World Policy Can Wait a While, Obama

Colin Powell 'concerned' by Obama's spending

(NEWSER) - Joe Biden conceded today that the Obama administration “misread” how bad the economy actually was and that now the unemployment rate is “much too high,” The Hill reports. In an interview taped in Iraq with This Week, the vice president also said the US doesn’t intend to slow its withdrawal plans from Iraq even if violence surges after American forces leave. More»

In lengthy interview, Iranian Prez gives his opinions on Obama, Iraq, Europe

(NEWSER) - The diminutive leader of Iran has a big ego and is a big talker: in a lengthy interview with Der Spiegel, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad talked a lot—about his feelings for President Obama, his beef with Iraq, and other international issues—but in the end, avoided answering many of the reporter's questions. He did manage to take some shots at the US and the UN and reiterate his resistance to iran's halting work with nuclear materials. Among the high points: More»

On eve of visit, one Israeli explains his nation's nuclear fears

(NEWSER) - On the eve of Barack Obama’s visit to Israel, Yossi Klein Halevi writes to him in the New Republic about Israel's fears. Like many nations, Israel is well-inclined towards Obama: It has no fear of his Muslim middle name and recently hailed his description of Israeli security as "sacrosanct." Yet Israelis worry that as president, Obama would fail to deter Iran’s nuclear ambitions. More»

Africa advocates say White House overlooks troubled continent

(NEWSER) - Michelle Obama's trip to southern Africa this week is giving new life to criticism that the Obama administration is overlooking the troubled continent, reports the Washington Post . The president has been to sub-Saharan Africa only once since taking office— a 24-hour trip to Ghana in 2009 —and critics say the region has been largely ignored. The American government is “not seeing Africa as a big priority," said a spokesman for TransAfrica Forum. "There has been some ambivalence.” More»

Afghanistan, Iran top list that domestic politics could kill anyway

(NEWSER) - As President Obama noted in his Nobel speech, it’s a scary world out there, and Kevin Whitelaw takes a look at some of the things on his foreign-policy to-do list in 2010:

• Pacify Afghanistan to some extent: Now that it’s “undeniably Obama’s war,” Whitelaw writes for NPR , he must “use those extra forces to help reverse the Taliban’s recent gains, make a visible dent in the rising violence and jump-start the training of Afghan security forces.”