Stories related to: US foreign policy

It’s comforting to think of George W. Bush as yesterday’s news, but the Decider is still very much in office and itching to tie up loose ends. These “loose ends” might include signing a treaty with Iraq, or continuing his quixotic quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace, or, more terrifyingly, attacking Iran, writes Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post. More »

A defiant Barack Obama said today he would take no lectures from Republicans on which candidate would keep the US safer, a sharp rebuke to John McCain's aides who said the Democrat had a naive, "September 10th mindset" toward terrorism. Obama said Osama bin Laden is still at large in part because President Bush's strategy toward fighting terror has not succeeded. More »

The Bush Administration's problems are hardly confined to abysmal domestic approval ratings, writes veteran Reuters journalist Jonathan Wright. Middle Eastern leaders are paying less and less attention to the lame-duck president, who spoke of the need to isolate Hamas during a visit to Egypt last week—even as his host was mediating discussions between Israel and Gaza. More »

A "democratic recession" is threatening to roll back freedom around the globe, Thomas Friedman writes today in the New York Times. The high price of oil—which facilitates authoritarian rule—combined with the loss of US ability to effectively promote democracy means dictators have freer reign and freedom suffers, Friedman writes. More »

Gordon Brown pointedly met with all three US presidential candidates before meeting with President Bush today. Britain’s unpopular prime minister seems eager to look to the future, Reuters reports, lest he be labeled “Bush’s poodle” as predecessor Tony Blair was. Brown said he wouldn’t endorse any of the candidates, but hopes the eventual winner will improve relations with Europe. More »

Jimmy Carter plans to visit leaders of Palestinian extremist group Hamas in Syria next week despite warnings by the State Department that the rendezvous violates the Bush administration’s policy of isolating terrorist organizations, Reuters reports. Carter has scheduled talks with Khaled Meshaal, who heads Hamas’ Syrian branch and claims responsibility for suicide bombings targeting Israel. More »

NATO today backed a plan by President Bush to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, the New York Times reports, but would not go along with encouraging Ukraine and Georgia to pursue membership in the alliance. Both steps had been opposed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who is to visit the meeting in Romania tomorrow. More »

In a blow to the US, a divided NATO has refused to permit membership bids by former Soviet states Georgia and the Ukraine. The decision is an indication that Europe is wary of antagonizing an increasingly belligerant Russia, Bloomberg reports. Germany and France led the opposition to membership. In another defeat for American diplomacy, Greece blocked the admission of Macedonia. More »

John McCain’s foreign-policy address Wednesday split watchers, with David Brooks, in the New York Times , declaring the Republican candidate a breath of fresh air and Glenn Greenwald, in Salon, seeing four more years of George W. Bush. Brooks says the “personal, nuanced and ambitious speech” shows McCain to be a JFK-style internationalist, highlighting maverick criticism of the Iraq war in late 2003. More »

When Morgan Spurlock, the maverick mind behind the hit 2004 documentary Super-Size Me , decided to make the film Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? , his initial goal was to find and capture the terrorist leader. But as the project evolved (and Osama remained too hard to locate), Spurlock said he "realized that finding this guy isn't the answer," the Guardian reports. More »

Karen Hughes—one of President Bush's few remaining advisers from his Texas days—plans to leave her job as undersecretary of state at year's end. The former television reporter and media adviser spent the past two years leading efforts to improve the US' image abroad. Hughes will return to Texas, where she first began working with Bush in the 1990s. More »

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conferred with her Syrian counterpart Thursday in an unexpected half hour sit-down that ended a two-year cold-shoulder between the Bush administration and a state it considers a sponsor of terrorism. Rice asked asked Sryia's help in restricting the flow of foreign fighters across the Syrian border into Iraq. More »

The U.S. is so wrapped up in the Middle East that it's sacrificing chances to improve relations with Asia, leaving China to dominate the region, Newsweek 's Fareed Zakaria contends. "Beijing has become remarkably adept at using its political and economic muscle in a patient, low-key and highly effective manner," he writes. More »