Tim Pawlenty

Joe Lieberman

Mitt Romney

Tom Ridge

Sarah Palin

Daddy Yankee

Other

Vladimir Putin's made it fairly clear over the last few years that he's not all that concerned about his popularity in the West. Still, it's strange to see the normally well-spoken prime minister descend to Ahmadinejad-level paranoid bombast:

"The suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of US President."

Maybe I just have a soft spot for lost causes but I think there's something weirdly poignant about the efforts of Bolivia--a landlocked country--to build up its navy:

Beyond the ice-capped peaks to the west lay their object of longing, the Pacific ocean, but Bolivia's navy was marooned and landlocked at Lake Titicaca, 3,800 metres (12,470ft) above sea level in the Andes.

"I've never seen the sea," sighed Wilmer Camargo, 18, a conscript sailor in navy blue uniform. "But when I do I would like it to be a Bolivian sea."

He spoke for a nation. South America's poorest country lost its coast in a 1879-1884 war with Chile and wants it back. La Fuerza Naval Boliviana exists to keep that hope alive by cultivating a maritime conscience and end the "enclaustramiento".

The navy's purpose is mostly aspirational, but it keeps busy by patrolling the country's 5,000 miles of rivers for smugglers and will soon join an international peacekeeping force in Haiti, its first overseas (or any seas) deployment.

John McCain must be wishing Gustav will go away. The tropical storm is gaining strength and headed for the U.S. Gulf Coast. Forecasters say it will be a hurricane before the end of the day.

Two reasons for McCain to worry. One: If Gustav hits Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal, the GOP's young rising star, might cancel his speech at the Republican convention in Minneapolis next week. Jindal has already declared a state of emergency in preparation for the storm's landfall. And two: Katrina hit New Orleans three years ago this week. If the storm veers just to the right of its current path, it could hit make a direct hit on the city. And the last thing McCain wants is a crisis in the Crescent City reminding everyone how incompetent the Bush administration's response in 2005 was. That sound you hear is the Obama campaign readying spots featuring Bush, McCain, and the infamous "heckuva job, Brownie" line.

Dmitry Medvedev may have hoped the Shanghai Cooperation Organization would evolve from a loose security bloc into an anti-NATO counterweight, but so far things don't look like they're going in the Russian president's favor. 

On Thursday, Medvedev asked the group, which also includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, to back Russia's response to Georgian "aggression." Instead, while the group welcomed "Russia's active role in contributing to peace and co-operation in the region," it condemned the use of force and reaffirmed its support for the sovereignty of the countries involved:

The SCO states express grave concern in connection with the recent tensions around the South Ossetian issue and urge the sides to solve existing problems peacefully, through dialogue, and to make efforts facilitating reconciliation and talks," their statement said.

That China and the others spoke of respecting territorial integrity should come as no surprise. From its relations with Sudan abroad to its concerns with seperatists in Tibet and Xinjiang at home, China has long expressed a policy of non-intervention.

Russia, too, was often a strong opponent of Western interventions -- in Iraq and Kosovo, among others -- which makes its military action in Georgia all the more galling. Its Asian allies, though, haven't jumped on board. That, at the very least, should be a comforting sign for the West amid cries of a new Cold War.

For more on how Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia may backfire, check out FP's interview with regional expert and CIA veteran Paul Goble.

Whenever a new conflict breaks out somewhere in the world, commentators like to trot their old favorite whipping boy: Francis Fukuyama's much-misunderstood essay-turned-book, The End of History and the Last Man.

"See! History hasn't ended," they say, pointing to the September 11 attacks or Russia's war with Georgia or the latest dire situation in Somalia.

Of course, many of these commentators have probably never actually read Fukuyama's argument, which uses the word "history' in a very particular way -- it's History with a capital "H," as in the process of dialectical change, the grand sweep of big ideas and economic trends that Marx talked about. In Marx's estimation, communism was the logical ideological end point of this process, but Fukuyama saw "the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government" in the long run. He never believed that everything would be all gum drops and lollipops.

