<em>In the Best Interests of the United States</em>: Lawrence Wilkerson Speaks on US-Cuba Relations

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Silvia Wilheim of La Noche Se Mueve, 1210 AM in Miami, scored an interesting radio interview with former State Department Chief of Staff and Pamela Harriman Visiting Scholar at the College of William & Mary Lawrence B. Wilkerson.

Gophers, Elephants and Mountain Goats

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I think many people read this blog not for my sometimes verbose commentary but also for the scathing criticism that some of my most devout readers direct at me (as well as the TWN NoteTakers Scott Paul and Sameer Lalwani). They are well-meaning folks, most of them.

Republicans Have Abandoned Hamilton and Lincoln: Hillary Clinton Has Found Them

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This piece by David Brooks today, “The Hamiltonian Ground,” should be essential reading for all the campaigns. Brooks has hit on why the Republican Party doesn’t seem too Republican anymore — but it also credits Hillary Clinton from already stealing the middle away from just about all of the contenders.

Why I Want Giuliani to Win the Republican Nomination

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Back and forth political tides in America are part of the once globally envied system of checks and balances in our democracy (though there are days I really don’t feel like we are anywhere near the democratic standards we used to boast in our pre-9/11 history).

Reading Now. . .

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A couple of cool things have come our way today. First, I just discovered Ben Lando’s Iraq Oil Report which has at the top of the blog a story about Hunt Oil coordinating with the US State Department before signing an oil exploration and development agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Legislating History: Considering the Armenian Genocide Resolution

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(House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Tom Lantos) When I lived in Los Angeles, I was riding my bike westward on Wilshire Boulevard just past the Los Angeles Country Club when I saw in the distance a car speed up the curb, over the sidewalk, and into a tree.

Heard Around Town: Bush’s Intelligence Triumvirate Does Not Want to See “Jonathan Pollard II”

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According to a former senior intelligence official I met with recently, Defense Secretary Bob Gates, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, and CIA Director Michael Hayden were all in the intel game when the Jonathan Pollard case came to light. They all felt “gamed by Israeli intelligence” back then, according to my source.

The Edwards Drama: A Statement from Rielle Hunter

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MyDD’s Jerome Armstrong has secured a statement from Rielle Hunter, the woman with whom John Edwards has been accused of having an affair. From MyDD’s site: “The innuendoes and lies that have appeared on the internet and in the National Enquirer concerning John Edwards are not true, completely unfounded and ridiculous.