January 3, 2013

The US

Headline: Clinton Out of Hospital After Treatment for Clot

To Read: Kyrsten Sinema: A success story like nobody else’s

Readers of this Domain have heard a lot about Congresswoman Krysten Sinema and her stance on Israel. Perhaps it's time for us to learn a little more about her:

Sinema is a bracingly unfiltered talker, a precocious achiever, a high-energy persuader, an adjunct professor, a lawyer, a marathon runner, a lover of designer clothes. She is a holder of many, many degrees — this she’s happy to tell you in a humble-braggy sort of way. And she can be a lot of fun to hang out with, a rambling, kind of kooky monologist who can pivot from whimsical and wacky to substantive and earnest without a pause. Krysten Sinema is also — and it irks her to no end that this is such an object of fascination — an openly bisexual woman. And not just any openly bisexual woman, but the first openly bisexual person to be elected to Congress, an undoubtedly historic figure whose very presence on Capitol Hill could serve as an inspiration when she is sworn in Thursday and joins six openly gay and lesbian members in the most demographically diverse Congress in U.S. history.

Quote: When people watch Al-Jazeera, they tend to like it a great deal Spokesman Stan Collender on the network's purchase of Al Gore's Current TV

Number: 113 The number of the Congress to be sworn in on Thursday

Israel

Headline: Yacimovich: Labor will lead the gov't or lead the oppositon

To Read: Will 2013 be the year American Jews secede from Israel?

Bradley Burston of Haaretz warns that Israeli policy is alienating American Jews, who are mostly liberal and non-Orthodox. 

But many American Jews are already distancing themselves in word and deed from a government it sees as arrogant and short-sighted, enslaved to a runaway train of settlement, dismissive of the rights of Palestinians and other non-Jews, cold to the concerns of a sinking middle class and the drowning disadvantaged, contemptuous of the concerns of the larger Jewish world.

Quote: “Iran’s ability to harm Israel, in response to an attack from us, has diminished dramatically. The Iranian response will be far more minor than what could have been expected if the northern front still existed.” Unnamed senior Israeli official in Foreign Ministry paper on Iran's response to an Israeli attack. 

Number: $416 million The price of the near-ready fence along the border with Egypt

The Middle East

Headline: Morsi's Brotherhood may pay price for Egypt currency fall

To Read: Iranian nuclear talks need to come to a close

The Washington Post believes that the Obama administration must present its final offer to the regime in Tehran.  

…the United States — and more so Israel — cannot easily wait many more months for a deal. If Iran continues to enrich uranium to 20 percent at its present rate, it may acquire enough to quickly make a bomb by the middle of this year, potentially giving it the “breakout capacity” that both President Obama and the Israeli government have vowed to prevent. Tehran would have crossed that line last fall had it not diverted a large part of its stockpile to fabricate fuel for a research reactor.

Quote: The trouble with the Muslim Brotherhood today is that they are not of the same calibre as those members of the Muslim Brotherhood of the past – Retired Egyptian military engineer and 1973 war hero Baki Zaki Youssef

Number: 60,000 The latest death toll in the Syria conflict announced by the UN

The Jewish World

Headline: Rabbi: Exhibit ‘greater honesty’ toward gays

To Read: Post-Romney Agenda for Jewish Conservatives

Noam Neusner of the Forward offers his suggestions for the way ahead for Jewish Republicans

Jewish conservatives make the case that nothing is predetermined by birth. The unschooled can raise geniuses. The untalented can nurture artists. And Jewish liberals can see their children become conservatives. That’s our gift to America, and to our own people as well.

Quote: He looked straight at me, I don't think he smiled Hitler's Jewish former neighbor recalls an encounter with the Nazi leader

Number: 20% The number of Australian Jews living on or below the poverty line