Editor's Cut

Around the Nation

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

Jeremy Scahill's important investigation into how Blackwater is working in Pakistan for the US military's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) made waves all over the world. From a base in Karachi, an elite division of the private security contractor plans targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives. According to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus and a former senior executive at Blackwater, the company's operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and hep run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes.

According to Scahill's sources, Blackwater's Pakistan JSOC contracts are secret and are therefore shielded from public oversight.

Scahill's piece was widely-reported in the Middle East; our most-trafficked piece of the month; and drew coverage everywhere from ABCNews.com and HuffingtonPost to MSNBC (see Scahill's interview on Morning Joe here) and Pakistani television. At the Pentagon? Not so much. As Scahill reports here, the Department of Defense referred the question to the State Department (even though it concerns operations under their jurisdiction). General Stanley McChrystal, the top US Commander in Afghanistan, was the head of JSOC from 2003-2008.

Read More »

November 29, 2009

Filibuster Follies

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

With 35 million people uninsured, and Big Insurance on the verge of receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies through health care reform, the idea that a Blanche Lincoln, Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson or Mary Landrieu could sabotage a public option should be a wakeup call to all of us as to the dysfunctionality of our Senate.

Of course, the reason conservative members of the Democratic Caucus are able to wield such power is the anti-democratic, not constitutionally-mandated filibuster, which requires a super-majority of 60 Senators to pass legislation.

That's why so many pro-democracy folks are urging Majority Leader Harry Reid to use the procedural process of " reconciliation" to pass a public option if they can't muster 60 votes. Reconciliation allows for a simple majority of 51 Senators to approve certain budgetary matters.

Read More »

November 25, 2009

Around the Nation

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

In his contribution to Going Rouge: An American Nightmare, The Nation's Washington, D.C. Editor, Chris Hayes, quotes a joke from a friend in publishing: In the future the Internet will consist entirely of Sarah Palin slide shows. It was disheartening this week to watch the exhaustive coverage of Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue and see so few serious responses to the substance of her book. (And yes, there is substance.) The AP fact-checked Palin, but gone almost completely unanswered are many of the policy prescriptions she is injecting into the political debate: Tax cuts to stimulate job growth (been there, didn't work) and drill, baby, drill as an energy policy.

Fortunately, Going Rouge managed to inject some sanity into the debate. Here's video of Naomi Klein on Wednesday's Joy Behar Show, commenting about Palin's economic policies and her role in the healthcare debate. And here's a great video from GRIT TV, where The Nation's Richard Kim, Max Blumenthal, Salon's Rebecca Traister and Alaskan blogger Shannyn Moore discuss Palin's record in Alaska, and how her policy prescriptions would impact women in America. And here's a thoughtful review of both books from Inside Higher Education.

Lastly, here's a podcast of NPR's On Point from Friday. I was on for the full hourlong week in review--topics were Palin, mammograms and healthcare.

Read More »

November 22, 2009

An Alternative to Escalation in Afghanistan

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

President Obama is expected to make a decision regarding his Afghanistan strategy after Thanksgiving. Before doing so, he would be wise to consider an alternative which has, until now, been excluded from the systematic review of the gravest decision a president must make. That alternative is laid out clearly in a just-released letter to President Obama from the Congressional Progressive Caucus' Afghanistan Taskforce.

Through careful consultation with a wide array of experts, including those who testified at a series of forums on Afghanistan earlier this year, the Taskforce has developed a smart, alternative approach that would be more effective in providing for both US and Afghanistan security, and far less costly in treasure and lives.

Read More »

November 20, 2009

Real Simple Economics

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

Chuck Collins, co-founder of United for a Fair Economy and a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, describes the difference between this financial crisis and those of the past.

"The risk of this economic crisis is that people stay isolated, hunkered down and afraid," Collins says. "What's different from the serious economic crises of the past is the much greater potential for fragmentation and isolation--because we've lived through a couple generations of 'you are on your own' economics. So the idea that we can trust any kind of shared response is broken."

That's why in January 2009 the Institute for Policy Studies piloted Common Security Clubs to break through the isolation, and bring people together to learn, help one another increase their economic security, and ultimately take political action. The clubs are not an effort to turn away from government, in fact they are in part an effort to develop the skills and solidarity needed to advocate for a government that work for the common good.

Read More »

November 18, 2009

Affectionate Jousting with Michael Tomasky

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

My good friend Michael Tomasky has a blog over at The Guardian...

I consider it what he called it in his subject line--an "affectionate joust." (Mike is an ace former Nation intern, a longtime friend, a brilliant writer and not-frequent-enough-in-my-view Nation contributor.) In his blog he takes on (some of) my comments on MSNBC's Ed Schultz show last night. (A little friendly cherry-picking, Mike!) I don't disagree with much of what Mike writes. My first reflex is certainly not to blame Obama. (See my column on "Obama, One Year On"--posted below, for more on why I think progressives would be wise to avoid reflexive criticism.) But I do think President Obama could step forward at this time, challenge lobbyists more directly, speak out more forcefully about the cruel Stupak language, call out self-righteous egotists like Joe Lieberman, demand some party unity on a bill that will define not only the Democratic party's future in 2010--but for a long while. And why not bring in LBJ? Sure history by analogy is often imperfect, but there are also lessons to be drawn from models of Presidential leadership.

