This story — about two Chicago rappers who like to sing praises for The Economist — put a smile on my face, so I had to share.

“He reads the Economist so he can get the gist, its solid competence gives him confidence that his intelligence is correct.”

Click to listen to The Economist Rap

[H/T FP Passport, The Guardian, et al.]

Thomas Friedman has a rather provocative column in the New York Times today. Not only does it suggest the next president of the United States will inherit an on-going cold war with Iran over its nuclear ambitions and sphere of influence in the Middle East but it also suggests that in this war, the U.S., or “Team America”, if you will, is losing. Friedman writes

For now, Team America is losing on just about every front. How come? The short answer is that Iran is smart and ruthless, America is dumb and weak, and the Sunni Arab world is feckless and divided. Any other questions?

Ehud Yaari, one of Israel’s best Middle East watchers, seems to agree.

“Simply put,” noted Mr. Yaari, “Tehran has created a situation in which anyone who wants to attack its atomic facilities will have to take into account that this will lead to bitter fighting” on the Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi and Persian Gulf fronts. That is a sophisticated strategy of deterrence.

I’m not entirely convinced that Iran could successfully pull off such a strategy, but Friedman’s conclusion seems apt.

When you have leverage, talk. When you don’t have leverage, get some — by creating economic, diplomatic or military incentives and pressures that the other side finds too tempting or frightening to ignore. That is where the Bush team has been so incompetent vis-à-vis Iran.

The next president will most likely inherit the antagonism plaguing U.S. relations in the Middle East, but hopefully who ever steps in to fill Bush’s shoes will have the foresight and gall to try a new (i.e., non-cold-war) strategy with Iran.

When it comes to anti-Tibet propaganda, the Chinese government never ceases to amaze me. This story is absolutely preposterous.

Having been held up for a fortnight or so on account of prohibitive weather conditions, the Olympic torch bearers are preparing once again for their “final assault” on Mt. Everest to bring the torch to the top of the world’s tallest peak.

Indian PM Manmohan Singh has put some faith back in the US-India “123″ civilian nuclear deal as the government has begun to undertake talks with the leftist parties whose opposition to the deal put the breaks on it last fall.

Maoist leader Prachanda is hoping to meet with Nepal’s King Gyanendra to discuss the monarch’s “graceful exit” from power. With the Maoists’ electoral victory last month, the Maoists are hoping for he king’s voluntary resignation stating

“If the king does not respect the people’s verdict and thinks of some mischief, that will harm himself, his offspring and the country as well. I hope he will not take any foolish measures.”

India has recently tested a long range surface-to-surface ballistic missile capable of traveling 3000 km and penetrating deep into Chinese territory. According to the BBC,

Possession of the Agni-III will give India deep strike capability because it would have Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai and the US island base of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean well within its striking range.

Looks like India’s still searching for her superpower status.

That’s what’s going on in South Asia. What’s happening in your part of the world?

As the death toll continues to rise in the wake of Cyclone Nargis that struck Myanmar (Burma) last weekend, international aid is beginning to arrive from neighboring countries. China, India, and Thailand have been able to fly in supplies, but the military junta has been hesitant to allow other countries to help with the aid effort–including aid offered by the United States.

According to the BBC, “The UN has urged the authorities to let foreign aid workers into Burma”, but UN and other international efforts have been forestalled on account of the junta’s slow issuance of visa’s and other security clearance issues. Information about the destruction is also unavailable due to restrictions on journalists, many of who have been reporting from neighboring Thailand.

From the American side, First Lady Laura Bush, for whom fighting the junta’s restrictive regime is a personal cause, “today urged the Burmese government to accept foreign aid after the devastating weekend cyclone while chastising the regime for not informing its people of the impending disaster.”

While urging the government to accept international aid and to allow a US state department disaster relief team into the country, Bush did not temper her criticisms of the government — including the failure of the state-run media to sound the alarms and notify the country’s citizens of the cyclone’s impending arrival. Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made similar appeals to the government of Burma.

In the past, cyclones, floods, and famines have has profound political effects on this part of the world, where large populations are dependent upon agriculture. Even with the help of international aid organizations, the Burmese junta face a serious crisis dealt by this devastating natural disaster.

How does the international community balance the restrictiveness of the military junta with its desire to extend humanitarian aid?

“If poor people don’t even have enough for bread, how will they donate milk to the gods?” he said. “This is very serious.”

Rising food prices are taking a toll all over the world. In India, the cost of food is keeping people from making food donations to temples. Donations of milk are down fifty percent, according to one priest.

Pakistan’s coalition government leaders Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari are meeting in Dubai this week to iron out the details for the reinstatement of Pakistan’s deposed Supreme Court judges. The self-imposed deadline has passed without an agreement, but both sides are still working to resolve the outstanding issues.

According to the BBC, these negotiations the first real test of the new coalition government, and Pakistan’s Dawn is calling Sharif’s trip to Dubai a “last-ditch attempt to save the one-month-old coalition government from collapsing”.

“There (is) very, very strong evidence suggesting that Pakistan’s soil once again has been used to inflict pain on our nation.”

Recent reports claim Monday’s assassination attempt against Afghan President Hamid Karzai was planned in Pakistan. Despite these claims, little evidence has surfaced to suggest the government of Pakistan was involved.

India “got a pat on its back” for its 206-report detailing the ways in which it will “ensure foolproof safety” at its nuclear plants.

That’s what’s going on in South Asia; what’s going on in your part of the world?

