(Lawrence Wilkerson and his regular Thursday students. These are not the ones in the audience referred to below.

(Joe Klein; photo credit: Online News Hour with Jim Lehrer) Joe Klein adds some important contextual material to the question of what Cheney may be cooking up on Iran on Time‘s Swampland blog.

There is a race currently underway between different flanks of the administration to determine the future course of US-Iran policy. On one flank are the diplomats, and on the other is Vice President Cheney’s team and acolytes — who populate quite a wide swath throughout the American national security bureaucracy.

(Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and China Vice Premier Wu Yi perform the US-China hit, Strained Smiles.) Wow. Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson just about did everything wrong but spit on Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi today at the premature wrap-up of the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) meeting in Washington.

Jim Lobe, one of the best international affairs correspondents who has resisted the trend towards homogenization in his sector’s coverage, has launched a blog, and he has a cool expose on a neocon retreat being planned for the Bahamas on May 30. The conference is titled “Confronting The Iranian Threat: The Way Forward.

Steve hosted a really interesting reception last night on the USS Sequoia for people interested in U.S.-Cuba policy. I managed to get past my characteristic awkwardness in DC-style networking situations and it paid off, as I met some very smart and passionate individuals.

For days, I have been intending to write a longer note about the objections to Michael Baroody that some have had about his appointment by President Bush to serve as head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

To no one’s surprise, Bill Richardson is officially a candidate for President. Richardson is showing well right now in Iowa, though some people doubt he can break through to the supposed “top tier” of candidates. I think he certainly has the potential; whether or not his candidacy really takes off remains to be seen.

Yesterday, Belarus ran for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council – and lost badly. A few weeks ago, a Belarussian victory was seen as inevitable. Thanks to some great work by a few human rights groups and engaged governments, the tables have been turned.

Ron Paul and I have very few things in common besides our last name. We agree on very little, and we defend those few policy positions we happen to share on very different ideological and philosophical grounds.