The day before he suffered a fatal tear in his heart last December, a frustrated Richard Holbrooke confided to a colleague: The Obama administration had tried everything to persuade Pakistan to crack down on terrorism, including threats and special-assistance packages, but none of it seemed to work. Why wasn’t Pakistan getting the message? The question posed by Holbrooke in his final hours as U.S. representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan looms even larger now. Despite years of American requests that Pakistan dismantle al-Qaeda and its allies, it turns out that Osama bin Laden had been hiding for six years near a military training academy two hours north of Islamabad. Read full article > >

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Pakistan is missing the U.S. message on terrorism

President Obama will hit the road this week and forcibly deliver his message that a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes on the rich is necessary to rein in the nation’s rocketing debt — a high-stakes effort to rally public support ahead of a series of contentious budget battles in Congress.

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Obama to hit road to rally support for debt reduction plan ahead of budget battles

Another example of him trying to solve a problem by ignoring it.

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Obama’s muddled message on the Middle East

Custom web shout-outs from the creator of Big Ass Message A follow-up to Bj

What happens to a CIA agent who authorizes the torture of an innocent citizen of a NATO ally, leaving a long trail of dumb mistakes behind? The answer appears to be: promotion. That’s the message from an impressive Associated Press story by Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, two of the best reporters covering the intelligence beat today. Newspapers around the country pared the AP story down, and the Washington Post mysteriously edited out critical details, but it’s worth going straight to the AP site for the whole 3,700-word feature. . . .

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SCOTT HORTON—The CIA’s Culture of Impunity

The Prince of Wales says climate change sceptics are “corrosive” but urges environmentalists to work harder to sell their message.

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Charles attacks climate sceptics

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Part 1) isn’t due in theaters till November 2011, but you Twi-hards probably want to taste that epic two-part finale right now. Fortunately, director Bill Condon wants to help you out by slowly releasing tiny bits and pieces of the film(s) in conjunction with major holidays. During Thanksgiving we got an image of Bella’s hand amidst a bundle of feathers (fans of the series will know the meaning behind that one), and on Christmas, Condon released another photo from the set showing us all what Christmas looks like at the Swan household. Condon tweeted the image with this message: “Happy holidays from the Swan home to yours.”

If you look closely at the AP photograph of the South Korean marines conducting a drill on Yeonpyoeong island, you can see that their yellow headbands read tongil. That’s the Korean word for reunification. With the South Korean government conducting another round of live-fire artillery drills in contested waters near North Korea, the message of the headband is unambiguous. read more

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John Feffer | South Korea: Seeking Reunification by Live Fire?

There’s a knot in the president’s tax cut deal. Despite pleading from the White House, House Democrats angry about Obama’s plan to extend all of the Bush tax cuts refused to let the proposal come up for a vote. “This message today is very simple: That…

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House Votes Against Tax Deal

“Are you watching, North Korea?” seemed to be the message as the United States and Japan began a massive set of military drills in the China seas. Determined to prolong its show of force in the region, having just concluded a series of war games with…

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U.S. and Japan Begin Huge War Games

Both parties have an opportunity to heed the message of 2010.

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Where we and Democrats can work together

Choose between diplomatic niceties or a catastrophic confrontation.

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North Korea’s consistent message to the U.S.

In light of the message from midterm voters, the White House is emphasizing the economic focus of President Obama’s 10-day trip.

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The Caucus: Obama Recasts Asia Trip as Jobs Mission

A proposed script for Obama’s news conference today.

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Obama’s message for the day after

Travel through the political battlegrounds in these final days before Election 2010, and it becomes clear how much the tenor of this recession-plagued country has changed in the two years since Barack Obama was elected president on his message of hope and change.

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Anger, fear as elections near