I took this video clip in March 2010 when I visited Tripoli, Libya and was interested in counter-terrorism activities of the Libyan government.

Politico‘s Laura Rozen has the scoop that National Security Council Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa Dan Shapiro will be moving to Tel Aviv to serve as the next US Ambassador to Israel.

The Los Angeles Times 2010 Book Prize finalists have just been announced — and I’m pleased to report that this year I served as a judge on the history panel.

Moammar Gaddafi: I will not leave the country and I will die as a martyr. I have no comment.

My colleague Daniel Levy who directs the Middle East Task Force shared a useful line on Michele Kelemen‘s NPR show focusing on what now needs to be done regarding Israel-Palestine peace efforts. He said: It’s difficult to be a friend of Arab democracy if you are perceived to be an enemy of Palestinian freedom.

Last week Thursday I spoke at the Tulsa Committee on Foreign Relations and thanks to the hospitality of the community, I had the opportunity to chat with Studio Tulsa‘s Rich Fisher, who hosts a thoughtful public affairs program at KWGS Public Radio Tulsa, a National Public Radio affiliate that reaches three states.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has today released the statement below on Libya where things are getting worse. Here is the Libya twitter feed; the government is reportedly bombing citizens from the air in Tripoli and elsewhere. STATEMENT BY SECRETARY CLINTON Situation in Libya The world is watching the situation in Libya with alarm.

Most know George Soros as either the world’s most consistently successful investor or as a philanthropist — but more should know him as a philosopher and strategist about complex systems.

This is a guest note by Chas W. Freeman, Jr. This essay comprises Freeman’s remarks at the Camden Conference on February 17, 2011 in Camden, Maine. The Challenge of Asia The Greeks are to blame for many things. Not least of these is the somewhat preposterous idea of “Asia.

As I watch Al Jazeera and its reporting inspire and inform people across the Arabic world — and educate many English-speaking people who are stuck to their TVs, I think it becomes increasingly clear and obvious that Barack Obama has made a mistake not himself appearing on this network.