By Steve Clemons

It was announced a short bit ago that Mark Penn is stepping down (well, has been fired) as chief strategist of the Clinton campaign.

As we were driving in from the airport into the heart of Riyadh, I saw a beautiful building with a hole in it called the “Kingdom Centre,” built by the well-known global investor Prince Alwaleed.

I grew up mostly attending Department of Defense schools around the world and the U.S. — and The Ten Commandments seemed like it aired on our TV’s at least once a month — but certainly at Easter and Christmas. I loved watching it — have to admit.

Just arrived in Riyadh. This is the view from my window at my hotel — an overcast day. Things start up at 12:30 pm, two hours from now on Sunday here.

I am sitting at JFK Airport preparing to depart for Saudi Arabia in a couple of hours — and thought I’d post this picture I took of myself last week, standing next to Room 871 of the Mayflower Hotel — the grand establishment where Aldrich Ames took his first $50,000 from the Soviets launching his…

I’m leaving very early in the morning to spend a week in Saudi Arabia. I’ll be weighing in on matters from the road. Sameer Lalwani and others will be helping to cover — but wanted to keep the TWN loyalists informed.

Today I organized a media/blogger conference call with George Soros to discuss his concerns about the current financial crisis, which he thinks is the worst America has experienced since the 1930s.

Friday morning (tomorrow) I will be hosting a media/blogger conference call with financier and philanthropist George Soros at 10 am EST.

I’ve asked Leo Hindery to spend some time with us at the New America Foundation today. It’s a brown bag deal — but I’ll provide the sodas and cookies (though I’m on a diet).

Yesterday, I had coffee with a former three-star general who has outed himself as a political conservative in his post-military life. Joining us was a former conservative member of Congress, a conservative CEO, a top tier conservative organizer, and a conservative pundit. I discussed the Iraq War, Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan/Pakistan, nukes, and Cuba with them.