With Super Tuesday a little more than a week away, two candidates may soon race to the front of the pack for the American presidency. With so much at stake, this election year has attracted widespread media coverage internationally, writes the New York Times:

From Berlin to London to Jakarta, the destinies of Democratic and Republican contenders in Iowa or New Hampshire, or Nevada or South Carolina, have become news in a way that most political commentators cannot recall. It is as if outsiders are pining for change in America as much as some American presidential candidates are promising it.The personalities of the Democratic contest in particular—the potential harbinger of America’s first African-American or female president—have fascinated outsiders as much as, if not more than, the candidates’ policies on Iraq, immigration or global finances.

While it’s tempting to brush aside that last paragraph as wishful thinking on the part of the Times, yesterday’s South Carolina primary may indicate this is the Democrats’ race to lose. Barack Obama, who routed Hillary Clinton with 55 percent of the vote in the Palmetto State, nearly doubled the number of votes John McCain received in the Republican primary a week earlier. All totaled, the Democratic base outperformed the Republicans by more than 90,000 voters in South Carolina, a traditional “red state.”

Some have said that whether the Democrats nominate Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, fence-sitters will turn out in droves this November just to vote against them. And that may be true. But yesterday’s numbers indicate a strong November showing from those on the hard left as well.

Olmert in the Hot Seat

The next week or two in Israeli politics should also be interesting. With Ehud Olmert’s job hanging in the balance, we are days away from the release of the final Winograd Committee Report. Most analysts expect the report to contain scathing rebuke for Olmert’s handling of the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

The Sunday Telegraph says the report will show how Israeli soldiers were sent into battle even after the United Nations brokered a ceasefire. Thirty-three Israeli soldiers were killed between the UN deal and when Israel ended hostilities.

These fateful hours are at the center of growing anger from soldiers and relatives.Many are also angry at the conflict’s stalemate ending, military planning errors and equipment shortages, and a lack of government direction. …Last week, 50 reserve company commanders signed a public letter calling for Mr. Olmert’s resignation. Other soldiers voiced their criticisms. “The company commanders are not prepared for this man to lead our country in another war. He failed,” Yanir Zaken, a first sergeant in the reserves, told the Sunday Telegraph.

For his part, Olmert considers the Second Lebanon War a great success. Speaking at the Herzliya Conference last Wednesday, he admitted that mistakes were made during the war, but after weighing all the failures and victories, he said, “I am not sorry about the critical decisions I made as prime minister—neither those related to the fighting in Lebanon, nor those related to other events.”

In separate article, the Jerusalem Postanalyzes Olmert’s knack for describing failure as success:

As students of politics, we have to hand it to Olmert. Few others would so overtly attempt to transform weakness into virtue, “accept” criticism while preemptively rejecting it, and even attempt to dismiss detractors as political manipulators of grieved families.For example, Olmert said, “Let me say at the outset: There is not, nor will there be, any political, party or personal consideration which will deflect me from the effort of reaching a political arrangement with the Palestinian Authority.” With this, Olmert is trying to portray himself as a crusader for principle above politics.But the politics cuts the other way: It is clear that Olmert sees the Annapolis process as his only ticket to survive in the face of the conclusions of the committee that he hand-picked regarding his handling of the Second Lebanon War. That panel’s conclusions, on the six years preceding and the first five days of the war, have already led to the departure of the IDF chief of General Staff and the defense minister, but not to Olmert’s resignation, even though Olmert himself takes primary responsibility for management failures during the war.Olmert’s statement, however, is problematic not just as a justification for staying on, but for what he says he will do. He repeatedly declares that nothing will stop him from reaching an agreement with the Palestinians during what he calls “the narrow crack that I must widen to advance peace.” But this is far from reassuring. It reveals a massive conflict of interest: Olmert’s political survival depends on reaching agreement at almost any cost, while the national interest requires determining and upholding red lines the crossing of which would be worse than not reaching agreement.

