Steve Cook at the Council on Foreign Relations is one of the brightest minds on the Middle East. I rely on him for insights into the region — especially when I travel there.

In today’s New York Times, Steve writes an interesting opinion Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: Hearts, Minds and Hearings” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/06/opinion/06COOK.html?pagewanted=print&position=”>that Al Hurra should be transformed to Arab-world C-SPAN.

Al Hurra is the U.S.-backed television station who’s goal is to promote free speech and openness in the Arab world.

Summation: Read Steve Cook’s piece.