Richard Holbrooke Remembered For China, Bosnia, Afghanistan

Barack Obama, Bill & Hillary Clinton Pay Tribute to Richard Holbrooke at Memorial
President Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton and many others gathered at Washington’s Kennedy Center pay pay tribute to Richard Holbrooke at Memorial . Hmm, did they sell t-shirts at this memorial as well like the one earlier in the week that Obama attended in Tucson, AZ following the Jared Loughner shootings? World leaders gathered at Washington’s Kennedy Center Friday to honor the legacy of Richard Holbrooke, a legendary figure in the world of Foreign Policy and a forceful d...

Obama, dignitaries recall Holbrooke
President Barack Obama paid tribute on Friday to the “extraordinary life” of the late Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke, calling him a man who had secured his place in history long before he was called to serve in his final tour of duty - and perhaps the most difficult one of his career - on behalf of his country. “The list of places he served—the things he did—reads as a chronicle of American Foreign Policy,” Obama said at a moving memorial service for Holbro...

Giant of US diplomacy lauded by presidents, VIPs (AP)
WASHINGTON – President Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton have led tributes to the late Richard Holbrooke, lauding him as a giant of American Diplomacy who left his mark on history and helped thousands in conflict-wracked nations. More than 1,000 of Washington's Most Powerful players joined officials from around the world, including the presidents of Pakistan and Georgia, in paying tribute to Holbrooke Friday at a memorial service for the former Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan....

Giant of US diplomacy lauded by presidents, VIPs
President Barack Obama, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and former President Bill Clinton listen to speakers during a memorial service for Richard Holbrooke at the Kennedy Center, Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, in Washington. Holbrooke, Veteran U.S. Diplomat and Obama's Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died in December at the age of 69. President Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton have led tributes to the late Richard Holbrooke, lauding him as a giant of American Diplomacy who...

Darrell Issa proposes eliminating the green card lottery, again
The annual U.S. State Department-sponsored green card (diversity Visa) lottery awards 50,000 permanent resident visas to applicants from foreign countries. The Immigration and Nationality Act rules for the lottery are quite simple: you need only be a resident of a qualifying country and you must have the equivalent of a U.S. secondary school education. Last week, Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) proposed a change to the rules to restrict applicants to only those who graduate with a Masters or ...

Memorial for Richard Holbrooke
A memorial service is being held for American diplomat Richard Holbrooke. President Barack Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari are due to pay tribute along with Hillary Clinton and Kofi Annan. Mr Holbrooke died last month at the age of 69 following Heart Surgery. Play Strictly...Turkish style! Play Will this ship revolutionise the skies? Listen What is proper email etiquette? Listen Keanu Reeves is a closet cricket fan! This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web br...

Memorial service set for famed U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke
Washington (CNN) - The Kennedy Center will host a memorial service Friday for Richard Holbrooke, the Veteran U.S. diplomat who died last month after surgery to repair a tear in his aorta. The service will be attended by various dignitaries, including President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton. Pakistani President Asif Zardari will also attend. ...

Richard Holbrooke Memorial Service Live Stream
Watch as President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other dignitaries pay tribute to top U.S. diplomat, Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, who died last month after surgery to repair a torn aorta....

Diplomat Richard Holbrooke Eulogized
(NewsCore) - Presidents and politicians, celebrities and Diplomats, friends, Journalists, those he mentored and those he worked for all gathered at Washington’s Kennedy Center Friday to honor Veteran US diplomat Richard Holbrooke and celebrate his larger than life presence in their own lives. The two hour memorial for Holbrooke, who died December 13 at 69 following surgery on a torn aorta, seemed to bring out every facet of the “Holbrookian network” and place him at the center ...

Richard Holbrooke honored in Washington
The president described Holbrooke, who died Dec. 12 after collapsing during a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as a "leading light in the generation of Diplomats who came of age in Vietnam." He said Holbrooke's experience in Vietnam taught him both the limits and possibilities of U.S. power. The memorial was held in the Kennedy Center. Obama said it was appropriate because President John F. Kennedy's "call to service" inspired Holbrooke to join the Foreign Service after he gradua...

Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton Attend Richard Holbrooke Memorial Service
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Richard Holbrooke's Fitting Memorial Service
Hillary Clinton called him "my biggest Headache" but also an "inspiration," President Obama said Holbrooke “made a difference”—Howard Kurtz reports from a sparkling, humor-filled tribute that somehow matched the spirit of the man....

Martin Luther King Did Not Dream About War In Afghanistan
Robert Greenwald and our friends at Brave New Foundation (with whom we remain proud to be associated) have a new video as part of their Rethink Afghanistan campaign. This one takes a look at what Martin Luther King would think of the War in Afghanistan. Hint: He would not have approved. (V)irtually every reason given by King in his "Time to Break the Silence" Speech for opposing the Vietnam War would damn the Afghanistan War as well. King decried the awful willingness of his country to s...

A Bloody 24 Hours in Afghanistan
A man injured in bombing rests in a Kandahar city Hospital, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday. 17 Afghan civilians have been killed in only a 24-hour span, as homemade bomb devices likely intended for U.S. Soldiers and Afghan Police detonated against civilians in a day fraught with Explosions. —JCL Roadside Bombs killed at least 17 Afghan civilians in a 24-hour span, including nine people — a child among them — whose vehicle was torn apart by a powerful blast on Sunday a...

Pakistan lacks sound security strategy: think tank
By Michael Georgy Islamabad | Sun Jan 16, 2011 3:08am EST Islamabad (Reuters) - Pakistan gained ground against Militant violence in 2010, but urban "Terrorism" is a growing threat and Military success will not bring stability unless a comprehensive strategy is developed, a Think Tank said. A report from the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) to be released on Monday says the number of incidents of "violence and terrorism" in Pakistan fell by 11 percent in 2010 compared with the previous y...

Pakistan: Jihadists set fire to 14 U.S. and NATO fuel tankers
Our friends and allies in the Pakistani government either cannot or will not prevent this sort of thing from happening. "Pakistan Militants Set 14 US & NATO Fuel Tankers Ablaze," from Israel National News, January 15 (thanks to Weasel Zippers): A Pakistani government official on Saturday said that gunmen in the country's southwest set ablaze 14 tankers carrying fuel for United States and NATO Troops in Afghanistan. A driver was reportedly wounded during the attack.... ...

Iran fuel ban targets NATO but hurts Afghans
Some 2,000 trucks are stranded on the Iranian-Afghan border, Afghanistan's commerce ministry says, in a standoff which has run since early December, heaping more misery on civilians in the war-torn, impoverished country. Behind it all is Iran's desire to Strike Out at the international community over its disputed Nuclear Weapons programme and at Afghanistan over efforts to make peace with the Taliban, according to some analysts. NATO insists it does not use fuel which passes through Iran and tha...

Pakistan lacks sound security strategy: think tank
Islamabad (Reuters) - Pakistan gained ground against Militant violence in 2010, but urban "Terrorism" is a growing threat and Military success will not bring stability unless a comprehensive strategy is developed, a Think Tank said. A report from the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) to be released on Monday says the number of incidents of "violence and terrorism" in Pakistan fell by 11 percent in 2010 compared with the previous year. The number of Suicide Attacks fell by 22 percent to 68 ...

Saakashvili honors Lieberman for bringing 'Joe-mentum' to Georgia's cause
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is in town for the Richard Holbrooke memorial today at the Kennedy Center, honored Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) on Wednesday night for his support of Georgia following their 2008 war with Russia. In a dinner and ceremony held at the Georgetown Club, Saakashvili awarded Lieberman the Saint George's Victory Order, which is awarded to individuals who have significantly contributed to victorious battles. Previous American recipients include Holbrooke, Pres...

McKeon sees modernizing Chinese military as a top threat
As Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon takes the gavel of the House Armed Services Committee, defense observers can expect ample focus on what the new chairman considers a top threat: China’s improving Military. The California Republican on Sunday again mentioned China’s rapid military modernization effort as one of the United States’ top threats, ranking in the same class as the war in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. “Right now, I’d say probably Afghanistan is a pretty im

U.S. Empire Mocks Martin Luther King Day
I was watching the great Green Bay Packers game Saturday night, and at half time there was a presentation of colors. The honor guard was representing, we were told, the men and women in uniform who are protecting us in 177 countries around the world. 177 countries? As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., that one fact tells you how just badly we’ve failed to put into practice the vision of Dr. King. That fact of Troops in 177 countries confirms that we are still “a society go...

Hillary Clinton is proving that a feminist foreign policy is possible and works | Madeleine Bunting
Back in the heady days of 1970s Feminism there was an argument that once women achieved political power, there would be no more war. Margaret Thatcher and her Falklands war exploded that myth, and along with it any residual notion that women might do Foreign Policy differently from men. Indeed, it became a credibility requirement for any women with a senior foreign or defence brief to give a wide berth to anything with a whiff of being a woman's issue. Women had to work extra hard to look tough ...

Dampening the U.S.-China fireworks
By Emily Kaiser WASHINGTON | Sun Jan 16, 2011 4:03pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington this week may be the calm after the storm when it comes to economic relations between the world's two biggest economies. The last time Hu and President Barack Obama met face-to-face was at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Seoul in November, when Washington was on the defensive because of widespread criticism over the Federal Reserve's $600 billion bond-buying prog...

Hu: Dollar-based system from 'the past'
BEIJING, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- China views The Dollar-based world currency system as a "product of the past," President Hu Jintao said. Answering questions submitted by The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post before his state visit to Washington this week, Hu admitted "some differences and sensitive issues," but did not mention divisive matters like U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Questions about imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, China's growing naval power and alleged Chinese cyberattac...

Military doctrine, now forgotten, critical to Gulf War
Twenty years after the brief but bloody Gulf War, the United States looks back on a campaign that averted a second Vietnam as it braces for another potential quagmire in Afghanistan. Operation Desert Storm, a 40-day war that pounded Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait, was part of a Military doctrine spelled out by the most senior Military officer at the time -- General Colin Powell -- only to be forgotten decades later in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan. Scarred by a humi...