This is a priceless exchange between journalist “Matt” and State Department spokesman Ian Kelly. Who is Matt? Terrific job on his part — not so terrific on George Mitchell’s team’s part. . . Daily Press Briefings : Daily Press Briefing – November 17 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:29:30 -0600 http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/nov/132024.
Not a regular topic on the blog, but I really do love wildlife — and being out in “it”. Although 600,000 others have seen this spell-binding video of National Geographic Paul Nicklen’s encounter with a leopard seal, I had not seen it. I have watched it a half dozen times now.
In an apparent effort to dumb down the concept of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) for its readership, The Economist developed what it calls the “Big Mac Index.
This is a guest note by Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett. Flynt directs the New America Foundation/Iran Project and is a former Senior Director of Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council. Hillary is chairman of Stratega, a political risk consultancy. They are co-publishers of the new blog, The Race for Iran.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Richard Lugar (R-IN) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) have jointly written a compelling case to end the travel ban for all Americans desiring to go to Cuba.
I just published an article at The Daily Beast on White House Counsel Gregory Craig’s resignation. For the record, I am an admirer of Greg Craig’s.
(Digital Globe-ISIS photo of Qom facility and tunnel entrances; courtesy ISIS) The Institute for Science and International Security has just posted the just released IAEA reports on both Iran and Syria.
This is a guest note from Richard Vague’s Delancey Place which ran on 16 November 2009.
For those who haven’t seen it yet, CNN’s Nic Robertson and Paul Cruickshank had an excellent piece air this weekend, detailing efforts by former Libyan terrorist leaders working with the Libyan government to convince jailed militants to renounce violence and al Qaeda for good.
I can’t see this flag from my hotel window, but I could see it from the balcony of the Merit Hotel in Nicosia, Cyprus, where I attended a briefing today with Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu. The Turkish Cypriot national flag is embedded in the “five finger mountains” of Northern Cyprus.