briefly

This post by Chris Floyd of Empire Burlesque is nearly a week old, and needless to say many, many things have happened since. Nevertheless it's one of the most important things in the blogosphere right now, referencing a Robert Fisk article in the Independent that has otherwise gone largely unnoticed here, describing a disturbing new phase of the so-called "surge" in Iraq. Here:

"Green Zone Down"

Faced with an ever-more ruthless insurgency in Baghdad - despite President George Bush's "surge" in troops - US forces in the city are now planning a massive and highly controversial counter-insurgency operation that will seal off vast areas of the city, enclosing whole neighbourhoods with barricades and allowing only Iraqis with newly issued ID cards to enter. The campaign of "gated communities" - whose genesis was in the Vietnam War - will involve up to 30 of the city's 89 official districts and will be the most ambitious counter-insurgency programme yet mounted by the US in Iraq.

Also, apropo of Rob's previous post regarding the squeamishness of the bigshot democrats, there's this by Paul Krugman:

"...a funny thing has happened on the Democratic side: the party's base seems to be more in touch with the mood of the country than many of the party's leaders. And the result is peculiar: on key issues, reluctant Democratic politicians are being dragged by their base into taking highly popular positions."
[via Avedon, here.]

there are other things I want to discuss, including the Fisk and Floyd articles at some greater depth, but I will post later, maybe Friday. In the meantime, see Rob's post directly below.