As Fukuyama told FP in an "epiphanies" interview in the current issue:

THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD THING [about my idea, the “end of history”] was the word ‘history.’ People thought I was saying that nothing was going to happen after the Cold War.

And if you haven't read it already, check out Fukuyama's very smart essay in this Sunday's Washington Post -- a nice counterpoint to all the hysteria about whether we are entering a new age of autocracy. "While bullies can still throw their weight around, democracy and capitalism still have no real competitors," he writes. I see no reason to believe he is wrong.

Top Story

It's official: Barack Obama is the Democratic Party's nominee for president of the United States.

Former President Bill Clinton gave the Illinois senator an unqualified endorsement Wednesday night, declaring, "Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States." "The master has arrived," Peggy Noonan writes of Clinton in today's Wall Street Journal.

"These times require more than a good soldier; they require a wise leader," said vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, criticizing John McCain's foreign-policy views.

McCain has picked his running mate, Politico and the New York Times report separately. He will notify his pick today and announce it at 11 a.m. Friday in Dayton, OH. The three most-mentioned names? Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and, less likely, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Karl Rove reportedly urged Lieberman to withdraw his name from consideration, but he refused.

Global Economy

German Chancellor Angela Merkel again tops Forbes magazine's list of the world's most powerful women.

Even the mighty Toyota has lowered its global sales target for 2009.

Arctic sea ice has already melted to its second-lowest level since satellite recordings began.

Europe and the Caucasus

G7 countries condemned Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and called for support of Ukraine. The EU is considering sanctions.

Russia, meanwhile, apparently believes that August 8 was its 9/11. Russia is growing alarmed at the number of NATO ships in the Black Sea, which are ostensibly there for a humanitarian purpose. Moscow needs to "sober up," a senior U.S. official tells the Washington Post.

Americas

The United States could cut its fuel use in half by 2035, an MIT research team estimates.

Brazil and Argentina, South America's agricultural heavyweights, are responding to high food prices with opposite policies.

Former London Mayor "Red" Ken Livingstone has signed up as an urban-planning advisor for Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Mexico is opening bidding for the largest infrastructure project in its history, a $4 billion new port in Baja.

Asia

Top U.S. military commanders met secretly Tuesday with Pakistani Army chief Ashfaq Kayani to fashion a common strategy for the border areas. On Wednesday, Pakistan claims its military killed nearly 50 pro-Taliban militants near the Afghan border.

China's National Audit Office reports that the Chinese government misused or mismanaged at least $6.7 billion in public funds in 2007.

Middle East and Africa

Iraq could take control of security in Anbar province as early as Monday, allowing the U.S. Marine Corps to shift resources to Afghanistan. Also -- no joke -- Baghdad is planning to build a huge Ferris wheel.

Lebanon has indicted Libyan leader Moammar el-Qaddafi for kidnapping Sheikh Moussa Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who disappeared nearly 30 years ago.

More than 70 African migrants died when their makeshift ferry sank in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Sudanese hijackers have surrendered to Libyan authorities.

Today's Agenda

Al Gore and Barack Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention. It's the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.

It's the second day of the 65th Venice International Film Festival.

Moscow hosts its 12th annual motor show.

Bill Clinton makes a unique case here for the Democratic ticket:

With Joe Biden's experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama’s proven understanding, insight, and good instincts, America will have the national security leadership we need.

Watch a clip of Clinton here. 

We're still a year away from learning who will host the 2016 Summer Olympics. But, while Beijing is fresh in our minds, I thought it'd be high time to consider the lessons and legacies of the 2008 games with an eye on the future.

If we learned one thing from Beijing 2008, it's that the Olympics are a perfect pretext for a massive security crackdown. So why not award the 2016 games to a city that could actually use a massive security crackdown?  

The murder rate in the state of Rio de Janiero is down to 39 per 100,000, from a high of 64 per 100,000 people in the mid-1990s. That's still high, and one still encounters machine guns while browsing shopping stalls. Some think meditation may do the trick, but an Olympic effort to crack down on petty crime (not political opposition, mind you) could do wonders.

