From washingtonpost.com:

Iraq is at a violent and "precarious juncture," while al-Qaeda is significantly expanding its global reach, effectively immune to the loss of leaders in battle, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte told Congress yesterday. He also warned that the Taliban is mounting a vigorous insurgency in Afghanistan, that Pakistan has become a safe haven for top terrorists and that Iran's growing regional power is threatening Middle East stability.

In their annual worldwide threat assessment before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Negroponte and other top intelligence chiefs provided a bleak assessment of regions and conflicts at the center of President Bush's foreign policy agenda.
 
One day after Bush unveiled a plan to send more than 21,000 additional troops to work alongside Iraqi troops in an increasingly violent war, the head of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency said Iraqi forces could not combat the insurgency there.

Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples said Iraqi security forces have been thoroughly infiltrated by Shiite militias and "are presently unable to stand alone against Sunni insurgents, al-Qaeda in Iraq" or the militias themselves. Negroponte, who was ambassador to Iraq in 2004-05, said sectarian violence had become the greatest problem inside the country.

"The struggle among and within Iraqi communities over national identity and the distribution of power has eclipsed attacks by Iraqis against the coalition forces as the greatest impediment to Iraq's future as a peaceful, democratic and unified state," he said.

As you have no doubt heard, Dubya has decided on a troop surge in Iraq.

For a retrospective on that, this CTV.ca story has the video attached. Here's the text of Dubya's address to his nation.

Reaction today was not kind to the president. :)

From the NYT:

Bush's plan for Iraq runs into opposition in Congress

Bush speaks and base is subdued

In Pennsylvania, president's plan draws mixed responses and hardens opinions

Troop increase, initially opposed by generals, ends a long debate

Promising troops where they aren't really wanted

Bid to secure Baghdad relies on troops and Iraqi leaders (analysis)

Washington Post

U.S. unit patrolling Baghdad sees flaws in Bush strategy

Poll: Most Americans opposed to Bush's Iraq plan

Gates urges increase in Army, Marines

Los Angeles Times

Success is dependent on Iraqi commitment (analysis)

BBC

Bush Iraq plan likely to cost dear

Q-and-A: Bush's new Iraq strategy

The Bush plan and the Petraeus doctrine

At a glance: New strategy for Iraq

Full text: Bush address on Iraq

A new law in California looks at gases emitted during the life cycle of the petroleum fuel, and that could be bad news for synthetic crude produced from Alberta's oil sands.

The Globe and Mail's Doug Saunders explains what was driving the European Union's announcement yesterday on reducing its carbon dependency and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

From the NYT:

... 2006 was the warmest year for the 48 contiguous states since regular temperature records began in 1895. It surpassed the previous champion, 1998, a year heated up by a powerful episode of the periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean by El Niño. Last year, another El Niño developed, but this time a long-term warming trend from human activities was said to be involved as well.

“A contributing factor to the unusually warm temperatures throughout 2006 also is the long-term warming trend, which has been linked to increases in greenhouse gases,” the release said, emphasizing that the relative contributions of El Niño and the human influence were not known.

A link between greenhouse gases and climate change was also made in a December news conference by Dirk Kempthorne, the secretary of the interior, as that agency proposed listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Still, the climate agency’s shift in language came as a surprise to several public affairs officials there. They said they had become accustomed in recent years to having any mention of a link between climate trends and human activities played down or trimmed when drafts of documents went to the Commerce Department and the White House for approval.

However, this movie ain't making the critics yuk it up. Even one of the actors is dissing Mein Führer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler.