For a few days, I have been doing some exploratory work on a book and needed to take a few days break from TWN to clear my mind. I am off to Rome, Italy today.

President Eisenhower and Cuban President Batista meet in Panama. Patrick Doherty directs the New America Foundation/U.S.-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative. One of the most difficult communications challenges for President Obama will be overcoming America’s history of ideological hypocrisy. In his speech in Cairo, Mr.

On Sunday the Honduran military ousted President Manuel Zelaya hours before the country was to vote on his referendum to extend presidential term limits. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton were quick to speak, but slow to draw conclusions.

Atlantic Council Senior Fellow David L. Phillips has an excellent post at the New Atlanticist blog explaining the emerging strategic partnership between Turkey and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil, Iraq. Phillips explains: Turkey’s military strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq were a tactical and political success.

(This picture from November 2004 depicts then UK Ambassador to Iran Sir Richard Dalton and Iran’s then top nuclear negotiator Hasan Howhani) During my recent trip to London where I spoke at a forum organized by intellectual wunderkind G.

I know this is not a political or foreign policy matter — but news has just broken that Michael Jackson has died of heart attack (according to current reports) at the age of 50. No matter the controversies, I grew up on many of his songs.

A couple of things to bring to the attentions of friends of TWN. At 4:30 pm EST today, I’ll be talking about Iran on the Michelangelo Signorile Show. Yesterday, I had an interesting and substantive short discussion with To the Point‘s Warren Olney.

Washington is all about networking. Attach yourself to someone famous and well-connected, book their flights, get them coffee, take the blame for their mistakes, write for their blog, etc. – and in exchange they introduce you to their friends, sign letters of recommendation that you write for yourself, and do you a favor or two….

Patrick Doherty directs the New America Foundation/U.S.-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative. “Strangulation is no solution.” That’s General Barry McCaffrey’s assessment of the U.S. policy towards Cuba. He’s right. More importantly, writing in the Miami Herald, McCaffrey, a decorated Vietnam veteran, hero of Desert Storm and, more relevant to this discussion, former commander, U.S.

(Washington Note publisher Steve Clemons, Obama political guru David Axelrod, and Al Jazeera’s Mysa Khalaf) Yesterday evening, I chaired a dinner featuring Austan Goolsbee, the charismatic economic guru of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and a key adviser to the President in the White House.