Leon Panetta and the state of American intelligence

OUTSIDERS have typically had a hard time running the CIA. So why has Barack Obama chosen 70-year-old Leon Panetta for the top job? Mr Panetta was Bill Clinton’s chief of staff and he ran the budget bureaucracy, but he has no background in spying. Improving the state of America’s intelligence services should be a priority, yet Mr Obama is installing a man whose experience lies in politics and management, not spookery.

A partial answer may be that anybody—even an insider—would have a difficult task heading the agency today. Morale is low after the organisation has lurched from failure to scandal in the past few years. Under George Tenet, the long-time director who was beloved by his staff, the CIA failed to spot the September 11th attacks in the works. Then came intelligence mistakes over weapons of mass destruction and Iraq, followed by controversy over the use of torture and harsh interrogation techniques, such as the “waterboarding” of suspected terrorists (making the detainee believe he is suffocating or drowning). ...

The Blagojevich saga drags on, embarrassing the Democrats just when they should be celebrating

THE 111th Congress is sworn in on Tuesday January 6th. The 435 representatives will take their places with a minimum of fuss, but the more august chamber, the Senate, is bogged down in the sort of machinations that a writer of political fiction would scarcely dare to dream up.

The main row, concerning the post of junior senator from Illinois, is turning into a great embarrassment for the Democrats just as they ought to be celebrating their assumption of a decisive lock on the Senate. The party may end up with 58 or even 59 of the 100 seats, tantalisingly close to an unblockable supermajority of 60. It gains piquancy from the fact that it is the victory of Barack Obama that made the whole mess possible. ...

Cuba's Raul Castro has made overtures to Barack Obama

In the wake of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, President Raul Castro has made overtures to the US president-elect, Barack Obama. Seizing on Mr Obama’s statements on the campaign trail that he would be willing to meet with Cuban officials and consider loosening sanctions, Mr Castro has repeated a recent offer to meet on “neutral ground”. However, though Mr Obama is likely to ease some of the restrictions on US-Cuba economic and family ties, a more substantial revamping of the US’s trade and investment embargo on the island is not likely in the short term.

Cuba's dealings with the US have been on hold during the transition between the outgoing presidency of George W Bush and Mr Obama's inauguration on January 20th. In one of his regular press "Reflections", Fidel Castro—who, though ailing, remains an intellectual force influencing Cuba’s political life—welcomed Mr Obama's election, describing him as "decent". Yet the former president’s language has been cautious. Raul, who took over from his brother in July 2006 and was officially named president in February 2008, has also suggested that expectations of a change in US policy may be too high. ...

Russia has cut supplies of gas to Ukraine, but a deal will soon be reached

Russian gas supplies to south-eastern Europe have been disrupted by the now customary dispute over pricing between Ukraine and Russia which has led the latter to cut supplies to the Ukrainian domestic market. The two sides were briefly close to an agreement but are now far apart and blaming each other for the cuts. In theory Ukraine has sufficient reserves to hold out for 2-3 months and so the transit problems could rumble on; in practice, the two sides’ mutual dependence argues in favour of an agreement. Yet this depends on Ukraine’s squabbling leaders putting their differences aside and taking responsibility for an arrangement that will see import and domestic prices rise still higher.

In the first two days following the cessation of Russian gas supplies to the Ukrainian market on January 1st, there were no reports of a fall in deliveries of Russian gas to European countries via Ukraine. Since January 3, however, a number have been affected: Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Croatia and Greece. Poland has been the most severely effected, with supplies via Ukraine down by 11% compared with a month earlier. ...

Fighting continues within the Gaza Strip, as Israeli soldiers push into the territory

ISRAELI forces pushed deeper into the Gaza Strip on Monday January 5th, the second full day of their ground assault. Israeli troops have encircled Gaza City and are gingerly moving against Hamas fighters who are entrenched in built-up areas. For Israel so far the price has been relatively low—one soldier has been killed and over 50 injured. Israel claims that dozens of Hamas men have died in firefights while others have been captured and taken to Israel for interrogation.

On the other side the death toll is far higher. Palestinian and UN sources count more than 530 Palestinian dead since the Israeli aerial bombardment began ten days ago. Civilians make up at least a quarter of the dead. These casualties include the wives and children of two senior Hamas commanders targeted by Israeli airstrikes at the weekend and a family of seven killed, according to Palestinian reports, by an Israeli naval shell on Monday. ...