MOSCOW –  Vladimir  Putin on Saturday agreed to run for the Russian presidency in 2012, almost  certainly ensuring his return to the office he previously held for eight years  and likely foreshadowing more years of strongman rule. His United Russia party also  approved his proposal that the current president Dmitry  Medvedev take over his Putin’s role as prime minister.
Putin ruled Russia as president from 2000-2008 with  a steely command that was widely criticized in the West as a retreat from  democracy. Because constitutional changes have extended the presidential term to  six years from four, Putin’s power is likely to be even more enhanced. If he  wins two terms in a row, Putin will have been atop the Russian hierarchy for  almost a quarter century. (more…)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded tonight to criticisms leveled on Thursday by former President Bill Clinton, who blamed Netanyahu for creating obstacles to a Middle East peace deal.
“The two great tragedies in modern Middle Eastern politics, which make you wonder if God wants Middle East peace or not, were [Yitzhak]Rabin‘s assassination and [Ariel] Sharon‘s stroke,” Clinton said on Thursday, in remarks reported exclusively on The Cable.
Clinton said that Netanyahu moved the goalposts and made reaching a comprehensive peace deal more difficult upon taking office. (more…)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

So far his biggest negatives seem to be a) immigration mushyness b) lousy debater c) inelegant stumbling onto the national stage, which is also b) but that’s the thing.
As a guy who’s watched him for 12 years my political attitude has been “He would do mostly, say 95% of the time, what I’d want him to do, so I’m ok with this.  I am just not concerned about “what would he do?”  I was also concerned about the rest of the country goin “Texas again.”  No need to rehash that.
I also said his negatives are relatively small ones, Tardasil, the Trans Texas Corridor thing (which really hasn’t been a factor at all in these debates), “cronyism”, and that he’s an Aggie. (more…)

More pivotal to the outcome of the GOP presidential race than Rick Perry’s position on Social Security or Mitt Romney’s record on health care reform may be a procedural matter imperceptible to most voters—the 2012 primary calendar.
The order in which states cast their votes is as vital to a campaign’s success as dollar bills. Certain candidates jibe better with certain states, due to their political, geographic, and demographic profiles. Winning the nomination entails hitting the sweet spots (or states) at the right time and in the right combination to get to the magic number of delegates. (more…)

A top Palestine Liberation Organization official responded to Texas Gov. Rick Perry‘s scathing criticisms of the PLO on Tuesday by telling The Cablethat Perry’s comments were “discriminatory and racist.”
Perry hosted a pro-Israel rally in New York on Tuesday morning, during which he repeatedly accused President Barack Obama of “appeasement” of the Palestinians and of bungling three years of Middle East diplomacy. He also called for the closing of the PLO mission in Washington, and the cutting off of U.S. aid to the Palestinian leadership as punishment for their drive to seek member-state status at the United Nations.
But the part of Perry’s remarks that really angered the PLO’s Washington representative, Maen Rashid Areikat, was when Perry said, “The Obama policy of moral equivalency, which gives equal standing to the grievances of Israelis and Palestinians, including the orchestrators of terrorism, is a very dangerous insult.” (more…)