vladimir putin and the protests in russia, and the euro s chances of survival. finally, what are we bringing back from iraq? you ll be amazed. but first, here s my take. time magazine announced its person of the year this week the protester. from the arab spring to athens, from new delhi to new york, people power is stronger than it s ever been. and now it s reached moscow with the protests there last week. the great drama of russian history has been between its state and society. put simply, russia has always had too much state and not enough society. historians have pointed out that the russian nation was literally the property of the czar, that serfs were more like slaves than simply peasant workers as they were in europe, and that the country lacked any institutions that contested the authority of the government. the communist takeover in 1917 only enhanced these features by building a soviet superstate that dominated every aspects of people s lives. when it col
in russia, and the euro s chances of survival. finally, what are we bringing back from iraq? you ll be amazed. but first, here s my take. time magazine announced its person of the year this week the protester. from the arab spring to athens, from new delhi to new york, people power is stronger than it s ever been. and now it s reached moscow with the protests there last week. the great drama of russian history has been between its state and society. put simply, russia has always had too much state and not enough society. historians have pointed out that the russian nation was literally the property of the czar, that serfs were more like slaves than simply peasant workers as they were in europe, and that the country lacked any institutions that contested the authority of the government. the communist takeover in 1917 only enhanced these features by building a soviet superstate that dominated every aspects of people s lives. when it collapsed in 1991, it turned out th
helping to ruin his party, or is he turning into a media gad good fly? and abc had a real presidential debate last night, but donald trump wants to moderate his own version of a debate. some of the candidates aren t coming because you haven t ruled out running yourself. well, i won t rule out a run, greta. especially if the party nominates a joke candidate like ron paul or jon huntsman or rick santorum here. [ laughter ] rick i m talking. you know, it s sometimes hard for news shows to capture the absurdity of the campaign. the daily show and saturday night live have a major impact on 2012 other will give us much-needed comic relief. i m howard kurtz, and this is reliable sources. when it comes to newt gingrich s surging presidential campaign, the journals have been something sly over the past week or so. news outlets carry stories about how republican leaders, even white house officials, are reassessing newt s candidacy and agreeing, hey, he might win t
then what if the americas threw a party but didn t invite us? it happened, and i ll explain. next, more than 60% of the vote in egypt this week went to islamists. how worried should we be? then, is shale gas the answer to all america s troubles or at least to many of them? you ve heard about fracking, what is it, is it safe? find out. first, here s my take. president obama gave an important speech in kansas last week. whether you agree with all of it or not, he has begun a national conversation about the economy and the role of government. that s what this election should be about. and in presenting his view, obama shifted the economic conversation from deficits alone to the crucial issue of growth. after all, deficits matter because they could have a harmful effect on growth. so the question we should all ask is what would make this economy grow? what has stopped it from growing over the last few years, indeed, over much of the last decade? one theory heard a lot the
time. next up, lots to talk about with our gps panel this week. from syria to egypt, iran to iraq, and of course asia. finally, why egypt went way retro this week, back to the age of the pharaohs. i ll explain. first, here s my take. you wouldn t have thought anti-americanism in pakistan could get any worse, but last week, nato attacked a pakistani army post, killing 24 pakistani soldiers. even before this episode for which nato expressed deep regret, you couldn t have found a country on the planet that was more anti-american than pakistan. in a pew survey this year, only 12% of pakistanis expressed a favorable view of the u.s. populist rage and official duplicity have built up even though washington has lavished islamabad with aid totaling $20 billion over the last decade. i think it s time to recognize that the united states pakistan policy is just not working. supporting islamabad has been premised on two arguments. the first is if we don t, the pakistani governme