There are numerous legitimate concerns about Russia’s slip back towards authoritarian-style governance, but at the same time, Russia turns out to be an increasingly important global player. On Iran, Russia has been diplomatically creative and courageous in the deals it has offered to relieve stress in a brewing Iran-U.S./Europe stand-off on Iran’s nuclear pretensions.
A loyal reader sent me this picture taken by his friend of Boston Mayor Tom Menino. First of all, the guns pointing at the Mayor are scary enough, but over his right shoulder, check out the billboard depicting President Bush’s eyes with the line “Little Brother is Watching”.
John Bolton is a very smart guy — a tough, pugnacious, thumb-in-them-there-foreigners-eye kind of guy. A few days ago, remarkably both the New York Times and the Washington Post lauded our recess-appointed American Ambassador to the United Nations for holding out for a UN Human Rights Council that met a higher bar.
One way to find out is to file a Freedom of Information Act request to find out. FOIARequest.org looks like an intriguing new site.
Israel must sort out its political tectonics in its election on March 28th, and then the emergent Israeli leadership, regardless of victor, should move forward in negotiating with Mahmoud Abbas a “final status” deal defining the boundaries of tomorrow’s Israel and Palestine.
Read here. Heritage, AEI and the Hudson Institute have issued a statement decrying the Human Rights Council proposal issued by UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson and have lauded John Bolton’s stand. Where were they when Bolton was uninvolved with the negotiations. More later on this serious issue.
Here is my quick read on America’s rejection of the UN Human Rights Council proposal that some — including the New York Times — argue is a sham that undermines genuine international commitment to more rigorous global human rights protection. The odd thing is that many of the leading NGOs don’t see it that way….
The Washington Note works hard to provide constructive, serious critiques of Bush administration foreign policy and attempts to avoid reckless typecasting or tractionless hyperventilation regarding what this administration is up to.
(Saudi King Abdullah greets Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr) I’m about to get on a plane — and I have no idea what this news alert I just received from MSNBC entails: Explosion, gunfire reported at oil refinery in eastern Saudi Arabia. Details soon.
(John Poindexter and Ronald Reagan) National Journal‘s Shane Harris has discovered that the “Total Information Awareness” program conceived in part under the direction of Iran-Contra tainted former Reagan National Security Advisor John Poindexter was not terminated. Only the name was.
