folo

As WaPo’s Emily Wax reconstructs the attack, “So what was that about?” is now the main question around the Mumbai massacre. Ghost Wars author Steve Coll calls it “a mystery somewhat without a mystery“:

India, with at least some degree of international cooperation, will now undertake an investigation to try to identify the support networks the Mumbai attackers employed, with a particular eye on signs of direct state sponsorship in Pakistan. If past investigations into such groups prove to be any guide, it may be difficult to find clear-cut evidence of direct involvement by Pakistani intelligence or army personnel. This is because Pakistan, knowing the stakes of getting caught red-handed, has increasingly pursued its clandestine proxy war against India in Kashmir and on the Indian mainland through layers and layers of self-managing and non-state groups. The Pakistani government and its domestic Islamist proxies, including nominally peaceful charities based in Pakistan but with operations in Kashmir, almost certainly pass through money and weapons on a large scale. They do so, however, in such a way that is very difficult to trace these supplies back to the government.

Despite some WAY-out-of-the-box thinking on “celebrity terrorism” from security expert Paul Cornish, and Paul Cruickshank’s surmise that “it is quite possible, and even likely, that the Mumbai attacks were the result of a joint operation between a Kashmiri group and indigenous Indian militants” (most likely the Indian Mujahedeen), ToL’s theory seems most plausible:

Officials and analysts in the region believe that last week’s atrocities were designed to provoke a crisis, or even a war, between the nuclear-armed neighbours, diverting Islamabad’s attention from extremism in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and thus relieving pressure on al-Qaeda, Taleban and other militants based there.

One analyst even described the attacks as a “pre-emptive strike” against Barack Obama’s strategy to put Pakistan and Afghanistan at the centre of US foreign policy.

McClatchy notes that

Indian media reports, which are unsubstantiated, claimed that intercepted phone calls were between some of the terrorists and a mastermind in Karachi called “Amir”. They have reported that the attackers were trained in marine commando techniques on Mangla Dam, a lake stretching between Punjab province and the Pakistani-held part of the Kashmir region.

A report Sunday in The Hindu newspaper said that an email taking responsibility for the attacks, signed by an unknown group called the Deccan Mujahideen, originated from a computer in Pakistan. The Indian accounts left analysts and security experts with many questions, however. Lashkar-e-Taiba has not previously targeted Westerners, as in the Mumbai attack, as it is focused against India, especially Indian rule over part of Muslim-majority Kashmir. Nor has it shown the military-style expertise displayed by the terrorists.

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Ah, Monday morning again. Let’s see, what’s in ye olde newsbag in the way of updates . . .

Of course the big news is Team Obama’s and the Congressional Dems’ “We’re out with the dithering, we’re in with a bang” approach to economic stimulus, as reported in NYT, WaPo, and TPM. See also hilzoy’s links-rich overview of the state-of-play around Citigroup and its newly-approved $20 billion bailout.

With fresh reason to think that Valerie Jarrett’s advice to her old friend/new boss includes “You know, Dubya’s right, let’s do make the pie higher,” enjoy NYT’s profile of her.

Here’s something I’ll definitely be reading as time permits: in Washington Monthly, editor Charles Homans’ December cover story: “Last Secrets of the Bush Administration: How to find out what we still don’t know.” Benen thinks Homans’ suggested “few key actions” offer “a realistic blueprint to policy makers on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.” I think Tim F. at Balloon Juice also makes good sense (note the last sentence).

After a flurry of math that glazes my eyes over (though you may enjoy it), Nate Silver projects that a 27-vote margin will land Al Franken the Minnesota Senate seat — prompting Kevin Drum to say, “If this turns out to be right — if Al Franken really does win by 27 votes — then I suggest we eliminate elections entirely and simply allow Nate Silver to tell us who our congressional and presidential winners are in the future. It would be a lot cheaper, and probably just as accurate. POSTSCRIPT: Nate weasels a bit at the end, warning us that ‘the error bars on this regression analysis are fairly high.’ Sure, sure. I’m not buying. Franken by 27 votes, my friends.”

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute put out a 33-item quiz to guage Americans’ “civic literacy.” We’re not rill swuft: among 2,508 respondents, the average score was 49%. In fact, the only ones dimmer than we citizens are the folks we’ve elected to office — they averaged 44%. (I missed one question so made a 96.97%; then, to give the ol’ birds a flutter, I claimed to be a high school graduate. Hey, it’s the truth, just not all of it.) (h/t Kycol)

Speaking of polling, at WSJ Carl Bialik thoroughly pantses John Zogby for that craptastic anti-Obama poll — and Zogby doesn’t have much of an answer.

WSJ also has a piece explaining why any Republicans you espy in and around the Obama foreign-policy team are apt to be Scrowcroftians.

