In realm of reading the tea leaves but after eight years of little progress (let’s call what it is — total neglect on behalf of the US Administration) on the Arab-Israeli peace front there does now seem to be some movement and developments toward a regional and lasting peace. That Arab leaders stayed to listen Israeli President Shimon Peres at a UN Conference on religion is noteworthy. That Shimon Peres lauded King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at that UN Conference is also noteworthy. And then there’s this from the Times of London:

Barack Obama is to pursue an ambitious peace plan in the Middle East involving the recognition of Israel by the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, according to sources close to America’s president-elect.

Obama intends to throw his support behind a 2002 Saudi peace initiative endorsed by the Arab League and backed by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister and leader of the ruling Kadima party.

The proposal gives Israel an effective veto on the return of Arab refugees expelled in 1948 while requiring it to restore the Golan Heights to Syria and allow the Palestinians to establish a state capital in east Jerusalem.

There is however one very big IF. Israel heads to general elections in mid-February. If Kadima and Tzipi Livni emerge triumphant then perhaps this plan can move forward. But Likud and Benjamin Nethanyahu emerge victorious, then I suspect all this is for naught. Still all these developments are rather curious that I can help but wonder is this why President-elect Obama has approached Senator Clinton to head the State Department?

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From Big Think, a conversation amongst George Soros, Lawrence Summers, Robert Merton and Peter Thiel on the world economy and getting beyond the current financial crisis. George Soros is Chairman of Soros Fund Management, Lawrence Summers is the former Treasury Secretary under President Clinton and the former President of Harvard University, Robert Merton is a Professor at Harvard Business School and a Nobel Laureate in Economics and Peter Thiel is President of Clarium Capital Management, a venture capital group.

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The fortnight of the long knives continues amongst the leadership of the Republican party. Today’s offering of madness comes from South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint who seems to think that McCain lost because he wasn’t conservative enough. From CNN:

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint on Friday became one of the first high-profile Republicans to publicly criticize John McCain following his electoral defeat, blaming the Arizona senator for betraying conservative principles in his quest for the White House.

The conservative senator, speaking to a group of GOP officials gathered in Myrtle Beach at a conference on the future of the Republican Party, described how the party had strayed from its own “brand,” which, according to DeMint, should represent freedom, religious-based values and limited government.

“We have to be honest, and there’s a lot of blame to go around, but I have to mention George Bush, and I have to mention Ted Stevens, and I’m afraid I even have to mention John McCain,” he said.

DeMint offered a long list of complaints about McCain’s record in the Senate and on the campaign trail.

“McCain, who is proponent of campaign finance reform that weakened party organizations and basically put George Soros in the driver’s seat,” DeMint said. “His proposal for amnesty for illegals. His support of global warming, cap-and-trade programs that will put another burden on our economy. And of course, his embrace of the bailout right before the election was probably the nail in our coffin this last election. And he has been an opponent of drilling in ANWR, at a time when energy is so important. It really didn’t fit the label, but he was our package.”

Bush and Stevens, he said, had corrupted the party brand by expanding the size of government and engaging in wasteful government spending. Had Republicans not strayed from their core beliefs in recent years, DeMint argued, the election results might have been different.

“Americans do prefer a traditional conservative government,” he said. “They just did not believe Republicans were going to give it to them.”

DeMint said he would introduce a Senate resolution next week to boot Stevens out of the Republican caucus, and “force votes” on Senate seniority rules that have allowed certain members to hold onto power. However, DeMint twice confused Ted Stevens with Ted Kennedy, drawing chuckles from the audience of Republicans, who hold neither senator in particularly high regard.

“One of our principles is that power corrupts, and you need to disperse it,” DeMint said. “And if our own party allows ourselves to be destroyed by this idea, and are not willing to stand up, then we have to change everyone at the top.”

Look in the mirror, Jim. You and your ilk abdicated all responsibility when in control of the Congress. Did you call one hearing on the abuses of power by Bush and Cheney et al? Did you filibuster when Bush lied us into war? It boggles the mind that you can say this with a straight face: “Americans do prefer a traditional conservative government.” What does that even mean? I would hope Americans expect and prefer a government that offers solutions to vexing problems and doesn’t lie us into wars of choice.

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It’s a new day in America or so I’ve heard at any rate. New day, a new medium. President-elect Obama talks about the economy in this week’s Democratic address. For more information, visit The Office of the President-Elect.

I am a little confused I must admit because I can’t ever recall a previous “Office of the President-Elect.”

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In an piece for the International Herald Tribune, American humourist Garrison Keillor does remind us of one tangible benefit for those of us who dare to tread abroad — we need not lie and tell the world we are actually from Canada, eh.

It feels good to be cool and all of us can share in that, even sour old right-wingers and embittered blottoheads. Next time you fly to Heathrow and hand your passport to the man with the badge, he’s going to see “United States of America” and look up and grin.

Even if you worship in the church of Fox, everyone you meet overseas is going to ask you about Obama and you may as well say you voted for him because, my friends, he is your line of credit over there. No need anymore to try to look Canadian.

Fair enough, US prestige abroad is already up. Still, I can’t completely share in Keillor’s rosy assessment.

I just can’t imagine anybody cooler. Look at a photo of the latest pooh-bah conference – the hausfrau Merkel, the big glum Scotsman, that goofball Berlusconi, Putin with his B-movie bad-boy scowl, and Sarkozy, who looks like a district manager for Avis – you put Barack in that bunch and he will shine.

