American Diplomacy, Smart Power, US AID, and Haiti

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Last night, I had a good chat with Rachel Maddow on the mechanics of smart power in the context of the Haiti disaster. A lot of our conversation focused on the role of the U.S.

An International Portrait Gallery?

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(photo credit: Marc Pachter) There is something intriguing to me that the long-time, now former director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, Marc Pachter, took this picture of Ronald McDonald in Bangkok.

The View on My Walk: Savin’ To Fight Terrorism

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I normally don’t buy chachkis, but I couldn’t resist this one. It will be a priceless relic someday of this era’s destructive hyperventilation and fear-mongering. I landed in New York this morning and stopped in one of the greatest stores I’ve ever been to — the Pearl River Mart on Broadway. I paid $7.

Leo Hindery’s “Effective Unemployment” Update

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The Washington Note is posting this monthly update from business executive Leo Hindery, who has been focused like a laser over the last year on the fact that the administration has been underperforming on job creation and has been engineering a GDP recovery rather than a recovery plan focused on deep infrastructure investments and jobs….