The other finalist host cities are Chicago, Tokyo, and Madrid. The United States recently hosted in 2002 and 1996, Japan in 2006, and Spain in 1992. South America has never hosted the Olympics. Considering Brazil's growing economic clout, the time seems to be about right to finally change that.

Plus, India is gearing up for a 2020 bid of its own. With Beijing 2008, Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, and New Delhi 2020, all of the BRICs would get the recognition they deserve as the 21st century's rising powers. 

Of course, it is important that Rio be truly ready. As my colleague Josh Keating argues in today's Web exclusive, hosting international sporting events can do more harm than good for a country's reputation. The 2010 World Cup in South Africa, for one, appears to be headed toward disaster. But Brazil insists that it successfully hosted the 2007 Pan America Games, and would have proper practice after hosting the 2014 World Cup. Here's hoping Rio gets a good look from the IOC next fall.

Top Story

China passed the Olympic torch to Britain Sunday, bringing an end to a controversial Olympics marked both by spectacle and suppression. On the sporting field, China achieved its goal of winning the gold medal count. The United States, however, dubbed the games a "missed opportunity" for progress on human rights, and expressed disappointment that the Olympics didn't bring more "openness and tolerance" to China. In the face of diplomatic pressure, Chinese authorities freed eight Americans who had been detained for pro-Tibet demonstrations during the games. 

China now faces uncertainty over its economic future, hoping to avoid the infamous Olympic hangover. 

Politics

President Hu Jintao visited South Korea Monday, agreeing to expand ties between the two countries. 

Authorities blocked, then reinstated, access to iTunes because of an album titled Songs for Tibet.

The Dalai Lama alleged that repression worsened in Tibet during the Olympics. The spiritual leader canceled trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic because of exhaustion.

Economy

Facing increasing costs, manufacturers are beginning to look outside China.

China overtook the United States as Japan's largest export market. 

Chinese companies are exploring ventures for oil in Iraq and copper in Afghanistan. 

The Bank of China is fighting allegations of supporting terrorism.

Environment

Air quality in Beijing is the best in 10 years, and a top environmental official expects the blue skies to continue.

The Olympics diverted water from thousands of farmers, causing a man-made drought that cost locals in Hebei province their homes and land. 

Taiwan

Prosecutors ordered the son and daughter-in-law of Taiwan's former president, Chen Shui-bian, not to leave the island. The former president, his wife, son, daughter-in-law and brother-in-law are all facing investigation for alleged money laundering. 

General News

Explosions at a chemical plant in Guangxi province killed 20 Wednesday. 

Tropical Storm Nuri showered Shanghai with its heaviest rains in 100 years.

Ok, I can't contain myself. The logo for the Democratic National Convention is a train wreck. The Democrats should be eager to cast off the negative stereotypes that they've accumulated since since Gore lost to Bush in 2000 -- weak on defense issues, wishy-washy, too touchy-feely, disorganized, and unfocused. But this logo does exactly the opposite. The soft gradients and jumbled type only serve to reinforce those negatives.

1. The colors are washed out. Red, white, and blue in a political context should never fade to pink and baby powder. It looks weak. Red is always a dangerous color to run to a gradient in a logo for that very reason.
2. And while I'm talking about color, why is the sky a burning red? Has a nuclear bomb just gone off somewhere over the horizon? Has global warming gotten that bad already?
3. The stars overweight the logo on the left side, making the whole thing feel too asymmetrical. They also remind me of the stars a cartoonist might draw over a character's head to indicate that he's had too much to drink.
4. The tightly kerned sans-serif type is completely out of phase with all of Obama's materials, which provide for much more air between each character.
5. The right side of the logo reminds me of Enron's Logo. I don't understand why those large chunks have been taken out of the mountains. Is it supposed to look like a plug or a puzzle piece?
6. Why is the "0" so much bigger than the "8"? Yes, I'm sure that's the nature of the type they chose, but it looks terrible. This election is about the "8," not the "0"
7. Why are there mountains anyway? I know they're there to tip the hat to Denver, the convention's host city -- but why? Is this convention being held for Denver or for the country as a whole?

What would a successful logo contain?

