Yesterday, the New America Foundation and the National Security Network delivered the following letter to the White House, signed by some of the most respected former senior officers of the United States Armed Forces.

Yesterday, President Obama’s spokesman Robert Gibbs and National Security Council Director for Latin America Dan Restrepo unveiled the administration’s pre-Summit of the Americas opening move on US-Cuba relations. In the package, travel and remittance restrictions on Cuban-Americans are completely waived.

Big announcement made today via White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs and National Security Council Latin America Director Dan Restrepo on the new parameters of America’s “Cuba Policy.” So. . .let’s get the easy part of this comment out of the way. Applause, applause, applause. . .

Remember. . .this exchange I had with Center for Security Policy President and leading neocon force in Washington Frank Gaffney was done for charity to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society — probably the only thing that Frank Gaffney and I basically agree on.

Latin America policy uber diva Julia Sweig chaired a news-making gathering at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington yesterday morning. It was excellent, and the CFR has audio of the entire event here.

(Sorry for late notice on this — just learned we could do it. will get video up for later viewing tomorrow.

(Photo Credit: Army.mil’s photostream) For those who missed it, New America Foundation Senior Fellow Anatol Lieven‘s column in yesterday’s Financial Times is an excellent summary of the United States’ strategic challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mutlilateralism may be back? In the past week alone, the Obama administration has agreed to restart arms control negotiations with the Russians, work with the G-20 to develop a new global financial regulatory architecture, and join Europe’s negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

The New York Times and Bloggingheads ran this fascinating short clip of New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force Director Daniel Levy and Nuh Yilmaz, a Washington staff member of the Turkey-based SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. (The longer exchange is embedded above).

While it is unclear how or when the world will emerge from this dramatic economic slowdown, one thing is for certain. The balance of power is shifting away from markets and toward governments.