The news last week of the alleged killing of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has sparked a round of confused and contradictory messages from various parties. American and Pakistani officials claim with more and more certainty that Mehsud is dead.
Reports are in on the new Richard Gere film, Hachiko: A Dog Story. All of my friends who saw it were in tears. They said it’s sort of a Marley and Me type deal. Enough of Hachiko — but I did want to post my picture with the famous dog’s commemorative statue.
Some newer readers may not know that there are a substantial number of TWN readers who actually come to the blog for the pup pictures — not my content or even to read our various dueling commentators.
Actor Richard Gere allegedly cried when he first read about the tale of a Japanese akita named Hachiko waiting at the Shibuya train station each day for its master who had died and never showed up.
President Obama is out fast embracing the better than expected drop in employment stating that “the worst may be behind us” on the recession. Quick counterpoint.
I hope all of you are having decent weekends. I am and am blessed with this view just a 30 second stroll from where I am staying.
No doubt the elephant in the room at last week’s U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue was the dramatic shift in economic momentum between the two powers: the most recent economic reports from each nation confirm that China’s economy grew by a startling 7.
While the media are drawn to the story of the day, which today means the killing of Baitullah Mehsud in Pakistan and the longevity of the “cash for clunkers” program here at home, it is essential for the Obama administration to keep its eye on the strategic ball.
(post-2007 Australian American Leadership Dialogue Dinner: Anne Keating, Anne Wexler, Steve Clemons, Lesley Russell, Bruce Wolpe, Former Prime Minister Paul Keating; photo credit: Ambassador Joseph Duffey) One of the people who opened many otherwise closed doors for me in Washington, DC is Anne Wexler — an amazing politico in Washington married to the equally peripatetic…
In today’s Guardian, Tariq Ramadan argues that Europe must develop a unified policy of inclusion with regard to Turkey’s EU membership bid. I agree with the thrust of the article, which makes many of the same arguments I put forth in my article in World Politics Review last week.