Laura Rozen spotted this in WaPo: “Kurdish officials this fall took delivery of three planeloads of small arms and ammunition imported from Bulgaria, three U.S. military officials said, an acquisition that occurred outside the weapons procurement procedures of Iraq’s central government. The large quantity of weapons and the timing of the shipment alarmed U.S. officials, who have grown concerned about the prospect of an armed confrontation between Iraqi Kurds and the government at a time when the Kurds are attempting to expand their control over parts of northern Iraq.” Oy, but we always knew this was coming.

As pvdugas first alerted us, that wonderful story we read a few days ago about White House butler Eugene Allen and his wife Helene so appealed to Sony Pictures, they’re going to make it a movie. (h/t duckweedpond)

Named for the mythical water horses of Scottish lochs and rivers, these are the Kelpies (and their creator). In place full-scale where a canal links the Firth of Forth to the River Clyde in Glasgow, they’ll be 10 stories tall; their slowly-rocking heads will actually operate the lock, pushing in water to raise boats into the canal. Ahoy, sailor — welcome to Scotland!

Murdo Macleod for The Guardian

Finally, JD and Isom Hadaway do so wonder why their bowls disappeared at midnight. At some point later today, they’re gonna come to at the vet’s wondering what went with a few other features too. I always have my cats neutered or spayed, but this is the first time for declawing, so wish the little shreddions (shredders/hellions) luck. They’re to lose the bandages and wobble home tomorrow, after which I hope for a quiet day, maybe two.

Good morning.

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Sounds as if a whole lotta names around the country and the world will be featuring “Barack” or “Obama” or both from now on. The NYT reporter concludes her story,

Even the most tainted presidencies have left a nomenclature mark. The Watergate president inspired some parents, at least overseas. In Venezuela, Nixon Moreno was one of the leaders behind student protests two years ago.

Then again, his co-organizer was Stalin González.

Me, I’ve always wondered why said reporter’s parents named her Jennifer 8. Lee . . .

What has y’all wondering this Monday morning? Whether Dubya’s gonna go for the hand sanitizer again today?

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Well, if your nerves are about shot and you can’t stand another newsflash, may I suggest you’re about due for a visit with Miz Gloria?

Happy Monday, foloers! Whazzup?

UPDATE: There’s a rumor afoot — to this point unconfirmed — that it’s NMC’s ruddy ol’ birfday. Against that possibility, I say:

Somebody, run go get the plates and forks . . .

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Eight days to go. How’m I going to handle it when the campaign news runs out and I have to deal with withdrawal???

The report sailor made yesterday is very disturbing. I hope we’ll hear more about that today, specifically that somebody’s ended up in trouble.

A couple of you sent in Oliver Diaz’s latest ad, titled “LEAA Lies” — about as direct as he could be.

Whether you want to discuss that or anything else, this is the place.

Good Monday morning, all.

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HEH-lo, folo — welcome to Monday morning. Did you know Sen. Jim Webb is visiting Jackson, MS, today to do a fundraiser for Ronnie Musgrove and have a press conference in front of the War Memorial at 2 PM? They’ve issued a special invite to veterans, duckweedpond tells me.

What else is afoot we ain’t heard of yet?

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What else is on your mind this Monday morning?

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Welcome to Monday Morning again (especially if you’re a grand juror in Oxford)!

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Open-thread time, so I can take this poisonous headache back to bed and not further inflict my grumps on youse. At some point today, FedEx is to show up with my iMac, and ain’t it lucky that NMC’s come back to life just in time? I was thinking we might need an open-thread day or two while I learn the new platform, but maybe not.

Well, let’s see, what might y’all be fixing to talk about? The sidebar is full of Georgia news; Ben Cole sends in a link full of Jamie McIntyre’s courtroom-at-Gitmo impressions; Kevin Frye has a new post full of the Lafayette Courthouse abomination; Isaac Hayes’ death deprives us of a voice full of sorghum molasses — and my inbox is full of complaints from innocent commenters stuck in the new anti-spam gizmo. Apologies to all, including Cujo and Rodney, the latest to report this.

It seems to be caused by a conflict between the WP-SpamFree “plug-in” and some other one we use, but so far we haven’t pinned down which. Any of you IT types with advice? Anyhow, if you get an error message that says you need to enable JavaScript and cookies that you’ve already got enabled, please just ignore it and keep submitting your comment. Eventually they go through, and eventually we’ll get this figured out and fixed. I sure hope so anyhow, because I really won’t like going back to our previous, even messier anti-spam “solution.”

In short: Good morning, folo, from lotus (who’s full of see-ya-later)!

UPDATE: ducky and afotl have found a helpful trick: If your comment gets waylaid, copy it, re-load the page, then paste the comment into the reloaded comment-box. This works when a re-submit on the original page doesn’t. Thanks, ducky and afotl!

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Monday Morning = open thread. Knock yo’sefs OUT.

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