Over at Stratfor, George Friedman has a very interesting piece on the possibility of closer ties between Russia and Iran. Friedman lays out in detail the key geopolitical factors that are shaping the Iran-Russia-U.S. triangle.

Anya Landau French is the research director for the New America Foundation/U.S.-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative. President George W. Bush pursued what has been described as the most aggressive U.S. trade policy ever. No country was too large or small to negotiate new and better market access for U.S. exports. Except, of course, Cuba.

Amjad Atallah co-directs the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force. This past Friday, Hamas engaged in an intense battle with a Salafist group called Jund Ansar Allah (the Soldiers of the Supporters of God).

Last night at the gala 800 person dinner of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue, I was able to connect with the impressive Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and chatted with him about his and Barack Obama’s side chatter about Hawaii.

President Obama came into office promising to change the United States’ policy toward Iran – but it was never clear exactly what that change would be.

One of the issues that has most irked me about the Obama administration’s approach to trying to move the economy forward is a fundamental misunderstanding about US national interests and how corporate behavior works.

It seems that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s political shrewdness and theatrical performances have reached a whole new level.

Katherine Tiedemann is a policy analyst at the New America Foundation/Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative and author of the AfPak Daily Brief. This post originally appeared on the AfPak Channel, a new joint venture between the New America Foundation and Foreign Policy to explain and analyze the conflict in South Asia.

In this video blog, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev laments the deteriorating relations between Moscow and Kiev, and explains his decision to recall Russia’s ambassador to Ukraine for an indefinite period.

Today the “Three Amigos” wrapped up the annual two-day summit between Canada, Mexico, and the United States with a press conference in Guadalajara, Mexico. Expectations going into the summit were muted as the leaders mostly followed up on previously agreed upon measures rather than breakthrough negotiations over new issues.