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Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note. Read his blog here. As the report by Clayton Swisher illustrates, many Israelis are ...

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Christopher Hayes, the Washington editor of the progressive magazine, The Nation, agreed that Obama had been "very clear" in laying out the basic structure ...

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... embarrassing for all sides and it's come out really well," Steve Clemons, a senior fellow and director at the New America Foundation told Al Jazeera. ...

Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation believes that if the death toll surges, the Obama administration will be open to criticism from political opponents.

"Sure, Obama will be attacked by those on the right, some on the left, abandoning people, are we doing enough to help restore civil society? Are we neglecting responsibilities we set up for ourselves?"

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Afshin Molavi, an Iran expert at the New America Foundation, a public policy institute in Washington DC, told Al Jazeera that the "Guardian Council is not necessarily an impartial arbiter here".

Molavi pointed out that the council's members are all appointed directly or indirectly by Ayatollah Ai Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, who has backed Ahmadinejad's victory.

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Once upon a time, soldiers did more than pick up a gun. They picked up trash. They cut hair and delivered mail. They fixed airplanes and inflated truck tires.

Not anymore. All of those tasks are now the responsibility of private military corporations. In the service of the Pentagon, their employees also man computers, write software code, create integrating systems, train technicians, manufacture and service high-tech weapons, market munitions, and interpret satellite images.

Afshin Molavi, an Iran expert at the New America Foundation, told Al Jazeera that the arrest and subsequent release had taken place in "a highly charged political environment". "At this particular moment, with elections coming up and a very open ...

Can Obama Take on the Pentagon?

Even saddled with a two-front, budget-busting war and a collapsing economy, President Barack Obama may be able to accomplish a lot.

With a friendly Congress and a relieved world, he could make short work of some of the most egregious overreaches of the Bush White House -- from Guantanamo to those Presidential signing statements. For all the rolling up of sleeves and "everything is going to change" exuberance, however, taking on the Pentagon, with its mega-budget and its mega-power, may be the hardest task he faces.