Syria Propaganda 101: How PR Firm Brown Lloyd James Polished the Regime's Image (Rogin)

The Assad family in Vogue, March 2011 (Photo: James Nachtwey)

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Brown Lloyd James's contract with the Assad regime, signed by BLJ partner Mike Holtzman and Syrian government official Fares Kallas, expired in March of last year, according to documents posted on the Foreign Agents Registration Act website. The firm had claimed its work on behalf of the Assads ended in Dec. 2010.

But in May 2011, BLJ sent another memo to Kallas and the Syrian government, giving them advice on how to improve their image and institute a more effective public relations strategy amid the exploding violence in Syria.

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US Politics Feature: Can Super-Committee "Get It Done" on Debt Reduction? The Signs Say No

The "Super Committee"Next Thursday, the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction --- the so-called Super Committee --- begins in earnest its search for $1.5 trillion or more in cuts to the national debt over the next ten years. Its first item, “Overview: Revenue Options and Reforming the Tax Code", will look at ways that the code can be simplified through the elimination of many tax "breaks" currently enjoyed by both individuals and corporations. No surprise there: proposals for tax reform, of varying scales, have been included in every deficit reduction plan that has appeared since the publication of the  Bowles-Simpson report in January, and both sides of the political divide have made noises over the past year that they are willing to consider changes in the way Americans are taxed to help stabilise the debt.

But that is as optimistic, for those who actually want to see the committee achieve its goal, as it gets these days in Washington. Already, the two political parties are staking the same rhetorical and ideological positions on revenues that soured the debt-ceiling negotiations back in July, talks that resulted in historic nationwide disapproval of politicians in Congress.

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US Politics Feature: Can a Senator Named Coburn Cut $9 Trillion from the US Government's Debt?

Washington has a notoriously Byzantine manner of getting things done, but if his new subcommittee is ordered to write out new legislation reforming the tax code as part of a super-committee deal, Senator Tom Coburn will wield enormous influence. After all, he has a comprehensive plan ready to go. If that is the scenario that ultimately plays out, it will be fascinating to see the response of special interests, business lobbyists, and advocacy groups --- can they maintain their hold over a Congress newly determined, and chagrined after the nation's credit downgrade, to begin finding a long-term solution to America's debt problem?

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Pakistan Snapshot: US Rejects 40% of Funding Claims from Pakistani Military (Entous)

Adam Entous reports for The Wall Street Journal about a latest sign of the tensions between Washington and Islamabad. Beyond the headline claims are even more interesting questions. For example, who in the US Administration, probably the Pentagon, fed Entous the story with the leaked documents and the interviews?

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Pakistan Latest: Tehrik-e-Taliban Kill More than 80 in "Revenge for Bin Laden Death"

Photo: AFPThe Tehrik-e-Taliban on Friday claimed their first major strike in revenge for Osama bin Laden’s death as more than 80 people were killed and at least 115 were wounded in a suicide and bomb attack on FC personnel.

“This was the first revenge for Osama’s martyrdom. Wait for bigger attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

It was the deadliest attack in the nuclear-armed country this year and came with Pakistan’s military and civilian leadership plunged into crisis over the killing of the al Qaeda chief by US commandos on May 2.

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