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Purveyor's JournalHagel Supports Nuclear Arms Cuts, Then Elimination
WASHINGTON — Chuck Hagel, the likely next secretary of defense, would be the first to enter the Pentagon as a public advocate for sharply reducing the number of U.S. nuclear weapons, possibly without equivalent cuts by Russia. He supports an international movement called Global Zero that favors eliminating all nuclear weapons.
That puts him outside the orthodoxy embraced by many of his fellow Republicans but inside a widening circle of national security thinkers — including President Barack Obama — who believe nuclear weapons are becoming more a liability than an asset, less relevant to 21st century security threats like terrorism.
"Sen. Hagel certainly would bring to office a more ambitious view on nuclear reductions than his predecessors," said Steven Pifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "While he would likely take a less dramatic position in office, it might not be a bad thing to have a secretary of defense question what nuclear deterrence requires today."
The customary stance of defense secretaries in the nuclear age has been that the weapons are a necessary evil, a required ingredient in American defense strategy that can be discarded only at the nation's peril.
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http://journalstar.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/hagel-supports-nuclear-arms-cuts-then-elimination/article_a48f906b-8e57-5d81-89a8-821b39778a7d.html
JAMES HORMEL: A Chuck Hagel for Our Time
The nation’s first openly gay ambassador, James Hormel, explains why he now supports the Senate confirmation of a man who helped block his own confirmation.BY JAMES HORMEL JANUARY 29 2013 4:30 AM ET
In 1997, when Chuck Hagel took his seat as a newly elected member of the United States Senate, our country was a less friendly place.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick, which held that private, consensual homosexual acts violated sodomy laws, was still in effect. The malevolent "don't ask, don't tell" military regulations had been in force for three years. The so-called Defense of Marriage Act, a 20th-century variation on the Dred Scott case, had just been enacted by Congress and signed by President Clinton. Many states still applied criminal laws to homosexual acts.
What a difference 16 years can make! In 2003, Lawrence v. Texas overturned the Hardwick ruling and invalidated all state sodomy statutes. That same year, the Massachusetts Supreme Court acknowledged the right of same-sex couples to marry. In 2011, "don't ask, don't tell" was repealed.
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In other words, times and minds have changed.
Hagel has taken stock of his own past comments. Regarding disparaging remarks he made about me in an Omaha World-Herald interview, at the time I sought Senate confirmation to become America’s first openly gay ambassador, he issued an apology. “My comments 14 years ago in 1998 were insensitive,” he said. “They do not reflect my views.” He added, ”I am fully supportive of 'open service' and committed to LGBT military families." He subsequently elaborated on his support for LGBT equality and for amending the applicable military regulations and benefits for families.
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http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013/01/29/op-ed-chuck-hagel-our-time
Transportation Secretary LaHood To Leave Office
WASHINGTON -- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Tuesday he is leaving office after four years as arguably the most consumer-friendly secretary that airline passengers have had.
LaHood, 67, a former Republican member of Congress serving in President Obama's Democratic administration, says he will stay until a successor is chosen and confirmed. He will be the sixth department head of 15 to leave as Obama begins his second term.
It's unclear whom Obama will pick to succeed his personal friend for the office. LaHood said he doesn't know what he will do next.
During his tenure, LaHood said he championed consumer priorities that he and former senator Obama shared as members of Congress from Illinois.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/01/29/transportation-secretary-lahood/1873711/
Chicago May See Record Warmth as Severe Weather Moves East
By Brian K. Sullivan - Jan 29, 2013
Chicago temperatures may set record highs today while heavy rain and severe storms sweep the Midwest and the Mississippi River Valley.
Chicago may reach a high for the date of 66 degrees Fahrenheit (19 Celsius) later today, surpassing an old mark of 59 set in 1914, according to the National Weather Service in Romeoville, Illinois. Records go back to 1872. The warmth won’t last long. The forecast high on Jan. 31 is 19 degrees.
“Temperatures in the 60s are very rare in January,” the weather service said in statement. “There have only been 33 January days with temperatures of 60 or greater in 141 years, or about once every four years.”
Flood watches have been posted for Illinois to Ohio because of the storm. The heavy rain will fall on frozen ground and probably run off immediately, according to the weather service. The result is the rains won’t help drought conditions much throughout the area, said Tom Kines, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.
“Any rain they get out there is good, but the problem is it is coming all at once and a lot of it will run off,” Kines said by telephone. “It won’t do nearly as much good as if it came in April.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-01-29/chicago-may-see-record-warmth-as-severe-weather-moves-east.html
Refunds Seen Postponed in IRS Quest to Stamp Out ID Theft
By Richard Rubin - Jan 29, 2013
Some taxpayers seeking a quick refund may have to wait longer than usual this year as the Internal Revenue Service tries to stop criminals who steal others’ identities and file fraudulent returns.
