Iraq’s central government appears likely to begin allowing the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) that controls northern Iraq to begin exporting oil through Iraq’s main pipeline, in the latest unexpected consequence of the global economic crisis. A year ago, this kind of decision would have been unthinkable in the absence of a comprehensive national hydrocarbons law….
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy The clip above features New America Foundation President & CEO Steve Coll and NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, who offer a frightening portrait of the profound weaknesses’ of both Afghanistan’s and Pakistan’s leaders.
Today at 11:45 am EST, we will stream an event titled “The Middle East Comes to Town — Expectations for Obama’s Visits with Netanyahu, Abbas, and Mubarak” taking place at the New America Foundation. It will end at approximately 1:30 pm.
I am about to fly off to Germany and had to miss the celebrity-edged White House Correspondents Association dinner last night because of commitments out of town — but sounded like a lot of fun.
Second Lietenant Sandy Tsao is being discharged from the military for informing her chain of command that she is gay.
The Washington Note‘s publisher will not be at the WHCA Dinner this year as he’ll be traveling, but the blog will be represented by others in the field. But I just got a bit of an odd first.
I am planning visits to all of the “surplus countries” in the next couple of weeks. On Monday and Tuesday, I will be in Berlin speaking at one of the sessions of the “online forums” of the Transatlantic Dialogue sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. And then on May 18th, I’ll be in Beijing.
Barack Obama has appointed a hyperactive director of faith-based initiatives, Josh DuBois, and sees little problem continuing the blurring of church and state that George W. Bush and Bill Clinton initiated in their terms.
Washington has been stuck in a free trade agreement rut for some time now, and the situation has been exacerbated by the economic crisis and fears that further trade liberalization will mean sending taxpayer stimulus dollars overseas.
That most famous and frustrating of oceans treaties looks to be back on the Senate agenda. Again. The momentum is building. Scott Borgeson at the Council on Foreign Relations released a report last week that comprehensively makes the case for U.S. accession to the Law of the Sea Convention.
