By Steve Clemons

This video above was sent to me this morning in a note from the Washington Post‘s Tom Ricks who said “I particularly like the video they did on one captain’s counterinsurgency campaign.

Peter Berkowitz‘s essay in the latest issue of the Weekly Standard provides good insight into what I think is the strategic irresponsibility of those in Israel’s leadership who think that they can hold steady on a course that justifies failure on an a Palestine-Israel deal using Hamas and Iran as excuses.

I have not yet dabbled with Kindle and reading books, papers, and blogs through a Kindle reader — but a friend is and just found that The Washington Note is available through Kindle. Who knew? I didn’t.

This is one of the more clever posts on economic theory I have seen in a while. Read the entire list of 21 economic models as told through “cows”. . . But here are some I particularly enjoyed: SOCIALISM You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour. COMMUNISM You have 2 cows.

The much respected and very tough to get Nelson Report thinks Daschle had to go. In contrast, I think Daschle’s departure signals the likely death of any near term comprehensive health care reform.

During the battle over John Bolton’s Senate confirmation to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations, a post that Bolton ultimately achieved through presidential recess appointment rather than by Senate vote, I noticed a peculiar difference between leading Democrats and leading Republicans.

I have my doubts whether Obama can simultaneously pull off any kind of serious reform of the military services while also trying to engineer a few “Nixon Goes to China” moments in our national security policies.

This is a guest post by Brian Young, the new webmaster for the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations chaired by Senator John Kerry.

Starting today on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a new staffer joined the team.

The CBS News Political Hotsheet has lost track of Jeanne Shaheen.