Just in time for the holidays

Foreign Policy weighs in with a list of ten news stories we've all missed. (h/t to CJR)

Among them:

#2 US-Mexico Border Fence Gets Cut in Half

In the run-up to the 2006 U.S. midterm elections...[Congress] passed the Secure Fence Act, authorizing the construction of 700 miles of double-layered, reinforced fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. Lost in the shuffle was the fact that Congress had only earmarked enough money to build 370 miles' worth of wall. Give it another budget year, the barrier's strongest backers said, and the rest of the cash would surely make its way south.

But they might want to check with the chief of U.S. Border Patrol, David Aguilar. The military industry's National Defense magazine reported that at an April press conference, Aguilar suggested that the physical fence will indeed stop at the 370-mile mark.

#4: Waiting on the Iraqi Navy (emphasis added)

In November, the U.S. Navy held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a military installation on top of Iraq's Khor al Amaya oil terminal in the northern Persian Gulf...

Pentagon officials insist that those fearing a permanent U.S. military presence needn't worry. Not only will the facility house British and Australian sailors as well as Americans but the U.S. military will hand the base over to the marines of the Iraqi Navy as soon as they are ready. Nevermind that, as the Wall Street Journal reported, their patrol boats today consist of "rusting hulks," and the Iraqis currently stationed on the terminal only recently trained with live ammunition for the first time.

#5 The Cubans Are Coming

...while everyone has been reading the tea leaves in Havana, more Cubans have been quietly fleeing to the United States than ever before. According to a report by the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, nearly 77,000 Cubans crossed into the United States in 2006 and 2007. That's more than twice the number of refugees who arrived on Florida's shores during the summer of 1994, when more than 38,000 Cubans fled the island after Castro opened the ports to all who wished to leave.

#7 Thai Junta Gives Itself a Raise

...the Bangkok Post noted "strong suspicion across the country that the generals are padding the military budget for no other reason than because they can."

Although Thailand has long been an important U.S. ally, the Thai military brass are apparently happy to listen to anyone who will write a check.

(yeah, we're buddies. Wonder how much we paid the junta to stash Abu Zubaydah?

If that didn't boost your spirits in time for the holidays, I've been reading about another cheery bit of news from the Gulf Coast.

More on that later.