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Allow me to re-introduce the stars of DiploTweets.  You may have noticed that we've revamped our DiploTweets feature on the right side-bar of the home page and interior pages.  As the name suggests, these are (English language) Twitter feeds from some of the world's top diplomats and their new media mavens.  Also included are feeds from the extended family of international and inter-governmental institutions.   

In case you had not noticed, posting has been somewhat light here the past few days. This is not because there is a dearth of UN and global affairs to cover.  Rather, we are implementing some major, major changes to UN Dispatch which will become operable next week.  You are going to love it.  Trust me.    

A special thanks to Lindsay Beyerstein for her excellent photography work.  Check out more photos of the  event on Flickr. 

Matthew Yglesias at the podium. To the right: me, Ray Offenheister, Anita Sharma, Ginny Simmons

Enthused audience member. 

President Obama came to office promising “the millennium development goals will be America’s goals.” But the global economic crisis now threatens to undermine those goals. Gains in the fight against global poverty and hunger have begun to stall or even reverse. What can the Obama administration do to reinvigorate the fight against global poverty? How can advocates most effectively make the case that meeting the needs of the global poor ought to be American foreign policy goals? What policies best work for addressing global poverty?

These questions and more will be discussed in an interactive panel discussion with Gayle Smith, Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director for global development, democracy, stabilization and humanitarian assistance issues at the National Security Council;* Ray Offenheiser, President of Oxfam-America; Anita Sharma, North American coordinator for the United Nations Millennium Campaign; Matthew Yglesias, fellow of the Center for American Progress and moderated by Mark Leon Goldberg of the global affairs blog, UN Dispatch. 

* Unfortinately, Gayle can not make it. We are grateful to have Virginia Simmons of the ONE Campaign on the panel to discuss her work in mobilizing online communities to fight global poverty. 

A pat on our own back as UN Dispatch makes Foreign Policy's list of top 100 "twitterati."  Peter and I also made the list, but arguably the best Twitterer in the UN Dispatch family is Alanna.  You should definitely follower her.   

I'll be talking about this week's Congressional hearings on Sudan and the Obama administration's internal debate over the direction of Sudan policy on WDEL Radio in Delaware.   Folks outside the DelMarVa penninsula can tune in here at 12:15 eastern time.

Hey Folks. Quick site announcement.  I'm very pleased to introduce to the site Alanna Shaikh. (<---- That's Alanna!)  Regular readers may recogognize Alanna from her participation in our New Agenda for Women and Girls roundtable.  Deeper still, mavens of the blogosphere know Alanna for her excellent work on Change.org's Global Health site and her own Blood and Milk blog.  Alanna's an American living in Dushanbe, Tajikstan who has had a fascinating career working with a number of health-related development organizations in Central Asia and the Middle East.  Welcome aboard! 

Folks living on the DelMarVa Penninsula (pictured left, courtesy of World Atlas) can catch me on WDEL 1150 am News Talk Radio at 1245 eastern standard time.  Those around the world can listen online.  I'll be chatting about the Obama administration's response to the crisis in Sri Lanka.  But you guys already know my feelings on that, right?