John Bolton: My Way or No Way on UN Human Rights Council

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Here is my quick read on America’s rejection of the UN Human Rights Council proposal that some — including the New York Times — argue is a sham that undermines genuine international commitment to more rigorous global human rights protection. The odd thing is that many of the leading NGOs don’t see it that way….

Democratic Imperative: Bush’s “Unitary Executive” Notion Must be Obliterated

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The Washington Note works hard to provide constructive, serious critiques of Bush administration foreign policy and attempts to avoid reckless typecasting or tractionless hyperventilation regarding what this administration is up to.

Saudi Tension in the East: With Shia Insurgents?

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(Saudi King Abdullah greets Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr) I’m about to get on a plane — and I have no idea what this news alert I just received from MSNBC entails: Explosion, gunfire reported at oil refinery in eastern Saudi Arabia. Details soon.

When Weapons Programs Just Won’t Die. . .

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(John Poindexter and Ronald Reagan) National Journal‘s Shane Harris has discovered that the “Total Information Awareness” program conceived in part under the direction of Iran-Contra tainted former Reagan National Security Advisor John Poindexter was not terminated. Only the name was.

Trans-Atlantic Meanderings: Reactions to Yosri Fouda’s <em>Triangle of Anger</em>

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(German citizen Khaled El-Masri who was a victim of mistaken identity and kidnapped and ‘rendered’ by American intelligent agents to a foreign secret interrrogation and detention center) TWN had a productive adventure in London, where I had been asked to give a talk and then invited to participate in meetings with a number of Arab…

The Jordan Imperative: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi vs. Prince Zeid Raad al-Hussein

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My colleagues Nir Rosen and Peter Bergen — both fellows in foreign policy at the New America Foundation (where I also work) — are leading American interpreters and chroniclers of the world’s two most dangerous and intriguing personalities — Osama bin Laden in Bergen’s case and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Rosen’s.