Steve,

On behalf of Atlanta, I thank you for the free Coke product placement though I seriously doubt that any soft drink will cause things to go better in Pakistan.

LOL....Linda, when I was drinking that Diet Coke, I wondered if anyone would notice. ;-) best,

steve clemons

Diet Coke is full of the poison aspertame (sp?) which was pushed through the FDA when Don the Donald Rumsfled was chairman of Searle, its manufacturer.

That stuff is poison.

In the interest of full disclosure: I drink exactly three sips of REAL Coke a day, but only with dinner ;-)

Better an additional pound a year than brain damage and cancer. GO SUGAR!

Steve -- when ARE you going to talk about Ron Paul?

Flummox -- I removed your comments because they were personally offensive to me and added nothing to this blog. For those who missed them, Flummox asked what my price was to stop blogging.

If you want to engage in that kind of banter, you aren't welcome here. If you want to comment on policy in serious ways and engage others with your ideas or views, you have my enthusiastic support to be part of this blog community.

But any more of the other type of commentary you offered today is not welcome.

best regards,

steve clemons

steve - thanks for doing the interview and posting the link. i'm finding much food for thought... which will require more time to chew on.

but, there is a quick question i have to ask first: did i hear correctly - that you, indirectly, called me an anti-american (at about 1:06)? was quite surprised, because i haven't seen or heard you resort to name calling before (indeed, i have only seen you argue against it). hope i misunderstood.

Steve -

This was a wonderful back and forth. It is not often in todays pundit media climate to have two individuals come at problems from different perspectives, and yet still find an under current of mutual respect. Surprise! Dialog without anger, raised voices or name calling. Just intellectual and nuanced discussion that informs and educates the listener. And that is why I am a frequent visitor to your blog, as I know that is what I will always receive.
thank you

from an expat

"For those who missed them, Flummox asked what my price was to stop blogging."

Heck, Steve, send him my way. Maybe he can make it worth my while to stop commenting.

Flummox -- I removed your comments because they were personally offensive to me and added nothing to this blog.

First Steve, thanks for taking the time to respond. Second, good. I'm merely performing an impression of Steve Clemons doing an impression of Kissinger-Nixon checkbook diplomacy. Perhaps it sort of grinds a little? I'll assume it did because you went to the censor lever in the extreme without what appears to be even the slightest consideration as to its relationship to the context of your discussion with Eli Lake nor simply asking the point of this sort of inquiry. But your reaction is not at all unreasonable. When folks feel offense, they often shut-down the communication or move into punitive action.

In my estimation, the key to these sorts of tactics is to understand how this sort of diplomacy and policy tactic may be met in the field where it is possible that a similar reaction to yours may occur, or worse. If it's a reasonable conclusion that Mr. Clemons find such unsolicited negotiations insulting, perhaps it's not unreasonable or implausible that others may find such unsolicited negotiations offensive, callow, banal, hollow and showing a complete misunderstanding or sensitivity to the nature of their culture, history, context, etc. Danegeld, though less option narrowing than wars tend to be, are not always the way to proceed through a negotiation with some folks. Success with this tactic is plausibly less than certain, and can create blow back scenarios with the potential magnitude of wars and terrorist events. I can't imagine this is news to a sophisticated, worldly guy like yourself, though. Parenthetically, I'm not talking about the Marshall Plan here, which was successful in acheiving a pacification of historically grumpy land grabbing peoples. I concede the beauty of the Marshall Plan. One size don't fit all, nor even most.

And finally, this time with a Banter Alert ... because why shouldn't one overreach in a finite lifespan, an observation: it appeared, or better stated, sounded, as if you had a bio-evacuation event around minute fifty seven? If so, that was outstanding and handled with great aplomb. I call that concentrated gravitas in its purist form. You might want to look into a Nasa porta-potty rig for these web-casts. And maybe hitting the mute button. On the other hand, this pundit technique might just trail blaze your way into regular appearances on cable news channels or a guest spot on a popular animated television show.

As always, best regards and keep the tedium to a medium...

Flummox -- good post. I apologize for taking down your first post. I actually didn't see the connection at all between my comments on the bloggingheads exchange and what you wrote. I see now that you were connecting my comments that we should be providing economic incentives (bribes) to warlords, etc. to turn them. I had no idea that was what you were connecting to. I was either dense when I saw it -- or it could have been clearer -- or both. I just thought you were on a different track.

In any case, interesting point....thanks for posting.

Steve Clemons