This morning, I spent a couple of hours watching Richard Holbrooke interact with his interagency team before, during and after an all hands SRAP (Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan) meeting at the State Department. Holbrooke is good to his people — affirming, serious but on their side.
The White House has announced that it will delay a Treasury Department report reviewing whether China is manipulating its currency. This delay is likely tied to three goals of the US. First, the US wants to stop the slide in US-China relations.
Happy Easter everyone. I’ve been enjoying the day reading Charles Kupchan‘s excellent new book titled How Enemies Become Friends: The Sources of Stable Peace. As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the real must reads of this season.
I am catching up on some work today that is keeping me from the blog, but I wanted to share this photo of a striking mural painted by Stevan Dohanos in the Alvaro de Lugo Post Office in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Happy Easter to those into resurrection, coconut cake, rabbits and eggs.
Today, the Huffington Post sent out a clip of an interesting essay by former IMF Chief Economist Simon Johnson challenging Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s take on financial reform. The essay also appeared at Johnson’s must read personal blog, Baseline Scenario.
The communications team at the White House has an extremely difficult job — and I admire how hard Ben Rhodes, Bill Burton, Tommy Vietor, and of course Robert Gibbs and others work to connect the President’s policy direction with a communications effort that furthers the Obama agenda.
This is a guest note by Yousef Munayyer, Executive Director of The Jerusalem Fund & The Palestine Center. The above photo is credited with appreciation for its use to the talented photographer, Atef Safadi.
Just when things seemed to be lightening up regarding homosexual men and women serving their nation and saluting their Commander-in-Chief honestly and openly, the Army walks back toward the nation’s institutionalized bigotry.
This is a guest note by former John F. Kennedy Special Counsel and Adviser Theodore “Ted” Sorensen. The piece in part responds to several critiques of the Obama White House management team, including essays by Edward Luce of the Financial Times, myself, and former Council on Foreign Relations President Leslie Gelb.
Tonight, Charlie Rose spends an hour discussing all things Iran with my colleague Flynt Leverett — a former senior staff member of the National Security Council, State Department, and CIA and now a member of our team at the NAF American Strategy Program — and his wife, Hillary Mann Leverett, also a former senior State…
