Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"On Thanksgiving Day this year, I went to two dinners. I started out at a family dinner at the home of friends. There were sixteen at table: host, hostess, children, in-laws, mates, aunts, uncles, grandparents/great-grandparents – a real old fashioned Thanksgiving dinner.  My hostess is a brilliant chef, and non-pro, too. She started two days before, preparing three turkeys, making the stuffing, the pecan pies. Dinner was called for one. We sat down at one long table in the dining room about two, and by 3:30 people were finishing up. I went from there down to the Four Seasons restaurant where for the past several Thanksgivings, including last year, I had dinner with David and Helen Gurley Brown. David died earlier this year in his 94th year, and although he had been in robust health and professionally active almost to the end of his life, he had been ailing for about a year before he died. Helen had always arranged these dinner dates months in advance in the past. Because she hadn’t done so this year, I assumed her plans had changed and so I accepted the aforementioned dinner invite. However, Helen called me only a week ago, inviting me to join her for a date at 5 in the afternoon at the Four Seasons. I knew I wouldn’t be hungry but it was more important to be Helen’s guest under the circumstances." (NYSocialDiary)

"The documents promise to complicate U.S. diplomatic relationships worldwide - and also embarrass foreign leaders who are not used to having their candid views aired so publicly. The cables document Arab leaders' views toward Iran, which are generally more hawkish than their public statements. Saudi King Abdullah in April 2008, for example, told diplomats that the United States must 'cut off the head of the snake' to stop Iran's nuclear program. Such aggressive statements were echoed by other Gulf monarchs, including the leaders of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Other cables reveal U.S. officials' unvarnished view of domestic politics in countries throughout the world. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told French Defense Minister Herve Morin in Feb. 8, for example, that 'Russian democracy has disappeared and the government was an oligarchy run by the security services.' Other cables reportedly reveal the U.S. diplomats' deep concern with the Turkish government, characterizing the foreign minister as an 'exceptionally dangerous' figure with Islamist inclinations." (ForeignPolicy)