On the International News Front...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Blinks

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran (see photo) has announced today that he was releasing the 15 British sailors his country has held for over two weeks. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that he is elated by the news, but I am sure he is being cautiously optimistic in his response, since Ahmadinejad announced he was releasing the one female prisoner a week ago, but failed to do so. Both US and British officials have indicated that they will believe it when they fly out of Iranian air space. The President of Iran is calling it a "gift" to the British, but I have a difficult time interpreting it as anything but a blink. I have always seen Ahmadinejad as a crazy, not knowing the limits of his power. His response to this situation is actually a little encouraging. He blinked, something I didn't think he was capable or willing to do.

Nancy Pelosi as a Shadow Secretary of State

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is something of a shadow Secretary of State for the Democratic party, travelling to the tyrannical state of Syria and meeting with the President of that terrorist state, Bashar al-Assad. While President Bush and other western leaders have been trying to isolate this dictator, Pelosi has her own agenda and foreign policy with no regard to what the Executive Branch is pursuing. Diplomacy has always fallen under the Executive Branch, historically. This has become fashionable as of late, with Members of Congress doing their own diplomacy. The trend is dangerous, in my opinion, and creates a situation in which the US is sending confusing messages to the rest of the world.