U.S. Foreign Policy

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Discussion of Views of US, Presidential Campaign
June 18, 2008 1 min. read

As I mentioned last week, the Pew Global Attitudes Project released a new global poll on a variety of issues. Most useful for our purposes is the poll's findings on global views of the US and US Presidential candidates. Here's a brief summary of their findings on these two issues: “Favorable views of the United States […]

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Congress Mulls Modernizing US Foreign Assistance
June 18, 2008 4 min. read

 (US Embassy photo) The US Center for Global Engagement reports that Congress has been making headway in a discussion about how improving how to improve the process by which the US doles out aid money to foreign countries. The Center recently published this review noting Congress's recent action. The review states: “A wide range of national security and foreign […]

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Which Candidate Will "Do The Right Thing?"
June 16, 2008 1 min. read

Below is a chart from the Pew Global Attitudes Project's recently-released global poll. Note that majorities in eleven countries publics feel that Senator Obama, if President, will “do the right thing”when it comes to US foreign policy. Majorities in no country feel that way about Senator McCain. Also note that in eleven countries most people to not think that […]

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Transformation of Diplomacy?
June 15, 2008 3 min. read

Career Foreign Service Officer James DeHart discusses whether the diplomatic corps have become too militarized in an op-ed in the Washington Posttoday. Noting the large numbers of diplomats who have volunteered for war-zone appointments in Afghanistan and Iraq, DeHart says: “This surge in war-zone assignments is an extension of the “transformational diplomacy” for which Secretary […]

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Obama's Travel Karma Pays Off
June 13, 2008 4 min. read

(Obama in Kenya, courtesy of the New York Times) Barack Obama likes to highlight that his internatinal exposure distinguishes him from his Republican opponent.  His birth in Hawaii, travels to his father's native Kenya, four years spent in Indonesia, and even a college trek through Pakistan and India, have given him quite the international worldview. Now that he is […]

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New Global Poll Shows Decline in the US image
June 12, 2008 1 min. read

The Pew Global Attitudes Project released today a large global public opinion poll that ties in nicely with my post yesterday about the House Foreign Relations Subcommittee report on views of the US. Here's a chart that shows the decline in favorable views of the US around the world since 1999:

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By George They've Got it!
June 12, 2008 6 min. read

Today the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight released the culmination of ten hearings all based on global views of the US. The report, titled "The Decline in America's Reputation: Why?” explores this important issue, thoroughly-documented with testimony from some of the country's brightest public opinion and regional experts. The report identifies […]

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American Girl, Meet American Boy (Presidentially Styled)
June 11, 2008 1 min. read

German doll maker Marcel Offermann is used to seizing the day. He has made dolls of newsmakers like Pope Benedict, the Dalai Lama and Princess Diana. So it follows that he would make a Barack Obama doll. Offermann was interviewd on NPR's Marketplace about the doll which looks more like a boy than a man. […]

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World Views of Obama Part IV: Yikes!
June 10, 2008 2 min. read

It pains me to report on this, but I feel it is important to capture the wide variety of reactions to an important moment in American history. Last week, Die Tageszeitung, a left-leaning German newspaper, ran the following headline when Barack Obama became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, that when translated into English, reads: “Uncle Barack's Cabin.” It has caused an […]

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Bush's European Farewell Tour
June 10, 2008 2 min. read

  President Bush began a five-country European tour on Monday, his last trip to Europe as President. The pre-take-off remarks he made to the Washington press corps on what he hopes to acheive there can be read here and watched here. Bush kicked off the trip with an annual European Council summit in Slovenia. While the subject of the […]

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World Views of Obama Part III: Obama Above the Fold
June 9, 2008 1 min. read

  (United Evening News, Taipei, Taiwan) Continuing the theme of the global reaction to Obama's clinching the Democratic nomination for President, this time courtesy of Media Bistro. The US-focused media industry website collected front page covers from news dailies around the world. Click here for the full spread. PS: the front page covers were originally […]

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World Views on Obama: Part II
June 9, 2008 2 min. read

When Senator Obama clinched the Democratic nomination last week, the BBC, by far the oldest and most global news network in the world, broadcast reactions to his feat from four areas of the world: China, Russia, India and Britain. In the segment about Chinese views on the election, the BBC's Beijing correspondent conceeds that most Chinese doesn't know […]

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