As theTrumpet.com has reported, Olmert may still get booted from office despite his determination to stay. His government lost 11 members when Yisrael Beiteinu defected from the coalition on January 16. The other conservative wing of the coalition, Shas, is meeting in Jerusalem tonight to discuss its options in the lead-up to Winograd’s release.

Caroline Glick gives a good summary here about what it would take for Olmert’s government to collapse.

Rafah Border Crisis—What Happens Next?

Now that Hamas has blasted through the Gaza-Egypt border, what’s next for the Gaza Strip? Columnist Elliot Jager describes two scenarios in the Jerusalem Post:

A rosy scenario argues that Gaza is at last no longer Israel’s problem; it’s the clear responsibility of Egypt and Hamas. Ranking Israeli officials told the New York Times that the events in Gaza may be “a blessing in disguise … [and that] some people in the Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office are very happy with this. They are saying, ‘At last, the disengagement is beginning to work.’” In other words, now that the border is open, Hamas must begin worrying about the delivery of essential services and the population’s welfare, something that would necessitate a genuine cease-fire with Israel and the end to cross-border attacks.A gloomier scenario would argue that the fall of the Philadelphi Corridor may have dire consequences for the Mubarak regime itself; that the Islamist triumph and Cairo’s sclerotic management of the developing crisis will embolden the Muslim Brotherhood, which, for all we pundits know, is right now making quiet inroads into the Egyptian military.

Our Partner in Peace

During a joint press conference with President Bush on January 10, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas turned to the U.S. leader and said, “Your historic visit today to the Palestinian Territories is highly appreciated by our people, and it’s a new expression of your deep commitment towards establishing peace on the land of peace. We appreciate the complete seriousness that characterizes your visit and your efforts today to continue and build and capitalize on this important opportunity that is available to us and to the Israelis.”

Nine days after Abbas said that, according to Palestinian Media Watch, a cartoon in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the official daily controlled by the Palestinian Authority, shows the Gaza Strip drowning in blood while the boot of Uncle Sam stomps on the outstretched arm of an Arab rescuer.

In another sign of transparent duplicity, a terrorist godfather whose gang has murdered dozens of Israelis, died in Jordan over the weekend. Mahmoud Abbas announced three days of mourning to honor the terrorist mastermind.

Xenophobic Germany

Racism is a hot topic in Germany. After triggering a controversial debate with “Germany’s Homegrown Intolerance” on January 18, Der Spiegel followed up the story by taking the issue directly to readers, asking the question: Do foreigners have a more difficult time here than in other countries? The assortment of responses—which range from native Germans defending their prejudice, to foreigners venting frustration over their experiences with outright racism—is quite revealing.

“I was exposed to a subtle yet stubborn kind of racism on a daily basis,” confessed one reader, while another wrote, “There were a couple of times in eastern Germany when I feared for my life.” One reader commented about Germany’s institutionalized racism:

Having lived outside of Germany for five years has really opened my eyes to all of the subtle discrimination that immigrants face in Germany every day. This discrimination may not be apparent to someone who is living in Germany and surrounded by it every day, yet not affected by it. I myself did not notice it until I left Germany and was able to see things from a different perspective. The kind of discrimination that immigrants in Germany face is already deeply rooted in the system and accepted as the norm to such an extent that most people will not notice it.

This response was from a Brazilian who attended a university in Germany:

Following German news was also a painful and constant reminder of my Ausländer (“foreigner”) status. I’ve been always shocked at how cdu/csu politicians could get away with blatantly xenophobic statements every time they fell behind in an election campaign. In other European countries, this would place them at the far-right of the political spectrum, but in Germany they were part of the mainstream.After several years in Germany I came to realize that even with flawless, accent-free German and top academic performance, my Brazilian background and “Mediterranean” … looks meant that I would be forever handicapped by the fact that I wasn’t a “real German.” And I remain convinced that living in Germany is not such a good deal for foreigners who don’t look “European,” no matter how talented they are.

Others insisted that racism is no worse in Germany than anywhere else in the world. Some even defended their right to be intolerant. But the most telling point of the reader reactions might be the sheer volume of responses to Spiegel’s question, together with the divergent opinions.

