This is a guest note by Anthony H. Cordesman, holder of the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. This piece first appeared as a CSIS brief and is reprinted here with permission.

For a few more hours, this is generally my view from the Intercontinental ANA Hotel in Tokyo. The white house there in the middle is the home of Obama California campaign finance chair and now US Ambassador to Japan John Roos, who I had the privilege to meet and chat with the evening before last….

New Republic Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier is one of America’s chief gatekeepers on Jewish experience, culture and politics and has recently been one of those who has led in American journalistic circles in rebuking uncomfortable arguments by Peter Beinart and Andrew Sullivan about Israel’s self-destructive behavior.

(original clip — video released by the IDF on May 31) Max Blumenthal has been working over time to challenge the Israeli government claims and releases on what happened during the clash between IDF forces and the Turkish flotilla bound for Gaza.

I don’t understand the Israeli government defense of the ‘shoot to kill’ behavior of commandos that stormed the Turkish flotilla going toward Gaza. The protesters used primitive weapons — bats, slingshots, etc.

This is a guest note by Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson (USA, ret) who for sixteen years was assistant to General Colin Powell and who served as Chief of Staff of the Department of State during Powell’s tenure as Secretary of State.

Recently I had the opportunity to connect with some national security wonks and Obama team members in the White House Roosevelt Room. I was invited to meet some “senior administration officials” regarding the contours of the recently released “National Security Strategy” by the President.

For a few days I am in Tokyo, the home of the world’s coolest ads. But this one for McDonald’s, which is airing in France, ranks really well.

This from Dan Froomkin at Huffington Post: George W. Bush’s casual acknowledgment Wednesday that he had Khalid Sheikh Mohammed waterboarded — and would do it again — has horrified some former military and intelligence officials who argue that the former president doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of what he is admitting.

(Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Steven Cook, writing in Foreign Policy, suggests that the Flotilla incident is the latest evidence that dreams of a “model partnership” between the United States and Turkey are mere fantasy.