NEW: Ambassadorship to Russia goes political
“Going political” is a phrase used in the U.S. Foreign Service to indicate career diplomats’ frustration that yet another ambassadorship has been taken from them and given to a political appointee. For 20 years, the post in Russia has been reserved for professionals because of its difficulty and sensitivity — but that’s about to change…
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David Foster: Out of the studio, on to the stump
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Rob Lowe: Working for Uncle Sam
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Conan O’Brien: It’s show time
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Tim Robbins: Player power
Cybill Shepherd: A very Cybill affair
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Vojislav Kostunica: The new statesman
Ted Olson: Trying, crying times
Colin Powell: ‘I am on the president’s agenda’
Condoleezza Rice: Political punch in a package of charm
Nicholas Kralev and photographer Astrid Riecken traveled to Bulgaria in October 2009 as part of a trip to Eastern Europe, which also included Germany and Poland, to produce a special section in the Washington Times on the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall.
American carriers can relax — their freedom to fly anywhere in the European Union is no longer threatened by Washington’s refusal to allow foreign control of U.S. airlines. That was the biggest news from last week’s agreement to expand the 2007 U.S.-EU Open Skies accord.
When the deal was first negotiated, carriers from both sides of the Atlantic were permitted to fly between any two cities without the previous government restrictions. However, those rights could have been lost next year, unless European companies could own controlling shares in U.S. airlines. Although that hasn’t happened, the EU agreed on Thursday to extend Open Skies indefinitely.
“It’s a big win for us,” said John R. Byerly, the top U.S. negotiator and deputy assistant secretary of state for transportation affairs. “There was a cloud hanging over the stability in the trans-Atlantic market, and now it’s gone. It was not an easy agreement. It took us eight rounds, beginning in the late spring of 2008″…
Continue reading about U.S. has ‘no desire’ to ease airline ownership rules
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