Today’s Jewcy

The Jewcer

Blog watching: Jewcy kicks off a new feature this week called Movable Snipe, wherein two guest writers critique an assortment of blogs we’ve selected, the better to ingratiate them with the civilized web community. This week’s Snipers are Spencer Ackerman, former New Republic scribe (guess as to what one of this week’s blogs is) and Melissa Lafsky, a.k.a. Opinionista and HuffPo feminist-in-residence. Monday’s cyber-specimen is conservative site Captain’s Quarters, ye old creaky dirigible of Michelle Malkin-bud Ed Morrissey. Enjoy! {Daily Shvitz}

White powerbook: Humorist Pat Sauer wants to become an anti-Semite. Which sites can help him? {Features}

Love outside the tribe: ‘Cause nothing says romance like keeping kosher: Common wisdom holds that Judaism forbids intermarriage (the marriage of a Jew to a non-Jew) and always has. Yet, it is also known that Jewish leaders from kings to priests to laypeople have been intermarrying since the days of the Bible. Using key primary texts, we will trace the Jewish community’s evolving stance on intermarriage, and discuss its implication on choices made by contemporary Jews. {Events}

The World

Poison: the post-cold war alternative: Did Vladimir Putin Russian-up one of his outspoken critics’ drinks? Probably: Mr Litvinenko had been investigating the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of Mr Putin and Russian policy in Chechnya, who was shot dead at her Moscow apartment building last month. Alex Goldfarb, who has been visiting Mr Litvinenko in hospital and who has alleged Russian government involvement, admitted there was "no direct evidence" of that. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "He actually had a couple of meetings [on 1 November] where he had drinks and this poison could be sprinkled there." {BBC}

Thomas Pynchon writes again, no one cares: Joke’s on all of us. He wanted to write a novel that a dogged but ungainly fan of this author’s might have written on quaaludes. {NYT}

Sports metaphors to save Iraq: Here’s the weirdest fucking sentence you’ll read all day, courtesy of the joint efforts of the Pentagon and the Washington Post: That combination plan, which one defense official called "Go Big but Short While Transitioning to Go Long," could backfire if Iraqis suspect it is really a way for the United States to moonwalk out of Iraq — that is, to imitate singer Michael Jackson's trademark move of appearing to move forward while actually sliding backward. "If we commit to that concept, we have to accept upfront that it might result in the opposite of what we want," the official said. If we’ve reached the point where even the moonwalk needs defining, then the terrorists have already won. {WaPo}

Farewell, Sharansky: The Soviet dissident-cum-Liknudnik retires as Member of the Knesset: "I want to tell my colleagues – we have great power to influence what happens in Israel, to the Jewish people, and throughout the world," Sharansky declared. Adding that intends to keep working for Israel and Jews worldwide, the former prisoner of Zion called on the country's leaders to "work together." {JPost}

Realism at the expense of justice: If all whispered accounts of James Baker’s report are true, then one of his recommendations for securing Iraq will be greater U.S.-Syrian cooperation to staunch the flow of terrorists from Damascus to Baghdad. What will be the likely tradeoff for Alawite compliance? "Of course it comes at a price, and I'm not sure the Americans are willing to pay the price," one Israeli official said. He said that the price was not the Golan, but rather to get the international tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese prime Minister Rafiq Hariri called off, and to allow Syrian influence and involvement – although maybe not troops – in Lebanon. {JPost}