For a majority of President Obama’s 2nd State of the Union address foreign affairs were only brought up in relation to domestic economic or social issues. For instance, the US was ‘falling behind’ South Korea in education and Europe in infrastructure… The focus on domestic issues should not be a surprise as Obama has already […]
Every speechwriter knows that when a politician needs a speech, there are certain key words and phrases to hit on. In the case of the President of the United States, they are usually things like “hope” and “challenge” and “promise.” There is also the seminal standby: reaching across the aisle to work with (fill in […]
Yesterday the Associated Press ran an interesting article on President Obama’s plans to increase engagement with Africa in 2011. President Barack Obama is quietly but strategically stepping up his outreach to Africa, using this year to increase his engagement with a continent that is personally meaningful to him and important to U.S. interests. Expectations in […]
Peter Feaver of Shadow Government has penned (keyboarded?) a provocative analysis of coming dilemma facing President Obama and his forthcoming Afghan war decision. Feaver first recalls the candidate Obama’s rhetoric on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, reminding us all how hawkish the future president sounded on Afghanistan. Feaver than discusses how some things have […]
The news of Richard Holbrooke’s sudden death engulfed diplomatic circles in Washington with an ineffable sorrow. His condition was reported critical but stabilizing a day earlier, as his doctors hoped for a slow recovery after a lengthy surgery to repair a tear in his aorta. But 69 year old Richard Holbrooke could not survive. Holbrooke, whose forceful style […]
The discovery of a drug tunnel, no matter how long it may be or how lavishly outfitted–even the seizure of millions in coke or marijuana–means nothing, unless it leads authorities, in hot pursuit on both sides of the border, up the criminal hierarchies, to the drug lords, and their corrupt accomplices in the police, military, banks, business, and government. To everybody waiting, in Mexico and the US, for their ‘taste.’
As expected, Obama’s maiden visit to India this weekend has been a success. President Obama struck all the right notes, and the First Lady charmed India as she danced with children. The highlight of the visit was Obama’s address to the joint session of the Indian Parliament on Monday where he endorsed India’s permanent membership […]
It was obvious a year ago that the 2010 midterms were going to be about domestic issues, specifically the economy, jobs, and health care. But it was hard to predict just how little foreign policy, the Afghanistan war included, would play in this political season. The war in Afghanistan has to be considered the top […]
Cartel-on-cartel violence may offer Felipe Calderon and Barack Obama the political solution they need in Mexico, and give international stakeholders in the Mexican drug industry the break they need to get back to ‘business as usual’–generating billions in drug dollars, cash that, as it ‘gets cleaner,’ is transformed into capital by ‘legitimate’ investors who create billions more.
Just days before President Obama begins his India visit, the U.S.-Pakistan strategic dialogue is underway in Washington D.C. The talks would focus on the “strategic” relationship between the two countries, a euphemism for more aid money to Pakistan to fight extremists within its borders and help out the U.S. in Afghanistan. Even with almost no […]
My hometown paper, the San Diego Union Tribune, has been running a series of reports about the US war effort in Afghanistan that have provided a real service to our community. The weekly reports may not be groundbreaking, but they have provided its readers with a more in depth view of the situation, especially in […]
Senator Lugar is right–as he said in his speech, the United States should undertake a broad review of further steps the U.S. military and the intelligence community could take to help combat the Mexican cartels in association with the Mexican government.
And one of the first steps should be to review the Brownsville Agreement, and the NAFTA-induced, “hands-off” treaty that currently prevents the US, not just from initiating investigations into the debacle inside Mexico, but from investigating the murders of our own citizens on US soil.
In two separate articles, the Washington Post and the New York Times revealed that despite having prior knowledge of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the FBI failed to inform their Indian counterparts of the threats looming ahead.
The strangely bizarre and comical launch of Musharraf’s so called Muslim League (or whatever name he is using) forced me to examine Pakistan. And, believe me, this time; I really looked hard not only at today’s Pakistan but also at its short, but awfully tumultuous history. And, it is extremely distressing to realize that nothing, […]