1. Strong, solid colors. Similar to the deep blue on Obama's materials.
2. Clean, simple type. Go serif to make it different, but not too different.
3. A horizon that looks like a sunrise, or some other imagery that points us to the future, not a nuclear holocaust. Hell, even some clichéd "21st century digital" bric-a-brack in the background would be better.

Boris Johnson may have ruffled some feathers in Beijing by declaring London the "sporting capital of the world" and boasting about Britain inventing ping pong. But the London mayor still had some kind words for China after his Olympic visit.

Chinese bloggers and members of the Chinese media, on the other hand, did not take kindly to the performance of Britain -- and Johnson in particular -- during the Olympic changeover ceremony. One blogger blasted Johnson for not buttoning his suit jacket, while another said the mayor appeared "rude and arrogant" while interacting with his counterpart from Beijing. 

Some of the harshest words, however, were reserved for Jimmy Page and David Beckham:

Unfortunately, the singer and Jimmy Page are absolutely not famous enough to be known or recognised by millions of the Chinese audiences. As for David Beckham, he was supposed to kick the football towards the red circle in the centre of the Bird's Nest, in the end, just like any of his penalties at a football match, he totally missed it. 

Ouch. The Brits may not be rallying for Chinese press freedom anytime soon.

There's been a great deal of speculation in the past few days over whether John McCain will announce Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate on Friday.

In a widely read column, the irrepressible Bill Kristol mused Sunday that "an unorthodox 'country first' Lieberman selection would reinforce what has been attractive about McCain, and what has allowed him to run ahead of — though not yet enough ahead of — the generic Republican ballot."

Liberal pundit Ezra Klein chimed in with some unsolicited advice for McCain: "Joe Lieberman is a dangerous pick, but he also has a huge upside." McCain supporter Patrick Ruffini was less effusive, writing, "To me, he wouldn't be the best pick, but he wouldn't be the worst either."

Henry Olsen of the American Enterprise Institute weighs in today in the Wall Street Journal, saying that while Lieberman's hawkish stances on Iraq and terrorism are welcome, "the domestic issues on which Republicans and Mr. Lieberman have major differences are pressing and cannot be ignored":

One must also contemplate the awful possibility that President McCain will not survive his term. Do Republican voters want to see a President Lieberman negotiate with a Democratic Congress on taxes, entitlements, judicial nominees and abortion? To ask this question is to answer it.

I think Olsen is right. It is inconceivable that McCain would pick Lieberman. Sure, he's happy to let Al Gore's former running mate stand next to him at campaign events and rip into Obama's foreign policy. Happy to convey the image of a "maverick" willing to contemplate an unorthodox running mate and put country over party, McCain won't tamp down the speculation. But when push comes to shove, he needs to pick somebody that rank-and-file Republicans want to see in the White House. And that person is not Joseph Lieberman. It's not going to happen.

Top Story

Speaking Tuesday before the Democratic National Convention and a political press ready to pounce on any signs of lingering rancor from the primary season, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton told delegates she was a "proud supporter of Barack Obama" and urged her followers to vote for him.

"Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. You haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership," Clinton said. "No way. No how. No McCain."

Obama called the speech "excellent." But Michael Tomasky looks at what Hillary didn't say, and the McCain camp quickly noted that she never explicitly said that Barack Obama is ready to lead.

CNN reports that former President Bill Clinton, who speaks tonight, will not attend Obama's speech Thursday.

Obama will speak "from an elaborate columned stage resembling a miniature Greek temple," according to Reuters.

Global Economy

More people live in poverty than previously thought, the World Bank has found.

The Washington Post profiles the new generation of "hacktivists."

Americas

One of Cuba's most popular rock musicians has been arrested for "dangerousness."

Western counterterrorism officials are growing concerned about Hezbollah's activities in Venezuela.

Europe and the Caucasus

U.S. President George W. Bush said that Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia merely "exacerbates tensions and complicates diplomatic negotiations."

Europe's retired population is projected to rise sharply.

Asia

Anwar Ibrahim has won a seat in the Malaysian parliament.

China's economy is headed for a gradual slowdown, the Financial Times reports.