Putin ran circles around Bush so I am not convinced that Obama will fare any better. That big glum Scotsman is likely out of power come the next British general election due by 2010 despite showing true leadership in this Fall during the global financial crisis. If flash is your thing, it’s not mine. Competence matters, substance matters, principles matter. Obama may yet prevail on these scores but he has yet to prove himself in the only test that matters, governing. Though Keillor does note:

Our hero who galloped to victory has inherited a gigantic mess. The country is sunk in debt. The Treasury announced it must borrow $550 billion to get the government through the fourth quarter, more than the entire deficit for 2008, so he will have to raise taxes and not only on bankers and lumber barons.

His promise never to raise the retirement age is not a good idea. Whatever he promised the Iowa farmers about subsidizing ethanol is best forgotten at this point. We may not be getting our National Health Service cards anytime soon. And so on and so on.

Alas, we may all yet be Canucks.

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While the vote tally won’t be completed yet until early next week, it looks like the 40 year Senatorial career of Ted Stevens is at last at an end. From the Anchorage Daily News:

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is in grave danger of losing re-election after Mark Begich widened his lead to 1,022 votes Friday.

More than 90 percent of the votes are now counted, and Friday’s count of absentee and questioned ballots could have been Stevens’ best chance to make a comeback.

That’s because it included all the ballots left from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, where Stevens has enjoyed his most unwavering support.

There are about 24,000 ballots left to be counted, coming from Anchorage, Southeast Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula. The state will tally them all Tuesday.

Dallas Massie, state Republican Party district chair from Wasilla, in the heart of the Mat-Su, said he thought Friday would be a day Stevens closed the gap. The senator, however, saw Begich’s lead grow by more than 200 over the margin the challenger established on Wednesday, when post-Election Day counting of absentee, early and questioned ballots began.

“It’s concerning, from my perspective,” Massie said.

It’s delightful from my perspective.

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Once a glittering regional capital, modern Naples’ reputation has been tarnished by organised crime and soaring unemployment but in this week’s programme, Amanda Palmer and the 48 team meet local journalists Andrea and Ilaria, who show them how this brash city is determined to shrug off the forces holding it back.

The most destructive of these forces is the local mafia, La Camorra. Older and arguably more powerful than Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, La Camorra operates like a vast corporation controlling Neapolitan business and local politics. But some are willing to challenge their power, as 48 discovers when Andrea takes the team to meet the The “Sott’ ‘o pont’” (Under the Bridge) theatre company an organisation trying to educate teenagers about the dangers of Camorrista life through drama.

For many, the most vivid image of modern Naples is the ‘garbage crisis’, which left the city festering in uncollected refuse for nearly a year. We head to the suburb of Villaricca, home to Europe’s largest rubbish dump, to meet local percussion band Bidonvillarik. Their musical instruments are built from rubbish to draw attention to the garbage crisis – which, they say, is far from over.

Naples is proud to have maintained its own language, and nowhere is it more alive than in its beloved local folk music, Canzone Napoletana. We meet 12-year-old Fortuna, one of the genre’s hugely popular child singers, as she performs to an enraptured crowd at a birthday party in one of the narrow streets of the Forcella district.

The next morning, our guide Ilaria introduces Amanda to ‘Pizza Master’ Enrico, who runs a training course for local teenagers. His students are keen to learn a respected craft which can earn them a healthy, legitimate wage in a city where high unemployment makes joining the Camorra an all too attractive an option. Amanda learns the secrets of the perfect margherita the precise dimensions and ingredients of which are enshrined in EU law – and attempts to solve the mystery of why pizza making is such a macho career.

Next we take the dramatic coast road around the Bay of Naples towards Amalfi, to visit one of the terraced lemon farms that have characterised the craggy coastal landscape of the Naples region for centuries. Lifelong lemon farmer Luigi reveals the passion for his fruit that keeps him fondly tending his terraces at the age of 74, and introduces us to his protégé, ‘Young Luigi’.

Finally, Ilaria and Andrea take us to the village of Montevergine for the annual festival of Tammurriata, a traditional Neapolitan style of music and dance with a huge following among young people. An earthy blend of pagan sensuality and Christian spirituality, the festival celebrates fertility, rebirth, and a successful harvest.

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But for the fact that half naked men now roam my neighborhood and as such it’s not all bad, I still can’t help but wonder why it’s 78° Fahrenheit or 26° Celsius today in San Francisco in mid-November. Across the Bay in Oakland, it’s over 80°. Normally, our weather this time of year is in the high 50s or low 60s so while on the one hand this is enjoyable, it is also frankly worrisome. Senator Inhofe, are you listening? Stop denying the plainly evident and admit that we have a crisis to confront.

But my worries are nothing compared to what’s going on in the southern part of the state where Santa Ana winds are fanning flames.

On the plus side with the obstinate Bush Administration out of the way, the rational among us can now proceed with confronting the crisis.

From the New York Times:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has instructed state agencies to prepare for climate change, especially rising seas, as they plan to replace, upgrade and repair the system of pipelines that distributes water around sewage treatment plants and low-lying airports, among other things.

“We have to adapt the way we work and plan in order to manage the impacts and challenges that California and our entire planet face from climate change,” Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said on Friday after issuing the executive order.

Good on you Governor.

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