Ralph Peters gives President Obama a failing grade in Foreign Policy 101.

An A.I.G. executive who received a big bonus, over $700,000 after taxes, resigns from the company with this letter, published today in The New York Times. While it is difficult for me, having lost my job due to the global financial meltdown, to have any sympathy for him, I do sympathise. He, like many other executives at that company, did not participate in the financial shenanigans that caused the trouble (and lost him a lot of money, as well, in stock and deferred compensation), yet he is being vilified by politicians who also were part of the problem, yet they will never admit to it, or be punished for it. By resigning, and promising to donate his bonus to charity, he is doing exactly what I would do in his situation. I congratulate him for taking a stand, and I congratulate The New York Times for publishing the letter, which sheds some light on the political venality that surrounds the entire sorry mess.

A member of Congress has proposed a bailout bill for newspapers that would allow them to operate with subsidies as a non-profit. I don't think the bill will pass, and if it passes, I don't think it will do much good.

Is the regime in North Korea crumbling? If it does collapse, it would be very bad news for China, South Korea, and the rest of the region, at least in the short term, but it would be good news for the people of Korea in the long run.

A look back at the 1966 off-year elections, which turned out to give the first indications that the old New Deal Democratic coalition was beginning to falter.