Nader Mousavizadeh, a former special assistant to Kofi Annan, provides a fresh, critical perspective on the Obama administration’s policy toward Iran in an op-ed in today’s Washington Post. According to Mousavizadeh, the Obama administration needs to focus on Iran’s intentions rather than its capabilities.

I suspect that the number of issues on which Condi Rice, Henry Kissinger, Bob Rubin, Paul Volcker, Tony Lake and James Baker all agree is small. But earlier this week, they and eight others of similar stature signed a letter to congressional leaders urging support for additional US funding for the International Monetary Fund.

Well, I’m in Beijing — and Deborah Cameron‘s big morning radio show is in Sydney and can be listened to here on Wednesday morning’s Asia time — or Tuesday evenings back where I usually am in Washington.

Helene Cooper’s scoop that former US Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad is working to arrange a deal with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to serve as “CEO” of Afghanistan is fascinating — but also troubling.

I found this clip by Stephen Walt interesting in which he notes the New America Foundation as one of the few islands in the policy establishment that believes we need a more restrained approach to America’s foreign policy commitments.

(Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times) Nicholas Schmidle is a Fellow at the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program. The Pakistani military is apparently pounding the Taliban in the Swat Valley right now.

One area in which the Obama administration has arguably fallen short of expectations is in its ability to persuade European countries to support its policies in the greater Middle East – and particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

(Credit: Jonathan Guyer) Jonathan Guyer is a Program Associate at the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force. Two weeks ago, Jordanian King Abdullah’s visit to the White House brought President Obama’s announcement that the Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian premiers would make field trips to Washington.

Among other firsts, President Obama is undoubtedly our first “New Media” president. The Obama team came into power through its revolutionary internet fundraising success and clearly intends to find new ways to use the internet to advance its agenda.

In the last week and a half, we spent time in the Gulf region, speaking at a conference in Doha, Qatar and then a few days ago spoke about global economic issues in Berlin. So that checks off the Gulf and Germany in the roster of leading surplus accounts in the international economy.