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Livni Heads to Washington to Cut Gaza Deal

Critical step toward truce would block Hamas arms smuggling

(Newser) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is on her way to the US to sign a deal central to a Gaza ceasefire as diplomatic efforts intensify to stop the fighting, reports the Jerusalem Post. The agreement, designed to stop Hamas from rearming, would step up intelligence agency cooperation to stop weapons... More »

'A-Student' Hillary Aces Her Senate Hearing

Forget Geithner, it's Clinton who's queen of the 'hot nerds': Dowd

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton breezed through her Senate confirmation hearing yesterday, writes Maureen Dowd, "performing as the A-student she always is" on topics from nuclear proliferation to governance in the Arctic. While Tim Geithner got caught up in controversy over back taxes, Hillary charmed the windy John Kerry and buttered the... More »

Clinton to Outline Vision for Reinvigorated State

Will speak on Hill as confirmation hearings begin today

(Newser) - Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton marches into her Senate confirmation hearings today armed with sweeping plans to retake the ground State lost to the Defense department under President Bush, the Wall Street Journal reports. Clinton will advocate using “smart power,” a wide variety of economic and social diplomatic... More »

Obama Is 'Prepared to Talk to Hamas'

Secret contact under consideration: sources

(Newser) - President-elect Barack Obama is prepared to break with Bush administration policy and open lines of communication with Hamas, sources close to the transition team tell the Guardian. Advisors believe that ostracizing Hamas isn't working and support a move by Obama to quietly contact Hamas, perhaps through intelligence agencies—the same... More »

If Obama Can Bring Change to DC, Why Not Middle East?

He's proved having a black president isn't impossible, after all

(Newser) - As Barack Obama’s inauguration brings one thing once deemed impossible—a black US president—it will be accompanied by the renewal of another seemingly intractable issue, David Remnick writes in the New Yorker: the Arab-Israeli conflict. Obama claims to understand “the obligation to repair the world” set out... More »

Syria Eyes a New Start With America

President Assad moots direct talks with Israel, strategic pact

(Newser) - After years of frosty relations with George W Bush, the president of Syria is looking for a new diplomatic start with Barack Obama in 2009. In an interview with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, Bashar al-Assad says he is willing to work with the United States to stabilize Iraq, and... More »

Clinton Moves to Beef Up State

Bigger budget, expanded role sought for department that withered under Bush

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton is already working to restore some of the strength sapped from the State Department under the Bush administration, the New York Times reports. Clinton is seeking a bigger budget for the department and wants to restore the role played by high-profile special envoys. Officials say Clinton also wants... More »

Obama Foreign-Policy Team Signals Shift to Diplomacy

Clinton, Gates, Jones will lead diplomatic reform

(Newser) - The three lead players on the national security team Barack Obama will announce today have each historically been more hawkish than the president-elect—but all have embraced his plan for a sweeping foreign policy shift, the New York Times reports. Hillary Clinton, Gen. James Jones, and Robert Gates will work... More »

Georgia Needs Our Help—Not a Seat at NATO

Investment, not guns, is the way to face down Russia: Kristof

(Newser) - Nicholas Kristof travels to Tbilisi, where ambitious, America-loving Georgians live in fear of a resurgent Russia. The United States needs to support this capitalist enclave in the Caucasus, writes the New York Times columnist—but not by letting it join NATO. The reason? President Mikheil Saakashvili may be brilliant and... More »

Developing Nations Get a Say in Economic Summit

Signals expanding of world power

(Newser) - When George Bush convenes his economic summit today, he’ll see some less familiar faces around the table. In what could signal a historic shift in global power, Bush hasn’t just invited the wealthy nations of the G-8 to this summit, but a wider Group of 20, including developing... More »

Diplomats See Risk in Handing Posts to Obama Pals

Friends, big donors often get cushy ambassadorships, to chagrin of lifers

(Newser) - Could Barack Obama make Oprah Winfrey an ambassador? It’s an all-too-plausible scenario, the Chicago Tribune reports, assuming Winfrey was willing to leave her TV career. Presidents typically give out roughly a third of the 200 ambassadorships to friends and political allies, and, in a first, the American Academy of... More »

Hey, World: Cheering Obama Isn't Enough

'Don't just show us the love, show us the money, the troops,' writes Freidman

(Newser) - The world is rejoicing at the election of Barack Obama, and that's great. But Obama has a tough road ahead—so let’s see if the global community can put its money and troops where its mouth is, writes Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. Rather than just smiling... More »

Tehran Outpost Looks More Likely Before Bush Leaves

Though Obama team hasn't been consulted, move could insulate Dem from criticism

(Newser) - The Bush administration is moving ever closer to establishing a long-rumored diplomatic office in Iran, Newsweek reports, with a decision possible by Thanksgiving on putting an “interests section” inside another embassy in Tehran, likely the Swiss. The move might signal a victory for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and... More »

World Reacts With Open Arms, Eye on Reconciliation

Global pundits weigh in on a historic victory

(Newser) - The election of Barack Obama has been watched around the world, and pundits from all over are weighing in.
  • In Germany's Der Spiegel, Gabor Steingart says the president-elect's genius is his "tone of political romanticism." Americans warmed to his message of sympathy and reflection—and made the
... More »

Historic Talks Bring China, Taiwan Closer Than Ever

First high-level talks since 1949 yield trade agreements amid opposition protests

(Newser) - The first high-level talks between China and Taiwan in 60 years have set aside politics in favor of building trade ties, Reuters reports. Negotiations in Taipei sidestepped the sovereignty question and yielded 13 agreements to triple the number of cross-strait flights, allow direct cargo shipments, improve food safety, and normalize... More »

US: Attack Was 'Warning' to Jihadist-Friendly Syria

Damascus closes American school, cultural center

(Newser) - The US says its attack Sunday on a Syrian village was a warning to Damascus to take more action against Iraq-bound militants. “We are left with no choice but to take matters into our own hands,” an official tells the Times of London. Washington recently praised Syria for... More »

Syria Formalizes Lebanon Ties

Damascus hopes symbolic gesture eases international pressure

(Newser) - Syria today established formal diplomatic relations with Lebanon for the first time since the nations won independence in the 1940s, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Bashir al-Assad’s regime sent its first-ever ambassador to Iraq yesterday, moves one expert says show Syria “wants to play ball with the world.... More »

Bush Made Pact With This Man: Arab Sources

Iranian collusion may be behind the success of the surge in Iraq

(Newser) - Secret cooperation between Iran and the Bush administration may be behind the success of the Iraq surge, which has played heavily in "John McCain’s rise from the ashes," writes Salameh Nematt in the Daily Beast. Arab intelligence sources say such a “Grand Bargain” has been reached... More »

Russia Will Absorb South Ossetia 'in Several Years'

'Separatist regimes ... cut off from reality,' Georgian official fires back

(Newser) - Russia intends to absorb Georgia’s breakaway province of South Ossetia “in several years” or perhaps sooner, the speaker of the region’s parliament tells AP. In meetings this week in Moscow between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and South Ossetian leader, Eduard Kokoity, the intent was “firmly stated... More »

Promising to Leave, Russia Amps Up Forces in Georgia

NATO divided on response to Moscow

(Newser) - Despite promises from the Kremlin and ultimatums from the American and French presidents, Russia is stalling on its promise to withdraw from Georgia, reports the Guardian. The Russian military has moved ballistic missile launchers into South Ossetia, and its troops remain entrenched near Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. But ahead of... More »

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