Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
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Archive for February, 2009

Feb 18th, 2009

Summary: The number of Afghan civilians killed in armed conflict surged to a record 2,118 in 2008 as the Afghanistan war turned increasingly bloody, the UN said in a new report. Insurgents were responsible for 55 percent of the deaths, but U.S., NATO, and Afghan forces killed 39 percent, the report said. Of those 829 deaths by the forces, 552 were blamed on airstrikes.


Feb 17th, 2009

Summary: On the 67th birthday of leader Kim Jong Il, North Korea claimed it has the right to “space development” — a term it has used in the past to disguise a missile test as a satellite launch.



Historians have ranked Abraham Lincoln the best U.S. president and James Buchanan the worst. Former President George W. Bush was ranked 36th out of the 42 men who had been chief executive by the end of 2008, according to a survey conducted by the cable channel C-SPAN.


Feb 15th, 2009

Summary: Federal authorities examining the early, chaotic days of the $125 billion American-led effort to rebuild Iraq have significantly broadened their inquiry to include senior American military officers who oversaw the program.


Feb 14th, 2009

Summary: In the deadliest attack in Iraq so far this year, a female suicide bomber struck a tent filled with women and children resting during a pilgrimage south of Baghdad, killing 40 people and wounding about 80 in the deadliest of three straight days of attacks against Shiite worshippers.


Feb 13th, 2009

Summary: The economic crisis has trumped bullets and bombs in the intelligence agencies’ latest assessment of threats to the United States. Sounding more like an economist than the war-fighting Navy commander he once was, National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told a Senate panel that if the economic crisis lasts more than two years, it could cause some nations’ governments to collapse. “The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to U.S. strategic interests,” he told the Senate Intelligence Committee, as Congress prepares to vote on a $789 billion stimulus package.


Feb 12th, 2009

Summary: In Afghanistan, Taliban militants killed 20 people in a coordinated attack on three government buildings in Kabul, launching the assault after sending text messages to the leader of their terrorism cell in Pakistan. … In Iraq, 16 people were killed and 45 wounded when twin car bombs exploded at a bus terminal and market area in southwestern Baghdad.


Feb 11th, 2009

Summary: A U.S. spy satellite has captured an image of preparations at a North Korean missile site previously used for Taepodong-2 missile launch operations. The photograph shows North Korea assembling telemetry equipment at the site — equipment that would be needed for a launch to take place. … Taliban suicide attack kills 19 in attacks on Afghan government sites in Kabul.


Feb 10th, 2009

Summary: Support for the Kabul government and the United States and European troops trying to bolster it against insurgents is plummeting among the Afghan people, a new poll reports.


Feb 9th, 2009

Live streaming video of the trial to decide the winner of the Coleman-Franken contest for U.S. Senate, courtesy of The UpTake.