A Grameen Gala and Ted Turner’s Birthday

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(Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus, former President Bill Clinton, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; UN Foundation Dinner, 19 Nov 2006, photo credit: Jennifer Willis) Last night, Washington’s political stars turned out to pay homage to the banker who started in 1976 lending $27 to 42 people in one village in Bangladesh.

Is Democracy Good for the Middle East?

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UPDATE: EVENT MAXED OUT The Hudson Institute does not have this event noted on its website, but Richard Weitz has assembled an interesting panel discussion regarding Democracy in the Middle East on Monday, 20 November, noon-2 pm that will take place at the Hudson Institute’s offices in Washington. C-Span will cover the event.

New Resource at IISS: “Flashpoint” on Iraq’s Descent into Chaos

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(IISS Director of Studies and former Bush administration US AID official Patrick Cronin) Patrick Cronin, Director of Studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, has sent me a new publication from the IISS Armed Conflict Database titled “Flashpoint”.

Glenn Beck Needs Some Counseling on Bigotry

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I certainly missed this earlier in the week. CNN Headline News’ Glenn Beck interviewed the first Muslim Member of Congress, Keith Ellison (D-MT) and said: “Sir, prove to me you are not working with our enemies.” First of all Glenn, Muslims are not our enemies.

New Type of Catastrophe Looms over America’s Iraq Deployments

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I participated in a study group last night — and one of the scenarios discussed was the increasing probabability of a psychology-altering event having enormous impact on the vast majority of Americans. One of the scenarios was the prospect of Iraqi police and troops in a gun conflict with U.S.

Bob Gates Should Meet Up with Spc. Khai Krumbhaar in Kuwait: Thoughtful Letters on Women in Military and Gay Issues

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It’s late. I should be asleep — but I was reading the Stars and Stripes tonight online and ran across a couple of letters to the editor by Spc. Khai Krumbhaar. I don’t know this soldier — but see that he has folks praying for him in St. Andrew’s Parish in Western Mexico.