I woke up in Rome, Italy this morning — the 4th of July — to the very surprising news that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was resigning her position at the end of the month. I don’t know whether this is a July 4th gift — or a warning of a nationally divisive presidential run.
This is a Tehran dispatch from an anonymous student in Iran who has been blogging for The Washington Note and other sites and publications, including the New York Times, as “Shane M.” The dispatch that follows appeared in Salonand at Juan Cole’s Informed Comment. A clip from Tehran Dispatch: Basijis Hang Around, Do Nothing. ….
Political journalist Robert Dreyfuss has a terrific survey piece on Iran’s tumultous political scene in the aftermath of recent elections there. Dreyfuss was in Tehran and is now back in Washington.
Here is a several minute long clip of a short discussion I had with Sir Richard Dalton, former UK Ambassador to Iran from 2002-2006 and editor of a new Chatham House report, Iran: Breaking the Nuclear Deadlock.
I have the privilege of chatting with many political, economic and foreign policy journalists from around the world. I generally like almost all of them and appreciate their interest, but some stand out above the others on occasion — and Hoda Husseini of Asharq Al-Awsat was one of these.
Each month, I receive from Leo Hindery an update on “America’s effective unemployment rate” which includes not only the official unemployment figures but other data points showing off-the-books unemployed or underemployed people. The numbers are staggering and are aggregates of official data.
Center for a New American Security Co-Founder and CEO Kurt Campbell has finally been sworn in today as Barack Obama’s Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs, the position most recently held by the newly appointed US Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill.
Former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman has just given short, but gracious, concession remarks issuing greetings to Minnesota’s next US Senator, Al Franken. Congratulations Al! This is a nice bit of news to get before flying off to Rome.
A good friend and neighbor in Colorado just sent this in to me. I happen to own the hill and ridge pictured — and plan someday to have a house there, just about where the rainbow hits land.
For a few days, I have been doing some exploratory work on a book and needed to take a few days break from TWN to clear my mind. I am off to Rome, Italy today.
