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Obama always seems to be walking the red carpet. Does anyone remember MSTAR posting about the symbolism of the red carpet at his old forum? I can't remember what his analysis was, but I'd like to know, if anyone here understands it.







Why Obama Doesn't Give Speeches From the Oval Office

Barack Obama sure does like that walk down the red carpet. To get to the East Room in the White House, where the president gave his speech last night, you can duck left after walking through the North entrance, or you can step out of the Diplomatic Reception Room and walk down the Cross Hall, framed by columns, gilt chairs, and that carpet (here’s a map).




A president sitting at his desk in the Oval Office is watching for the light on the camera to flash red, indicating that you are watching. He has been waiting for you. A president who walks down the Cross Hall chooses his entrance and makes you watch it. You are waiting on him.

Before the Diplomatic Reception Room had its present purpose, the room was where FDR gave his radio addresses. He had done something similar as governor of New York, but before his second such speech from the White House, a journalist at the Columbia Broadcasting System’s D.C. bureau introduced it as a “fireside chat.” Roosevelt did not dispute the name. Even for a president, the medium is the message. An “address” would have just been words from a wooden cabinet in the parlor.

Dwight Eisenhower gave the first televised speech from the Oval Office in 1957. It’s worth watching the first two minutes of a video of the speech to see how unfamiliar the format was at the time. Before he could talk about sending troops to Little Rock to enforce school desegregation, he had to explain that he was in his office. He had been staying in Rhode Island but felt that “in speaking from the house of Lincoln, of Jackson, of Wilson, my words would better convey both the sadness I feel today in the actions I feel compelled to make, and the firmness with which I intend to pursue this course.”

That style remained the standard for grave news; such a speech became known within the White House as an “Oval Office.” In a 2010 article for Congress & the Presidency, Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, who teaches political science at the University of North Texas, argued that presidents give these speeches when there’s bad news that they have some control over. That is, a president is not likely to give an Oval Office to say “the economy stinks” but rather, “the economy stinks, and I have asked Congress to unstink it.” A speech from the White House says, “I know you’re freaked out. But here I am in my office, doing something about it.”

George W. Bush liked set pieces—on an aircraft carrier, in Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans—but to announce the troop surge in Iraq at the end of 2005, he returned to the same stage Eisenhower had used. As with other presidents, he was flanked by pictures of his family on a credenza behind him—it’s kind of hard to tell, but there on the right, it looks like Jenna’s graduation from the University of Texas. The pictures are not facing him; they are facing you. My office is just like yours, they say. Also, I have the Marines.

Where Bush had two pictures, Barack Obama has kept five. Obama gave his first Oval Office address in June of 2010, after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Here I am in my office, doing something about it, the stagecraft signaled. To my left, note the black and white portrait from my wedding to Michelle. Obama broadcast from the Oval Office again in 2010, to announce a withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

But since then, he has preferred the East Room. Well, not the East Room, exactly, but the door to the East Room, framed by the hall. This is how he announced the death of Osama bin Laden, and then a reduction of troop levels in Afghanistan. And again last night on Syria. The East Room doorway setup looks like a press conference, and it has been used for that purpose in the past. The president is mic’d not at his chest, but at the podium; you get room tone, the echo of the hall. It looks and sounds like an open forum, a public appearance. Only there is no public.

Each time, the format is the same. Walk down the hall. Speak, centered at the vanishing point of the hall, drawing the viewer toward the center of the frame. Turn around, walk away. I am the president. You wait for me. I have said all I have to say, and now I am walking away. This is not my work. My work is back there. And I gotta get back to work.

Obama likely prefers the door to the East Room because he likes to stand. And because he likes to gesture, a choreography that’s difficult to pull off behind the battleship desk of the Oval Office. But it’s also possible that the Oval Office, which was set on fire this summer in two major studio movies, no longer summons for us the House of Lincoln. It is just as much the House of Sorkin now.

GENEVA (AP) — U.S, Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to Israel for a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a day after sealing a deal with Russia on securing Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles.

