Bravo: Fareed Zakaria’s Ethical Stand on Mosque

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CNN show host and Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria has returned $10,000 and an award he was presented by the Anti-Defamation League in 2005 after ADL’s opposition to a mosque at the rebuilt World Trade Center site in New York. This is exceptional leadership on an important moral issue that I want to salute.

White House Should Reverse Pentagon Ban on Michael Hastings Embeds

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While I’m not surprised that the Pentagon has barred Michael Hastings from a previously approved “embed”, they are not handling this well and are messing up again. The President and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates should intervene and order the Pentagon to invite Michael Hastings back into the embed fold.

Distraction: Toshiba’s Space Chair

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Nearly two and a half million other views have seen this — but I had not. The Toshiba Space Chair Project? Make sure you watch until the very end. Will be interesting to see how China beats this. — Steve Clemons Hat tip to Gen Kanai for this and his excellent blog.

The Prop 8 Strike Down Explained

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The Bilerico Players have put together this slightly odd — but highly informative — animated exchange between a mocked-up Judge Vaughn Walker and a legal counsel supporting the anti-same sex marriage Proposition 8, which was Judge Walker struck down. Worth the seven minutes.

King Abdallah, Syria and Iran

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University of Vermont Political Science Professor F. Gregory Gause, III, writing at the Foreign Policy/Middle East Channel, is pessimistic about Saudi Arabia King Abdallah’s efforts to woo Syria away from Iran and reconstitute the Riyad-Cairo-Damascus Arab triangle.

Jonathan Guyer: Mike Mullen’s Options

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(click image for larger version) Jonathan Guyer is a program associate at the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force and the official cartoonist of The Washington Note. He blogs at Mideast by Midwest. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen certainly caught our attention on the Sunday talkies.