People made homeless by cyclone Nargis shelter from the rain in Bogalay township area (Photo: EPA/STR.)

by Frank James

The military junta that leads Myanmar, also known as Burma, relented today and agreed to allow one U.S. cargo plane laden with relief supplies to land in the nation more than a week after a cyclone killed perhaps more than 100,000 people and made more than 1.5 million homeless.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe, speaking from Crawford, Texas where President Bush is preparing for his daughter Jenna's weekend wedding, admitted that one plane load wasn't much considering the staggering need in Myanmar. But at least it was something.

While the Myanmar government is allowing in supplies, it's still refusing to let U.S. relief workers into the nation.

Here's Johndroe's exchange with reporters:

Q Gordon, on Burma,/Myanmar, that first flight that gets in, that's scheduled to get in on Monday, can you say a little bit what that's going to be carrying, whether it's going to be -- what kind of materials are being sent?

Chinese paramilitary police patrol a street in Lhasa in China's Tibet Autonomous Region Thursday, March 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

by Frank James

Sen. Hillary Clinton wants President Bush to skip the Olympic Games' opening ceremonies in Beijing this summer to protest China's political crackdown in Tibet and China's failure to more actively pressure the Sudanese government over Darfur.

Bush has said recently he plans on atttending and now that Clinton of all people has called for him not to, that's likely to cement his resolve.

For her part, Clinton stops far short of calling for a complete U.S. boycott of the games, a la President Jimmy Carter in 1980 when he announced a complete American boycott games then to punish the Soviet Union for invading Afghanistan.

That was a public-relations disaster which ruined the event not just American athletes but sports fans and the media. Rooting for Canada just didn't cut it.

So there's little political appetite for a similar boycott of this summer's games. Clinton makes it clear in her statement that she's not going there:

Americans will also stand strong and root for the success of American athletes who have worked hard and earned the right to compete in the Olympic Games of 2008.

Here's her complete statement:

Kosovars dance and celebrate the newly-independent Kosovo in Pristina on February 18, 2008. (Armend Nimani/AFP/Getty Images)

by Matthew Hay Brown

President Bush recognized the Republic of Kosovo today, congratulating President Fatmir Sejdiu on having taken an “important step in your democratic and national development” a day after the former province of Serbia declared independence.

“On this historic occasion, I note the deep and sincere bonds of friendship that unite our people,” Bush wrote in a letter released by the White House. “This friendship, cemented during Kosovo’s darkest hours of tragedy, has grown stronger in the 9 years since war in Kosovo ended.

“Kosovo has since worked to rebuild its war-shattered society, establish democratic institutions, hold successful elections for a new government, and foster prosperity,” Bush wrote. “As an independent state, Kosovo now assumes responsibility for its destiny. As in the past, the United States will be your partner and your friend.”

The United States joined Britain, France, Germany and Turkey in recognizing the new Balkan state, which has been administered by the United Nations since a NATO bombing campaign drove out Serbian forces in 1999. The majority of Kosovars are ethnic Albanians; most are Muslims.

China and Russia, which have issues with separatists within their own borders, have expressed their disapproval. As permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, either could block the fledgling state from gaining a seat in the General Assembly. Serbia, meanwhile, withdrew its diplomats from Washington over U.S. recognition.

Last stop:The resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh, on the Red Sea. Photos by Silva

by Mark Silva

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt – All along the route of President Bush’s six-nation, eight-day tour of the Middle East, the president has promoted what the White House calls, simply, “the freedom agenda.’’

Bush has pressed this agenda – articulated during his reelection inaugural address as a contest between democracy and tyranny – in Saudi Arabia, where women can neither vote nor drive. He has promoted it in Kuwait, where women only recently were given the vote – Bush met there with a roundtable of Kuwait women. And he has promoted it in Bahrain, which elected its first woman to parliament, still the only one, two years ago.

“In my country, we speak of these developments as the advance of freedom,’’ Bush said during his signature speech of the trip, staged in the economically and socially advanced Gulf port of Abu Dhabi. “Others may call it the advance of justice.’’

Here in Eqypt, as Bush pursues a vision of peace in the Middle East, the president will meet today with the leader of a nation that once lost and then ceded this portal of the Sinai desert and peninsula. President Hosni Mubarak also has ruled here for the better part of three decades, only recently opening elections to rival parties and securing reelection with nearly 90 percent of the vote.

The White House – publicly, at least -- maintains that it has found a welcome reception to its message in a series of private sessions which Bush has held with leaders from Jerusalem and the West Bank of Israel to his final stop here in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Yet, when pressed about this, the leaders of the least democratic nations along the president’s path have employed the most diplomatic terms possible to change the subject.

