The New Yorker has a very interesting article about the egos of world leaders.

They describe Obama and his foreign policy team as being unusually evolved in this respect. These people don't seem to have too many unresolved psychological issues. They are post-therapy personalities; "they know who they are, they're not needy, they have it under control." They don't see conflict as the natural state of the world.

Obama is not into power struggles. They quote Richard Danzig describing Obama's personality;

“There is a degree of self-reflection, self-awareness, and psychological wholeness he arrived at after going through a period of working through his identity as the son of a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas. Having worked for two Presidents and with many Presidential candidates during the last thirty years, I have not seen one as psychologically well balanced, and as good about not injecting his ego into a problem.”

This seems extremely encouraging for American foreign policy in the 21st century. Obama's policy team believes that "the great issues of the future, like climate change, terrorism, and pandemic disease, cannot be solved through traditional means of nation-to-nation military and diplomatic dealings."

Read the story about a new age for foreign policy here.

Photo of Maitreya Buddha via ReefRaff

Elizabeth Hurley, age 43, usually comes across as very elegant and stylish. But this fit in this red dress seems over the top. Would you agree this is tacky cleavage extreme? In this photo she's at a gala at the Global Illumination Initiative at the London Tower. See the larger photos here.