Professor Mark Katz:  http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/12/is-the-kremlin-loosening-its-grip/is-this-russias-arab-spring

Professor Sergei Guriev:  http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/12/is-the-kremlin-loosening-its-grip/in-russia-more-proof-of-the-internets-power

Kathryn Stoner-Weiss:  http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/12/is-the-kremlin-loosening-its-grip/change-in-russia-is-unlikely

Anders Aslund:  http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/12/12/is-the-kremlin-loosening-its-grip/russia-seems-on-the-brink-of-democracy

There were other surprising elements:  the protesters, while peaceful and friendly, were pretty harsh on Vladmir Putin; the Russian Television presented the protests in a neutral fashion including the harsh comments of thr protesters; the protesters and the police were friendly.

Congratulations to Russian authorities including Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, the Russian media and the Russian citizenry for such democratic and peaceful expression of discontent and dissatisfaction.  It appears that Putin after 12 years of leadership and tight control over the levers of power is beginning to evoke strong adverse feelings at least among some of the Russian citizenry. 

Here is an interesting article in The Economist:  http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/12/protest-russia-0

The analysis and the article is produced by Nate Silver of Fivethirtyeight blog.  See, the URL below.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/gingrichs-unimpeachable-conservative-credential/

http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2011/11/indian-retail

See the following link for my opinion on the FDI in Retail in India.

http://kalyanaramgurumurthy.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/gurumurthy-kalyanaram-on-foreign-direct-investment-fdi-in-retail-business-in-india/

At the least, this was indiscrete.  It is surprising that Paulson revealed this material information — Paulson was after all the head of Goldman Sachs.  There does not appear to be any violations of insider trading norms.  See Bloomberg’s report:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-29/how-henry-paulson-gave-hedge-funds-advance-word-of-2008-fannie-mae-rescue.html

Article Abstract: “These last hours represent a climactic chapter in the mysterious and mostly opaque relationship at the center of a tumultuous period in American history. It reveals how one question — whether to grant a presidential pardon to a top vice-presidential aide — strained the bonds between Bush and his deputy and closest counselor. It reveals a gap in the two men’s views of crime and punishment. And in a broader way, it uncovers a fundamental difference in how the two men regarded the legacy of the Bush years.

And there were these two sentences: “Our entire system of justice relies on people telling the truth,” Bush said. “And if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable.” Particularly if he serves in government. Bush’s allies would say later that the language was intended to send an unmistakable message, internally as well as externally: No one is above the law.

Bush had long approached pardons with suspicion. As Texas governor, he granted them sparingly. His reluctance stemmed not from a lack of mercy but from his sense that pardons were a rigged game, tilted in favor of offenders with political connections. “He thought the whole pardon system was completely corrupt,” says a top Bush adviser. Bush had a textbook illustration in one of his predecessor’s last acts: Bill Clinton’s eleventh-hour pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, whose ex-wife had contributed heavily to his campaigns and presidential library, created a firestorm that consumed Clinton as he left the stage — and overshadowed the first days of the Bush Administration.

Link to the Article: President Bush and Vice-President: Different optics (Time magazine article)

“THE PRESIDENT: Hey, it’s a cameo appearance. Sit down, sit down. I need to help Gibbs out a little bit here.

Q Are you the new press secretary?

THE PRESIDENT: If you got to do a job, do it yourself. (Laughter.) I wanted to address you guys directly because over the last day and a half obviously there’s been all sorts of controversy around the incident that happened in Cambridge with Professor Gates and the police department there.

I actually just had a conversation with Sergeant Jim Crowley, the officer involved. And I have to tell you that as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation — and I told him that.

And because this has been ratcheting up — and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up — I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically — and I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley.

I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well. My sense is you’ve got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolved.

The fact that it has garnered so much attention I think is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America. So to the extent that my choice of words didn’t illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think that was unfortunate.

What I’d like to do then I make sure that everybody steps back for a moment, recognizes that these are two decent people, not extrapolate too much from the facts — but as I said at the press conference, be mindful of the fact that because of our history, because of the difficulties of the past, you know, African Americans are sensitive to these issues. And even when you’ve got a police officer who has a fine track record on racial sensitivity, interactions between police officers and the African American community can sometimes be fraught with misunderstanding.

My hope is, is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what’s called a “teachable moment,” where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other and try to focus on how we can generally improve relations between police officers and minority communities, and that instead of flinging accusations we can all be a little more reflective in terms of what we can do to contribute to more unity. Lord knows we need it right now — because over the last two days as we’ve discussed this issue, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but nobody has been paying much attention to health care. (Laughter.)

I will not use this time to spend more words on health care, although I can’t guarantee that that will be true next week. I just wanted to emphasize that — one last point I guess I would make. There are some who say that as President I shouldn’t have stepped into this at all because it’s a local issue. I have to tell you that that part of it I disagree with. The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society. Whether I were black or white, I think that me commenting on this and hopefully contributing to constructive — as opposed to negative — understandings about the issue, is part of my portfolio.

So at the end of the conversation there was a discussion about — my conversation with Sergeant Crowley, there was discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House. We don’t know if that’s scheduled yet — (laughter) — but we may put that together.

He also did say he wanted to find out if there was a way of getting the press off his lawn. (Laughter.) I informed him that I can’t get the press off my lawn. (Laughter.) He pointed out that my lawn is bigger than his lawn. (Laughter.) But if anybody has any connections to the Boston press, as well as national press, Sergeant Crowley would be happy for you to stop trampling his grass. All right.

Thank you, guys.”

Stanley Fish reflects on the issue in The New York Times Blog.  Abstract of the Reflection, “As the story unfolded in the press and on the Internet, I flashed back 20 years or so to the time when Gates arrived in Durham, N.C., to take up the position I had offered him in my capacity as chairman of the English department of Duke University. One of the first things Gates did was buy the grandest house in town (owned previously by a movie director) and renovate it. During the renovation workers would often take Gates for a servant and ask to be pointed to the house’s owner. The drivers of delivery trucks made the same mistake.”  Link to the Reflection: Henry Louis Gates: Déjà Vu All Over Again (Stanley Fish)

The Indian Newspaper, The Times of India:  Abstract, “US President Barack Obama Friday telephoned a police officer and regretted his choice of words when talking about the arrest of a black Harvard scholar, which has fanned a race row here.”  Link to the Article: Obama says his race row remarks ‘unfortunate’

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic has a thoughtful personal essay on the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates by Police officer James Crowley on the charge of disorderly conduct.  Link to the Article:  The Cambridge Cops — And Me

Comments in The New York Times Blog by Kate Phillips can be found here: Blogtalk (The New York Times): Gates, Obama, Race and the Police

Ben Smith (Politico.com) comments:  Professor Gates, Cambridge Police, Race and President Obama

How Bostonians feel?  Abstract of the article in Boston Globe: “On both sides, however, was the unsettling realization that a city that prides itself on its progressive politics and racial tolerance had been singled out by the country’s first African-American president as an example of the limits on racial progress.”  Link to the entire article:  Reaction of Boston Residents to remarks by President Obama (Boston Globe)

Abstract: ““Judges are like umpires,” Judge Roberts declared in the opening remarks to his own confirmation hearings. “Umpires don’t make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role.”

…the overlapping issues of a justice’s personal beliefs and judicial activism are almost certain to be raised this week, quite possibly by Senator Sessions, who now represents the minority party on the Judiciary Committee. Judge Sotomayor’s public statements about the kind of empathy she brings to the bench as a Latina have already elicited objections to what some view as an admitted bias. And that position was fanned by the Supreme Court’s recent reversal of the appellate court decision she joined that nullified the results of a firefighters’ exam in New Haven because a disproportionate number of minority candidates failed it.”

Link to the article: The Deciders: Umpires v. Judges

Here is an opinion piece by David Brooks –

Abstract: “Americans still admire dignity. But the word has become unmoored from any larger set of rules or ethical system.

But it’s not right to end on a note of cultural pessimism because there is the fact of President Obama. Whatever policy differences people may have with him, we can all agree that he exemplifies reticence, dispassion and the other traits associated with dignity. The cultural effects of his presidency are not yet clear, but they may surpass his policy impact. He may revitalize the concept of dignity for a new generation and embody a new set of rules for self-mastery.”

Link to the article:  In Search of Dignity (The New York Times)

Link to the Times article: Iraq Marks Withdrawal of U.S. Troops From Cities

The New York Times Editorial Abstract: “For a badly overstretched American military it will certainly be time to go. Repeated deployments have taken a huge toll on soldiers and their families. The Iraq war — an unnecessary war — has diverted critically needed resources away from Afghanistan, the real front in the war on terrorism. Many Iraqis are eager to see the Americans gone. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has declared June 30 to be a day of “feast and festivals.””

Link to the Times editorial: The First Deadline