Legacies and Presidents: George W. Bush and George Washington

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This morning, I am out in Chestertown, Maryland blogging at the “Play it Again, Sam Coffee Shop” and catching up with thing. My email at my office is out again, so now I am catching up on reading — stuff on paper rather than electronic bits.

Rep. Jane Harman, David Kay, Bruno Pellaud, Flynt Leverett, Thomas Donnelly, Lawrence Wilkerson, Francis Fukuyama, Joe Cirincione Headline Conference on US Policy Options Toward Iran

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In my capacity as head of foreign policy programs at the New America Foundation, I along with Trita Parsi, who is President of the National Iranian American Council, have produced a conference together that will take place in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing Room, Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 628, on Wednesday next week,…

Iran Calls for “Grand Bargain” Dealmaking to Begin

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Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Javad Zarif far outclasses Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ambassador Zarif is a savvy, friendly, intellectually acute diplomat — considered by other diplomats as “one of the best” in the business, according to one former US Ambassador I spoke to earlier today.

Seven Republican Samurai Tell Reid and McConnell: Shape Up — Debate on Iraq Resolution Must Take Place

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Seven Republican Senators — seven renegade samurai, or ronin — have essentially blasted in a letter just prepared in the last hour both the Democratic and Republican leadership for behind-the-scenes gamesmanship that undermined a floor debate about America’s options in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia Poised to Play More Overt, Active Role in Middle East Affairs

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A friend just leaked to me the teaser for an important article on more robust Saudi national security activism in the Middle East that will appear tomorrow. Until now, Saudi Arabia has largely been quiet amidst the regional convulsions that are unfolding around it. Saudi “calm” has been a White House request. That is over….

Borowitz Says “Bush Jumps Shark” but Shark Might Bite Bush

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This is one of the more clever ditties on President Bush’s latest maneuvers. Comedian and political satirist Andy Borowitz says just like in the days of declining ratings in Happy Days, George Bush is out like the Fonz trying to get popular by “jumping a shark.