According to human rights attorney, Bob Amsterdam, who appeared today on the Montel Williams show on Air America, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent a clear message to Iran, in her hour long appearance on Meet the Press Sunday. “It was a strong and unmistakable benchmark” that America is holding a nuclear umbrella over them. Clinton, speaking directly to Iran in her remarks, said in no uncertain terms that any attempt by Tehran to create a nuclear weapon would be met with the full ire of the United States and its allies. Said Amsterdam, Clinton was also probably hoping the Israelis were listening. “She’s trying to keep them calm,” while the State Department pursues its diplomatic strategy with Tehran. The Clinton appeal to Iran, might have been in vain, however, since Ahmadinejad, who just tried to arrange for a couple of moderates to work in his government, which might have signaled a softening of belligerence, was immediately rebuffed by the Grand Ayatolla Khomeni. Not much progress there.

Appearing prior to the Montel interview on the Lionel show on Air America, Amsterdam discussed the orchestration of the return of ousted Honduran president Zelaya by the vehemently anti-American Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. “Chavez is supplying the planes, the cars, the press for Zelaya, hoping to create a scenario for his restoration to power. But he’s keeping attention on something that should have been resolved a month ago and keeping the focus off of what he's doing in Caracas, destroying freedoms. Chavez should realize that he has extracted all the benefits from this that he can.” Will Zelaya be arrested if he returns to Honduras? “Well, as soon as you arrest him you turn him into a martyr...What we need to do is seize the opportunity to work with Lula in Brazil and construct a new relationship so that South America and Washington can move forward working in cooperation.”

Cronkite: my first interview

My first interview as a newly minted reporter was with Walter Cronkite when I was so inexperienced as a journalist I did not know what an interview was.  After graduating from college I spent a year working for the editors of Look Magazine but not getting a chance to write.  I was advised by the Managing Editor, Pat Carbine, that to get a big time New York or Washington reporting job that I had to go out into the country somewhere and build a portfolio. I did just that.  By pure happenstance I got hired as the feature editor of the newspaper in Aspen Colorado at the end of a ski vacation there.  I had gone to pick up my clothes at the cleaners and sadly informed the lady behind the counter that I was going to return to New York the next day and look for a job as a journalist.  "Why dont you stick around," she said. "I'm having drinks with the editor of the paper in about ten minutes."  An hour later I was hired to be the new feature editor of the paper.  I started the next morning.  "Go over to the Aspen Inn and interview Walter Cronkite," I was instructed.  "He's in town."  Dutifully I went.  When I got to his hotel I called upstairs on the house phone, suddenly panicked that I had no idea what an interview was.  After two rings, the big man himself answered.  I explained that I was a new reporter at the local paper and had been assigned to interview him.  "Come on up," he said.

Now I was perspiring and petrified.  When I knocked on the door there was no time to collect myself.  Walter Cronkite opened the door and beckoned me to enter.  I had to confess immediately to this icon of the media universe that I was brand new at this profession and had no idea how to do an interview.  The superstar CBS anchor could not have been more pleasant or understanding.  "Come on out here on the balcony and we'll just talk.  All you have to do is ask me questions."  "Well, what are you doing in Aspen," I asked thinking it to be a stupid question.  "Perfect," he said.  "I'm here to dedicate the new library you're looking at right over there." He explained that he had been coming to Aspen for years and was a familiar figure to the locals so they picked him to cut the ribbon.  An hour later we were still talking about his experiences as a journalist and skiier and I had my story.  As I left Walter Cronkite that afternoon I felt newly baptized into the industry by the best of the best and touched that this extraordinary man who was the most trusted journalist in America had taken time to teach me his trade in such a kind way. "Keep in touch," he said shaking my hand.  I'll look forward to watching the trajectory of your career.  As the years went on and I was assigned by the New York Times or Women's Wear Daily to cover a presidential campaign or candidate, or to cover the State Department for CNN,  I frequently crossed paths with Cronkite.  I felt that my mentor and role model was proud that my first ever interview was with him and that I had gone on into a lifetime of journalistic successes thanks to the confidence he had given me that day overlooking Aspen Mountain.  We developed a lifelong friendship that involved dinners and family weddings and my total devotion.  I will never forget Walter Cronkite,  a giant of a human being and one of the kindest men I have ever met.  My prayers are with his family.

Honduran coup and counter-coup

We normally do not find ourselves applauding military juntas. In the case of the Honduran military's overthrow of Zelaya, however, the coup may be justified. President Zelaya had boldly ignored the condemnation of his own party, his congress and his supreme court, all of which called for his ouster. Zelaya had been following the clarion call of his mentor, Hugo Chavez, in his quest to toss out the constitutionally mandated term limits on his reign as president. Chavez had been coaching Zelaya on how to bamboozle the public into believing he was on the right and then quietly transform himself into a left wing autocrat and change the constitution to allow himself to stay in power, essentially accomplishing a coup and making it look democratic. As international human rights attorney Bob Amsterdam pointed out on Air America's Lionel show this morning, "we need to understand that he was acting in violation of the orders of his own supreme court and was acting in an unconstitutional way. There are tremendous forces in Latin America opposed to the interests of our country. We live in a globalized world and the Iranians and the Russians are trying to pressure US activities and policies in Latin America. We are working on a much larger chessboard than we're used to seeing."
Bob also spoke about President Obama's Moscow summit today. The Russians are much more anxious for a nuclear deal than the US because they are cash strapped, the Putin model is broken and the Russian economy contracted by 9% in the first quarter.