Share the View 2: U.S. Weapons in Iraq

Share The View

THE LATEST OPINIONS FROM BLOOMBERG VIEW

JANUARY 8, 2015 bloombergview.com

DECLASSIFIED Josh Rogin and Eli Lake: "U.S. weapons intended for Iraq's beleaguered military are winding up in the possession of the country's Shiite militias, according to U.S. lawmakers and senior officials in the Barack Obama administration." Read more... PARIS ATTACK Leonid Bershidsky: "Although French police have now identified and are hunting the suspects in yesterday's Charlie Hebdo attack, the terrorists have, on at least two levels, already won: They've scared a number of powerful news organizations into submission, and they've stoked European Islamophobia, whose rise will help militant Islamists recruit more supporters." Read more... Marc Champion: "Focusing on what allegedly provoked the calculating psychopaths who carried out these attacks gives them credit they don't deserve. They have a generalized hatred of Western policies and values. Charlie Hebdo drew attention to itself with cartoons that other publications wouldn't run, but if it hadn't, these men would have found other targets."Read more... QUICKTAKE Lisa Beyer: "Groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State call their violent campaigns jihad -- holy war waged on behalf of Islam. ... Militant jihadists are winning recruits." Read more... INVESTING The Editors: "Attempts to stifle shareholder dissent are a dumb idea. On average, evidence shows that activist investors improve corporate performance. In particular, the charge that insurgent shareholders typically sacrifice long-term performance for short-term gains is not borne out."Read more... WALL STREET Matthew Schoenfeld: "Investors in the U.S. seem fixated on a gloomy outlook for 2015, in which the Federal Reserve's efforts to remove economic stimulus cause stock and bond prices to fall. They're missing an important detail: If the Fed raises short-term interest rates above those in other major economies, U.S. markets may actually benefit." Read more... NEWS ROUNDUP Katie Benner (Read the roundup) Samsung, the Korean electronics conglomerate, is getting creamed in smartphone sales. Read more... Evernote had its first-ever layoffs. Read more... Soylent is raising just over $10 million in funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz at a valuation of more than $100 million.Read more... Jonathan Bernstein (Read the roundup) Leading political scientist Philip Converse has died: Read more... At Mischiefs of Faction, Hans Noel adds his understanding of Converse's importance: Read more... Dan Drezner at the Washington Post assesses the foreign policy experience of the Republican presidential field: Read more... Barry Ritholtz (Read the roundup) Four funds key to Vanguard's growth: Read more... Why oil is dragging down the S&P: Read more... AdvisorHUB is the most important site in finance. Read more... Matt Levine (Read the roundup) What's on Bill Ackman's to-do list? Read more... Remember swaps push-out? Read more... Some literary criticism: Read more... ECONOMICS Noah Smith: "What if there were one economic Theory of Everything? One theory to rule them all, encompassing the vast sweep of history beneath its mighty wings? Well, maybe there is." Read more... U.K. Mark Gilbert: "British supermarkets, caught in a price war that's seen two upstart German discounters steal market share month after month, have decided that if you can't beat them on quality, you might as well join them on bargains. But this is a suicidal strategy that fails to acknowledge the changing nature of food retailing in the U.K." Read more... SHOPPING Adam Minter: "America's dying shopping malls are often treated as a shorthand for the country's economic troubles -- income inequality, above all. ... But it's worth considering whether the decline of the country's malls is really the product of faulty economic policies -- or even any economic dysfunction at all." Read more...