The first blog post I did over four years ago at The Washington Note had to do with the subject of war profiteering and players in the national security establishment that were making money from defense contractors while also serving as so-called “objective” commentators on the war, weapons systems, and the like.
Joseph Stiglitz is an economist I wish Barack Obama would spend some more time with. I can’t attend this one time only showing of Around the World with Joseph Stiglitz but I would if in New York. I’ll be on a plane to Brussels. Hope some of you can make it and report back.
Monday and Tuesday this next week, I have three events I am chairing at the New America Foundation — and all of them are superb. If you are in the Washington, DC area, you are welcome to join us.
Hot damn! I am very excited today. A book, America and the World: Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy that I was very involved in helping to hatch made it to Michiko Kakutani’s top 10 list for books from 2008.
This is Annie, Oakley’s little sister, at a thoughtful moment.
I got married to my partner of 17 years in San Francisco on August 18th of this year. We did so under the beautiful dome of San Francisco’s magnificent City Hall — and I had my picture taken (above) with Harvey Milk’s statue.
Turkey’s unique position as a NATO member and a Middle Eastern, Muslim nation with close ties to Iran would seem to make the country an ideal candidate to help solve the simmering conflict surrounding the Islamic Republic’s controversial nuclear energy program.
There is great tragedy unfolding now in the middle of Mumbai. More than 900 wounded and more than 80 dead. Gunmen are holding fort in the Oberoi Hotel and the Taj Hotel — which are the two hotels I stayed at during recent trips to Mumbai.
Bob Gates is keeping his Pentagon perch (which has been quite clear for some time). I had moved close to the view that Gates should go. My thinking at the time was that Gates played a vital role “Out-Cheneying Cheney” in the last couple of years of G.W.
Recently, Politico issued a roster of top policy and political hands who would be in line for key positions in an Obama government. At the time, I thought it very odd that Clinton Middle East coordinator Dennis Ross was not on the list.
