Al Arabiya is reporting that Iraq’s Christian members of parliament are demanding to be allowed to form an autonomous area in the northern province of Mosul. This may seem like it’s a good idea.

It’s a pdf — and it’s really wonky — but the tenacious numbers cruncher Dean Baker, has written up a serious study of the economic impact of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s plans for Medicare. The CEPR paper, titled “The Ryan Medicare Plan: Winners and Losers” was co-written by Dean Baker and David Rosnick….

(The White Mountains on a Snowy Day Taken From a room in the Omni Mt. Washington Resort; photo credit: Steve Clemons; click image above for very large version) I’m up communing with the spirit of John Maynard Keynes at the Mt. Washington Resort where he and others established the framework for the International Monetary Fund….

This is a guest note by Daniel R. DePetris, a graduate student studying security issues at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. DePetris is also an associate editor of the Journal on Terrorism and Security Analysis.

Media Matters CEO David Brock just released a statement on news that Fox and Glenn Beck would begin a new consulting relationship focused on other forms of content with Beck suspending in the not too distant future his daily Fox News show.

One of the lines working around the Middle East and South Asia is that “Iraq has oil, and Afghanistan has the U.S.

A headline today in the Los Angeles Times reads “Rebel Leader in Libya Demands More of NATO.

Just heard terrible news that a popular Arab-Israeli actor and ‘healthy civil society’ activist has been assassinated allegedly by Palestinian militants in Jenin on the West Bank. Juliano Mer Khamis, director of Arna’s Children and founder of Jenin’s Freedom Theater was killed today.

This is a pic I took when I was in Florida last time. You can click it to get a larger version if you like. I’m down here again for a very fast trip to speak at the Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Goverment at the University of Central Florida on US-China policy.

The Canadians know have to have fun. Thursday evening, the Embassy threw its own stylized night of Oscar-like, red carpet strolling, high drama award-giving for some of Washington’s policy and political elite who embrace rather than poke fun at the maple leaf and all that entails.