The next two years are going to be politically bloody and difficult ones for the nation and the world. There is a somewhat understandable, yet naive, hope that Democratic success in the coming election will somehow corner President Bush and his team into a more rational national security posture. To some degree this is true….

This blog has highlighted both the weaknesses and strengths of Senator Lincoln Chafee — occasionally in very strong terms.

Bill Hartung exposes America’s obsession with selling light weapons and small arms and standing out as “the only nation” to oppose even thinking about regulating small arms trade, which Hartung refers to as “weapons of mass destruction in slow motion.

Vice President Cheney was off in Missouri yesterday (coincidence?) at a rally for the B-2 bomber forces at Whiteman Air Force Base. As usual, Cheney’s remarks reinforce mistaken notions about terrorism. He suggests to the bomber forces that only taking the fight to terrorists can turn the tide.

I have been working with my colleagues on a significant economic policy event that is taking place on Monday, 30 October 2006 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. The schedule is here. Paul Krugman is opening the show and should be terrific. This meeting is free and open to the public, but you must RSVP….

This letter is interesting. Not sure that I’m on the same page as the American Foreign Service Association which has a beef that a new senior post created by Condi did not go to a career foreign service officer — but the nature of the public letter is provocative.

This morning, I am training it from Hamburg to Berlin where I’m going to have some meetings with senior German political and policy leaders today. Last night I spoke about the coming elections and US foreign policy at the University of Hamburg.

Senator Barack Obama has been pretty giddy about the speculation that he might run for President. He is an exciting political force and seems fresh, somewhat innoncent, inspiring. But behind the energetic spontaneity exists a cautious calculator.

A rumor has come my way that seems too delicious not to report. Since the source of the rumor is acquainted with Vice President Cheney’s neighbor, I believe it has veracity. Both Cheney and Don Rumsfeld have get-away homes in St. Michaels on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

I will be appearing on the BBC News live at 3:00 pm EST and discussing some of the issues raised in an article, “The Genteel Revolt that is Remaking US Policy on Iraq,” by DC Bureau Chief of The Guardian Julian Borger.