Bush arrived in a suit, leaves with a robe. Photo by Silva

by Mark Silva

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - President Bush arrrved for dinner at King Abdullah's tent tonight wearing a floor-length, fur-lined robe. And he gets to take it home with him.

The "tent" is actually a building with a tent-like roof, the pooler reports. Half the building was taken up by an enormous hall, lined on three sides by low arm chairs. The pool waited in a wood-paneled, marble-columned entry hall, its doors open to a front patio and, beyond it, a soaring fountain, bathed in soft bluish light.

The president arrived escorted by the king's son, Mutib, following two men carrying silver incense holders, which filled the hall with aromatic smoke. The president wore a full-length robe, with bluish-silver trim, and seemed eminently pleased. Only later, when he sat beside the king and took it off, did it become clear that the robe was lined with fur.

A Saudi said that the robe is called a farw. The president's aides, including Press Secretary Dana Perino, Communications Director Ed Gillespie and Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, followed in their own robes. One, State's Elliot Abrams, when asked by Newsweek, said he was allowed to keep it, suggesting these were gifts for all.

Good thing, becase it was cold in Saudi Arabia and overcast for much of Bush's two-day stay here -- in the 40s Farenheit earlier in the day.today. They had even predicted snow, unseen here since 1968, according to a minister. But no snow fell, and tonight the moon poked through in a clearing Riyadh sky.

Tomorrow, the president heads for Egypt, before heading home from this eight-day tour of the Middle East that started in Jerusalem, carried him to the West Bank with tours of Bethlehem and Galilee, saw Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Bush leaves Saudi Arabia without any promise of relief in gas prices and doubts about the future for peace in the Middle Eas -- see the Swamp below -- but he won't leave empty-handed. The robe will come in handy back home in the District of Columbia, where things have gotten pretty chily, politically speaking.

Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali I. Al-Naimi: The U.S. and Saudi are longtime allies, but Riyadh will not boost oil production for Washington. Photos by Mark Silva -- and one of Mark Silva

by Mark Silva

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – President Bush, entering another round of private meetings with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia today, plans to argue that the price of oil is not only hurting the American economy, but also having an impact on world trade.

Yet the oil minister of Saudi Arabia, addressing reporters here today, maintained that this nation which holds the world’s greatest reserves of oil will not increase production based on the demands of one customer – albeit the world’s largest consumer of oil, the United States. Instead, minister Ali I. Al-Naimi said here, Saudi Arabia will adjust its production according to the interests of maintaining “stability’’ in the world oil market.

Bush, also addressing reporters during his two-day tour of Saudi Arabia, said he understands the pressure oil prices place on the American household and would warn the king of this nation that has grown wealthy with its vast reserves that any economic slowdown in the U.S. would result in less oil purchased.

“Demand has outstripped supply,’’ Bush said.

“We will raise production when the market justifies it. This is our policy,’’ Al-Naimi said. Asked about the potential impact of prices on the U.S. economy, he said: “A recession in the U.S. is very significant to the oil market and demand… I’m sure that no one would look with pleasure upon a recession in the U.S.’’

Asked about gasoline prices – and asked particularly whether Americans might ever see anything below $2 per gallon in the future, the bespectacled and soft-spoken oil minister said: “That is an excellent question, but let me tell you what happened to the last guy who tried to predict prices… If I knew the answer to that question,, I would be in Las Vegas rather than here.’’

At the Saudi oil minister's press conference: Mark Silva and newfound friends. Photo by Jon Ward of the Washington Times, with thanks.

The Emirates Palace. Elton John plays here on the 22nd. Photos by Silva

The Emirates Palace hotel, site of President Bush's address today on freedom. Photos by Mark Silva and updated with speech

by Mark Silva

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – President Bush, standing in the heart of the oil-rich and monarchic Gulf states with a direct appeal for freedom and democracy, called on Arab allies to stand with the United States against the perceived threat posed by Iran.

"Today, your aspirations are threatened by violent extremists,'' Bush told an invited audience in the theater of the most opulent hotel in the world. "These extremists have hijacked the noble religion of Islam… They hate freedom, and they hate democracy.

"“Iran is today the world’s leading state sponsor of terror,'' Bush told his audience. "It sends millions of dollars to extremists around the world, while its own people suffer… at home.’’

Iran finances the militant Islamic organization of Hamas, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, the Taliban, Shia militants in Iraq, the president said. "It seeks to intimidate its neighbors with ballistic missiles and bellicose rhetoric…. Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere.

