Last night’s presidential debate on domestic policy offered a brief preview of the upcoming foreign policy debates. When it comes to popular perception, China arguably embodies the threat to U.S. competitiveness more than any other country. Last night, only Mr. Romney brought up China, and his remarks include the following (transcript available here): My plan […]
This is a quick follow up to my last post and it continues the theme of foreign policy as a topic in the U.S. presidential election. We have previously noted that there is a perception that this election will focus primarily on economic issues (jobs!) and domestic policy (health care) with foreign policy a […]
Four Americans traveled to 14 countries to find out what ordinary people think of the United States. The responses were predictable: most professed admiration for Americans but vehemently disliked the United States government. There were few surprises in this documentary, which was filmed in “pre-Obama” time. The more touching scenes involve an Afghan woman who lost […]
Since coming into office as Secretary of State in 2009, Hillary Clinton has pushed an agenda of “21st Century Statecraft” to adapt foreign policy to the 21st century world. A major part of this agenda involves increasing and encouraging the use of connection technologies in foreign policy. The State Department is not alone in this […]
Foreign policy has come roaring back into a presidential campaign that pundits said would be devoted almost exclusively to economic issues. Since the Foreign Policy Association is a non-partisan group I will shy away from partisan spin, but there’s no denying the appeal of the renewed focus on foreign policy, and I’m certain […]
The protest and violence associated with a film highly offensive to Islam is sure to play an outsized role in foreign policy discussions for the rest of the presidential race. Mitt Romney’s initial reaction to the Obama administration’s handling of unfolding events—and the backlash against Romney that this criticism generated—was a topic of frequent, well-covered […]
Over the last several decades, a variety of movements have arisen in the Arab and Islamic countries–a radical nationalism (Baath socialist, Marxist, pan-Arab, and so forth) and a series of Islamist movements (meaning Islamic fundamentalism in a political version). The movements have varied hugely and have even gone to war with one another–Iran’s Shiite Islamists […]
Streamworks is a company that works with news media organizations and specializes in capturing video of news events to bring online live video to users faster and more accurately in near to real-time. Streamworks has just announced it is the streaming partner for the United Nations. As a result, Streamworks will be utilized to stream all of […]
I’m saddened by the murder of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, his colleague Sean Smith, and two other colleagues. It’s especially vexing that they should have been killed by Libyans after the role the U.S. played in liberating Libya from the dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Perhaps the Libyans weren’t thinking about that when they […]
It is difficult to find words as the anniversary of 9/11 arrives again. The inclination is strong to sum-up, to summarize in some way the distance covered, as if distance somehow lends better perspective on the attacks of 9/11. Last year I wrote a blog post calling for reflection and renewal and I think that […]
If you would like to work for the State Department, you can now consider going to cooking school and then joining the American Chef Corps, launched on Friday. According to the Washington Post, …more than 80 chefs are being inducted into the first American Chef Corps. These food experts could help the State Department prepare […]
Like many of you, I’m eager to see how the candidates and their supporters will discuss foreign policy at the Democratic Convention (DNC) and the Republican National Convention (RNC). Over the past month, as a result of Mitt Romney’s overseas campaign trip and Paul Ryan’s entry into the race, major news outlets and the blogosphere […]
While a bit outdated, this documentary addresses the practice of spinning acts of war to be more palatable for citizens of the United States in the last half century. Every United States president has said he wants peace and that war is only used as a final option. That couldn’t be further from the truth. […]
As we approach World Humanitarian Day, there’s something I’d like to note. Something very interesting that happened last week, something the U.S. did to help another country, but something so scarcely reported it almost flew beneath the mainstream news radar. As you may know, Iran recently suffered two large earthquakes. Amid continuing American concerns about Iran’s suspected nuclear […]
The Olympics have finally concluded. These 2012 London Olympics will be remembered in many ways: NBC’s recorded coverage, Michael Phelps, Gabby’s 10,000 watt smile, 100 foot tall Voldemort, Usain Bolt, and British rock band after British rock band performing with strange props. It was an inspiring couple of weeks, and I enjoyed watching these amazing […]