Morning Brief, Thursday, November 2

Election 2006

Why can’t we just go back to good old paper ballots?

Americans overwhelmingly believe Democrats will change course in Iraq should they take control of Congress. Robert Kagan offers a reality check.

In perhaps the biggest non-story of this election cycle, Sen. John Kerry decides to apologize after all. Dear press corps: A lot of people are dying. Let’s try to keep our eye on the ball.

Africa

The situation in the Horn isn’t looking good. Peace talks in Khartoum have collapsed. War “more likely than not.”

Iraq

A U.S. solider who was kidnapped last month is believed to be “alive and in the hands of his abductors somewhere in Baghdad.”

Shiites are pressing for changes to the U.N. agreement that legitimizes the U.S. presense in Iraq. The agreement expires on Dec. 31.

President Bush says, once again, that he has confidence in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He may be the only American that does.

Iran

Mohammad Khatami, who recently completed a speaking tour of the United States, calls the U.S. efforts to democratize the Middle East “a great joke” and predicts a Democratic landslide on Nov. 7.

This has been a terrible idea. You know, the Americans are suffering, and you will see the result of this mistake in the upcoming polls in the United States.”

Iran’s 10 days of military manuevers — code named “Great Prophet” — have begun.

China

Tension increases in the strait, as Chen Shui-bian’s term winds down. Check out Chen’s sit down with the FT.

Elsewhere

Is Bush handling the crisis in North Korea better than those in Iraq and Iran? German human rights activists say Sasha Baron Cohen isn’t so funny.

The New Yorker‘s Seymour Hersh speaking at McGill University: “In Vietnam, our soldiers came back and they were reviled as baby killers, in shame and humiliation. It isn’t happening now, but I will tell you – there has never been an [American] army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq.”