The pressures on Iran continue to build. The US Senate passed a very tough sanctions bill (very similar to the British sanctions that precipitated the takeover of the Embassy in Tehran). What’s notable about the bill is that President Obama opposed the bill, but it still passed 100-0. Jennifer Rubin, a conservative blogger at the Washington Post, interprets the bill as a sign foretelling a tougher policy vis-a-vis Iran. The Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz, generally a lefty-leaning paper, puts the sanctions in the context of an already ongoing war against Iran. I won’t even speculate about how this stand-off will evolve–there are far too many variables. But the situation is clearly getting more intractable.
The US hands over its largest military base in Iraq to the Iraqis. It is hard to believe that the war seems to be winding down, although the difficulties facing the Iraqi people are extraordinary. One hopes that the United States can maintain a helpful presence, one that genuinely speeds up the process of reconstruction.
A revealing chart from The Economist showing the correlation between corruption and development. Finally, the world is beginning to take the issue of corruption seriously.
World Politics News 
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