Bush was delivering his signature speech of his Middle East tour today -- pressing a message of democracy and economic advancement. And he could have not chosen a more opulent public setting for this address aimed at an audience of Arab leaders in an oil-enriched region: The Emirates Palace Hotel, where Bush is staying, a $3-billion edifice erected by the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

“I am honored by the opportunity to stand on Arab soil and speak to the people of this region,'' Bush said in the opening of his address. And then the president spoke directly of the threat which Iran poses to this region and the world.

The White House says the 302-room hotel is the costliest hotel ever built, with much of the interior décor marble and gold. A senior administration official says this is a fitting place to talk about democracy and economic developmen.

The White House also maintains that the president’s address here represents his most significant public statement in the region – the apex of an eight-day tour of the Middle East in which Bush is not only promoting his vision of a lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians, but also exhorting Arab leaders to support continuing pressure against Iran so long as it is developing nuclear power.

Host: Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

The central mosque in Bahrain, a chain of islands in the Persian Gulf which maintain their Islamic roots but have opened to Western trade -- drawing weekend-seeking Saudis in pursuit of a beer -- and have played host to the U.S. Navy for years. Photos by Mark Silva

by Mark Silva, and updated overnight

MANAMA, Bahrain -- President Bush became the first sitting American president to visit this wealthy island nation that serves as home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet today, part of a five-nation tour of Arab states seeking support for U.S. policies in the region.

"I am really honored to be the first U.S. sitting president to have visited your country,'' Bush told the king upon his arrival today. "Perhaps I should say, it's about time.

"The American people have a long friendship with the people of Bahrain,'' Bush said. "For decades, Bahrain has welcomed the United States Navy -- and is now home to our Fifth Fleet.''

And, if the U.S. faces hurdles with its Middle East policy in other Arab quarters, this international trading post and Westernized Gulf state is highly supportive of Bush's push for peace between Israel and the Palestinians -- government ministers said here that they also support sanctions against Iran for nuclear development, though the U.S. should refrain from "sabre-rattling'' in its public approach toward the the Iranians.

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Hhalifa told Bush here that this "is a historical opportunity to see the realization of your vision for the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state, side-by-side with Israel, a a time such a vision is being demanded by world's conscience.''

OId and new: Downtown Manama features some striking skyscrapers, angular buildings and some that evoke the image of sails on the shores of this Gulf city.

"Two years ago, I was pleased to sign legislation that strengthened our friendship and our relationship with the free trade agreement with Bahrain -- it's America's first such agreement with any nation in the Gulf,'' he said. "This agreement is helping to pave way to freer and fairer trade between our countries -- so we can create jobs and opportunity and hope in both our lands.

"Our two nations share a common vision for the future of the Middle East,'' the president said. "Through our alliance, we share the burdens and risks of maintaining security, as well as defending freedom throughout the region. We also believe in the power of democratic reform.'

This nation, Bush noted, has held free elections since 2000 -- and in 2006 elected a woman to parliament. "Bahrain's reforms are making your nation stronger,'' Bush said. "You're showing strong leadership, and you're showing the way forward for other nations.''

Bush has come here to speak of his vision for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, as well as his concern about what he perceives as the continuing threat posed by Iran. There is a first-class Iranian restaurant in the hotel where the press is stayng, and the government is throwing a reception for the press this evening. So there may be little news here for now.

Simply new: With free trade comes Western icons.

by Matthew Hay Brown

While condemning “in the strongest terms” the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Amnesty International warned Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf against using the attack as a pretext for further repression – and urged the Bush administration to watch carefully.

“The killing of Benazir Bhutto must not be allowed to become a setback to civilian governance or indeed lead to a further crackdown on civil liberties,” said Catherine Baber, director of Amnesty’s Asia Pacific program.

The group has been highly critical of the Pakistani leader, and its American branch joined with other human rights groups this month at a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to press for reform.

While Musharaff heeded the U.S. call to lift the state of emergency he declared in November, Amnesty said, the organization remains “deeply concerned” that the U.S. government has not made an “unequivocal call” for the restoration of an independent judiciary and the lifting of restrictions on the media.

“Pakistan is at a dangerous crossroads,” said Alex Arriaga, Government Relations Director for Amnesty International USA.“If it cannot rely on an independent judiciary, some of the most dangerous aspects of martial law will become enshrined in its legal and political system, leaving the people’s human rights in the balance.

