Week in Review

At the end of each week, we review the stories we covered and look for connections. This past week we found four major themes:

World Power Shifts: Where's the Eastern World Heading?

Two major world powers—Russia and China—continued to make headlines this week, including two stories on Informify:

Russia: President Putin Passes Torch to Medvedev

The first is the transition of power in Russia, from Vladimir Putin to his protégé Dmitri Medvedev. Putin re-asserted Russia as a major world player during his two terms as president, and we expect Medvedev to follow in his footsteps.

Some pundits have called Medvedev a puppet, but as we note in our May 8 story, there are some key differences between the two men. It will be interesting to watch Medvedev in the coming years.

Asia: China & Japan Building Alliance

Chinese and Japanese leaders met this week to continue building ties between their countries. After decades of rift caused by Japan's invasion of China during World War II, the two largest Asian economies are more interconnected now than ever. In fact, China has displaced the United States as Japan's largest trading partner. China's presence in the world will likely continue to expand, and its close relations with neighboring Japan will increase prominence for both countries.

While Western countries are saddled with economic troubles and paying for their previous overindulgences, the sun appears to be rising in the East, at least economically. We expect to hear a lot more about Eastern powers in the future.

The NSL sent to Internet ArchiveFBI's Unlimited Use of National Security Letters: Why Care?

This week we learned that a federal case between the FBI and Internet Archive was settled out of court in late April. The FBI had used a National Security Letter (NSL) to request information from Internet Archive about one of the Archive's online users. NSLs come with gag orders, preventing recipients from speaking about the NSL to anyone except their lawyers. Even the lawyers can't talk about it.

Attorneys for Internet Archive argued that the gag order aspect of the NSL violates First Amendment rights. This is the third case where the FBI agreed to withdraw an NSL because of a court challenge. In one of these cases, the federal court ruled that the NSL's gag order feature is unconstitutional.

The Patriot Act gave the FBI greater leeway with NSLs, which do not require a judge's approval. When Congress conducted two audits, it found that the FBI appears to be misusing NSLs.

Protecting the country from terrorism is obviously a major concern for all of us. But it appears as if aspects of the Patriot Act are unconstitutional. It also seems that law enforcement is abusing its power in the fight against terrorism. We need to ask ourselves if we've gone too far, or given up too much to protect ourselves.

Housing Crisis: Who Is to Blame?

President Bush spoke out against a bill proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives that would provide relief to 500,000 mortgage payers who risk losing their homes.

The bill requires the federal government to back new loans for people who would otherwise face foreclosure. Bush and other Republicans say that's too much government interference in commerce.

Democrats argue that lenders, who make money from these mortgages, share a large part of the blame for the current crisis. Whether this particular bill passes, it seems clear that Congress will pass some form of a housing bill this year. But will Bush sign it into law? We think so—it's an election year. In order to stay in the White House, Republicans must get behind some kind of mortgage relief measure.

Democrats and Republicans can argue over who caused the mortgage crisis all they want. The reality? A crisis of this scale could not have happened without both lenders and borrowers acting irresponsibly. Some lenders took advantage of people with questionable credit histories. Some borrowers assumed debts they couldn't afford.

In order for a housing crisis bill to be effective, it needs to consider both these realities. We're keeping our fingers crossed that those who write the legislation will remember that.

Several Thousand U.S. Troops Leaving Iraq: Is It the Right Time?

Starting in May, the American military plans to pull out 3,500 soldiers who were part of the troop surge 10 months ago. By the end of July two other surge brigades should be home as well.

Why bring troops home now? The military says the ceasefire agreement with the Shiite Muslim militia has helped stem the violence and loss of life. But how can that be, when we know that al-Sadr's Mahdi militia violated that ceasefire in March, April, and most recently, this past week?

With 133 Iraqi civilian deaths this past week alone, including 10 children, is it really a good time for the U.S. military to withdraw more than 10,000 troops from Iraq over the next three months? Or is the troop reduction so minor that it won't impact the fighting in Sadr City?

Or, given that al-Sadr said his army will continue to resist the United States, would the violence actually lessen or even stop if U.S. troops leave?

We wish we had answers to these questions for you. Since we don't, let us know what you think by posting your comments below this article on the Informify website.