By Steve Clemons

I received a note last night that another of the people who was responsible for opening many doors for me in Washington when I first moved here in 1994 died yesterday.

This afternoon, World Bank President nominee Robert Zoellick departed on a grueling two-week long “global listening tour” to check in with key stakeholders and clients of the Bank. Zoellick is hitting Africa first — before Europe. The first trip defines much of the mission. He is going to Ghana, which chairs the Africa Union now….

I have just come by a lucid, excellent analysis of the recent “formal negotiations” between Iran and the U.S. which took place in Baghdad written by Iran expert and Columbia University/School of International and Public Affairs scholar Gary Sick.

In my debate commentary below, I could not recall a vote in the Senate or House regarding Bill Clinton’s policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” I doubted there had been one since I thought that the measure had been enacted through Executive Order.

I’m not traveling so am going to watch and report on the Democratic presidential debate tonight. I’m not expecting a lot. The frontrunners are still a bit too much “Bush-lite” for me. For more, see this essay by Financial Times Washington Bureau Chief Edward Luce on “timidity” in Democratic presidential ranks.

TWN has been making a few waves here and there this week. Let me share four items that may interest some: 1. Helene Cooper in the New York Times today confirms the general picture of a piece I wrote last week that reported frustrations with Bush’s policy course on Iran by Cheney and his team….

The first Director of Policy Planning at the State Department was George Kennan. The 25th will be National Intelligence Council Vice Chairman David Gordon. The formal announcement is likely to be made in the next two weeks. David Gordon is an outstanding choice for this key position in America’ foreign policy establishment.

Daniel Levy is one of a handful of people who really could move the Palestinians and Israelis (and Americans, and Europeans, and Russians, and UN bureaucrats, and Saudis, Syrians, and Jordanians) towards a negotiated comprehensive deal establishing a Palestinian state that doesn’t undermine Israel’s national security.

(Richard Vague and blogger Juan Cole speak at New America Foundation/American Strategy Program dinner for Zbigniew Brzezinski) I have become a fan of a daily email and blog site, DelanceyPlace.com, that is published by businessman Richard Vague.

There are only 10 cabins left — and I am soooo tempted to go on this Alaska National Review cruise. I’d be civil, of course, but would hold my ground on my views and otherwise enjoy the scenery and the celebrity of being a token independent progressive on the ship.