The following letter was sent in February, 1981, by
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance to Ambassador Dean in Lebanon, after Mr.
Vance had relinquished his duties:

Begin text

February 18, 1981

Dear John:

Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful letter. I admire greatly
the work that you have done during the last two years in Lebanon. You
have served under the most trying conditions and have represented our
country with consummate skill and understanding. I am very proud to have
been able to serve with you. I know that I speak for all of our
colleagues in thanking you for your great service to our country.

           Gay joins in sending warmest regards to you and Martine.
Hoping to see you soon,

           Sincerely,

           Cy

End text

The pro-Israeli Jewish Telegraphic Agency in New York saw Ambassador
Dean’s actions in Lebanon quite differently. In its August 21, 1980,
issue, the Washington correspondent wrote the following under the
headline “U.S. sets aside statement by its envoy in Beirut condemning
Israel for its raids in Lebanon.”

Begin text

U.S. SETS ASIDE STATEMENT BY ITS ENVOY IN BEIRUT CONDEMING ISRAEL FOR
ITS RAIDS IN LEBANON by Joseph Polakoff

           Washington, August 20 (JTA) – U.S. Ambassador John Dean’s
statement today in Beirut condemning Israel for raiding terrorist
strongholds in Lebanon was set aside within several hours by the State
Department which said its words, and not those of the ambassador,
constitute the U.S. government’s position.

  ( Read more... )

*The Associated Press *
*Friday, February 23, 2007 *
**

*OTTAWA: The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday struck down the
government right to detain foreign terrorism suspects indefinitely and
without trial and said that the system violated the country's bill of
rights. *

*The Canadian Justice Department had said that the "security
certificate" program was a crucial tool in the fight against global
terrorism and essential to national security.*

( Read more... )

It’s like a car accident; we all have crashes, and I was very lucky not to die in that crash.”

Italian ‘Kennedy’ Polishes Eyewear and Image

BOLOGNA, Italy

HE is dressed in urban fatigues, but there will be no blending in for Lapo Elkann. There never really has been.

Born into the all-powerful Agnelli family, the Italian version of the Kennedys in power, money and tragedy, he was one of its bright spots: a top executive at Fiat, with a flashy style, an energetic charm and a publicly cultivated reputation as one of Italy’s most envied bachelors.

But 18 months ago all that came to a very public end. He was found near death in a coma from a cocaine and heroin overdose, in the apartment of a 54-year-old transsexual prostitute named Patrizia. It was front-page news in every major newspaper — including the one owned by his family.

Jeff Buckley Dies Young, Lives Forever

In life, rock stars are fallible, capable of recording a bad album or being arrested for some unsavory violation you'd rather not know about. But when one of our heroes dies young, they're elevated to immortal status. The musician is canonized for their finer qualities, while their personality flaws or artistic misjudgments are forgiven. Tupac and Jim Morrison come to mind. Both were good rock stars made great in death. Of course, in some cases the worship is warranted. There's no doubt that Jimi Hendrix revolutionized the way everyone plays the electric guitar. Meanwhile John Lennon's terrible assassination did nothing to change his legendary status. But unlike other dead rock stars, with numerous albums and world tours under their belts, Jeff Buckley was a relative newcomer to celebrity when he passed away in 1997. His death was made all the more tragic when you learn about his father, Tim Buckley, who tragically died of a heroin overdose in 1975.

*Diplomacy, Not War, With Iran*

By Bill Richardson
Saturday, February 24, 2007; A19

The recent tentative agreement
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/12/AR2007021200086.html>
with North Korea over its nuclear program illustrates how diplomacy can
work even with the most unsavory of regimes. Unfortunately, it took the
Bush administration more than six years to commit to diplomacy. During
that needless delay North Korea developed and tested
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/09/AR2006100900111.html>
nuclear weapons -- weapons its leaders still have not agreed to
dismantle. Had we engaged the North Koreans earlier, instead of calling
them "evil" and talking about "regime change," we might have prevented
them from going nuclear. We could have, and should have, negotiated a
better agreement, and sooner.

As the International Atomic Energy Agency just confirmed, Iran has once
again defied the international community and is moving forward with its
nuclear program, yet the Bush administration seems committed to
repeating the mistakes it made with North Korea. Rather than directly
engaging the Iranians about their nuclear program, President Bush
refuses to talk, except to make threats. He has moved ships to the
Persian Gulf region and claims, with scant evidence, that Iran is
helping Iraqi insurgents kill Americans. This is not a strategy for
peace. It is a strategy for war -- a war that Congress has not
authorized. Most of our allies, and most Americans, don't believe this
president, who has repeatedly cried wolf.
( Read more... )

More Photos

After 'Invisible Man' by Ralph Ellison

Eyes Wide Open, With Stories to Tell

Jeff Wall’s large color transparencies mounted on electric light boxes fill 10 galleries at the Museum of Modern Art with a pulsating and purposeful, if slightly sedate, optimism. Alluring to the point of transfixion, the 41 works measure as much as 10 feet high or 16 feet across. These are outright gorgeous, fully equipped all-terrain visual vehicles, intent on being intensely pleasurable while making a point or two about society, art, history, visual perception, the human animal or all of the above.

"You and I and the Next War"

"WE ARE ready for the next war," a reserve soldier told a TV reporter
this week, on the scene of a brigade-size maneuver on the Golan Heights.

What war? Against whom? About what? This was not stated, and not even
asked. The soldier saw it as self-evident that war will break out soon,
and it seems that he did not particularly care against whom.

Politicians are used to expressing themselves more cautiously, in words
like "If, God forbid, a war should break out…" But in Israeli public
discourse, the next war is seen as a natural phenomenon, like tomorrow's
sunrise. Of course, war will break out. The only question is against whom.

AND INDEED - against whom? Perhaps Hizbullah again?
( Read more... )Bush and Olmert and the Next War - HELP!

/By Patrick Seale/

/Saudi Gazette, February 24, 2007/

/ /

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appears to be an intelligent,
well-intentioned woman who, like a number of her predecessors, would
genuinely like to make a personal contribution to the cause of
Arab-Israeli peace. But after no fewer than eight visits of the region,
she has failed to advance the peace process by the tiniest of tiny
steps. Why?
( Read more... )