Iran’s nuclear ambitions are getting some attention in the international arena, and it looks like the international community might be willing to accept the Iran’s agenda for peaceful nuclear development.

After rebuffing the United States’ request that India encourage Iran to relinquish its nuclear agenda last week, India is now encouraging Iran to work with UN inspectors while pursuing their agenda, stating:

“We have said that Iran has the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy while fulfilling her various obligations, and that the right way to do that is through the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to assure the world that she is fulfilling her obligations”

Likewise, Switzerland has accepted Iran’s nuclear security proposal, and is encouraging the rest of the international community to do so as well.

Russia also seems to be on-board for future talks.

If the world accepts Iran’s peaceful ambitions, what will it take to get the U.S. on board?

Publishing this report (.pdf) with the tell-all title Combating Terrorism: The United States Lacks Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the GAO came up with this recommendation for the determining future U.S. policy in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

GAO recommends that the National Security Advisor and the Director of the NCTC, in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and State and others, implement the congressional mandate to develop a comprehensive plan to combat the terrorist threat and close the safe haven in the FATA.

After how many years–five, six, seven–of involvement in the region, it has finally come to light that the U.S. lacks a “comprehensive” plan “to destroy the terrorist threat”. The title pretty much says it all, but as Barnett Rubin writes,

The report provides a lot of evidence to back up the title, but in case you would like a simple summary of what the GAO means by lack of a “comprehensive” plan, take a look at this breakdown of U.S. expenditures in the border regions of Pakistan

Now that it’s official that the United States lacks a comprehensive plan, hopefully someone will follow the reports recommendation and start to create a plan.

Pakistan’s new civilian government is moving forward with its plans to talk to and negotiate with militants and insurgents, but the EU would like the government to avoid talks with Al Qaeda.

Meanwhile, the government have finalized an agreement with the Mehsuds to “end militant activity” in exchange for “prisoners and gradual withdrawal of the military” from Pakistan’s South Waziristan region. Things are looking up if Pakistan’s military continues to cooperate with the civilian-led government.

The PPP (Zardari) and the PML-N (Sharif) have set up a committee to oversee the reinstatement of Pakistan’s deposed judges. These judges hold the key to Musharraf’s future — either by making his presidency legal, or by sparking popular uprising against him.

Heavy casualties continue in the on-going civil war between Sri Lanka’s military and the Tamil Tiger rebels since the formal ceasefire ended in January. It is difficult to establish precise figures, but many international agencies estimate that approximately 70,000 have died since the conflict began in 1983.

Two weeks after parliamentary elections, surprisingly the Maoists are leading the pack, and full full election results from Nepal will be forthcoming after parties have submitted their candidate lists.

Owing to the friendly ties between India and Iran, the United States has called upon India to urge Iran to end its nuclear enrichment program. Owing to its friendly ties with Iran, India has “rebuffed” the U.S.’s request. And India has asked the U.S. to allow the IAEA to decide whether Iran is breaking the Non Proliferation Treaty.

Recognizing India’s budding potential as an emerging global power, UK PM Gordon Brown gave a glowing recommendation for India’s admittance to the UN Security Council, the IMF, as well as the G-8. As part of his recommendation, Brown said:

“A Security Council without India cannot be a Security Council reflecting the reality of the day (and) a G8 that discusses the world economy without involving India cannot be a G-8 that is discussing all the details of what needs to be done in the world economy.”

So that’s what’s going on in South Asia. What’s happening in your part of the world?

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Anthony Cordesman, Afghanistan won’t be solved by moving out of Iraq.

“In math and science, for example, our fourth graders are among the top students globally. By roughly eighth grade, they’re in the middle of the pack. And by the 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring generally near the bottom of all industrialized countries.”

America’s schools are in trouble, yet education is receiving scant attention from the presidential hopefuls, writes Bob Herbert.

Slowly, results are coming in from Zimbabwe’s election recount. The state media are calling for a unity government and various heads of state from around the world — including Gordon Brown — are pushing for an arms embargo to keep weapons out of the country.

In Iraq, women are taking over the jobs their dead or missing husbands left behind, reports the Washington Post.

Also gas prices and food prices continue to rise.

What are you reading today?

Listening to a thirty-minute summary of world news on BBC Hindi today, I had the unfortunate opportunity to hear President Bush as he often appears in the foreign news media–sounding like a cowboy in a speakeasy.

Referring to the lack of election results in Zimbabwe three weeks after elections were held, Bush was quoted in BBC’s Hindi-language media saying (in English):

“You can’r have an election unless you’re willing to put the results out. What kind of an election is it?…”

His sentiment may be accurate, but to a foreigner’s ear, these remarks are rude, abrasive, obnoxious. These are not the words of a prominent world leader, nor are they the words of an elected public official. These are the words of an armchair publican who thinks he knows what’s going on in the world but could hardly hold up his end of the conversation with a sixth grader.

After seven years of inarticulate public addresses and speeches that sound like the defiant slurings of the guy doing shots at the end of the bar, I need a president capable of expressing intelligent, diplomatic, well-informed sentiments as America’s Commander in Chief. I need a president who won’t embarass me when his/her words appear in the foreign media–in context, out of context, in print, on TV, or over the airwaves.

And given the number of gaffes McCain has made in the media over the past days (many of them resulting from the Bush administration’s uninformed foreign policy), I am now convinced, more than ever, that putting McCain in the White House will do nothing to improve America’s image overseas.