8-13-08

8-13-08—Russia declared a provisional cease fire after battering Georgia for five days, a conflict that not only gave the US a bloody nose but threatens to upend a decade of geopolitical thinking in Washington. Challenges seen as having died with the Soviet Union, such as access to Central Asian oil and gas supplies, have made a hasty return to Washington’s foreign policy agenda and will present new and unexpected challenges for America’s next president. Other priorities, such as building a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe and expanding NATO to Russia’s borders, now appear troubled, if not dead, in the short term. WSJ A1

--In a country [i.e., the USA] where insurance is out of reach for many, it is not uncommon for couples to marry, or even to divorce, at least party so one spouse can obtain or maintain health coverage.—NYT A1

--Taking their cues from Ms. Gadbois, WWL and The Times-Picayune have documented business connections between the program’s former director, Stacey Jackson, and some of its contractors, one of whom was the mayor’s brother-in-law. The reports showed houses that were supposedly fixed up at the taxpayers’ expense but in fact were untouched, contractors who billed the city for gutting work that was actually done by church volunteers, “remediated” houses that were then demolished and poor and elderly residents mystified at turning up on the city’s list of those supposedly helped. Some of the houses did not belong to the poor and the elderly at all, but were actually owned by businessmen or landlords. It helped that Ms. Gadbois is an outsider, an energetic relative newcomer from Boston — she came here in 2002 — with a professed love for the city that easily outpaces the resignation of more established residents. NYT A13