What We're Reading

Preeti Aroon

"Anti-Terror Law Requires God Be Acknowledged," by John Cheves in the Lexington Herald-Leader (it's not online, but a related AP story is here). In my home state of Kentucky, state law requires that annual reports from the state's Office of Homeland Security credit God for Kentucky's security. No joke: The Emergency Operations Center must post a plaque that begins, "The safety and security of the Commonwealth [of Kentucky] cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God."

TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images

Jerome Chen

"The United States of Africa." Newsweek's Jason McLure interviews Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union Commission, an administrative branch of the African Union. Ping remains optimistic that promoting democracy in individual countries across Africa can eventually lead to some form of centralized governence of the continent. "We are 53 countries, and if your image of the continent is that of Zimbabwe or Somalia, it's not fair," he writes.

Elizabeth Dickinson

AIDS Accountability Country Scorecard Report. The world's richest countries tend to be strong advocates for treating and monitoring the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the developing world. But as this report by AIDS Accountability International finds, the same wealthy nations rarely meet their reporting standards at home. Released today on World AIDS Day, the report offers a frank assessment of how much we don't know about progress in the fight against this deadly disease.

Rebecca Frankel

"A Teflon Putin for Your Grandkids to Admire." In this Moscow Times op-ed, Yevgeny Kiselyov envisions an "entirely plausible" scenario in which Vladimir Putin -- who still has an 86 percent approval rating -- could be president until 2024. Even then, Putin "would still be younger than former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was when he left the White House." 

Blake Hounshell

"The Hugo Chávez Show" on Frontline. The best documentary show on TV strikes again with an in-depth look at the caudillo of Caracas and his weekly television spectacle, Aló Presidente. Believe it or not, this buffoon is in charge of one of the world’s most important oil suppliers.

Joshua Keating

The Power Vertical. The blogosphere has been badly in need of an obsessive Kremlinology blog. This new one by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Brian Whitmore and Robert Coalson is off to a promising start, offering exhaustive analysis of Russian politics. Check out Coalson's analysis of how the newly extended parliamentary terms will enhance the Kremlin's credibility by requiring it to stage-manage "elections" less often.

David Kenner

"Rockland Man Allegedly Posed As Agent to Board Plane." Boston's Logan Airport, the hub from which the 9/11 terrorists departed, still doesn't have its act together. The Boston Herald reports how a medical supply salesman, who told airport personnel he was an armed federal agent, got around security checkpoints by flashing an assistant harbormaster's badge. Logan security even brought him onto multiple planes and, on one occasion, let him into the cockpit.