By Steve Clemons

It really is true. Barack Obama can staff himself better on nearly all fronts than those who staff him — even comedians.

Academy Award winning director Alex Gibney — who is in town and will be attending the White House Correspondents Dinner tonight as a guest of the Washington Post — is in release mode for his next big documentary achievement, Casino Jack and the United States of Money, that doesn’t just focus on the shenanigans of…

(photo credit: V-Man on Flickr) Failed Suicide Attack against UK Ambassador in Yemen. I just received a press statement from the Washington, DC Embassy Spokesman of the Republic of Yemen (note that it contains disturbing, graphic photo image — here is pdf). The statement starts: Earlier this morning the British Ambassador to Yemen, H.E. Mr….

Just arrived in Maui after a long trip back from Brasilia through Sao Paulo, Washington Dulles, and Los Angeles. My reward was this magnificent sunset while walking along the main drag in Lahaina. Will be blogging a bit later on global finance, global governance, and the latest in US-Japan relations.

The other day I wrote a piece about Senator Schumer‘s bashing of Rahm Emanuel, Jim Jones and President Obama for their US-Israel policy that questioned whether the Senator realized just how, well, over the line he had gone.

This is an interesting story — not one of Israel being attacked. I pretty frequently see meteors streak across the night sky and have always been interested in what they look like when they hit. The one above hit a beach in Bat Yam.

This is a guest note by Harlan Ullman that reviews President Barack Obama’s nuclear summitry. This piece originally ran on UPI. Harlan Ullman is Senior Advisor at the Atlantic Council and Chairman of the Killowen Group that advises leaders of government and industry.

My colleague and friend, Parag Khanna, who is with me in Brazil right now started the Brazil chapter in his acclaimed book, Second World: How Emerging Powers Are Redefining Global Competition in the Twenty-first Century, with George Bush’s first words about the country during his first visit.

Kosovo did, and the U.S. immediately recognized it. Now, David Rothkopf has been hearing rumblings that the little-left-to-lose Palestinians may declare independence and the creation of their state, without necessarily having the state’s borders in their control. Rothkopf lays out a plausible scenario that Iran’s nuclear pretensions force the U.S.

Senator Chuck Schumer may have just lost any shot at succeeding Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader if the Nevada Senator stumbles in the upcoming tough 2010 challenge he is facing.