I’m just back from Brussels — pretty tired, or jet-lagged technically. Next week — Paris, California, Georgia. . . The pups haven’t said hello as a threesome lately, so greetings from Oakley, Annie and Buddy – a family of amazing weimaraners. More when I wake up.

As I’m sure the Obama Administration transition team is aware, Poznan, Poland is currently hosting a very important UN-sponsored climate change conference. At stake is nothing less than the next round of emissions reduction commitments (a Kyoto successor) — which Barack Obama has said he wants the U.S. to participate in.

Just arrived in Brussels and in the hotel lobby ran into the very smart Tevi Troy who is Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services. This will probably be his last European Ministerial meeting during this stint of government service. Troy used to be George W.

I just heard that Matt Cooper commented on MSNBC Live that Secretary of Commerce-designate Bill Richardson is the guy to lead on Cuba. I think Cooper nailed it–the outgoing governor of New Mexico it is a natural fit with an elegant dash of poetic justice rarely found in Washington.

This blog post has not been written by Steven Clemons or any member of The Washington Note team. It is written by someone who really does deserve a very top spot in Obama Land but is sitting pensively waiting for a call while trying to pretend he/she is not. Waiting for the Call. . ….

Apparently, John Bolton isn’t the only one who didn’t get the message that he’s irrelevant. Harlan Watson, chief climate negotiator under the Bush Administration, is up to his old tricks.

Helene Cooper is the newly appointed White House correspondent for the New York Times after previously serving as Diplomatic correspondent covering the State Department. Tonight, she will be speaking from 6:45 pm til 8:00 pm EST at an evening program at the New America Foundation on Tuesday, December 2nd.

Today Tuesday, 2 December, from 12:30 pm til 1:45 pm EST, I am hosting Pulitzer-prize winning Washington Post correspondent Barton Gellman on his new book, Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, which I reviewed here.

This morning, some time after 8:00 am EST, I’ll be discussing President-elect Obama’s national security team with Amy Goodman. Journalist and author Robert Dreyfuss will also be on the show. Later this morning, I’ll be giving a talk on US-Japan-Russia issues at the Nixon Center in DC. . . . . .

Tonight, a bit after 6 p.m. EST, I will be on Rachel Maddow’s Air America show talking about terrorism in Mumbai as well as Barack Obama’s national security team unveiled today. Then, later this evening, I’ll be chatting about Obama’s big foreign policy hires on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown.