US foreign policy

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Cuba Embargo Has Backfired: Time to End It

(Newser) - The Cuban embargo has failed to encourage democracy there, and the president-elect should do something about it, writes Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post. It's time to “bring five decades of counterproductive American policy toward Cuba to a definitive end.” While engagement with other Communist regimes has worked...

Sudan Prepares for Tougher US Stance

Obama's team of humanitarians prepare shift on Darfur

(Newser) - The government of Sudan is getting nervous about the Barack Obama White House. The Bush administration called the situation in Darfur genocide, but did little to stop the carnage that has left 450,000 dead and 2.5 million displaced in western Sudan. But several members of Obama's foreign policy...

World Policy Can Wait a While, Obama
 World Policy Can Wait
a While, Obama

opinion

World Policy Can Wait a While, Obama

For a while, inaction may be the best course

(Newser) - From Iran to Venezuela, President-elect Obama's best foreign policy option is to lie low for now, John Barry writes in Newsweek. Sudden forays into tricky hotspots—think Bay of Pigs, or President Bush's North Korea missteps—can prove costly, and most of the world's problems need a breather anyway. In...

6 Steps to Rebuild US Prestige
 6 Steps to Rebuild US Prestige 
OPINION

6 Steps to Rebuild US Prestige

Bush's successor should make changes, but only some

(Newser) - As the Bush era comes to a close, many outside the United States are hoping that a new president will revive America's standing in the world. For Bronwen Maddox, America needs to do a better job winning support abroad, but not at the expense of its central values. "There...

As Popularity Plummeted, Bush Began to Get It Right

Candidates shouldn't ignore what 43 got right

(Newser) - Today's Bush administration isn't pursuing all the disastrous policies it was 5 years ago, writes Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek, and unlike Dubya himself, his successor would do well to pay attention to what he's gotten right. Though both John McCain and Barack Obama keep their distance from the deeply unpopular...

Dear Obama: Oppose Iran and We'll Love You
Dear Obama: Oppose Iran and We'll Love You
OPINION

Dear Obama: Oppose Iran and We'll Love You

On eve of visit, one Israeli explains his nation's nuclear fears

(Newser) - On the eve of Barack Obama’s visit to Israel, Yossi Klein Halevi writes to him in the New Republic about Israel's fears. Like many nations, Israel is well-inclined towards Obama: It has no fear of his Muslim middle name and recently hailed his description of Israeli security as "...

Kissinger: US Must Temper Approach as Russia Evolves

Medvedev's election may signal real political change, so ease back on the bullying

(Newser) - Dmitry Medvedev has more power than some in the West believe, and Russia's political system is still evolving as Vladimir Putin moves from president to prime minister, Henry Kissinger writes in the Washington Post—and it behooves the US to throttle back. "The pace of such an evolution will...

The Decider Has Time for a Last Hurrah
 The Decider
 Has Time for
 a Last Hurrah 
Opinion

The Decider Has Time for a Last Hurrah

Bush isn't gone yet, and he's got unfinished business

(Newser) - 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...

Obama, McCain Camps Trade Fire on Foreign Policy

Democrats blasts GOP strategy on Iraq; McCain aides says he's naive

(Newser) - 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...

Distracted US Finds Mideast Clout Waning
Distracted US Finds Mideast Clout Waning
Analysis

Distracted US Finds Mideast Clout Waning

With clock ticking on Bush administration, hard-line tactics fail

(Newser) - 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...

Oil Driving 'Democratic Recession'
Oil Driving 'Democratic Recession'
OPINION

Oil Driving 'Democratic Recession'

High prices, US inaction let 'bad guys' run amok: Friedman

(Newser) - 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,...

Forget Bush; Brown Talks to Candidates
 Forget Bush; Brown 
 Talks to Candidates 
updated

Forget Bush; Brown Talks to Candidates

British PM looking ahead to better relations with successor

(Newser) - 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...

Carter to Meet Hamas Leader Despite White House Policy

State Dept. 'counseled against' Syrian trip

(Newser) - 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...

NATO Sides With Bush on Missile Defense Plan
NATO Sides With Bush on Missile Defense Plan
UPDATED

NATO Sides With Bush on Missile Defense Plan

But alliance leaders won't back US on inviting Ukraine, Georgia

(Newser) - 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...

NATO Bars Former Soviet States in Blow to US

Ukraine, Georgia, Macedonia blocked

(Newser) - 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...

Pundits Spar Over McCain as Dubya Redux
Pundits Spar Over McCain as Dubya Redux
OPINION

Pundits Spar Over McCain as Dubya Redux

Righty says speech shows foreign policy shift; lefty has deja vu

(Newser) - 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...

Did Spurlock Find Osama?
Did Spurlock Find Osama?

Did Spurlock Find Osama?

Well, no. But filmmaker says that's not the point anyway

(Newser) - 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...

Bush Loses Another From Inner Circle
Bush Loses Another From Inner Circle

Bush Loses Another From Inner Circle

Karen Hughes, adviser since Texas days, set to leave at year's end

(Newser) - 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,...

Condi Sits Down With Syria
Condi Sits Down With Syria

Condi Sits Down With Syria

Rice talks with Syrian Foreign Minister about border security

(Newser) - 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...

US Lets China Dominate Asia
US Lets China Dominate Asia

US Lets China Dominate Asia

Zakaria: America distracted and damaged in Iraq helps Beijing court allies

(Newser) - 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...

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