Daily Political Wire 4-18-2010

George Wenschhof

Yesterday, President Obama canceled his trip to Poland to attend funeral of President Kaczynski and his wife - this was due to the volcanic ash cloud that lingers in Europe after a volcano erupted in Iceland. Reuters.com has more here.

It will be interesting to follow the emergence of the new government and military leadership in Poland resulting from the horrific plane crash which killed many of the top leaders in Poland. The U.S. had a good relationship with the former leaders, who had agreed to allow the U.S. to deploy missiles within Poland as part of a planned missile shield. Russia has been totally against the deployment of U.S. missiles in Poland, even though they were for defensive purposes. Stay Tuned...

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Former President Clinton responds to conservative talk show host Russ Limbaugh - in an interview with ABC reporter Jake Tapper on "This Week". Clinton recently warned that the overly heated debate in politics today could incite violence when he attended the anniversary of the Oklahoma city bombing. Limbaugh responded that "any future acts of violence would be on Clinton's shoulders". ABCNews.com has more and a short video from the show here.

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appearing on NBC Meet the Press" - discusses the need for financial reform that includes regulating the derivatives market and other protections for the consumer to ensure future government bail outs are never needed.

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Obama administration weighs options for future U.S./Iran policy - global decisions are nearing concerning sanctions against Iran until they open up to the world their nuclear program for inspection. The NY Times is reporting that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has sent a memo to General James Jones who is National Security Adviser which discusses future U.S. options should the sanctions be unsuccessful in curbing Iran's development of nuclear weapons. The NY Times has more here.

Meanwhile, Iran convened on Saturday, their own nuclear summit held in Tehran with representatives from 60 countries attending. Some who also attended the recent nuclear summit held by the U.S. were Russia, China, Pakistan, Turkey and France. TheHill.com has more here.

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Climate and Energy bill expected to be introduced this week - long discussed but held up in the Senate due to the rancorous debate on health care reform. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) are expected to introduce a bipartisan bill. Politico.com has more here.

Also, 16 nations are expected to attend an international forum on energy and climate hosted by the U.S. this week.

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