“The United States government must press its ally, which has used the ‘War on Terror’ to justify its actions, and put an end to this slippery slope,” Arriaga said. “Without these steps, the Bush administration will further acquiesce that fundamental rights can be denied, and those who oppose Musharraf are likely to face intimidation – or even death.”

by Matthew Hay Brown, updated

Congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle say the murder of Benazir Bhutto must not slow Pakistan’s progress toward democracy.

“The assassination today of former Prime Minister Bhutto is not only a tragedy for her family, loved ones and millions of supporters, but also a severe blow to real democratic reform in Pakistan,” House Democratic Leader Steny H. Hoyer said in a statement today. “Madam Bhutto was committed to democratic principles and it is imperative that the cause she championed continue to move forward.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Bhutto’s bravery “stands in stark contrast to the cowardice of those who remain committed only to chaos, murder and thwarting democracy in Pakistan. It is our expectation that President Musharraf and the Pakistani people will go forward with free and fair elections.”

House Republican Leader John Boehner called the attack “yet another reminder that we must remain vigilant in standing against the enemies of freedom in Pakistan and around the world to ensure that their efforts to thwart democracy will once again fail.”

“Pakistan has been a vital ally of the United States,” Boehner said, “and a strong relationship with a stable, democratic Pakistan is important to our success in seeking out and defeating Islamic extremism in the Global War on Terror.”

by Matthew Hay Brown

While Washington debates whether it should talk to Iran, one Maryland congressman has already struck up a conversation.

For the past year, Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest has been meeting with Iranian officials and business leaders to talk about ways to improve relations between the United States and the Islamic republic that President Bush put in his Axis of Evil.

With the recent release of a U.S. intelligence report concluding that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program four years ago, he now sees an opportunity.

"You get this kind of momentum, we will begin a dialogue with Iran," the Eastern Shore Republican said. "If it's not in this administration - although I think it's possible - you will see a change in policy so that the next administration will have a better opportunity to openly discuss issues with the Iranians."

That's been Gilchrest's goal since a private meeting last autumn with Iran's envoy to the United Nations. The three-hour session with Ambassador Mohammad Javad Zarif was the start of a continuing effort by Gilchrest, a former Marine who had come to regret his 2002 vote to authorize the use of military force in Iraq, to develop relations with the country that some believed the White House planned to attack next.

Read the rest of the story in today's Sun

by Matthew Hay Brown

President Bush will follow up on last month’s Annapolis Conference in January with a visit to Israel and the West Bank, the White House said today. Bush is scheduled to meet separately with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The visit to Israel will be Bush’s first as president, and the first by a U.S. president since Bill Clinton visited in 1998. Bush also plans stops in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt during the trip from Jan. 8 to 16.

“This visit will follow up on the progress made at Annapolis in helping Israelis and Palestinians to advance their efforts toward peace,” White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said this afternoon in a statement.

Perino said the trip would “also be an opportunity to reaffirm the enduring commitment of the United States to the security of our allies in the Middle East … The meetings with leaders will allow for discussions of developments in Iraq, the challenges presented by Iran, regional security, ecomomic ties, and relations between the United States and these close allies.”

Bush’s visit with Saudi King Abdullah will be the first since the ruler pardoned the gang-rape victim who was convicted of being alone with a man who was not related to her and sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes.

Before the pardon, Bush told reporters that he thought of his own daughters, and said “I’d be angry at a state that didn’t support the victim.” He added that Abdullah “knows our position loud and clear.”

by James Oliphant

Against improbable odds, Chris Dodd did it.

Earlier today, the leader of his own party, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), pushed a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act renewal bill to the floor. Reid had selected a piece of renewal legislation voted out of the Senate Intelligence Committee rather than the version of the FISA bill passed by the Judiciary Committee. And the Senate followed Reid's lead by voting in favor of cloture to cut off debate on the bill.

All throughout the day, Judiciary Democrats such as Dodd, Edward Kennedy, and Russ Feingold took aim at the bill, even as Reid professed his hope that the Senate would pass the FISA bill today, in advance of its holiday adjournment. Dodd, a margin-of-error presidential candidate, vowed to filibuster the FISA bill on the floor if it granted large telecom companies such as Verizon and AT&T immunity from civil lawsuits for allegedly cooperating with the government. The Intel Committee bill did just that.

by Frank James

Fresh off his trip to Oslo, Norway to accept his Nobel Peace Prize for his role as the world's best-known Cassandra on global warming, former Vice President Al Gore was in Bali, Indonesia where he spoke to a United Nations climate conference today.

Gore took his nation, i.e. the Bush Administration, to task for being the leading obstacle to a new climate change agreement to supersede the Kyoto Protocol which is widely viewed as having been ineffective.

