Obama Should Get Tough with Iran: McCain

New administration will need to fix problems Bush has not addressed

(NEWSER) - Taking the attitude that "since we were now all-powerful, allies were no longer necessary," President Bush damaged the US' image and diminished its power, Fred Kaplan writes in Slate. How can the next president heal our diplomatic woes?

1. Visit all Middle East countries; leave a full-time envoy: "It is appalling that President Bush made his first trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories in his final year."

And it may soon help protesters in Bahrain, Yemen

(NEWSER) - Iran has a hand in the revolutions currently sweeping the rest of the Arab world. In Syria, Iran is secretly assisting President Bashar al-Assad to quell the pro-democracy demonstrations, US officials say. But in Bahrain and Yemen, Iran is looking to aid Shiite protesters, thus destabilizing the countries—both US allies. US officials appear to be releasing the information, gathered by spy agencies, in a bid to show Iran that it is being watched, the Wall Street Journal reports. "We're keeping an eye on these activities," a White House official tells the paper. More»

A victory for Obama, Clinton—but peace a long way off

(NEWSER) - It's official: After a 20-month hiatus, Israeli and Palestinian leaders will resume direct peace talks. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced today that talks will begin Sept. 2 in Washington, with the goal of reaching a settlement within one year, the AP reports . "There have been difficulties in the past; there will be difficulties ahead. Without a doubt, we will hit more obstacles," she said. "The enemies of peace will keep trying to defeat us and to derail these talks. But I ask the parties to persevere." More»

Clinton a strong secretary, but not yet administration's voice

(NEWSER) - Ask Hillary Clinton or her staff about President Obama and they’ll praise him and tell you the relationship between the two really is strong. But the tensions between the State Department and White House are starting to show, writes Joe Klein . The president’s foreign policy hasn’t yet yielded results, and on her recent Pakistan trip, Clinton gave the first hints that she’d like to assert her independence—and move beyond what Klein calls “the Rodney King ‘Can’t we all just get along?’ phase.” More»

(NEWSER) - Westerners may well be wondering what happened to the articulate young Iranians who endorsed presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi on TV recently. Didn't those freedom-loving voters represent today's Iran? "Actually, no," writes Christopher Dickey in Newsweek. "It appears that the working classes and the rural poor—the people who do not much look or act or talk like us," have chosen Iran's president. More»