In the latest developments in the latest Mideast conflict, Israel rejected the U.N. cease-fire proposal as unworkable as more Palestinian missiles continued to fall on Israel. The U.S. has adopted its traditional role of supporting close ally Israel, laid the blame for the conflict squarely on Hamas, and worked for an equitable ceasefire that would […]
The latest report on how to improve America's public diplomacy has its merits, but overall it inspires deja vu. We’ve been in this place before, trying to figure out how the world's most influential culture and most powerful government might finally achieve a public diplomacy organization that operates at the same level. The Brookings […]
According to this analysis from the International Relations and Security Network, Iran is starting to worry about President-Elect Obama and what his presidency will mean for U.S. relations with Iran and they are preparing their people for something less than a new start: In recent days, Iranian TV has run a number of highly […]
U.S. News & World Report has a feature on the U.S. relationship with Europe focusing on European expectations of President-Elect Obama. The report includes a look at U.S. policy toward Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and Cuba. Political pundits inside the Washington beltway used to ask how long the new president's honeymoon would last, now […]
The enmity between the United States and Cuba is well known and is unlikely to change anytime soon, as least on a government-to-government level. This report from NBC News notes that lower-level private approaches may succeed in establishing new links between the two countries. If you are interested in digging deeper, this panel report from […]
I read a wide variety of online news sources and I’m used to seeing certain names pop up on certain sites as regular contributors. It's rare though for a name familiar to me from foreign policy sites to suddenly appear on the trendy pop culture sites, so I noticed when this opinion piece from Joseph […]
The International Herald Tribune reports that the emerging links between the Mumbai terrorists and Pakistan are complicating U.S. diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between India and Pakistan and assist the investigation into the attacks: The new links to Pakistan added fresh complications to American diplomatic efforts to secure cooperation between India and Pakistan, which […]
I really don't like cynicism all that much, it's easy to be cynical but it really contributes very little. Take, for example, this opinion piece by Lionel Beehner, a former writer for the Council on Foreign Relations, who offers a cynical take on President-Elect Obama's new foreign policy team: Pardon the metaphor, but Obama is […]
The New York Times offers this profile of the new foreign policy team: As President-elect Barack Obama introduces his national security team on Monday, it includes two veteran cold warriors and a political rival whose records are all more hawkish than that of the new president who will face them in the White House […]
Today, as Barack Obama formally announces his national security team, there is plenty of buzz over what his choices mean in the field of public diplomacy. Hillary Clinton, under whose State Department aegis public diplomacy falls, was not particularly vocal or articulate on this topic as a candidate. Robert Gates, whose Defense Department has no […]
You may have noticed that one of the post categories for this blog is “U.S. Aid” and it's devoted to news and commentary about U.S. efforts to provide financial and humanitarian assistance to other countries. I see this as one of the pillars of the traditional U.S. role in the world, we like to see […]
In a recently released video message Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri challenged President-Elect Obama's election promise to send more troops to Afghanistan, saying, “Be aware that the dogs of Afghanistan have found the flesh of your soldiers to be delicious, so send thousands after thousands to them,” and using other language that can only […]
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