Sullivan: That's Not Weakness, It's Confidence

That nuclear summit looked a lot like a waste of time, didn't it?

(NEWSER) - President Obama convened the biggest meeting of world leaders on US soil since the founding of the UN in 1945. And what did this week's historic gathering accomplish? Well, it generated a nonbinding statement saying that Ukraine, Chile, Mexico, and Canada will get rid of some enriched uranium. “What a relief,” writes Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post . “I don’t know about you, but I lie awake nights worrying about Canadian uranium.” More»

In Newsweek, president makes case for Haiti earthquake relief

(NEWSER) - The United States is pouring money and personnel into earthquake-devastated Haiti not just to help its own citizens or bolster an ally, but because "that is who we are," President Obama writes in explaining why the relief effort is vital. In times of crisis, "when we are brought face to face with our own fragility, we rediscover our common humanity," he writes for Newsweek . More»

(NEWSER) - Hugo Chavez paid President Obama a high compliment at the UN today, asserting that he doesn't have the same satanic odor as George Bush. "I don't smell sulfur anymore," the Venezuelan leader told the General Assembly. "It's gone. Now it's the smell of something else—it's the smell of hope." A few years ago, Chavez famously took to the UN podium where Bush had spoken and said it smelled of sulfur, suggesting he was the devil, notes the Wall Street Journal. More»

US-drafted measure strengthened by Obama appearance at meeting

(NEWSER) - The UN Security Council today adopted a US-drafted resolution that outlines much of President Obama’s plan to rid the world of nuclear weapons. The president’s attendance at the meeting of heads of state—just the fifth in UN history—underscores the centrality of the issue for his administration. Though the measure passed unanimously, the US was not able to convince Russia and China to include Iran and North Korea by name, notes the Washington Post. More»

Ex-UN rep not impressed by president's focus on 'interests that unite us'

(NEWSER) - President Obama's address to the United Nations yesterday was long on uniting nations and short on looking out for American interests, complains Bush administration UN representative John Bolton. The "Wilsonian" address was "a post-American speech by our first post-American president," and was "very revealing of Obama’s foreign policy," he notes. More»