Here's an excerpt from the Associated Press's story:

The former vice president urged delegates to take urgent action to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, and told them that the next U.S. president will likely be more supportive of international caps on polluting gases.

"My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali," said Gore, who flew to Bali from Oslo, Norway, where he received the Nobel Peace Prize for helping alert the world to the danger of climate change.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore speaks during the Nobel ceremony at the City Hall in Oslo, Monday, Dec. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/Odd Andersen)

by Mark Silva

Al Gore today recalled reading his "own political obituary'' seven years ago tomorrow -- he found in it "a judgment that seemed harsh and mistaken.''

Yet "the unwelcome verdict'' of the U.S. Supreme Court in the disputed Florida presidential election of 2000 also served as a "painful gift,'' the former vice president said today in accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. It was the gift of an opportunity "to search for fresh new ways to serve my purpose,'' he told his audience in Oslo today. "That quest has brought me here.''

Citing Winston Churchill and Robert Frost, Henrik Ibsen and Mahatma Gandhi, Gore proclaimed today that the Earth has a "fever'' and said "our world is spinning out of kilter.'' Yet too many political leaders are choosing to ignore "the planetary emergency'' of global warming, said Gore, citing the tonnage of pollution spewed anew into the atmosphere each day.

And it is primarily some of the biggest polluters -- the United States and China -- that are ignoring the implications of unchecked pollution, Gore said.

It has been 15 years since Gore carried this message to an Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and 10 years since he made the case in Kyoto. Now, as he heads to another international climate conference in Bali this week, the Nobel Prize winner is calling on world leaders to ratify a new treaty that caps emissions by the beginning of 2010.

"Now comes the threat of climate crisis -- a threat that is real, rising, imminent, and universa,'' Gore said in accepting his prize. "Once again, it is the 11th hour. The penalties for ignoring this challenge are immense and growing, and at some near point would be unsustainable and unrecoverable. For now we still have the power to choose our fate, and the remaining question is only this: Have we the will to act vigorously and in time, or will we remain imprisoned by a dangerous illusion?''

by Matthew Hay Brown

It isn’t every day a Republican leader takes to the Senate floor to ask: Why can’t America be more like France?

But with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in town, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the United States could learn much from the European nation long derided by American conservatives.

“The French people surprised us by electing a free-market reformer, then they surprised us again by electing a center-right parliament that could get his ideas through,” the Kentucky Republican said. “Some of those ideas, like cutting the top tax rate, have gone through. The winds of change are clearly blowing through France.”

And it isn’t just France, McConnell said.

“Over the past few years, the Old Europe model of big government and bloated entitlements has shown signs of cracking. Germany elected a reformist chancellor from the Christian Democratic Party. Canadian conservatives rebounded under Stephen Harper after near extinction.

“Even the socialists are admitting their mistakes. The Socialist former prime minister of France, Lionel Jospin, shocked his fellow countrymen when he blasphemously declared that ‘The state cannot do everything.’ And in Italy, center-left Italian Premier Romano Prodi announced in July he would raise Italy’s retirement age from 57 to 61.”

Times clearly have changed since Gallic opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq led cafeterias across America to rename their French fries, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld dismissed France and Germany as “Old Europe,” and supporters of President Bush dismissed John Kerry as “too French.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy before a joint session of Congress, November 7, 2007, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Robert Byrd looking on approvingly. (ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images)

by Matthew Hay Brown

Thirty-seven hundred words, and not one of them the four-letter one that has divided France and the United States.

In his address to Congress this morning, French President Nicolas Sarkozy led lawmakers on a tour of the Greater Middle East that spanned from Afghanistan through Iran and Lebanon to Israel. But the unabashedly pro-American conservative tiptoed right past Iraq, where French officials and citizens alike have opposed the U.S. invasion and occupation.

“We may have differences, we may disagree on things, we may even have arguments, as in any family, but in times of difficulty, in times of hardship, one stands true to one’s friends, one stands shoulder to shoulder with them, one supports them, and one helps them,” Sarkozy told the joint session, as rendered in the official translation.

Thus dispensing with any allusion to the war – which Sarkozy also has opposed, although not as vocally as his predecessor, Jacques Chirac – he focused his remarks on the historical friendship between the two nations, and areas for future cooperation.

Among these, he named Afghanistan, where he said France would “remain engaged … for as long as it takes;” Iran, whose development of nuclear arms he called “unacceptable;” and the Holy Land, where he said France “wants security for Israel” and “demands that there be a state for the Palestinians.”