(Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaking to New America Foundation foreign policy programs director Steve Clemons at Kirribilli House, Sydney, 16 August 2009; photo credit: Larry Irving) I have just finished a few days of meetings in Melbourne and Sydney under the auspices of the annual Australian American Leadership Dialogue, a significant track 2 dialogue…
Last night at the gala 800 person dinner of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue, I was able to connect with the impressive Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and chatted with him about his and Barack Obama’s side chatter about Hawaii.
One of the issues that has most irked me about the Obama administration’s approach to trying to move the economy forward is a fundamental misunderstanding about US national interests and how corporate behavior works.
Reports are in on the new Richard Gere film, Hachiko: A Dog Story. All of my friends who saw it were in tears. They said it’s sort of a Marley and Me type deal. Enough of Hachiko — but I did want to post my picture with the famous dog’s commemorative statue.
Some newer readers may not know that there are a substantial number of TWN readers who actually come to the blog for the pup pictures — not my content or even to read our various dueling commentators.
Actor Richard Gere allegedly cried when he first read about the tale of a Japanese akita named Hachiko waiting at the Shibuya train station each day for its master who had died and never showed up.
President Obama is out fast embracing the better than expected drop in employment stating that “the worst may be behind us” on the recession. Quick counterpoint.
I hope all of you are having decent weekends. I am and am blessed with this view just a 30 second stroll from where I am staying.
(post-2007 Australian American Leadership Dialogue Dinner: Anne Keating, Anne Wexler, Steve Clemons, Lesley Russell, Bruce Wolpe, Former Prime Minister Paul Keating; photo credit: Ambassador Joseph Duffey) One of the people who opened many otherwise closed doors for me in Washington, DC is Anne Wexler — an amazing politico in Washington married to the equally peripatetic…
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy Here are my thoughts from an exchange with Keith Olbermann on Bill Clinton’s surprise trip to Pyongyang to secure the release of journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
