Easter Sunday Instahoglets

By Steve Hynd

I haven't done one of these for a while - mostly because my daily Twitter stream of consciousness has largely replaced doing link-dumps - but here we go anyway.

-- The U.S. editor of Britain's most right-wing "quality" newspaper urges David Petraeus to run for president in 2012.

-- The Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war has raised important questions about the creeping centralisation of power in the UK. It should do the same in the U.S. "the Iraq war only happened the way it did because the tight constellation of power at the top in Britain is now almost impervious to outside influence. Power has been increasingly centralised over the last 30 years so that Britain today is run by a small circle of key power-brokers � the financial markets, the trans-national mega-corporations, and the media tycoons � doing various (usually secret) deals with the prime minister and his immediate inner circle of unelected advisers." Sound familiar to American readers?

-- Drone Wars and International Law. James Joyner has a look at ethical arguments surrounding the use of unmanned aircraft to attack people inside a nation America isn't at war with. For me, I have to say that offense in that regard lies with the nation concerned - and Pakistan's protestations are meagre kabuki. But the real ethical problem lies in the collateral deaths of those whose only "crime" is to be part of the family of a targeted terrorist. Military action that knowingly targets civilians, even as "collateral damage", are strictly speaking war crimes. Dresden certainly was, as its main planner admitted after World War Two. The trouble is, the victor is never in danger of seeing the inside of a court.

-- Iran is to host a conference on nuclear disarmament just four days after Obama hosts his own April 17 conference on nuclear security and Iran - and the rumor is that the Chinese premier will be one of the dignitaries from over 55 countries in attendance although neither Iran nor China have confirmed this.

-- Another nation that has already said it will be attending Iran's "Nuclear energy for everyone, nuclear arms for no one" conference is India - a strong response to Washington's attempted bullying of the emerging super-power over its relations with Tehran. Just yesterday, US assistant secretary of state for public affairs P.J. Crowleytold reporters that there would be "ramifications" for "emerging powers" if they didn't toe the American line and said "�We have expressed our concerns to a number of countries that have ongoing economic relations with Iran that now may not be the best time to pursue such (relationship).�

-- Which leads to the last link for the day: the Times of India wonders what will bring the US and India together again after a year of an Obama administration which has let relations chill considerably - to the point where the Indian opposition are using that chill to pressure the government. Well, Obama might stop listening to the Old Cold Warriors that Hillary keeps around, and America might stop acting like the playground bully. Halting the Pentagon-led tilt towards encouraging General Kayani's powerbase in Pakistan would help too. But my advice to India is: don't look to be America's regional poodle - you'll only encourage the tacit bipartisan belief here that America has some kind of divine mandate to its COIN-colonialist, accidental Empire. I believe you've been down that route once before.