Sorry for being AWOL the last few days. I have been deep in conference-planning messiness and am only now able to surface. In between calls, I have been following the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina. The National Guard has been called out in New Orleans — and I would imagine in Mississippi and Alabama.
Just posted this at TPM. For the Bolton-addicted. . . More soon.
This conference agenda keeps evolving, but TWN readers get the first web-look at the agenda for the conference I am directing, Terrorism, Security and America’s Purpose: Towards a More Comprehensive Strategy. I think that there are probably speakers in this that will both please and tick off just about everyone.
Tom Clancy is confirmed to speak in the conference. This is turning out to be a very fascinating assembly.
Maybe Bolton is moving fast to consolidate his forces against other contenders in the State Department. Read here.
I am guest-blogging this week at Talking Points Memo — and just posted this piece on John Bolton. My comments refer to an important document was leaked to me this morning — and also to Arianna Huffington it seems. The document linked at TPM provides Bolton’s suggested revisions to the Millennium Summit document in September….
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has confirmed her role as a major speaker at the upcoming September 6-7 Conference on America’s “Next Phase” Response to Terrorism.
James Steinberg, who currently serves as Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Programs at Brookings, is heading to Austin to serve as the next Dean of the LBJ School at UT Austin.
University of Chicago Professor Robert Pape is one of the most sought after public policy intellectuals in the country today — briefing intelligence and national security officials on what actually drives suicide terrorism. Pape is the author of Dying to Win: The Logic of Suicide Terrorism.
I have little doubt that long term Iran wants a nuclear weapons program. By knocking Iraq out of the equation, America has removed one of the chief ‘balancers’ of power in the region, and Iran’s security and regional pretensions are going to fill that void. Balancing Israel is a long-term strategic objective of Iran.
