Biden Addresses Foreign Policy Priorities in Munich, by VOA News, 07 February 2009.

News is that they are reaching out to Russia, among other things.

I can't seem to find a transcript available to the public yet, even though one is mentioned by some media.

Also see Biden: Willing to Talk to Iran,

Iraqi Voters in Vastly Different Cities Share Desire for a Strong Central State

(Note: using the print edition headline, as it better describes the piece.)

"American U.N. Official Is Abducted in Pakistan"
By Salman Masood, Islamabad, February 2, 1:22 PM ET

A senior United Nations official was abducted and his driver was killed Monday morning in the southwestern city of Quetta...The United Nations identified the official as John Solecki, an American, who was heading the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province....
A Pakistani security official said that such a high-profile kidnapping was unusual in Quetta and that he believed that Mr. Solecki probably had been seized for ransom or by the Taliban....

I've just got this feeling that the Taliban will want to bait the Obama administration into making Afghanistan a more "top of the heap" topic; if this one is theirs and it doesn't work, they'll keep trying.

For further reading on background on the Pakistan internals and the tribal areas, I highly recommend

Syed Saleem Shahzad's just completed 4-part series for Asia Times: "ON THE MILITANT TRAIL," with reports from Peshawar, Malakand Agency and the Swat Valley.

from Sins of Omission: Help for the Beleaguered Homeowner, New York Times Editorial February 2:

...The senators had planned to make foreclosure relief part of the bill, by including a measure to let bankrupt homeowners have their mortgages modified under court protection.

But administration officials -- who say they support the bankruptcy fix -- rejected the idea of putting it in the bill out of fear that it would cause Republicans to delay or reject the package. So barring a free-for-all rewrite of the bill on the Senate floor, the fix is out and the relief will be postponed at least until the spring, when the measure could be attached to other legislation.

...The Obama administration has said that it plans to use a chunk of the bank bailout money, up to $100 billion, to provide foreclosure relief. That would be welcome, but it is not a substitute for bankruptcy reform....

Posting it simply because it's a clearer synopsis of "what's going on" than I have read elsewhere.