$tay ¢old

Again, I kind of blew it last week and didn’t post a TWiS. Sors, bra’. There were some juicy tidbits, and I am sure you found out about them elsewhere. This week however, has had some interesting developments and I am here to tell you about them. Check it:

Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch has occaisionally broken rank and backed Republicans. He favored Rudy Giuliani in his campaigns for Mayor in the 1990s, was an enthusiastic proponent of the Republican National Convention coming to NY in 2004, and claimed that “despite being a liberal Democrat” he supported W in 2004. Now that the political winds have changed it appears he has had another change of heart. Koch claims he will travel the country denouncing Giuliani in his quest for the White House. He is turning against his old ally because Giuliani, Koch says, “is a control freak”.

Things have been on a steady decline in the Palestinian Territories for the better part of a decade, and on a normal day things there are a drag in all sorts of ways. This week Hamas managed to make abnormally creative news, in the funny-if-it-weren’t-so-frightening kind of way by using Mickey Mouse as a jihad spokesman. Understandably, pretty much everyone in the real world was pissed about it. In other matters Hamas and Fatah have struck and broke and restruck a series of ceasefires over the last week. The turmoil caused the independent, technocratic Interior Minister of the Palestinian Authority to resign, a signal that the PA is in an extremely fragile place right now. Hamas also found time to lob some rockets at Israel, which prompted Israel to retaliate, so things are pretty much back to the way they were last summer. The one positive note coming from the region is that BBC journalist Alan Johnston may soon be released. Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza about two months ago.

In what may be the most anticipated/inevitable resignation of the Bush era, Paul Wolfowitz finally bit the bullet and quit as president of the World Bank. I am happy he is gone, and to be candid sort of shocked he was installed there to begin with. The one thing that bums me out about this is how he went out. Earlier this week Wolfie sounded like a tough dude that was going to go out with guns blazing. What happened was pretty lame, as he holed up with his lawyer and clumsily negotiated the terms of his exit. It was almost like a c-list hostage negotiation.

Gonzogate, the other resignation watch, has not yet reached the climax. This saga involving the Attorney General has been tricky, going from hot to cold several times. Today ranking GOP J-com’er Arlen Specter predicted Gonzalez would leave his post. There are a bunch of wierd subplots running through this like how Gonzalez made a desperate visit to then AG John Ashcroft while he was in the hospital to try to get the White House’s wiretapping measure approved. I thought Gonzo would have been gone long ago, and I was wrong, but it is nearly inconceivable that someone so damaged can effectively lead the Dept of Justice. Just for good measure there is a no confidence vote scheduled for next week in the Senate.

Maybe that is in the next TWiS? Check back and find out.