These were the events that mattered this week:
*Bill Clinton gets 2 imprisoned US journalists out of North Korea, proving yet again that diplomacy can make a difference with difficult countries, certainly in comparison to the previous ideological approach: do nothing at all except rant about the Axis Of Evil and allow Pyongyang to build nuclear weapons. Gorilla thinks this could be a useful model for talking at last with Iran, now that we’ve conveniently got 3 backpackers on the wrong side of their border.
*Afghanistan and Pakistan remain quagmires. Good to kill off the Pakistani Taliban leader (not so good to ignore that Pakistan helped to create and finance the Taliban), but in general these are two failing states and we haven’t got enough resources to do more than contain them. Gorilla still believes we’ll be on the way out of Afghanistan within 18 months.
*Health care reform continues to go nowhere. The Republican organized and funded mob riots of disgruntled, old, white Medicare recipients, convinced the government will either socialize medicine (a la Medicare) or take away Medicare, are beyond ridiculous, but the pig-ignorant fanaticism and racism behind them are deeply disturbing. And so are the efforts at bipartisanship, which have the effect of enriching the status quo medical-industrial complex. Gorilla thinks we’ll see a plan in September, but it won’t be anything like what’s needed.
*The economy may be getting closer to hitting bottom. Unemployment figures for July were good, but let’s see how they look in October. Fundamental problems, like bank insolvency and the housing bust, remain below the surface. Gorilla thinks we’re still at least a year away from meaningful, job-creating growth.
