Raw Story has the just declassified “Review of Pre-Iraq War Activities of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy” up on its site.

Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Javad Zarif far outclasses Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ambassador Zarif is a savvy, friendly, intellectually acute diplomat — considered by other diplomats as “one of the best” in the business, according to one former US Ambassador I spoke to earlier today.

Seven Republican Senators — seven renegade samurai, or ronin — have essentially blasted in a letter just prepared in the last hour both the Democratic and Republican leadership for behind-the-scenes gamesmanship that undermined a floor debate about America’s options in Iraq.

(Anne Louise Bardach, author of The Prison Letters of Fidel Castro) Yesterday was a frustrating day for me. I had the opportunity, thanks to another of the significant think tanks in town, to pose a question to one of the more important international diplomats of the moment.

A friend just leaked to me the teaser for an important article on more robust Saudi national security activism in the Middle East that will appear tomorrow. Until now, Saudi Arabia has largely been quiet amidst the regional convulsions that are unfolding around it. Saudi “calm” has been a White House request. That is over….

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joe Biden called out Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Joe Lieberman and all those stopping debate and a vote on a pending Iraq War resolution. Biden said to them, “Iraq dominates our national life. It is on the minds of tens of millions of Americans.

Japan Foreign Minister Taro Aso has called America’s military operation in Iraq “immature” and “not working very well.

This is one of the more clever ditties on President Bush’s latest maneuvers. Comedian and political satirist Andy Borowitz says just like in the days of declining ratings in Happy Days, George Bush is out like the Fonz trying to get popular by “jumping a shark.

Here is a roster of information and “FY 2008 Budget Fact sheets” that the Executive Branch has assembled to support the President’s Annual Budget Request: Link to all Fact Sheets please note that all of the following hyperlinks are to pdf files Budget Overview Budget Discipline Management The Economy Defense War on Terror Homeland Security…

Hisham Matar has an interesting piece in today’s New York Times, “Seeing What We Want to See in Qaddafi.” The writer suggests that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi continues to rule Libya as a tyrant, disappearing his critics, and cultivating a climate of fear — particularly among those who might engage in public dissent.