By Steve Clemons

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— cartoon by The Washington Note‘s Jonathan Guyer

I had an interesting chat a few days ago with George W. Bush Institute Executive Director James Glassman, who served as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy during the latter part of the G.W. Bush administration. He was also Chair of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

Assassinations have their costs, and the UK is penalizing Israel for the Mossad’s use of British passports in the assassination in Dubai of Hamas military leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. UK Foreign Minister David Miliband has been particularly incensed by the Mossad’s alleged actions and will be addressing Parliament on Tuesday regarding the expulsion. More here.

I have only been in Libya a few hours but am intrigued with this place and the people here. Libyan Leader Muammar al Gaddafi’s pictures are everywhere — but at least they are creative and have some panache compared to what one finds in some other countries with dominant political bosses who have no style….

Greetings to readers of The Washington Note from Tripoli, Libya. This is a place I never really thought I’d get to — but I’m here. And after just an hour, I’m finding all sorts of things of interest.

Anyone watching the health care debate unfold this past year couldn’t help but note that it had the feel of a badly run, badly managed sports season in which the President’s team nonetheless is going to end up holding the trophy cup.

I thought that President Obama’s Nowruz message to Iranians was — like last year — excellent. I think that this kind of public diplomacy is enormously important in reaching out for the prospects of change — even if the Iran government is recalcitrant.

According to the Washington Post‘s Glen Kessler, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a surprising comment to the BBC this week. She said that the recent US-Israel confrontation was “paying off”.

The Dutch premier newspaper, the NRC Handelsblad, has this past week run a candid interview done by DC Bureau Chief Tom-Jan Meeus with John Bellinger III, who is defending Obama administration attorneys from vicious attacks launched by Liz Cheney.