The Democratic Party of Japan has scored a historic and monumental victory over the many decades ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. The DPJ has scored 308 seats in Japan’s powerful lower house while the LDP has retained only 119 seats.

If you can spare ten minutes, this interview with former Australia Prime Minister Paul Keating offers some of the smartest commentary on the consequences of the global financial crisis. It is from February 2009 but it’s still relevant today.

(photo of Paul Wolfowitz and Steve Clemons at Australian Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Sydney — Kirribilli House, 16 August 2009. When taken, Paul Wolfowitz remarked, “I don’t know whose reputation will take more of a hit for this picture — yours or mine. . .

Patrick Doherty directs the New America Foundation/U.S.-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative. This post originally appeared at The Havana Note. Governor Bill Richardson is visiting Cuba on a trade mission for his state this week.

(Oakley the Amazing Weimaraner waiting for Steve to get home for the surprise birthday party) Good morning all. Today, we are 47. Well, I am actually.

I just received word at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris that Senator Ted Kennedy has died at age 77. While his passing was increasingly expected, it doesn’t make the time and day of his death any less significant and sad.

Many writers and thinkers have had late nights and early mornings in the past few days, owing to the release yesterday of the 2004 CIA Inspector General’s report.

My colleague Daniel Levy and I have spent the last couple of days in the Village of Pomerol in the Aquitaine region of France discussing next steps in our Middle East policy work. September and October are going to be big roll out months for all of those engaged in the Israel-Palestine/broader Middle East quagmire….

There will be much more on this in the days to come, but here is the heavily-redacted 2004 CIA Inspector General’s report on interrogation practices, scanned and posted by The Washington Independent and with commentary from Spencer Ackerman.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is one of Europe’s premier political operators. Scandals and intrigue seem to add to his mystique, at least when it comes to French politics. A poll was released today in France indicating that among Democratic Socialists, Strauss-Kahn is favored by 33% of those questioned. Segolene Royal pulled 14%. Bertrand Delanoe 13%.