The agency, which begins accepting 2012 returns tomorrow, is making its automated system more sensitive to signs of potential fraud, meaning some returns will get a closer look. Last year, the IRS prevented $20 billion in fraudulent refunds from being issued, up from $14 billion the previous year.
The tax agency’s efforts to combat identity theft reflect the tension in the IRS’s multiple missions, said Benson Goldstein, a senior technical manager at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Washington.
The IRS has been trying to shorten processing times to accelerate refunds, in part to encourage electronic filing and in part to reduce taxpayers’ reliance on short-term loans. The speed of refunds presented an opportunity for fraud.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-01-29/refunds-seen-postponed-in-irs-quest-to-stamp-out-id-theft.html
Consumer Confidence in U.S. Falls to Lowest Level Since 2011
Source: Bloomberg
By Jeanna Smialek - Jan 29, 2013
Confidence among U.S. consumers declined more than forecast in January, reaching the lowest level in more than a year as higher payroll taxes took a bigger bite out of Americans’ paychecks.
The Conference Board’s index decreased to 58.6, the weakest since November 2011, from a revised 66.7 in December, figures from the New York-based private research group showed today. The January reading was lower than the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey, which had a median estimate of 64.
The drop in confidence coincides with a two percentage- point increase in the payroll tax used to fund Social Security, a hurdle for consumers after a projected pickup in spending in the fourth quarter. The outlook for employment prospects and incomes also deteriorated this month, today’s data showed.
“The uncertainty and bickering is weighing it down,” Richard F. Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp. in Birmingham, Alabama, said before the report. “I’m convinced that a lot of people didn’t realize that their taxes were going up in January. These higher payroll taxes, they’re going to put that much of a dent in disposable income.”
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-29/consumer-confidence-in-u-s-falls-to-lowest-since-november-2011.html
Outside The West No One Is Much Concerned About Iran’s Nuclear Policies Threat – Chomsky
The West is obsessed with Iran’s nuclear threat. “Whatever threat it is, the obvious way to try to deal with it is to move towards establishing a nuclear weapons free zone in the region”, and the Arab world strongly supports this idea, said Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an interview with the Voice of Russia. He also stressed that “both the US and Israel military, the military and the intelligence communities” are opposed to military solution to the Iranian crisis, commented on US carrying out the sophisticated cyber war against Iran, and stated that US is not in a position to control Russian resources.
Doubt that there will be any significant changes from the past four years. John Kerry’s nomination hearings for the Secretary of State indicated I think with the reasonable clarity that the positions he will be advocating and implementing are those that have been in place, there don’t seem to be any dramatic innovations inside.
However, some experts are telling me that perhaps Mr. Obama would be rather more focused on domestic policies somehow leaving aside the international issues which have been so controversial during his first presidency. But is this an accurate assessment?
Well, actually I think that’s even been true of the first four years, he began to retract US global involvement. There was a surge in Afghanistan, so called, but then the idea was to withdraw from Afghanistan and that’s apparently happening. He completed the withdrawal from Iraq. In the case of Libya, the policy was called Leading from Behind, which meant that the British and the French were basically functioning as the air force of the rebels and generally in violation of the Security Council resolution. And the US was providing the muscle, the force that was required for them to do it, but it didn’t take a leading role.
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http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_28/Outside-the-West-no-one-is-much-concerned-about-Iran-s-nuclear-policies-threat-Chomsky/
Israel: New MKs – The Importance Of Your American Cousins
The votes have been counted.
It appears that almost half the members of our new Knesset will be serving in the Knesset for the first time, and that there will be several new ministers in Israel’s next government. The faces of Israel’s elected officials are changing, and with that comes the the prospect – and hope – that there will be broader understanding on the Israeli government’s part of the American Jewish community’s role in ensuring Israel’s security.
Much of the recent election campaign was focused on the significant social problems facing Israel.
Both new and returning MKs may confidently assume that the United States will continue to send Israel $3 billion every year in military aid.
Trends in the United States, however, lead to real concern about potential challenges to American support for Israel. Moreover, Knesset members – both new and returning – tend take the support of the American Jewish community for granted and do not fully understand the vital role this community plays in ensuring the US government’s continued support for Israel.
