Let me throw my support behind Ezra Klein's analysis that "Elevating Biden suggests that the Obama campaign has decided to have an argument...an argument about which set of ideas is better for the future of the country. And in Biden, they've engaged at the point of greatest vulnerability and opportunity for Democrats: National security."

So what would a Biden national security argument look like? I think it's fair to call Biden a committed multilateralist; his actions and words over his long Senate career shows strong (but not uncritical) support for the United Nations, international law and diplomacy. I also think it's fair to say that his commitment to working with our allies and through international institutions is not born from ideology, but pragmatism. His words and deeds suggest that he supports the United Nations not only for its own sake, but because it is in American self-interest to do so.

Consider the lines of the following argument, published on UN Dispatch last year, in support of legislation he sponsored on the somewhat arcane subject of American arrears to the United Nations.

Ten years ago, I stood on the floor of the U.S. Senate to introduce a bill, which eventually became known as the "Helms-Biden law", to authorize the payment of nearly $1 billion in back dues to the United Nations. Securing its passage was a hard-fought, but worthwhile, initiative.

Unfortunately, we are again in arrears to the UN. For over a year, we have not been paying our full contribution for its peacekeeping operations -- missions in places like Lebanon, Sudan, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kosovo -- that advance our national interests while sharing the human, political and financial costs of peacekeeping with other nations.

The Peacekeeping arrears -- $117 million to date -- are due to an outdated cap which prohibits the U.S. from paying more than 25 per cent of the United Nations' peacekeeping budget. However, the UN is billing us at just under 27 percent (a reduction from 31 percent, negotiated by U.S. Ambassador Holbrooke in 2000, under the terms of my legislation). If we continue to let the arrears stand, these critical missions could suffer, the nations who have been contributing their troops as peacekeepers might begin to balk at future requests, and our standing to press for further UN reform will be diminished. This is why I introduced a bill to correct the cap problem and pay our arrears, S. 392, which the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved on June 27.

Ironically, while our arrears are rising, the importance of UN peacekeeping is rising too. If the UN didn't conduct these missions, we might have to -- at a much higher financial cost and burden on our over-stretched military. Our yearly dues to UN peacekeeping, which support missions in 18 conflict zones, are just over $1 billion -- less than the cost of a week in Iraq, and less than 0.5 percent of our entire Defense budget.

The UN 'blue helmets' are literally on the front lines in conflicts that are the worst of the worst: protecting civilians, monitoring cease-fires, clearing mine fields, and disarming combatants. We vote time and again in the UN Security Council, and rightfully so, to support these critical missions -- and our financial support should be in harmony with our policy. We can not, in good conscience, continue to shortchange these operations.

Supporting increased funding for United Nations peacekeeping is a pretty thankless task. It tends to be a subject about which the political right can get pretty riled, while the middle and the left generally do not take notice. But Biden is not passive about his support of the United Nations. He embraces it. The photo above, for example, is one of only five photos in the Senator's press kit.

I, for one, am greatly looking forward to the rest of this campaign. With Joe Biden on one of the tickets, we can expect a passionate and articulate defense of engagement and international cooperation before a very large audience. Here's hoping that the GOP will take a similar leap toward international engagement.

Center for American Progress President John Podesta and UN Foundation President Timothy Wirth write a joint op-ed in the Denver Post today on the promise and challenge of remaking the energy economy through smart public policy.

The technologies we need to begin this economic transformation already exist today, and the dollars will flow if we just change the rules of the energy game, rules that have favored the old ways of doing business with tax breaks, regulatory incentives, and lip service to alternatives, and stop using the atmosphere as a garbage dump for our emissions. As a first step, we must cap our emissions and put a price on carbon. The investments that will result from this decision will be a powerful stimulus for economic growth, competitive advantage, and new jobs -- good jobs in manufacturing, installation, and research, entry-level jobs and high-wage jobs alike.

[snip]

The Democratic Party platform recognizes the energy opportunity in its section on "Investing in American Competitiveness" -- but it does not go far enough. The size and urgency of this task require a president willing to make it the top domestic priority in the White House -- not pigeonholed as an energy initiative or environmental initiative or even as a security initiative, but made the centerpiece of his economic agenda. Indeed, it will demand that the president refocus the mission and responsibility of all relevant government agencies and convene them in a new National Energy Council in the White House.

The success of this year's candidates and next year's elected leaders will rise and fall on how they address the energy issue. Those who convey the scale and scope -- and opportunity -- of transforming our energy economy will succeed.

The two mention Colorado's good track record and leadership on renewable energy. I would be remiss if I did not use this as an opportunity to link to the excellent work of Fort Collins, Colorado based blogger Timothy B. Hurst, who chronicles Colorado's energy transformation at EcoPolitology and Red Green and Blue.

Blake gives a succinct breakdown of the parliamentary aftermath of Nawaz Sharif's withdrawal from Pakistan's ruling coalition.

Matthew Lee of Inner City Press walks us through the dueling Security Council resolutions on Georgia

The Beijing Olympics have ended. The U.S. won the most medals. China won the most gold.

The Democratic National Convention begins tonight. Stay tuned. Travis, our man on the ground, will be sending updates.

>>Georgia - President Mikheil Saakashvili announced on Sunday that he intends to rebuild Georgia's army and remains committed to keeping Abkhazia and South Ossetia under Georgia's flag. Today both houses of Russia's parliament voted today to request that President Medvedev recognize the independence of the two separatist enclaves.

>>Pakistan - The party led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has quit the governing coalition amid arguments over the reinstatement of judges dismissed by former President Musharraf and also who would be nominated as a replacement for the former President. Sharif claims that an earlier agreement had been reached to nominate a non-partisan candidate. The Pakistan People's Party has nominated Benazir Bhutto's widow, Asif Ali Zardari. Analysts believe it's unlikely that the government will fall.

• UN Plaza: Georgia Still on Our Minds
• Possible abortion ban to be enforced in Lithuania
• PSA From Our Friends at ONE

• Russia - An Uncertain Death Toll In Georgia-Russia War
• Russia - Blasts in Georgia Hit Train, 2 People
• Russia - US Navy arrives in Georgia to deliver aid
• India - India detains Kashmir separatists ahead of rally
• India - Kashmir Muslims defy India curfew
• India - Flood devastation in Bihar state
• Pakistan - Ten killed in militant attack in Pakistan's Swat
• Iraq - Iraq suicide bomb attack kills 25
• Iraq - 'Ill' Iraqi cleric courts press
• Kyrgyzstan - Plane crashes in Kyrgyz capital
• Ukraine - Ukraine vows speedier NATO bid
• North Korea - China's Hu in South Korea for talks on North
• South Korea - China and South Korea Agree to Expand Cooperation
• Zimbabwe - MDC wins Zimbabwe parliament vote
• China - US in attack on stifling of dissent
• Israel - Israel frees jailed Palestinians
• Afghan - Two Afghans Lose Posts Over Attack
• Japan - Japan's promised rice aid fails to emerge
• Guatemala - Ten killed in Guatemala small plane crash
• Mauritania - Mauritania coup a threat to Africa: president's son
• Sudan - Sudan 'kills refugees in Darfur'
• Serbia - Serbian village unveils Bob Marley statue as emblem of peace
• Niger - Explosion at Niger arms handover
• Somalia - Missing Somalia journalists named
• Georgia - US warship reaches Georgian port
• Mexico - Mexico City Struggles With Law on Abortion
• Myanmar - UN envoy fails to meet Suu Kyi