Nimble Books LLC » Obama

Geithner’s Giant Gaffe: Goodbye Greenbacks?

Fred Zimmerman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:48:51 +0000

All a laughable misunderstanding? that’s what the rest of the article says. But even so, very, very frightening.

As if the dollar didn’t have enough problems, Timothy Geithner took China’s bait yesterday and said he was “quite open” to its suggestion this week to displace the greenback with an “international reserve currency.” The dollar promptly fell and stocks followed, before the Treasury Secretary re-emerged to say “the dollar remains the world’s dominant reserve currency. I think that’s likely to continue for a long time.”

via China and the Dollar – WSJ.com.

Welcome to the future of publishing

wfz-admin — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:17:52 +0000

Michael Tanji and I exchanged our first email about THREATS IN THE AGE OF OBAMA on October 7th. It was in print (and as high as 3,727 on the Amazon bestseller list) 118 days later.

Side note: It’s been quite a thrill just to get this far. The team is spread across eight different time zones. Most of us know one another’s writings but only some of us have ever spoken live, much less met face-to-face. Welcome to the future of publishing.

via Mapping Strategy: Threats in the Age of Obama.

Canada’s Big Ear Tuned to Obama’s Blackberry?

wfz-admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:19:16 +0000

This shows how painfully naive Obama is about the real world of international security. As numerous public record accounts have documented over the last sixty years, every espionage organization in the world loves to make direct tapping attacks on communications systems.

RIM is located in Canada. The US government cannot provide physical or personnel security on a communications service located in Canada. What makes Obama sure that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will not succumb to temptation?

Of all the fights facing Mr. Obama as he prepares for the White House, one of the most maddening for him is the prospect of losing the BlackBerry that has been attached to his belt for years. It is, he has vigorously argued, an essential link to keeping him apprised of events outside his ever-tightening cocoon.

via Obama Digs In for His BlackBerry – NYTimes.com.

From Michael Tanji’s THREATS IN THE AGE OF OBAMA

wfz-admin — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:44:14 +0000

Michael Tanji of Haft of the Spear has edited a terrific volume on THREATS IN THE AGE OF OBAMA, coming Jan. 20 from Nimble Books. This paragraph got me excited:

No author here has been a cabinet officer and none is likely to be one, which gives us a considerable amount of freedom. No one here has to face scrutiny on Capitol Hill, which makes our jobs much easier; but by the same token none of us are beholden to parties or institutions with ulterior motives, nor are we playing our cards in a fashion designed to net us comfortable situations. If you are on a mission to change the way government works, particularly in the national security arena, this is one of the few places where some independent thinking is to be found. It is with that in mind that we offer our view of some of the more pressing threats the Obama administration will have to deal with in these early days of the 21st century.

What we’re doing, in other words, is disintermediating the national security analytic apparatus.

Tom Barnett’s GREAT POWERS in galleys!

wfz-admin — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:30:24 +0000

Tom Barnett is justly excited about seeing the first printed copy of his forthcoming GREAT POWERS: AMERICA AND ThE WORLD AFTER BUSH, which will unquestionably be one of the most important books shaping the foreign policy debates of 2009.

Holy M–, M– of G–! The first galley is being overnighted! (Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog)
Holy M–, M– of G–! The first galley is being overnighted!

Exciting to think I’ll be reading the book in a few short hours!

Obama’s Got Better Designers, Too

wfz-admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:52:01 +0000

This strikes me as an eminently sensible design decision. Previous campaigns were doing it wrong! There’s only one President.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » A sign of ego clashes to come?
Doug Ross at Director Blue points out a curiosity from yesterday’s joint appearance by Barack Obama and Joe Biden in Springfield, Illinois yesterday, and not just the fumbled announcement or Biden calling his running mate “Barack America”. Take a look at the signs passed out to the crowd (for free?) at the rally. Do you see a difference between the way the names are presented in this design?

Note how the “Biden” fades into the blue of the sign. This becomes more pronounced in the video of the event, and Doug has screencaps to demonstrate this. Now let’s take a look at how previous campaigns have juxtaposed the names of the running mates with those of the presidential contenders:

Inside the MSM Echo Room via Google Reader

wfz-admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:13:11 +0000

What a mammoth investment in reinforcing existing MSM media opinions. It would be a lot more interesting, and a lot cooler, if the Google Reader folks came up with something that would draw on sources outside the echo room.

Official Google Blog: Follow what Obama, McCain and leading political commentators are reading
At google.com/powerreaders now you can track the news sites and blogs Barack Obama and John McCain read (from Drudge to The Daily Show) and follow articles catching the eyes of leading political journalists

Red foods at the DNC?

wfz-admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:07:15 +0000

This nugget was buried in an otherwise pointless essay by Maureen Dowd whining about how hard it is to mock Obama.

Op-Ed Columnist – May We Mock, Barack? – Op-Ed – NYTimes.com

The Wall Street Journal reported that the planners for Obama’s convention have hired the first-ever Director of Greening, the environmental activist Andrea Robinson. She in turn hired an Official Carbon Adviser to “measure the greenhouse-gas emissions of every placard, every plane trip, every appetizer prepared and every coffee cup tossed.”

The “lean ‘n’ green” catering guidelines, The Journal said, bar fried food and instruct that, “on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include ‘at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white.’ (Garnishes don’t count.) At least 70% of the ingredients should be organic or grown locally, to minimize emissions from fuel during transportation.”

Obama is antidumb

wfz-admin — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:13:31 +0000

Op-Ed Columnist – Gail Collins – Obama’s Flip-Flopping – Op-Ed – NYTimes.com

But if you look at the political fights he’s picked throughout his political career, the main theme is not any ideology. It’s that he hates stupidity. “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war,” he said in 2002 in his big speech against the invasion of Iraq. He did not, you will notice, say he was against unilateral military action or pre-emptive attacks or nation-building. He was antidumb.

Very shrewd of Gail Collins. This is one nuance I didn’t pick up in my Obama book. I think she’s absolutely right.

Obama is antidumb

wfz-admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:07:15 +0000

Op-Ed Columnist – Gail Collins – Obama’s Flip-Flopping – Op-Ed – NYTimes.com

But if you look at the political fights he’s picked throughout his political career, the main theme is not any ideology. It’s that he hates stupidity. “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war,” he said in 2002 in his big speech against the invasion of Iraq. He did not, you will notice, say he was against unilateral military action or pre-emptive attacks or nation-building. He was antidumb.

Very shrewd of Gail Collins. This is one nuance I didn’t pick up in my Obama book. I think she’s absolutely right.