Kerry will make a brief stop in Jerusalem on Sunday to brief Netanyahu on the agreement as well as discuss developments in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Kerry met last week in London with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and had wanted to see both men before the annual United Nations General Assembly session that they are all expected to attend later this month.

From Jerusalem, Kerry travels to Paris for discussions about Syria on Monday with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and British Foreign Secretary William Hague. Kerry will also see the Saudi foreign minister in Paris.

Former prime minister Tony gets a £30m Blair Force One
In the past he has enjoyed travelling in private jets paid for by dictators such as Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Now Tony Blair is paying his own way with a £30 million jet of his choosing.The former prime minister has taken to criss-crossing the globe in a bespoke aircraft that comes complete with state room, lounge, kitchen and crew.
Precisely how frequently he uses the Bombardier Global Express is hard to discern, since flight records are kept secret. But certainly for the past month it has been Mr Blair’s preferred mode of travel.The jet, which comes with a distinctive black, gold and silver livery, is a prized find for plane spotters, who post sightings and photographs on the internet. It is reckoned among aviation experts to be the best long-range private jet on the market.
Mr Blair, 60, has been seen disembarking from the plane on three occasions this year, in Bangkok, Sardinia and New York state. The plane has also been spotted in Switzerland, Ukraine and Israel on dates that coincided with visits from Mr Blair.he plane’s owner is an unnamed businessman but Mr Blair has begun chartering it on a regular basis at an estimated cost of £7,000 for every hour it is in the air.
The aircraft can fly for 13 hours non-stop and has a range of about 7,000 miles. A single charter journey in the plane from London to Bangkok – where Mr Blair gave a speech in September – would cost in the region of £90,000.
On Sept 20, the plane was tracked departing Ukraine at 10.30pm UK time on its way to London, a 1,700-mile journey. Mr Blair had spoken earlier that day at a conference in Yalta arranged by Victor Pinchuk, a billionaire businessman and friend.
On Sept 2, Mr Blair gave a speech in Bangkok at a one-day conference on reconciliation. His arrival was greeted with protests over claims – subsequently denied – that he was being paid £400,000 by the Thai government to attend.
A plane-spotting internet forum noted the presence of the Global Express at Bangkok’s Don Mueang International airport on Sept 1 and its departure at 8am local time on Sept 3.
The plane-spotter noted with some acerbity: “The Globex transported God’s self-appointed representative on earth, HRH Tony Bliar, correction Blair.”
The plane was spotted a few days earlier in the Adirondacks in upstate New York on Aug 26 and 27. The local newspaper, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, reported that Mr Blair had flown into Adirondack Regional Airport.It reported: “Several people there in Lake Clear recognised him as he disembarked from a large black private plane decorated with gold and silver stripes.”
An airport worker told the newspaper: “We saw it was him with our own eyes.”
The plane landed on Monday Aug 26 and departed the next day, according to the newspaper.
A day earlier, on Sunday Aug 25, Mr Blair was photographed disembarking from the Global Express in Sardinia in the Mediterranean.
He had arrived from St Tropez where he had been reportedly hosted on a number of “super yachts”.
It appears that from Sardinia he flew direct to the Adirondacks, a distance of about 4,300 miles and a flying time of about eight hours. The flight will have cost in the region of £60,000.
The plane was also spotted at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on June 18. Mr Blair, who is a Middle East peace envoy, was in Jerusalem at the same time speaking at the annual Israeli Presidential Conference.There is no certainty that he travelled to Israel on the jet and the two events may be a coincidence. The jet was also pictured on the runway at Zurich International Airport in Switzerland on Jan 22 – coincidentally when Mr Blair was in the country for the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The event is attended by political and business leaders and it is conceivable that on that trip the plane was chartered by someone other than Mr Blair.
In office, Mr Blair’s government had considered plans for a prime ministerial jet – which had been dubbed Blair Force One – but the proposal was shelved on cost grounds.
Out of office since 2007, Mr Blair has enjoyed the use of private jets – albeit attracting criticism for flying in planes occasionally lent by dictators.
The Sunday Telegraph has previously disclosed how Colonel Gaddafi of Libya flew Mr Blair to Tripoli on at least two occasions in 2008 and 2009 on private jets, before his overthrow.
Mr Blair has also been given use of a plane by President Paul Kagame, the autocratic ruler of Rwanda and a friend of the former prime minister.
Mr Blair can now afford to hire his own private jet. He has made a fortune estimated at between £40million and £60million out of business consultancy work and an advisory practice for governments across the world, including oil or mineral-rich countries such as Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Mongolia.
He also advises governments in South America, including a multi-million pound contract in Brazil.
He owns at least seven houses, including a town house in London and a country estate in Buckinghamshire.
Accounts for one of Mr Blair’s companies, Windrush Ventures, reported a profit last year of £3.6 million and administrative expenses of £12.5 million. Much of those expenses will be racked up on travel and hotel bills for Mr Blair and a large number of staff.
The use of the Global Express jet allows the former prime minister to travel the world without the need for stopovers at hub airports. Its large size – it seats about 12 passengers as well as crew – enables him to accommodate police protection officers, who accompany Mr Blair wherever he travels.
The Global Express jet was built in 2006 and was registered with the Civil Aviation Authority in 2008, having previously been listed in the Cayman Islands. Its registered owner is Aravco Ltd, a company based at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire and which in turn is majority-owned by International Jet Club Ltd.
The company boasts that it “provides high-end management and charter services to ultra-high net worth owners of heavy jets”.A spokesman for Aravco said: “We do not discuss our aircraft or clients.”
Trevor Lambarth, Bombardier’s regional vice-president, who sold the jet in 2006, said: “Tony Blair does not own this plane. I sold the aircraft to the owner and what he does with it is his business.”
Mr Lambarth said the Global Express, of which there are about 500 in existence, was a top-of-the-range jet that comes configured with a state room at the rear, a lounge or conference area in the middle and a forward area that contains a galley kitchen and catering services.
The seats can swivel and lie flat while the state room comes with a large bed and a separate bathroom.
Emma Wilkinson, director of The Charter Company, an air charter brokerage firm, said charter arrangements and prices vary depending on deals struck when hiring a private jet.
She said that jets can be booked on a one-off, ad hoc basis for about £7,000 an hour or else block-booked for a certain number of hours over the course of a year. That brings down the costs.
She described the Global Express as a “wonderful aircraft”. “It has the range, the capacity and the luxury. It is Bombardier’s flagship and I will always rave about them,” she said.
A spokesman for Mr Blair said: “Taxpayers do not foot any part of the bill.”

