President Obama held his second prime-time news conference last night, the White House transcript can be found here. The President fielded questions on a wide variety of topics, including his budget and economic recovery plan, health care, race in American politics, and foreign policy. On the topic of foreign policy, I was glad to see […]
U.S. leadership of the global financial system has been called into question by the global economic crisis. In the latest chapter of this ongoing story, China has proposed the creation of a new international reserve currency to replace the dollar. According to this report in The New York Times: In another indication that China is […]
After a series of provocative incidents between U.S. and Chinese naval vessels in international waters, China released a statement denying a naval buildup in the South China Sea: China has no plans to beef up its naval presence in the South China Sea following a confrontation earlier this month between Chinese boats and a U.S. […]
For all the brainpower that Barack Obama has brought to Washington, the only senior official with the right touch for articulating policy via the media seems to be the President himself. Last week he scored big in two TV firsts — a taped for broadcast greeting to Iran and an appearance on Jay Leno’s Tonight […]
I thought this op-ed by Fareed Zakaria on the Post Global blog was a nice rebuttal to Kagan’s “there’s been no change in U.S. foreign policy” argument, though with a clear cautionary note on what he sees as the continuing dangers of an imperial foreign policy. I would question whether his criticism on that point […]
The Washington Post reports that, “The U.S. government welcomed moves by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to restore the former chief justice of the Supreme Court. Zardari faced increasing pressure from a broad coalition of opponents who demanded the reinstatement of Pakistan’s independent judiciary.” This is significant because instability in Pakistan threatens, “to upend a […]
Last week ended on an optimistic note for the U.S. stock market, prompting renewed optimism that the U.S. economy will lead the world out of the global recession. Is optimism warranted? According to this report in The New York Times, investors indeed may be on the verge of dispelling the cloud of gloom and doom […]
I’ve discovered a new book to put on my reading list. If you can imagine a book about power, a book that offers advice for the U.S. on how to use power, and a book that is written in the spirit of Machiavelli’s classic The Prince, then Power Rules by Leslie Gelb may be of […]
Last week I mentioned the efforts to reset U.S.-Russian relations and so I’d like to follow up by relating a somewhat amusing incident that happened when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a symbolic reset button. Apparently, the translators at State made a small error in translating “reset” into […]
Would you agree or disagree with the following statement: Foreign policy under President Obama represents a major departure from the foreign policy of the Bush years. In this op-ed in The Washington Post, Robert Kagan, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, questions whether President Obama’s foreign policy initiatives have been the […]
Thanks to Vice-President Biden, “pressing the reset button” is now the new catchphrase for describing U.S. – Russian relations. How that button gets pressed is the topic of breezy as well as in-depth analysis from any number of popular publications. This BBC News report offers a topical breakdown of U.S. – Russia relations, focusing on […]
The United States is continuing to act as a Mideast peace broker, with Secretary of State Clinton making her first visit to the region and setting the stage for what will inevitably be many future visits. This AP report notes that her visit has raised expectations for the “two state solution” while signaling that the […]
Now is the time for all good men — and women — to come to the aid of public diplomacy. I have in mind citizen travel to countries that, until recently, were off-limits to Americans, like Iran, Libya or Syria. Or Cuba, the only country that Americans need a “license” from their own government to […]
In a presidential address (text, video) to both houses of Congress, President Obama tonight sought to reassure the American public and the world at large that the financial crisis was being dealt with efficiently and comprehensively. I was not surprised that the address barely touched on foreign policy, after all, the focus was meant to […]
The news out of Philadelphia is that there is no news — no newspapers, that is. The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News have joined the swelling ranks of American print media that have gone bankrupt. Last month, it was the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. Late last year, the Los Angeles Times and Chicago […]