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World dispatch -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US thinktanks give lessons in foreign policy Brian Whitaker reports on the network of research institutes whose views and TV appearances are supplanting all other experts on Middle Eastern issues Monday August 19, 2002 A little-known fact about Richard Perle, the leading advocate of hardline policies at the Pentagon, is that he once wrote a political thriller. The book, appropriately called Hard Line, is set in the days of the cold war with the Soviet Union. Its hero is a male senior official at the Pentagon, working late into the night and battling almost single-handedly to rescue...

They are officially known as Rudy Giuliani's senior foreign policy advisory board, but they also could be dubbed something else: Neocons For Rudy. As in neoconservatives, the Republican faction that many see as among the most potent forces of Bush-era Washington - a well-funded, sharply analytical bunch that provided the ideological basis for invading Iraq and is now training its cross hairs on Iran. ---snip--- Giuliani's neocon roster includes Norman Podhoretz, a founding father of the movement; Charles Hill, a former foreign policy official for President Ronald Reagan and early backer of invading Iraq; Martin Kramer, an expert on Islam...

Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani is packing his campaign staff with Middle East Hawks – including one who urges a U.S. military strike on Iran. Giuliani recently announced he had assembled a "team of foreign policy advisers featuring several prominent neoconservatives, including one of the movement’s founders, Norman Podhoretz,” the Jewish publication Forward reported. Giuliani’s advisory panel also includes several figures with experience in Israeli affairs, Forward noted. His chief foreign policy adviser is Charles Hill, who once served as political counselor to the American Embassy in Tel Aviv. On the panel as well is Martin Kramer, an expert on Islam...

"Stop laughing. It's not funny." Those were the solemn words of Jerry Seinfeld during his visit with David Letterman in his effort to rehabilitate the image of his co-star, Michael Richards, aka "Kramer." Richards, as you know, flipped out at an L.A. comedy club and began screaming racial epithets at some black patrons. It was an ugly scene captured on video, and the actor has been apologizing ever since – doing his public penance for a truly shameful exhibition. Watch 'Kramer' grovel on Letterman show The "act" has ignited a national debate on the use of the "N-word." But, having...

Weekend Talk Show Preview - Analysis for August 12th and 13th, 2006On the shows this weekend I'm most interested by Vali Nasr, on CNN, and Ken Mehlman, on Meet The Press.  I think we'll learn more about the events in the Middle East from Nasr and more about the coming campaign from Mehlman than all of the other guests, combined.  Nasr is an expert, from Iran, on the issues of conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.  I actually view this as our best hope of winning the coming world war.  Just as Communists and Nazis joined forces to start World...