This is a guest note by Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson (USA, ret) who for sixteen years was assistant to General Colin Powell and who served as Chief of Staff of the Department of State during Powell’s tenure as Secretary of State.
Recently I had the opportunity to connect with some national security wonks and Obama team members in the White House Roosevelt Room. I was invited to meet some “senior administration officials” regarding the contours of the recently released “National Security Strategy” by the President.
For a few days I am in Tokyo, the home of the world’s coolest ads. But this one for McDonald’s, which is airing in France, ranks really well.
This from Dan Froomkin at Huffington Post: George W. Bush’s casual acknowledgment Wednesday that he had Khalid Sheikh Mohammed waterboarded — and would do it again — has horrified some former military and intelligence officials who argue that the former president doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of what he is admitting.
(Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Steven Cook, writing in Foreign Policy, suggests that the Flotilla incident is the latest evidence that dreams of a “model partnership” between the United States and Turkey are mere fantasy.
Many people believe that beneath the jitters surrounding the European debt crisis and geopolitical unrest, economic fundamentals are strong and the economy is on a path to a sustainable recovery. But, there are worrying signs that the recovery is fragile and based on temporary government support to consumption and a reflation of some asset markets….
Japan Prime Minister and Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama, whose amazing electoral victory last year unseating the long dominant Liberal Democratic Party, has announced that he is stepping down from his position for failing to deliver on a key campaign promise to the Japanese people about moving the US Marine Futenma Air Station…
A couple of friends and I recently participated in a study group session discussing Afghanistan and Pakistan with former Afghanistan-deployed US foreign service officer and former Marine Matthew Hoh. In passing he posed the question “What’s the most dangerous job in the Middle East?” Hoh’s answer: “Being the Number 3 leader in al-Qaeda.
Above is a video taken by Israeli Defense Force personnel of the beatings and violence unleashed as IDF seals boarded the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara. The IDF should not have boarded the vessels — and the activists should not have engaged in such violence.
President Obama’s team just issued the “read out” of the President’s conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan regarding the Israel Defense Force clash with what many describe as a humanitarian flotilla on its way to Gaza (see below).