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%.

The authors were members of the HELP Commission which in December 2007 made recommendations to Congress for the reform of U.S. Foreign Assistance. Leo Hindery, Jr. is chairman of the Smart Globalization Initiative at New America Foundation and a media industry executive; C.

Pope Benedict XVI and President Obama meet at the Vatican (White House Photo) Patrick Doherty directs the New America Foundation/U.S.-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative. This post originally appeared at The Havana Note.

Jonathan Guyer is a Program Associate with the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force. During President Obama’s brief presser with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday, one word was conspicuously absent: comprehensive.

Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon sent this note out on Twitter earlier today: Hopes the rumored settlement freeze is just a rumor, because it hasn’t gone through appropriate forums. This is the best news I’ve heard in a while.

(Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaking to New America Foundation foreign policy programs director Steve Clemons at Kirribilli House, Sydney, 16 August 2009; photo credit: Larry Irving) I have just finished a few days of meetings in Melbourne and Sydney under the auspices of the annual Australian American Leadership Dialogue, a significant track 2 dialogue…

Council on Foreign Relations President Emeritus Leslie Gelb has an interesting article over at the Daily Beast that is highly critical of the Obama administration’s decision to accept Georgia’s offer to send 750 soldiers to Afghanistan.