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Ukrainian armoured vehicles have smashed through a gap in Russian defences on the Zaporizhzhia front, it has been reported. Eight-wheeled Stryker and tracked Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles were seen behind Russian tank traps and dragon's teeth near Verbove - suggesting a potential Ukrainian tactical breakthrough in the area. Russia analyst for The Institute for the Study of War, George Barros, said the news could mean Kyiv was preparing for another big push.

Steve Chapman, a member of the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, has established residency in the "State of Denial", one of the seven mystery states then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said he had visited while on the campaign trail May 9, 2008.

State lawmakers return to Sacramento this week with both a strikingly ambitious agenda for 2007 and an unusually confident, chipper attitude about their ability to get things done. We like their ambitiousness and welcome the seeming pullback from the polarization of recent years. Unfortunately, here's the bad news: The bold talk from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on down is nearly impossible to reconcile with political and fiscal realities. Consider pension reform, the latest addition to 2007's crowded agenda. In appointing a bipartisan commission last week to examine the staggering long-term costs of benefits promised to public employee retirees, the governor expressed...

Back in the 1970s, Bob Woodward made his name as one of the two reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal that ultimately ended Richard Nixon's presidency. What was not noticed at the time was that Woodward and his fellow-reporter Carl Bernstein also invented a new genre in literature, mixture of fact and fiction. (Some call it faction.) The genre is simple: you take a set of facts related to actual events and weave a story around them by using the techniques of the novel to portray the people involved, complete with distinct tones for each and detailed dialogues. For the...

For the last couple of years, Bob Woodward, the renowned Washington Post investigative journalist who became famous for breaking the Watergate scandal, has been in a bad mood. You see, when he attended those liberal cocktail parties on New York's Upper East side there were people who didn't think Woodward's liberal credentials were still in good standing after his two books on George W. Bush. Woodward presented Bush in what some say was a positive light and this kind of thing doesn't set well with the Manhattan crowd who sees the president as the incarnation of the anti-Christ. Well, perhaps...

The Yin Yang symbol from Chinese Philosophy represents opposing natural forces. Yang, literally translated, means the sun or sunny. Yin, being the natural opposition is thought to be the moon, darkness or shade. Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: - To every action there is an equal but opposite reaction - is an extremely pure definition of the Yin Yang symbol. While natural balance, God’s fulcrum if you will, is accepted by the mortal mind even when the opposing forces have complex dependencies like “morality” and are thusly, vague. Chinese philosophers commonly apply Yin Yang symbolism vaguely, including, among...

by Mark Finkelstein October 6, 2006 - 21:36 In State of Denial, Bob Woodward claims Marine Gen. James L. Jones, the U.S. commander for Europe, said that the Iraq war is a "debacle" and that "the Joint Chiefs have been systematically emasculated by Rumsfeld." Two reporters from two publications followed up on the story. They couldn't have reached more diametrically opposed conclusions as to whether Woodward quoted Jones accurately. How's this for dueling headlines? "U.S. European Commander Confirms Quotes in Book" "NATO Chief Denies Quotes in Woodward Book" When it comes to contradictions, it doesn't get more stark and point-blank...

"HH: But my question is, is Woodwardism good for journalism, Tom Edsall? TE: I think that the problems Woodward poses as a journalist are significant. I think, though, that his contributions... HH: What are those problems. TE: ...have also been significant. It's a mixed bag. snip TE: One is what you sight, credibility. I think a much more serious problem is his dependence on sources, which makes him, to a certain extent, a sucker for those who talk to him, and a hostile adversary to those who do not talk to him." (snip) "TE: I think the problem is that...

by Mark Finkelstein October 2, 2006 - 07:54 If Matt Lauer ever decides to leave 'Today,' he has a promising career ahead of him interpreting for the hearing-impaired at meetings of Moveon.org and like-minded groups. Interviewing Bob Woodward on this morning's 'Today' on his Bush-bashing State of Denial, Lauer served as a cheerleader worthy of Katie at her perkiest. At one point, Lauer summarized matters thusly: "You paint a picture of a White House and administration that is not tone deaf in some cases but that literally in some cases puts their hands over their ears and said we don't...

The political fallout over claims that the Bush administration was riven by infighting over the Iraq war deepened yesterday when the president's former chief of staff confirmed that he twice sought to sack Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary.Andrew Card said George W Bush rebuffed his and others' demands to sideline Mr Rumsfeld, who had been accused of mishandling post-war security. The confirmation yesterday triggered talk in Washington that alternative candidates were being sounded out to lead the Pentagon. The latest bout of speculation began with claims in a new book, State of Denial, by the Watergate journalist Bob Woodward. Mr...

Is NBC News the publicity agency for CBS News? While Thursday's CBS Evening News had nothing on Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's new book, for which he sat for an interview with Mike Wallace set to air on this Sunday's 60 Minutes, the NBC Nightly News led with the “explosive new book” about the Bush administration's “deception” on Iraq. NBC anchor Brian Williams hyped: “It alleges that attacks by insurgents on coalition forces in Iraq are worse than Americans have been led to believe. It also alleges a kind of campaign of deception on the part of the Bush administration.”...