Racism Conference to Bash Israel and the West

The first World Conference Against Racism (wcar), organized by the UN and held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, was a sham, says the National Post. “Far from a forum promoting tolerance among peoples and nations, as it was billed, the wcar became a festival for hateful screeds against Israel and the West by some of the most repressive regimes in the world, cheered on by ngos from Europe and North America.”

Apparently the UN is currently planning the second wcar for 2009, and “reports from the planning meetings suggest Durban ii, as it is being called, will be worse than the first.”

Nothing Positive to Report About Economy

Yesterday’s Independentquotes British Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying there is “bad news still to come” for the world economy.

The Daily Telegraphreports, “The world’s financial institutions will have to write down a further $300bn (£152bn) of U.S. sub-prime losses before the crisis is over, according to a study by consulting firm Oliver Wyman.”

The New York Timesreports that home prices in 2007 fell for the first time in at least 40 years.

The median price declined 1.8 percent to $217,800, the first annual decline since reliable records began in 1968. “It’s the first price decline in many, many years and possibly going back to the Great Depression,” said the group’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun.Over all, sales of previously owned single-family homes fell 13 percent in 2007, the biggest drop in a quarter-century. Last month alone, home sales dipped 2.2 percent from November, to a 4.89 million annual rate.

The Associated Press chimes in with a story about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urging Latin American leaders to begin withdrawing their reserves from U.S. banks. Chavez warned of a looming U.S. economic crisis, and said it was time to get out of America. He warned that U.S. “imperialism is entering into a crisis that can affect all of us” and said Latin America “will save itself alone.”

South African Power Crisis

In a telling sign of deteriorating infrastructure in a nation often described as Africa’s last bastion of hope, a massive power outage has left much of the country without power for weeks. Now even the mining industry, one of South Africa’s most important and profitable job sectors, has been forced to temporarily shut down due to lack of power.

President Thabo Mbeki’s government called the electricity crisis a national emergency and noted that production had halted at the world’s biggest platinum and world’s second-biggest gold producer. Gold and platinum prices soared, while the South African rand plummeted. The International Herald Tribunereports,

For weeks, homes have been plunged into darkness for up to eight hours a day, businesses have been disrupted and accidents have been reported as traffic lights failed, leaving many in Africa’s biggest economy infuriated with their government.

Eskom, the national power company, says it plans to invest 300 billion rand (us$42 billion) in power generation and infrastructure, but the power supply probably will not be able to meet demand for at least five years.

Elsewhere on the Web

After finding dozens of Iranian-made mines in Afghanistan, security forces have accused Iran of supplying weapons to the Taliban.

Seventy percent of Brits now view premarital sex as acceptable and less than a third of those surveyed consider homosexuality wrong, according to a new study.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has arranged for Hamas and Fatah officials to meet in Cairo to help solve the Palestinian schism, according to ynetnews.com.

And Finally …

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad telephoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last Tuesday to discuss the deteriorating condition in Gaza. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, Ahmadinejad told his Egyptian counterpart, “Our responsibility gets heavier whenever one more Palestinian is martyred.” He added, “The time is ripe for assisting the Palestinians to survive this intolerable situation.”

The day before the phone call, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, humiliated Ahmadinejad by overruling his veto against a law recently passed by Iran’s parliament. The Associated Press reported,

Iran has the second-largest natural gas reservoir in the world but its supply network has been overwhelmed by high demand. Both reformists and conservatives are increasingly asking the president why Iranians are dying from the cold while sitting on the massive gas fields.As much as 56 centimeters of snow fell in parts of northern and central Iran in early January, the heaviest snowfall in more than a decade.Local media have reported 64 cold-related deaths this winter and say gas cuts are to blame.

The legislature wanted to implement a billion-dollar package to supply gas to poor Iranian villages in order to help them survive what had become an intolerable situation this winter.

Ahmadinejad vetoed the bill for budgetary reasons.