This was an interesting session that got a lot of reaction at the Aspen Ideas Festival. US News & World Report publisher Mort Zuckerman and I had a polite dust-up over US-Israel policy and about President Obama. Katty Kay, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, James Fallows and Elisabeth Bumiller were on the panel with Andrea Mitchell moderating.

(click picture above to enlarge) This is a nest currently occupied by three osprey in Chestertown, Maryland — just in front of a house I frequently try to escape to. Recently, I saw a couple of osprey fighting in mid-air with a bald eagle.

Approximately 300,000 returning Iraq and Afghanistan war vets — a number equivalent to nearly 25% of America’s active duty military — suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. While Veterans Administration Secretary Eric Shinseki has just announced streamlined procedures to help these veterans secure support services, this long term social “cost” is staggering.

Yesterday, when I was at this meeting with Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Cheryl Benton, Benton asked me off camera if I followed the LeBron James stuff.

(Photo Credit: Enrique De La Osa/Reuters) This post, which originally appeared at The Havana Note, is a guest note by Tom Garofalo, a consultant for the New America Foundation/U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative.

I’ve been in Germany for the better part of the last week, on a trip for young policy professionals sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung.

For better or worse, the word most associated with President Obama’s foreign policy is “engagement.” Many in the United States and throughout the world perceived the Bush administration as heavy-handed, abrasive, and too unwilling to listen to other nations’ hopes, fears, and perspectives.

Some are saying that The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg’s digital pen brought down CNN veteran Middle East editor Octavia Nasr. It’s clear that Rolling Stone‘s Michael Hastings brought down Afghanistan commander General Stanley McChrystal — perhaps with a strong assist from this piece.

As I wrote a few days ago, I was informed that alleged Russian spy Mikhail Semenko had my business card. Turns out I had his information as well in my personal lap top and had hoped to meet him before my next trip to China — as his blog on the Chinese economy interested me….

Yesterday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, cosponsored by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, I spoke on a panel focused on “Smart Power” with a heavy emphasis on the Afghanistan War.