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http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=301322
How Israeli Government Officials Fueled A Conspiracy Website Story About Iran
Here's an object lesson that shows just how far some press—and even Israeli government officials—have gone down the rabbit hole on Iran issues by propagating a story reported on a conspiracy website. The dubious tale goes like this: there was a huge explosion at Iran's main nuclear facility at Fordow, near the city of Qom, leaving hundreds of workers trapped in the underground facility. The facility is the source of much trepidation in Israel, where fears of insufficient military capabilities make the nuclear plant impenetrable to Israeli attack. The report came from a completely unreliable character writing for none other than World Net Daily, a website most famous for being the most prominent hub of the "Birther" conspiracy theory positing that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim and not American (among other conspiracy theories about the Obama administration). What's more, the story, thanks to a firm denial by American officials, reveals yet another rift between the Obama administration and Israel's government over Iran—a rift that can be laid nowhere except at the feet of overeager Israeli officials.
The story first popped up three days ago on WND, written by an author going by the pseudonym Reza Kahlili who claims to be a former CIA spy in Iran. But Kahlili is unreliable, to say the least: among other outlandish claims peddled by Kahlili, he wrote that Iran already has nuclear weapons. But that didn't stop all kinds of news media repeating Kahlili's unsubstantiated claim. The website of the Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronot ran a story on Saturday that began, "WND, an American news website affiliated with the Right, reported Friday that a mysterious explosion has destroyed a significant portion of Iran's Fordo nuclear facility." (If I was on the right, I'd be angry about the claim that my political beliefs are "affiliated" with WND.) On Sunday, the Jewish Press ran a story riddled with punctuation errors that cited WND and Yedioth, reprinting parts of the latter's story in full. And another story today at the Jewish Press, under a credulous headline, admitted the story might not be right in its lede.
But it didn't stop there. Speaking frankly, it's not that surprising that a tabloid like Yedioth would run with an unreliable story. (In contrast, the liberal Israeli paper Haaretz deserves kudos for not simply repeating the rumor and its unreliable source, but rather giving context and doing some—gasp!—reporting on it.) What was surprising was that Israeli government officials would publicly comment on such a story. But that's exactly what happened when a top national security adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to take the report at face value. Responding to an inquiry from the Times of Israel, Homefront Defense Minister Avi Dichter—the acting defense minister at the time—said, "Any explosion in Iran that doesn’t hurt people but hurts its assets is welcome." That's all fine and dandy, except that it propagates a potentially false story from an unsavory source. Rather more amazingly, Israeli intelligence sources confirmed to the Times of London that the story was real. Now, it's perfectly reasonable for Israeli officials to want to play up the notion that they—with the help of the United States—are waging a successful shadow war against Iran's nuclear program. The problem is that if and when these stories are revealed as a bluff, the effect will be that Israel's bluster will not only be rendered hollow, but will be counter-productive to Israel's own hawkish posturing. Not only did these Israeli government officials hurt their own credibility, especially vis-a-vis the Iran issue, but they gave a leg-up to an unsavory conspiracy website.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/28/how-israeli-government-officials-fueled-a-conspiracy-website-story-about-iran.html
Public Opinion Is on Chuck Hagel's Side
By HEATHER HURLBURT
This morning Bob Woodward has a Washington Post column about President Obama's choice of former senator Chuck Hagel for the Pentagon. Woodward focuses on Obama's feelings about war—that it is always abhorrent and sometimes necessary—and draws a connection from there to Hagel. But the line that explains both the president's choice and the violent reaction of a minority of the conservative political and national security communities is earlier in the piece.
Hagel recalls himself telling the new president: "We are at a time where there is a new world order. We don't control it. You must question everything, every assumption, everything they"—the military and diplomats—"tell you. Any assumption 10 years old is out of date. You need to question our role. You need to question the military. You need to question what are we using the military for."
The extent to which the United States can control the international order, and unilaterally shape it to our ends, has been in some ways the disagreement underlying the politics of foreign policy for at least eight years now. President Obama won two national elections with the argument—and the second time, with four years of evidence—that trading unilateralism and efforts at control for (still muscular) engagement and influence could provide for U.S. security as well and in fact are better than the failed efforts at "control" that had been on display in Iraq and the Middle East.
Hagel's own journey from Iraq War supporter to opponent reflects a real intellectual effort to engage with reality beyond our shores—reality in which power has spread and even, in some places, democratized, over the last few decades. He then moved on to begin, as he advised the president, questioning other pillars of the Cold War order—the utility of nuclear weapons, the value of increased Pentagon spending in a time of austerity, the value of support for Israel that fails to ask Israeli governments hard questions.
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http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/01/28/public-opinion-is-on-chuck-hagels-side
Heather Hurlburt is the executive director of the National Security Network in Washington, D.C. Heather previously served in the Clinton administration as speechwriter to the president, and as speechwriter and policy planning staff for Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher. Follow her on Twitter at @NatSecHeather.
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