Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: President Obama

Vietnam Hedging by Dredging in the South China Sea

Vietnam Hedging by Dredging in the South China Sea

Hanoi has been actively fortifying its key holdings in the Spratlys, including the construction of a runway, tunnels and bunkers to defend its territory against China.

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U.S. Warns China Against an Exclusion Zone

U.S. Warns China Against an Exclusion Zone

On Wednesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work warned Beijing against declaring an exclusion zone in the South China Sea, calling any potential announcement as “destabilizing,” and vowing the United States would not recognize such a zone.

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Countering the Sunni-Shia Divide

Countering the Sunni-Shia Divide

As Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) officials meet with President Obama at Camp David, their lobbying efforts are revolving around one question: In the event of a nuclear deal with Iran, what will the U.S. do to counter the Islamic Republic’s influence in the Middle East?

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Common Problems Subverting Obamacare and U.S. Foreign Policy

Common Problems Subverting Obamacare and U.S. Foreign Policy

The management flaws now coming to light in the implementation of the president’s signature domestic achievement have long been evident in the foreign policy realm.  As I argue in a new essay on Fair Observer’s website, the White House’s policymaking machinery is overly insular, centralized and politicized. Dana Milbank, the Washington Post columnist who is generally supportive of Mr. […]

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President Obama Decides Time is Right for Climate Change Plan

President Obama Decides Time is Right for Climate Change Plan

As immigration legislation is prodded through the U.S. Senate then likely to collect mothballs in the U.S. House of Representatives, and major Supreme Court decisions are announced, the executive branch has garnered a portion of the headlines. Ready to take on another challenge, President Obama laid out his plan to combat Climate Change – a […]

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Well, what are we going to do with those cyber baddies

Well, what are we going to do with those cyber baddies

U.S. Congressman Mike Rogers chairs the House of Representatives’ panel on intelligence, which this week overwhelmingly approved a new cyber security bill designed to enhance data sharing between the government and private industry to protect computer networks and intellectual property from cyber attacks. Yet the day before it passed, Rogers had a more novel idea […]

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Obama’s Moment to Make the Case for Middle East Peace

Obama’s Moment to Make the Case for Middle East Peace

If it were easy to do, an American president would have long ago shepherded Israelis and Palestinians into the negotiated two-state peace agreement that both peoples and their neighbors so clearly need — a peace that would greatly enhance U.S. interests.

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Obama Comes to Town

Obama Comes to Town

U.S. President Obama is no stranger to Southeast Asia having spent parts of his childhood in Indonesia and returning several times to the region as Commander-in-Chief. And now, fresh off his reelection to the highest office in the land, President Obama will travel to the region next week on a three-country tour culminating in the […]

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Afghanistan War Support and the Commander in Chief

Afghanistan War Support and the Commander in Chief

You may have heard that things are going poorly in Afghanistan. Is it true, maybe, maybe not. In either case, what you likely have not heard is any of this from President Obama. The President has spoken very little of the war in Afghanistan to the American public. From positive reports of progress to horrific […]

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Melson Out, Holder Digs In: 1700+ Violations of the Arms Export Control Act?

Melson Out, Holder Digs In: 1700+ Violations of the Arms Export Control Act?

Ok. Now we’re into it. Administration top dogs have thrown ATF Director Ken Melson and US Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke under the truck.In firefighting, they call it a ‘controlled burn,’ torching a perimeter of just enough man-made flame to meet and beat the advance of a wildfire impervious to less-drastic solutions.

Good luck, gentlemen.

The House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the DOJ/ATF gun-running operation known as Fast and Furious is roaring through the halls of Congress, and despite DOJ’s efforts to spin the story every which way but up, Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) are on a trail insiders whisper may lead investigators all the way to the top.

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Road to Deauville G-8: What's on the agenda?

Road to Deauville G-8: What's on the agenda?

THE ROAD TO DEAUVILLE, FRANCE 2011 G-8 SUMMIT: President Barack Obama arrives in Europe today beginning a six-day trip that seeks more resources to promote and support the pro-democracy movements in the Middle East’s Arab Spring, a trip to Ireland, an address before the British Parliament to “re-set’ US-European relations, and a G-* Summit in Deaville, Fr to discuss integrating Suub-Saharran Africa into the Global economic framework.

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We tried to get out…but Th(AEI)y Keep Pulling Us Back In

As the architects of the Iraq war remain holed up in this last bastion of neo-conservatism, AEI’s continued influence and Gates’ congruence to their guidance may come as a surprise to many, in an era of hope and change

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Despite Budget Impasse, US Military Will Get Paid…to Stay in Iraq Indefinitely

In his farewell tour of greater Mesopotamia, the Defense Secretary remarked that the US and Iraq would have to negotiate the terms of any American presence, while admitting that he had dreamed up at least a couple scenarios that might keep American forces in Iraq, perhaps indefinitely.

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Markets Muted On Military Action in Libya

Markets Muted On Military Action in Libya

President Obama did what should always be done: namely, he used the sanction of International law by seeking a UN resolution to enforce a No-Fly Zone. By building MULTI-lateral support with all the stakeholders

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ICE Agent Killed in Mexico: Survivor Provides Clues

ICE Agent Killed in Mexico: Survivor Provides Clues

President Obama has promised Zapata’s family that the US government will spare no effort to bring the Mexican gunman responsible for the attack to justice, and Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, has express outrage, declaring “The full resources of our department are at the disposal of our Mexican partners in this investigation.”

Given the dearth of substantive press coverage on both side of the border, and the muted attitude of US officials toward Mexico’s efforts to curb drug trafficking and cartel violence over the past five years—during which roughly 38,000 people have been killed, including scores of US citizens—the vocalization of even these stylized objections is noteworthy.

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