Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said his country would welcome President Obama to Hiroshima, hoping that together they can create a world without nuclear weapons.
Source: Japanese Premier Discusses Obama’s Visit – Video – NYTimes.com
Most people in Japan believe the city was a victim of unnecessary brutality, but for Americans of the World War II generation, Hiroshima is at the center of a very different narrative.
Source: Obama’s Visit Raises Ghosts of Hiroshima – The New York Times
On the president’s trip to Japan this month, a visit to the cities where America dropped atomic bombs could highlight the horrors of nuclear weapons, but could also risk being seen as an apology.
Source: Obama Weighs Visiting Hiroshima or Nagasaki – The New York Times
WASHINGTON — A White House official said on Thursday that it would be “catastrophic” to adopt a proposal by Donald J. Trump, the Republican front-runner, that Japan and South Korea manufacture their own nuclear bombs to deter North Korea.
Benjamin J. Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser and one of President Obama’s closest aides, said, “Frankly, it would be catastrophic were the United States to shift its position and indicate that we somehow support the proliferation of nuclear weapon to additional countries.”
The bipartisan measure, which Mr. Obama hailed as “a Christmas miracle,” shrinks the federal role in education and returns power to states and local districts.
Source: President Obama Signs Into Law a Rewrite of No Child Left Behind – The New York Times
President Obama, Warrior in Chief – NYTimes.com.
This is not an “opinion” piece. The author makes a clear and very compelling argument based on historical FACT that Obama is America’s Warrior-in-Chief. The most militaristic, aggressive president the US has had in decades.
The question this author poses about WHY so many people still view Obama as some kind of pacifist is most pertinent. Perhaps it has something to do with mainstream news media’s reporting to that effect, including the NYTimes very own…
Here a “reluctant” Obama wins Libya.
Here Obama appears to be taking a middle path in continuing the War on Terrorism.
And here, the NYTimes praises Obama’s marking the “ebb tide of a decade of American military engagement that began after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.”
No wonder this article is filed as “Opinion”– the Times seems to be working from a completely different set of facts!
Jack & Jill Politics. This site, founded by a news editor at The Onion, Baratunde Thurston, is an interesting blog that further complicates the split between news and “fake news.” For instance, this afternoon’s headline, with a photo borrowed from Reuters:
U.S. President Barack Obama steps on First Lady Michelle Obama’s dress as they walk out to receive Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha as they arrive for an official dinner in their honor at the White House in Washington, March 14, 2012.
— REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Obama Meets With College Leaders on Rising Costs – NYTimes.com.
Hmm… With a stated proximal outcome of increasing the number of Americans with college degrees, you have to wonder what the theoretical distal outcome is supposed to be. Is it somehow increasing the United States’ credit rating, or just generating more GDP. One thing is certain, when these University Presidents, corporate partners and Obama’s Department of Education start talking about graduation rates, they are by no means focused on the creation of new knowledge for the benefit of citizens; rather, more than likely the target of such discussions as this is the generation of more wealth for the state.
White House Pushes for Weighing Race in Admissions – NYTimes.com.
Interesting article, and supporting policy documents from Obama’s Department of Education today.
