Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
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Archive for September, 2010

Sep 30th, 2010

Summary: Pakistan has blocked a vital supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in apparent retaliation for an alleged cross-border helicopter strike by the coalition that killed three Pakistani frontier troops. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 30, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the Princeton, Minn., police and fire departments and bomb squads from Minneapolis and Crow Wing County were responding to reports of suspicious packages at the Princeton post office, high school, and public utilities building. It was later established that the packages contained “inert powders” and no hazardous materials — an apparent hoax. Police ultimately took two local teenagers into custody a couple of days after the incident.


Sep 29th, 2010

Summary: The heavily fortified Green Zone in Iraq’s capital has in recent weeks come under an intensifying barrage of rocket attacks, and a senior American military commander is suggesting that Iranian-backed militias are behind the attacks in an effort to influence the formation of a new Iraqi government. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 29, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Sep 28th, 2010

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, compiled from U.S. Department of Defense news releases. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 28, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Young Americans for Liberty refused to publicize Michele Bachmann’s appearance with Ron Paul at a University of Minnesota rally, saying, “We don’t feel that we can promote her in good faith, because she represents none of the libertarian principles that we joined this group for.”


Sep 27th, 2010

Summary: A U.S. soldier is in custody in connection with the shooting deaths of two fellow service members in Fallujah, Iraq. Spc. Neftaly Platero is in custody as authorities investigate the deaths of Spc. John Carrillo Jr., 20, of Stockton, Calif., and Pfc. Gebrah P. Noonan, 26, of Watertown, Conn. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 27, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann, speaking at the “How to Take Back America” conference, said that the priorities of Republicans if they retook Congress in 2010 would be to “pass repealer bill after repealer bill,” to prevent the creation of a one-world currency, and to pull the government back from the “36 percent of private business profits” that she claimed it now controlled.


Sep 26th, 2010

Summary: Iranian forces crossed into neighboring Iraq and killed 30 fighters from a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) linked group it says was involved in last week’s bombing of a military parade in Mahabad, in Iran’s northwestern Kurdish region, which killed 12 women and children. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 26, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the U.S. and its five partners trying to stop Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program — Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China — planned to tell Tehran that it must provide “unfettered access” to its previously secret Qom uranium enrichment facility within weeks. Immelman also featured his psychological profile and threat assessment of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, developed at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics.


Sep 25th, 2010

Summary: In Afghanistan, the five-member “Red team” is rethinking the war in Afghanistan and questioning some of the basic assumptions behind the effort to clean up corruption and gain the upper hand over the Taliban. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 25, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that President Barack Obama, speaking at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh on a day the Pentagon announced five more American deaths in Afghanistan, said he understood that Americans were tiring of the war in Afghanistan and that he was examining whether the U.S. was pursuing the right strategy there.


Sep 24th, 2010

Summary: NBC News’ Political Unit and MSNBC.com have created the Voter Confidence Index (VCI) as a measure of the current political climate and what it may signal about the November 2010 elections. The index uses a combination of three questions commonly asked in national polls: the president’s job approval rating, the direction of the country (right track / wrong track), and the generic congressional ballot. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 24, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), delivered the Third Annual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.


Sep 23rd, 2010

Summary: The U.S. and several European delegations walked out of the U.N. speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after he said most people believe the U.S. government was behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in order to assure Israel’s survival. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 23, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at Georgetown University, would deliver the Third Annual Eugene McCarthy Lecture on September 23, 2009 at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.


Sep 22nd, 2010

Summary: As terror groups move away from planning complex 9/11-style attacks, involving months of planning and a large group of participants, it’s more difficult to detect and disrupt plots against the United States, according to three of the nation’s top counterterrorism officials. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 22, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and reported that Al-Qaida marked the 8th anniversary of 9/11 with a new 106-minute video predicting President Barack Obama’s downfall.


Sep 21st, 2010

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, compiled from U.S. Department of Defense news releases. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 21, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan at the time, in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war, warned that he needed more forces within the next year and bluntly stated that without them, the eight-year conflict would “likely result in failure.”