Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
Loading

Featured Posts        



categories        



Links        



archives        



meta        




Author Archive

Sep 27th, 2009

Summary: In St. Louis for the “How to Take Back America” conference, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has said she will not fully comply with the 2010 census, declined to respond to a question by Washington Independent reporter David Weigel regarding the apparent lynching — later ruled a suicide — of Kentucky census worker Bill Sparkman. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 18th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a skirmish between Kurdish security forces and Iraqi police in Iraq’s northeastern Diyala province near the disputed Kurdish autonomous region and provided a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq.


Sep 26th, 2009

Summary: The U.S. and its five partners trying to stop Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program — Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China — plan to tell Tehran that it must provide “unfettered access” to its previously secret Qom uranium enrichment facility within weeks. … Personality profile and threat assessment of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 17th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a skirmish between U.S. and Pakistani ground forces across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and a speech at the United Nations by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, in which he told world leaders (in an apparent reference to U.S. cross-border attacks) that his country cannot allow its territory to “be violated by our friends.” Immelman also posted an update on U.S. casualties and security incidents in Iraq.


Sep 25th, 2009

Summary: Speaking at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh on a day the Pentagon announced five more American deaths in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama said he understands that Americans are tiring of the war in Afghanistan and that he is examining whether the U.S. is pursuing the right strategy there. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 16th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a speech at the United Nations by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in which he decried civilian casualties in his country from foreign bombing raids, telling world leaders that innocent deaths can seriously hurt legitimate efforts to fight terrorism. Immelman also reported on continuing violence in Iraq and threats by militants in Pakistan to escalate the violence in that country if Pakistan did not cease cooperating with the United States.


Sep 24th, 2009

Summary: Media reports of former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel’s Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 15th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on the downing of a U.S. drone amid strains between the United States and Pakistan over cross-border incursions; the attempted assassination of the Kabul police’s head of criminal investigations in Afghanistan; and security incidents and U.S. casualties in Iraq.


Sep 23rd, 2009

Summary: Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at Georgetown University, will deliver the Third Annual Eugene McCarthy Lecture on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater on the campus of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 14th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on security incidents and U.S. military deaths in Iraq, a bombing in Afghanistan, and violence in Pakistan.


Sep 22nd, 2009

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), compiled from U.S. Department of Defense News Releases. … Al-Qaida marks the 8th anniversary of 9/11 with a new 106-minute video predicting President Barack Obama’s downfall. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 13th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on tensions between Pakistan and the United States stemming from U.S. cross-border raids from neighboring Afghanistan; bombings and kidnappings in Afghanistan and Pakistan; and ongoing violence in Iraq.


Sep 21st, 2009

Summary: Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict “will likely result in failure.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 12th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a truck-bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, that killed more than 50, and violence in Iraq, including an assassination and bombings.


Sep 20th, 2009

Summary: The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party has released a statement that characterizes Gov. Tim Pawlenty as “moving closer and closer to Representative Michele Bachmann’s extreme right-wing ideology.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 11th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on the release of a new al-Qaida tape marking the 7th anniversary of 9/11, threatening attacks in Afghanistan; a huge suicide truck bombing that devastated the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad; and a speech by Pakistan’s new president, Asif Ali Zardari, in which he said Pakistan will not tolerate violations of its sovereignty in the name of fighting terrorism — a clear signal to the United States to avoid controversial cross-border strikes against the Taliban and al-Qaida.


Sep 19th, 2009

Summary: The week ends on a deadly note for NATO troops in Afghanistan, with military officials announcing the deaths of nine international (ISAF) troops killed in a single day. … An Afghan immigrant under investigation in a terrorism probe in New York and Denver has reportedly admitted a link with al-Qaida. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 10th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crash that killed seven U.S. soldiers in Iraq; posted a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq; and reported that North Korea was preparing to restart its Yongbyon nuclear reactor.


Sep 18th, 2009

Summary: Politico reports that elements within the GOP are concerned that the “bomb-throwing” Rep. Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota, may be inflicting damage on the party’s reputation with her incessant incendiary rhetoric. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the ninth day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 turned it into a terrorist training ground for jihadists around the world, with militants converging on Iraq to learn increasingly sophisticated insurgency techniques and then exporting those tactics to other hotspots, including Afghanistan, turning the war against terror “global” in a way not foreseen by the Bush administration.