I have just come by a lucid, excellent analysis of the recent “formal negotiations” between Iran and the U.S. which took place in Baghdad written by Iran expert and Columbia University/School of International and Public Affairs scholar Gary Sick.

In my debate commentary below, I could not recall a vote in the Senate or House regarding Bill Clinton’s policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” I doubted there had been one since I thought that the measure had been enacted through Executive Order.

I’m not traveling so am going to watch and report on the Democratic presidential debate tonight. I’m not expecting a lot. The frontrunners are still a bit too much “Bush-lite” for me. For more, see this essay by Financial Times Washington Bureau Chief Edward Luce on “timidity” in Democratic presidential ranks.

TWN has been making a few waves here and there this week. Let me share four items that may interest some: 1. Helene Cooper in the New York Times today confirms the general picture of a piece I wrote last week that reported frustrations with Bush’s policy course on Iran by Cheney and his team….

I hinted earlier this month that opponents of the Law of the Sea are terrified that Senate action on the treaty would expose their political weakness. Evidence is already turning up to support my claim.

The first Director of Policy Planning at the State Department was George Kennan. The 25th will be National Intelligence Council Vice Chairman David Gordon. The formal announcement is likely to be made in the next two weeks. David Gordon is an outstanding choice for this key position in America’ foreign policy establishment.

Alexander Litvinenko, on his deathbed, accused Vladimir Putin of orchestrating his murder. Having ranted a few times on this blog about the current state of U.S.-Russia relations, I should say that I was pleased to see that Presidents Bush and Putin are planning to meet in early July.

After Zimbabwe won its election to Chair the Commission on Sustainable Development and Paul Wolfowitz held the World Bank hostage last month, international institutions were due for a boost. The month wasn’t all bad – after all, human rights groups did manage to help defeat Belarus in its bid for a seat on the U.N….

Last week, McCain and Obama traded barbs over the Iraq war. McCain first derided Obama for voting against the war supplemental, then Obama called out McCain for his farcical pronouncement that Baghdad is secure, and McCain finally ended the exchange by smugly correcting the Obama team’s spelling of “fla[c]k jacket.

Daniel Levy is one of a handful of people who really could move the Palestinians and Israelis (and Americans, and Europeans, and Russians, and UN bureaucrats, and Saudis, Syrians, and Jordanians) towards a negotiated comprehensive deal establishing a Palestinian state that doesn’t undermine Israel’s national security.