Read More »

November 17, 2009

Around the Nation

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

The opportunity to sit down and talk with the remarkable American writers (and Nation Editorial Board members) Toni Morrison, Tony Kushner, and Walter Mosley is rare enough one on one. The chance to talk with all three of them together, about the future of our culture, is extraordinary. If you're in New York on Wednesday night, you have that opportunity to do just that--at the second of two Nation "Salons." In these intimate discussions (with a cocktail party to follow) we're bringing together some of the best thinkers in the World to debate critical topics of our time. The first Salon last month asked "what will become of our media." Wednesday's Salon asks an equally provocative question: What will become of our culture, as technology, cultural shifts and political changes reshape the world. The event is a fundraiser for The Nation and helps support our investigative reporting. If you've ever wanted to meet Toni Morrison, Tony Kushner or Walter Mosley (or all three) there are still a few tickets remaining. Click here to register. Tickets are discounted for Editor's Cut readers--enter code RAC102 for half off.

(If you're not in New York, we'll have video up later this month.)

That investigative reporting was on full display here in the last week, as Reporter Aram Roston (supported by The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute) revealed that money is flowing from the Pentagon to insurgents in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. We're literally paying insurgents to let our supply lines pass, so that our soldiers have supplies to fight insurgents. It's an outrage, and it demonstrates once again the folly of escalation in the region as President Obama nears his fateful decision. Here's MSNBC's Ed Schultz and Brave New Film's Robert Greenwald discussing the story:

Read More »

November 15, 2009

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

When it comes to understanding the real economy and the struggles of ordinary Americans, Senator Bernie Sanders always seems to be ahead of the curve and fighting like hell for Congress to show leadership and be responsive.

Now he's doing it once again with his legislation to break up the Too Big To Fail financial institutions that pose a threat to our entire economy.

Sanders coined the phrase, "If you're too big to fail, you're too big to exist," back when he voted against the initial Wall Street Bailout in October 2008. Now, none other than former Fed Chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker are parroting it, and a lot of other notables from across the political spectrum have come around to support busting up the banks too, as the Senator describes below.

Read More »

November 12, 2009

Good Riddance to the MSM?

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

On October 27 I was part of the "Intelligence Squared" debate series, squaring off with NPR's John Hockenberry, Politico's Jim VandeHei, and Vanity Fair columnist Michael Wolff about the future of media. My side of the debate - with fine debating partners, David Carr of the New York Times and Phil Bronstein of the San Francisco Chronicle, was arguing against the "resolution" (this was a classic, Oxford-style debate) of "Good Riddance to the Mainstream Media." I'm happy to report that we won the faceoff -- 50 percent of the audience came into the evening opposing the resolution; after the debate was over that number had swelled to 68 percent!

As The Nations editor and publisher it was an unusual position for me to take given how regularly the magazine criticizes the MSM'S missteps. But the values and virtues of a vigilant, powerful press are more critical now than ever and the answer to media bias and infotainment is not to throw "the baby out with the bath-water", as I said, probably one time too many, during the debate!

The debate was lively, and at times contentious, with Carr quickly emerging as the star of the evening. He is an extraordinary and idiosyncratic character -- a cross between a figure out of David Lynch's Blue Velvet and Clark Kent with a deep, gravelly voice colored by life's vicissitudes. He employed a highly effective, if eccentric style of rhetoric complete with a powerful visual flourish at the end when he brandished a printout of Wolff's site Newser, a news aggregation site, with all references to the MSM cut off. The page, as Carr noted, strongly resembled swiss cheese.

Read More »

November 9, 2009

Around The Nation

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

One year on since President Obama was elected and as our John Nichols notes, the fate of his presidency could come down to one word: Jobs. But for progressives, figuring out how to feel about the Obama presidency is daunting. Do we play the betrayal sweepstakes--or soldier on in a more sustained campaign for progressive change that seizes the opportunities of the moment? In The Nation's print magazine this week I offered my thoughts on "Obama, One Year On"--you can read them here.

Also this week was our special issue on youth and youth politics. A big thank you to Editorial Board member and Wiretapmag.org Editor Kristina Rizga, who guest-edited. For a good overview of the main topic--where Obama's young supporters have gone, one year later--watch this VideoNation interview with Kristina and reporter Elizabeth Mendez Berry. We also revealed the winners of the annual Nation Student Journalism Contest. Our winner was Jim Miller, from Henderson State University in Arkansas. Read his fantastic winning entry on small-town America here.

Another video feature is launching this weekend at TheNation.com--an 8-week series of interviews with journalists and media insiders on the future of journalism. What will the media look like in 5 years ... 10 ... 15? Can investigative journalism survive? The Nation's John Nichols leads off, followed by Nick Penniman (Huffington Post Investigative Fund), Ana Marie Cox (Air America and MSNBC), Dan Rather, Jane Mayer, Mark Luckie (10000words.net) and Victor Navasky. You can view John's video here.

Read More »

November 7, 2009