to a reduction in global dependence on oil.Better Place and its competitors are betting that providing a variety of charging choices will help overcome the chicken-and-egg question that bedevils electric cars -- which do you build first, the cars or the infrastructure to keep them running?
If they succeed, the result could be the upending of Detroit's century-old business model -- an objective that Better Place founder Shai Agassi calls Car 2.0.
December 8, 2008
Zogby poll for the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination
A new poll shows Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the front with 24%, followed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at 18%, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal at 16%, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee at 10%, former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani at 5%, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 3%
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