Suffice to say that on her current trip around the Persian Gulf Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is not having tea with President Ahmadinejad (this picture speaks a thousand four-letter words). However she did make time to sit down with Al Jazeera the Arabic-language news network that, over the years, has had hot and cold relationship (to put it mildly) with the U.S. No word on whether tea was served but the fact the U.S. secretary of state sat down with the mid-East media giant certainly demonstrates a level of official recognition (and respect) that was unimaginable eight years ago. From the Times piece on the meeting: (more...)

It's nearly impossible to be surprised by political hypocrisy on any level these days, particularly when you are talking about iron-fisted rulers of countries like Iran. But still, this is sort of funny, in an Onion headline sort of way: Apparently, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran has a blog. The WSJ reported yesterday that Ahmadinejad spends 15 minutes a week updating "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Personal Memos" where he "he goes to vent and stay in touch with the common folk." On the one hand this is particularly galling considering Iran's treatment of reporters and bloggers and its vicious crackdown on protesters last June who were desperately attempting to reach the world with news of what was happening through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. On the other hand, is it really a surprise? Of course a man desperate to control his own message is on the Internet. Next we'll discover he's also on Twitter. In fact some of his recent UN statements strike as very Twitterable, though perhaps not in the tone intended. Anyway, according to the WSJ the Farsi version of the blog has not one negative comment on it (the fact it allows comments at all is sort of amazing), no doubt Ahmadinejad either employs strict comment monitors or people are just too scared to say what they really think. The English-language version(!) apparently has plenty, though as of this morning I couldn't access so maybe its servers were unable to handle the excess attention. Stay tuned.

Complain all you want about Fox. Rage about the fact the White House has foolishly decided it's a smart idea to return Fox coverage fire with (White House?) fire. At least we don't live in Iran. (more...)

VIDEO Last night Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was on Larry King to look back at his week at the United Nations and talk about nukes, which he's hinting more and more that he'll have soon. The two also talked about Neda. Oh, and the Holocaust. (more...)

In an exclusive interview, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Time's Rick Stengel that America should back off from allegations about Iran's nuclear program. The interview was recorded in video, and is currently featured on the homepage of Time.com. Does this spell a new direction for the legendary news weekly? Or is it more likely the culmination of a long (and smart) evolution for Time? (more...)

Remember the days when newspapers were able to break big stories? Actually that day is today. Looked at the home page of the New York Times yet this morning? Wow. (Actually, the front page of the print edition is no picnic either, welcome back 2002!). (more...)

video Ann Curry sat down with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday for his first interview since the Iranian elections and the unrest in Iran — and got some revealing non-answers from him. Did he steal the election? "I don't know what you mean by that." Was there was any scenario under which Iran would develop nukes? "We do not see any need for such weapons." Were Iranian dissidents tortured? "It's possible. I don't have such information." What did he think about the death of Neda? "We're treating this as a suspicious death and we are very sorry about this. And I'm sure that the truth will come to light." And then there was this: "I don't know what you mean by 'no.'" (more...)