WHAT HAPPENED TO the Mary Celeste?

HOW'S THAT Arab Spring working out?  Some questions for Obama:

How has the United States benefited from Mubarak’s ouster? How will the United States benefit from Mubarak’s ouster? Did your advisers express any concerns about the chances of an Islamist takeover of Egypt? If so, what national security interests drove you to support Mubarak’s ouster?

Given your contemporaneous public statement on Mubarak’s ouster, why didn’t you take a contemporaneous public position concerning the sham reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during Iran’s 2009 Green Revolution?

More benefits from leading from behind.  

MY, how Euro elites tend towards tyranny.

The European commission could be empowered to impose austerity measures on eurozone countries being bailed out, usurping the functions of government in countries such as Greece, Ireland, or Portugal. Bailed-out countries could also be stripped of their voting rights in the EU, under radical proposals being discussed at the highest level in Brussels before this week's crucial EU summit on the sovereign debt crisis.

Reminds me of something Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said: "To try to do something which is inherently impossible is always a corrupting enterprise."

IS Argentina contemplating another Falklands grab?

Unlike in 1982, the Brits would be unable to militarily oppose an invasion. 

IRAQ buys F-16s. 

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: One more spin through the Euro Cycle.

WHY TRUMP shouldn't host a Republican debate?

The selection of a reality television personality to host a presidential debate that voters nationwide will be watching is beneath the office of the presidency and flies in the face of that office’’s history and dignity. Trump’’s participation as moderator will distract from questions and answers concerning important issues such as the national economy, crushing federal government debt, the role of the federal government, foreign policy, and the like. To be sure, Trump’’s participation will contribute to an unwanted circus-like atmosphere.

Couldn't agree more. The last thing the Republican field needs is to associate with a raving egomaniac.

Trump, you're fired! 

FAA Chief Arrested on a DUI. FAA motto is "Safety is our passion."

OUT TO LUNCH: NATO SecGen forgets why his organization exists.

Our threat perceptions may currently differ, but Russia could also be threatened by ballistic missiles. So it makes sense for us to cooperate in defending against them, by building two separate systems with the same goal. It makes sense practically, militarily and politically. It would show once and for all that we can build security with each other, rather than against each other.

You know the old saying: NATO exists to keep the Germans down, the Americans in, the Russians out.

WHY THE RUSSIAN ELECTIONS were closer than expected. 

PAKI BORDER TROOPS PULLED. Discussions pending on how to avoid NATO air strikes.

Department of Homeland Security: Ten Years and 56 billion later, not adapting to changing terrorist tactics:

According to Ben Brandt, a former adviser to Delta, the airlines and the feds should be less concerned with what gels your aunt puts in her carry-on, and more concerned about lax screening for terrorist sympathizers among the airlines’ own work force. They should be worried about terrorists shipping their bombs in air cargo. And they should be worried about terrorists shooting or bombing airports without ever crossing the security gates.

POSTAL SERVICE goes postal. Cuts will slow mail. 

GUTMAN GETS PASS on anti-Semitic remarks:

I called up the National Jewish Democratic Council to find out whether it would condemn Gutman’s comments. The response from NJDC spokesperson David Streeter: “We have no comment on it.”

Indeed. Not very Jewish, or democratic. 

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: The iron fist in Russia shows early signs of rust.

Vladimir Putin is still the tsar of all the Russias, but a few flakes of rust have appeared on the iron fist. United Russia (URP), the political party of Vladamir Putin, appears to have won a majority in Parliament in Russia’s most recent elections. It is not quite the majority Putin would have wanted, and he had to fight hard to win what he did — allegations of vote rigging and intimidation are swirling in the news today.

AFGHAN allies in for the long haul?

RAY MABUS: You suck!

ANOTHER green enterprise bites the dust. This time it's Aptera.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: The Rise of the Fifth Reich?

GEORGE MCGOVERN hospitalized after fall. 

ED DRISCOLL: Dropping the A-Bomb on History. "If conservatives ever want to recapture the high ground of culture, just creating an alternative news media is nowhere near sufficient. they have to — somehow — recapture academia, where culture is ultimately created. And destroyed as well."

MICHAEL YON: The Army's crazy.

THE SITUATIONAL ETHICS of Eric Holder. Time to go. 

PANETTA OVERSEES DOWNFALL OF DEFENSE, and now, U.S. relations with Israel:

On Friday, during a speech before the Brookings Institution in Washington, Panetta went all MSNBC on Israel. To be precise, Panetta stated that Israel needed to "lean forward" to achieve peace with the Palestinians. He also demanded that Israel to "just get to the damned table" and to "reach out and mend fences" with Egypt, Turkey and Jordan.