By Steve Clemons

Inevitably, it had to happen.

Whether it was by design or because of Senator Richard Lugar’s broadside that the White House could not just roll into any conflict it wanted to without support of Congress, President Obama has kept American exposure in the growing conflict in Libya fairly minimal. This is a good thing.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy This morning, I shared some of my reactions on MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown to the then breaking news of Gaddafi announcing he was going to abide by a cease fire and halt military operations. In my view, he is buying time.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy This is a clip of my conversation tonight with Rachel Maddow about the costs and benefits of the UN resolution authorizing any measure than occupation to protect the Libyan people from Moammer Gaddafi.

The United States is about to vote on a UN Security Council Resolution calling for measures — including armed intervention — to protect the Libyan people from Moammer Gaddafi’s tanks, planes and guns. In other words, the US and allies are on the edge of yet another war in the Middle East.

I just hosted a media conference call for the Afghanistan Study Group with Republican California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA-46) on his views about America’s course in Afghanistan. I will be posting soon the audio clip from the short and fascinating call.

In a heart-moving gesture a few years after the great Kanto earthquake of 1923 in Japan, American children made 12,000 blue-eyed dolls and sent them to Japanese children. After that, 58 highly ornate, beautifully crafted Japanese “Friendship Dolls” were sent by Japanese children to American children.

Consider this an open thread. Have been scrambling a lot today upon returning to Washington. Big news in town is the debate over what to do in Libya — and what to regarding Japan. Both are enormous problems. The world is racing faster than we can process what is going on.

I spoke with Fareed Zakaria on CNN’s GPS yesterday morning about various possible political and economic impacts of the earthquake, tsunami and worsening nuclear crisis in Japan. Suffice it to say that the production quality of my video presence wasn’t awesome as I did this over Skype from my Doha Sheraton hotel room.

My friend Anne-Marie Slaughter, former Director of Policy Planning at the State Department and now back teaching at Princeton University, has written a compelling, passionate call for the US to immediately push for a UN Resolution to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.