Afghanistan's opium production surged to record levels this year - making a mockery of Tony Blair's key argument for invading the country.
Cutting the supply of heroin, which is made from opium, was one of the main reasons given by then-prime minister Mr Blair in 2001 for sending in British troops.
But despite international efforts over the past decade to wean the country off the narcotics trade, the May harvest of opium was 49 per cent higher than last year.
That month alone produced a staggering 6,060 tons of the drug, more than the combined output of the rest of the world, according to a U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report.

JFK vs. Empire, Interview with Anton Chaitkin

Murdoch's feud with Blair over wife Wendi: Friendship came to 'terminal' end over claims of 'multiple encounters' between ex-PM and tycoon's wife

"Rupert, hope you don't mind, but I did Wendi last night at your $20 million mansion in California?"

Rupert, hope you don't mind, but I did Wendi last night at your $20 million mansion in California

David Cameron has made another decisive break with the Conservative Party's past by admitting that Margaret Thatcher had been wrong to brand Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) "terrorists" during the struggle against apartheid.The Tory leader, who met Mr Mandela during a visit to South Africa last week, said: "The mistakes my party made in the past with respect to relations with the ANC and sanctions on South Africa make it all the more important to listen now. The fact that there is so much to celebrate in the new South Africa is not in spite of Mandela and the ANC, it is because of them - and we Conservatives should say so clearly today."

Writing in The Observer, Mr Cameron praised the former South African president as "one of the greatest men alive"