Carbon emissions from China's power plants will soon surpass those of the United States. Map and data here.

North Korea's threat to resume producing plutonium is technically feasible, analysts tell Reuters.

Political instability has sent Pakistan's stock index to its lowest level in two years.

Middle East and Africa

Iraq's president says the United States originally pressed to maintain U.S. troops in Iraq until 2015.

A day after opposition MPs heckled him in parliament, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe announced he was forming a government on his own.

Darfur rebels hijacked a Sudanese plane and are still holding its crew hostage.

Today's Agenda

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband is visiting Ukraine amid concerns that the former Soviet satellite could be a target of Russian "aggression."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao today to seek support for Russia's position in Georgia.

It's the birthday of former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, who would have been 100 years old today.

The American Legion is hosting the second day of its annual convention, with scheduled appearances from Dick Cheney, Jim Webb (10 a.m.), and Barack Obama (11 a.m.). John McCain spoke yesterday, criticizing Obama for what he said was poor judgment on foreign policy.

After the video tribute to Jimmy Carter at the convention last night, several of CNN's commentators were speculating that the former president and persistent critic of Israel was not invited to speak because of fears about Obama's appeal to Jewish voters. I have no idea if this is true, but I would think that by now the "Obama has a Jewish problem" meme had been fairly well debunked by Gallup polls showing him trouncing John McCain among Jewish voters. Apparently it's making a comback.

Today Politico's Ben Smith reports that a group of Jewish Obama supporters are working to neutralize Jewish concerns about Obama with a Web site that features "a suite of political tools that embody the new political focus of merging cutting-edge technology and old-fashioned community." Oy gevalt.

The group does seem to have a talent for coming up with clever kitchen-yiddish names for their initiatives:

Moore, who is on leave from a job at Jewish Funds for Justice, a left-leaning group, drew some attention in 2004 with "Operation Bubbe," which sent more than 100 young Jews to Florida to try to persuade their grandparents ("Bubbe" is Yiddish for grandmother) and other retirees to support John F. Kerry. His new group will re-create that effort this fall under the rubric of "The Great Schlep."

Very cute. But I'm still not convinced that there's some sort of huge exodus of alter cockers going over to McCain. The idea was popularized by this widely-discussed New York Times story from May which quotes a number of Jewish retirees in Florida with wildly inaccurate beliefs about Obama's background and positions. But Jews are hardly the only group in which a number of people are still convinved that the senator is a Muslim and are hardly unique in that McCain does better with old people, while Obama dominates among younger voters. That's true across the demographic board.

The idea that Jews are disproportionately suspicious of Obama has a lot to do with the stereotype that they vote solely on which candidate is more hawkish on Middle East policy and fits a decades-old media narrative of black-Jewish animosity left over from Jesse Jackson's "hymietown" remark, Louis Farrakhan, and the 1991 Crown Heights riots. The Daily Show's Wyatt Cenac had a bit of fun with the Obama campaign's bubbe-panic here.

It's absolutely fine and advisable for Obama's campaign to be doing Jewish outreach. But treating this demographic as if it's some sort of crisis that needs to be addressed only refuels this tired and baseless talking point.

Living under a totalitarian regime requires a daily suspension of disbelief. Nowhere is that more true today than in North Korea, where otherwise ethical people contort themselves into untenable moral positions because they’ve bought into the oft-repeated notion that their country is “Paradise on Earth.”

That's just a snippet of Kim Hyun Sik's fascinating secret history of Kim Jong Il in the latest issue of FP. As the Dear Leader's former teacher, Kim offers a rare portrait of the dictator as a young man, and the suspension of reality that he demands his countrymen participate in every day.

An important element of that effort is, of course, fear, but also a bombardment of propaganda. The California Literary Review recently published a handful of incredible propaganda posters from North Korea, and you might imagine that there's a common theme: Death to the United States. More posters have recently been compiled in this volume by art collector David Heater.

Here are some of the best posters from the CLR's collection with translations:

“When provoking a war of aggression, we will hit back, beginning with the US!”

“Let’s extensively raise goats in all families!”

 

“Do not forget the US imperialist wolves!”