Celebrity Sighting of the Week

I was in Berlin attending a conference on arms control and disarmament, sponsored by the German Foreign Ministry and the German Foundation for Peace Research. For the most part, I found it well-organized. The panel topics were interesting, the speakers informative and approachable. There were a wide variety of experts from government, academia and the third sector, and I was impressed both by the number of American panelists as well as the number of women involved in security analysis and policy. I left feeling heartened by the possibility that a new American administration may be able to make meaningful steps towards elimination of nuclear weapons. The American news media are not alone -- the world, it seems, is already orienting itself to the 2008 election.

Since I realize not everyone will recognize my Celebrity of the Week, the conference's keynote speaker and a well-known figure in this field, I will give you a few hints under our picture together.


1) In Swedish, his last name is related to the word for lightning. (Thinking of reindeer might help on this one.)
2) Not only is he hansome, he is incredibly disarming in person.
3) You may remember an Iraq Commission that bore his name?

I was naturally disappointed that all he knew about Minnesota was the name Senator Norm Coleman had made for himself bashing Kofi Annan. Way to represent our state, Senator!