The Pentagon, which favors a surge in US troops to Afghanistan knows how defense bidding goes. They’ve seen enough of it from the large defense contractors to know that you bid low and reconcile at a multiple of two or three times higher than the contract later.
In an interview with ABC News, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey stated that sending more troops would be a mistake that could “wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy.
This is a guest note by Ted Sorensen, whose most recent book is Counseler: A Life at the Edge of History. Sorensen, former special counsel and adviser to President John F. Kennedy, is a widely published author on the presidency and foreign affairs.
The is a guest note by Fadi Elsalameen, publisher of the Palestine Note. For the past several years Palestine Prime Minister Salam Fayyad‘s name on the streets of the West Bank and Gaza has become synonymous with the words credibility, honesty, and transparency.
This is an audio clip of an extensive discussion with Brian Lehrer on WNYC National Public Radio today about Barack Obama’s options in Afghanistan. I am pleased and applaud President Obama for requiring his advisers to come to him with plans including serious “exit strategies.
I interviewed former UK Ambassador to the United States Sir Christopher Meyer on his new book Getting Our Way: Five Hundred Years Of International Diplomacy. I have begun the book — and it’s a terrific review of five centuries of the world’s big moments and how competitive statecraft in very difficult circumstances turned out.
This is a priceless exchange between journalist “Matt” and State Department spokesman Ian Kelly. Who is Matt? Terrific job on his part — not so terrific on George Mitchell’s team’s part. . . Daily Press Briefings : Daily Press Briefing – November 17 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:29:30 -0600 http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/nov/132024.
Not a regular topic on the blog, but I really do love wildlife — and being out in “it”. Although 600,000 others have seen this spell-binding video of National Geographic Paul Nicklen’s encounter with a leopard seal, I had not seen it. I have watched it a half dozen times now.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Richard Lugar (R-IN) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) have jointly written a compelling case to end the travel ban for all Americans desiring to go to Cuba.
I just published an article at The Daily Beast on White House Counsel Gregory Craig’s resignation. For the record, I am an admirer of Greg Craig’s.
