Word: baker
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...capital controls. Meanwhile, an insurgent movement in the country's largely Muslim south has ratcheted up its bloody campaign, setting off near daily bombings in Thailand's three southernmost provinces. "[2006] was the year of the greatest social and political divisions in a generation," says Bangkok-based economist Chris Baker...
...also plain to see last week that Bush's new approach on Iraq - if it can be called that - will include a diplomatic push by Secretary of State Condi Rice, aimed not at Iran and Syria, as the Baker Hamilton commission proposed, but at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How sustained an effort this is likely to be is unknowable. Nor is there any word yet on what the Bush team plans to do about the political situation inside Iraq. It appears that the new Bush military strategy is likely to look a lot like the old, only more...
...Baker commission reported two weeks ago that, while it backed a staged withdrawal over the next year in general, it would support a brief surge under two conditions: if it were used to train Iraqi forces, and (this is key) if U.S. commanders in the region asked for a surge...
...Baker's team had barely finished its press availabilities before a handful of retired generals, led by retired Army Gen. Jack Keane, began agitating for a surge of upwards of 30,000 troops - more if they could be found - to pour into Baghdad, stabilize the city, and defeat the insurgents...
...what of Reid's support for a troop surge? Well, first, Democrats are split on what to do next, and there has always been a good chunk of the Senate caucus that might well back more, not fewer, troops. Though Democrats pushed the Baker-Hamilton commission behind the scenes (to no avail) to set firm timetables for U.S. withdrawal, Reid's comments are a reminder that they are not yet ready to take such a hard line in public. The public may think Iraq is a mistake and a fiasco; but it may not be ready to bug out. Finally...