Foreign Policy Blogs

U.S. Foreign Policy

Has World View of U.S. Role Improved?

Has World View of U.S. Role Improved?

After several high profile trips abroad, many met with great popular interest and acclaim, we can now ask if President Obama has succeeded in improving the global view of the U.S. role in the world. The World Public Opinion group recently conducted a global poll on this subject: A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll finds that around […]

read more

Obama Encourages Change in Africa

Obama Encourages Change in Africa

Summer weekends can be rather distracting, so if you missed it, President Obama gave a historic speech during his visit to Africa and several websites have great coverage to get you caught up on events. The speech has been widely seen as an outline of U.S. policy toward Africa. I’ve been impressed the the coverage […]

read more

The U.S. & The Changing G8 Agenda

The U.S. & The Changing G8 Agenda

President Obama is joining the leaders of allied countries in the annual G8 Summit, this year hosted by Italy. The G8 is not a formal alliance, it was not founded by a treaty and it does not have a permanent headquarters. It’s merely an informal gathering to discuss major international issues and try to chart […]

read more

Summit Success?

Summit Success?

President Obama has completed his first ever Russia Summit dealing with The Big Issue. Actually, I guess the status of nuclear forces used to be The Big Issue, those days are gone. Still, I have to admit to a certain sense of expectancy at seeing the U.S. and Russian presidents meet to discuss nuclear weapons […]

read more

Michael Jackson & American Soft Power

Michael Jackson & American Soft Power

The popular news media is obsessing over Michael Jackson today with non-stop coverage of the memorial service in Los Angeles. I’ve never devoted any attention to celebrity news in this space and had not planned to consider it at all until I saw this Associated Press report. The report has me thinking about this in […]

read more

Visions of Nuclear-Free World

Visions of Nuclear-Free World

As President Obama heads to Russia to meet with the new and not so new Russian leadership to discuss nuclear arms control treaties, The New York Times offers this glimpse of the President’s vision for a nuclear-free world. I wanted to highlight this report because I’m rather interested in why the idea of a nuclear-free […]

read more

A Revolutionary Idea

A Revolutionary Idea

A friend forwarded me an e-mail, one of those that are making the rounds as the Independence Day holiday nears, you may have also received it. The subject is “The Price They Paid,” and it describes the high price that the signers of the Declaration of Independence paid for their rebellion. It relates what we […]

read more

A Tale of Two Posts

Today, a tale about what journalism has become, with implications for all those concerned with the weakening firewall between “news” and “message.” It’s a tale of  two Posts  — Washington and Huffington. A revolution is underway in the news media, one neatly illustrated by how these two competitive news gathering organizations — the Washington Post […]

read more

U.S. Withdraws from Iraqi Cities

U.S. Withdraws from Iraqi Cities

Today marks a milestone in the history of U.S. involvement in Iraq as the U.S. completes the withdrawal of combat forces from Iraqi cities. Will the Iraqi security forces be able to keep the peace? This report from The Washington Post reports that the withdrawal is off to a rocky start: At least 26 people […]

read more

New Envoy to Muslim World Appointed

In a sign of President Obama’s continuing outreach to the Muslim world, the State Department has announced the appointment of a new special envoy.  According to this BBC News report: The US State Department has appointed its first Special Representative to Muslim Communities. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Farah Pandith would play a leading […]

read more

Obama Speaks Out on Iran

Obama Speaks Out on Iran

President Obama held a news conference this morning in which he used some of his strongest language yet to criticize the recent Iranian election: The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I […]

read more

House Approves State Dept. Funding

House Approves State Dept. Funding

Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 (H.R. 2410) that provides funding for the State Department and the Peace Corps as well as oversight for new programs. As the the companion bill works its way through the Senate and the two versions get […]

read more

Film: Battle for Haditha

Film: Battle for Haditha

One of my fellow FPA bloggers has invited me to note a new film that may be of interest to the U.S. Role readership. Sean Patrick Murphy’s Global Film Review blog recently screened the “Battle for Haditha” film, directed by Nick Broomfield, and recommends the film as a dramatic and insightful portrayal of a roadside […]

read more

Supporting the Protesters in Iran?

I’ve been watching the election protests in Iran (see the dramatic video from BBC News below) and like many of you, I’m alarmed at how events have unfolded. The disputed election presents the U.S. with something of a challenge, Obama knows he will have to deal with whoever is eventually declared the winner, so like […]

read more

Pay to Play

As the slots get filled for new U.S. ambassadors, I have to modify my earlier praise:  too many sensitive overseas posts are being given to Obama fundraisers.  For every Carlos Pascual (veteran envoy now assigned to Mexico), there now appear to be several David Jacobsons (Illinois lawyer and Obama-Biden fundraiser set to go to Canada).  […]

read more