memeorandum: ‘New opening’ for US-Taliban talks possible: Hagel (Agence France-Presse)

11:15 AM ET, June 1, 2014

Top Items:

Bergdahl release arrangement could threaten the safety of Americans, Republicans say — Amid jubilation Saturday over the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from captivity by the Taliban, senior Republicans on Capitol Hill said they were troubled by the means by which it was accomplished …

Discussion: Liberaland, Guardian, RedState, Althouse, The Week, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Lawfare and Mediaite

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:

Here are the Taliban Terrorists Obama Released to Free POW Bowe Bergdahl — In exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Berghdahl, the U.S. has released five senior Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison. They are considered some of the worst of the worst. — The five Guantanamo detainees released …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Power Line, Yahoo! News, RedState and Patterico's Pontifications

Eric Schmitt / New York Times:

Taliban Prisoner Swap Frees U.S. Soldier Held Nearly 5 Years — WASHINGTON — The lone American prisoner of war from the Afghan conflict, captured by insurgents nearly five years ago, has been released to American forces in exchange for five Taliban prisoners held at the Guantánamo Bay …

Discussion: The Hill, Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Moderate Voice, The Talking Dog, Hinterland Gazette, Hot Air, Defense One, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Mashable, Patterico's Pontifications, Gawker, Business Insider, The Week, Independent Journal Review and Balloon Juice

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Susan Rice responds to political debate over negotiations for soldier's release — (CNN) - White House national security adviser Susan Rice defended the Obama administration's decision to exchange Guantanamo detainees for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, amid criticism that the United States negotiated with terrorists in the process.

Discussion: Politico

Agence France-Presse:

‘New opening’ for US-Taliban talks possible: Hagel — Washington (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed hope Sunday the release of US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl would lead to direct US talks with the Taliban. — “It could, it might and we hope it will present an opening,” …

Discussion: Hot Air

Fox News:
US soldier held captive by Taliban in Afghanistan for nearly five years freed

Discussion: CNN and The Impolitic

Julie Pace / Associated Press: Only American Soldier Held Prisoner In Afghanistan Freed

Philly.com:

Lewis Katz, co-owner of The Inquirer, dies in plane crash — Lewis Katz, 72, co-owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Daily News and Philly.com, died Saturday night in the crash of a private jet at a Massachusetts airfield. — Katz's death was confirmed by Inquirer editor Bill Marimow …

Discussion: Mediaite, Hinterland Gazette, Poynter and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images — The National Security Agency is harvesting huge numbers of images of people from communications that it intercepts through its global surveillance operations for use in sophisticated facial recognition programs, according to top-secret documents.

Discussion: emptywheel, RT, Business Insider and Engadget

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Prisoners of Sex — IN an ideal world, perhaps, the testimony left by the young man who killed six people in Santa Barbara would have perished with its author: the video files somehow wiped off the Internet, his manifesto deleted and any printed copy pulped.

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Daily Banter and Roger Ailes

New York Times:

Fixed Soccer Matches Cast Shadow Over World Cup — JOHANNESBURG — A soccer referee named Ibrahim Chaibou walked into a bank in a small South African city carrying a bag filled with as much as $100,000 in $100 bills, according to another referee traveling with him.

Discussion: Vox Popoli and Unfogged

Jesse McKinley / New York Times:

Cuomo Secures Support of Working Families Party — ALBANY — Defusing a tense and potentially campaign-changing challenge from the left, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo secured the endorsement of the Working Families Party on Saturday night, easing the popular Democrat's path as he runs for re-election …

Walter Russell Mead / Washington Post:

Was Hillary Clinton a good secretary of state? — Walter Russell Mead is the James Clarke Chace professor of foreign affairs at Bard College and editor at large of the American Interest. He is the author of “Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World.”

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

New York Times:

Investor, Bettor, Golfer: Insider Trading Inquiry Includes Mickelson, Icahn and William T. Walters — The divergent lives of a championship golfer, a high-rolling gambler and a billionaire investor have collided in a federal insider trading investigation. — Federal authorities are examining …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Scared Monkeys, The Week and NPR