I know, I know: not much, right?
It's possible the negotiations around Senate rules reform may turn out to have been important, but we don't know that, yet.
It's not exactly this week, but I'll go with progress in leaving Iraq. Casualty figures for Americans there continue to drop, with just five American troops losing their lives there over the last three months of 2010, and only one in December, a new low (figures are still preliminary so far, of course). That means 2010 ended with 60 fatalities, down from 150 in 2009 and 322 in 2008.
I'll also note, although I'm not sure exactly how much emphasis to place on it, that coalition deaths in Afghanistan seem to have stabilized over the last half of 2010. Over the entire year, coalition deaths were up substantially (711 vs. 521 in 2009, and compared to 295 in 2008). But the July through December comparison shows just a small increase, from 364 in 2009 to 388 in 2010. I'm not even going to try to interpret that; there are plenty of things it could mean, including absolutely nothing. But I sort of think it's worth noting.
Anyway, maybe someone else found something in the news that really mattered this week. Anyone?
Saturday, January 1, 2011
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Surely the GOP caucus' proposed rule changes for handling appropriations in the House were worth a line or two...although I suppose until they're passed this week they don't actually count as news.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if we looked at a global scale, Hungary taking up the EU presidency; given the controversy their government is courting at the moment regarding freedom of press, that could potentially have a big impact on Euro stability and unity.
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