I Hope it’s Brazil

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This New York Times piece makes the economic case on why the 2016 Olympics fit Brazil’s needs and bid more than Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo. But more broadly and thinking ahead, Brazil is a key component of the BRICs group — Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

Jim DeMint’s On-Off-On Trip to Honduras

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Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy This is very inside DC baseball stuff on Senator Jim DeMint’s plans to visit Honduras which were announced via twitter, then stopped by Senator John Kerry, and then put back on track by Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell.

US Foreign Policy Chat on Rachel Maddow Show

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Tonight, some time between 9 and 10 pm EST (and then again between 11 pm and midnight) during the Rachel Maddow Show — not sure of time just yet — I’ll be chatting with Rachel about America’s foreign policy plate. We may be on McChrystal, Petraeus & Afghanistan.

Jim DeMint’s Coup?

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A movie on the Honduras coup may not be the big draw that the Tom Hanks film, Charlie Wilson’s War, was — but one has to wonder whether we are seeing a remake in which a lone Member of Congress, this time a US Senator from South Carolina, drags the country into the internal affairs…

President Obama’s Body Language on Iran is Just Right

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Given the tumultuousness in many parts of America’s foreign policy portfolio, it’s easy to nitpick and criticize (which I do frequently), but I have to tip my hat to President Obama’s measured and positive comments today following the conclusion of what are officially called the P5+1 Negotiations with Iran.

Good Start with Iran?

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I am presently a guest of David Bradley, Walter Isaacson and Shelby Coffey at the Atlantic Monthly/Aspen Institute/Newseum sponsored mega-wonk meeting titled “First Draft of History.” It’s an excellent conference, but I’m losing it listening to Republican Majority Leader Whip Eric Cantor essentially argue that there is zero value engaging Iran.

Guest Post By Oliver Lough: A Sexagenarian Mess of Contradictions

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Oliver Lough is a research intern at the New America Foundation. China’s 60th birthday was celebrated in elaborate and wonderfully old-fashioned style by the thousands of carefully choreographed performers (and pieces of military hardware) that congregated in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square this morning.