Clinton Heads to Mideast, Europe and Russia

And Israel hates him for it

(NEWSER) - The president isn't a popular man in Jerusalem these days, thanks to his call for a freeze on Israel's illegal settlements in the West Bank, and rumors that he's hatching his own Mideast peace plan. “Barack Obama is a disaster for Israel,” one liberal commentator there tells Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times . But the uproar reminds Rachman of the British rage when the US insisted on “talking to the terrorists” of the IRA. More»

... and Hillary won't leave for Middle East until Saturday

(NEWSER) - It looks like Bill Clinton will only spend one night in the hospital after undergoing an emergency heart procedure today—and wife Hillary will merely postpone her diplomatic trip to the Middle East by a day. “He’s in good spirits, and we hope to have him go home tomorrow,” says the New York doctor who performed the stent procedure on the former president. “He’s fine,” a Clinton source tells CNN . 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) - Open arms and a full red carpet rollout greeted President Obama on his arrival in Saudi Arabia this morning, but the pleasantries will likely end when the policy talk starts, the New York Times reports. Obama wants the Arab nations to offer a peaceful gesture toward Israel, but Saudi officials and experts say King Abdullah wants some gesture from Israel first. More»

Netanyahu, Abbas will meet president—but maybe not each other

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama has invited the leaders of Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority for talks in Washington in a new bid for a Middle East peace agreement, reports the BBC. Obama extended the invitations after a meeting yesterday with Jordan’s King Abdullah, at which the president spoke of "profound cynicism" surrounding the peace process. There is no guarantee the Israeli and Palestinian leaders would meet directly. More»