Vogue magazine had a bit of embarrassment when, just as the Arab spring protests got going, they featured a fawning profile of Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad. While the editors defended it at the time, the piece has now quietly disappeared from the magazine’s website.

I guess it says a lot about my general nerdiness that I’m more prone to read the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) annual report than I am to read Vogue. But, after seeing the big photo on page 9 of CFR President Richard Haass and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, I suspect I know how the Vanity Fair editor must feel. Just as Asma al-Assad was the humane face to a reformist regime in certain elite circles, Qaddafi became the symbol of successful engagement to Haass and his fellow realists. I wonder how that assessment is holding up and whether any copy editors are looking for a new job. (Ed. Note: An earlier version of this item mistakenly attributed Vogue‘s article to Vanity Fair. Our apologies.)