vrijdag, februari 05, 2010
Muddling Out of Freefall
bama wanted to bridge the divides among Americans that George W. Bush had opened. But now those divides are wider. His attempts to please everyone, so evident in the last few weeks, are likely to mollify no one.By Joseph E. Stiglitz
Read more >> | Muddling Out of Freefall - Project Syndicate
Labels: Barack Obama, Economy, United States
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donderdag, januari 21, 2010
A Cool Head for the Hottest Issues
Obama inherited a terrible legacy – recession, financial meltdown, Iraq, Afghanistan. He has not solved all of these problems. But it is difficult to see any really bad mistakes, except perhaps allowing himself to be pushed around by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and giving China the impression that he was prepared for a bilateral relationship entirely on China’s terms.That seems to be changing now. Obama may have come to understand that when you are the leader of the world’s only superpower, you need to be feared just a little if you are to be respected.
By Chris Patten
Project Syndicate - A Cool Head for the Hottest Issues
Labels: Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, United States
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maandag, december 28, 2009
Afghanistan: What Could Work
ool poker-players, we are tempted to believe, only raise or fold: they only increase their bet or leave the game. Calling, making the minimum bet to stay, suggests that you can't calculate the odds or face losing the pot, and that the other players are intimidating you. Calling is for children. Real men and women don't want to call in Afghanistan: they want to dramatically increase troops and expenditure, defeat the Taliban, and leave. Or they just want to leave. Both sides—the disciples of the surge and the apostles of withdrawal—therefore found some satisfaction in one passage in President Obama's speech at West Point on December 1:I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home.
But the rest left them uneasy. This was not, as they might have imagined, because he was lurching between two contradictory doctrines of increase and withdrawal, but because the rest of his speech argued for a radically different strategy—a call strategy—which is about neither surge nor exit but about a much-reduced and longer-term presence in the country. The President did not make this explicit. But this will almost certainly be the long-term strategy of the US and its allies. And he has with remarkable courage and scrupulousness articulated the premises that lead to this conclusion. First, however, it is necessary to summarize the history of our involvement and the conventional policies that have long favored surge and exit.
By Rory Stewart
Read more | Afghanistan: What Could Work - The New York Review of Books
Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, United Kingdom, United Nations, United States
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zondag, december 27, 2009
Obama Undermines the UN Climate Process
wo years of climate change negotiations have now ended in a farce in Copenhagen. Rather than grappling with complex issues, President Barack Obama decided instead to declare victory with a vague statement of principles agreed with four other countries. The remaining 187 were handed a fait accompli , which some accepted and others denounced. After the fact, the United Nations has argued that the document was generally accepted, though for most on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.Jeffrey D. Sachs
Read more | Project Syndicate - Obama Undermines the UN Climate Process
Posted using ShareThis
Labels: Barack Obama, Climate Change, Copenhagen, United States
- posted by DD @ 12:00 a.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
vrijdag, december 25, 2009
Barack Obama, the fallen messiah
he “salvation narrative” projected onto Barack Obama created false expectations on the left and invited his demonisation by the rightDuring a time of economic decline, persistent cultural strife, deepening American involvement in far-off military conflicts, and rapid environmental deterioration, is there any wonder that some have turned to apocalyptic “salvation narratives” promising both a transcendent, everlasting future and violent retribution against perceived evildoers? A CNN poll in 2002 found that 59% of Americans believe that the prophecies in the Book of Revelations will come true. The startling number reflected the still-fresh trauma of the 9/11 attacks, but I suspect that it has held steady, if not risen. Indeed, mainstream American culture is permeated by apocalypticism; the blockbuster-movie hit 2012 is but one recent example.
Max Blumenthal
Read more | openDemocracy
Labels: Barack Obama, United States
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vrijdag, december 11, 2009
Obama: Climate change is a security issue
"
ot only scientists and environmental activists call for action on climate change, but also military leaders understand that our common security hangs in the balance,” said President Obama in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.Giving the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," has been seen as a means of boosting international climate talks.
In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo, President Obama stressed the importance of confronting climate change:
"There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, more famine, more mass displacement – all of which will fuel more conflict for decades," and then he drew attention to the question of security in the climate problem:
"It is not merely scientists and environmental activists who call for swift and forceful action – it's military leaders in my own country and others who understand that our common security hangs in the balance."
Read on | CPO15 Copenhagen
See also | The White House (Obama speech)
See also | Obama defends war as he picks up Nobel Peace Prize BBC News
See also |
Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Climate Change, Copenhagen, United States
- posted by DD @ 8:29 a.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Copenhagen: Barack Obama backs Norway-Brazil forest protection plan
he US president endorses scheme proposed by Norway and Brazil that would protect the world's rainforests with funding from rich countries which cannot cut their emissions at homeThe US president, Barack Obama, made his first public intervention in the Copenhagen climate summit today by backing a plan put forward by Norway and Brazil which would protect the world's rainforests with funding from rich countries that cannot meet their commitments to cut emissions domestically.
Speaking after he accepted the Nobel peace prize in Oslo, Norway, Obama said: "I am very impressed with the model that has been built between Norway and Brazil that allows for effective monitoring and ensures that we are making progress in avoiding deforestation of the Amazon.
Read on | The Guardian
Labels: Barack Obama, Climate Change, Copenhagen, United States
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zondag, december 06, 2009
How Obama Came to Plan for ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan
ASHINGTON — On the afternoon he held the eighth meeting of his Afghanistan review, President Obama arrived in the White House Situation Room ruminating about war. He had come from Arlington National Cemetery, where he had wandered among the chalky white tombstones of those who had fallen in the rugged mountains of Central Asia.Read on | The New York Times
Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, NY Times, United States
- posted by DD @ 11:17 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
zondag, november 22, 2009
Obama in Chains
EW YORK – It is hard for international observers of the United States to grasp the political paralysis that grips the country, and that seriously threatens America’s ability to solve its domestic problems and contribute to international problem solving. America’s governance crisis is the worst in modern history. Moreover, it is likely to worsen in the years ahead.The difficulties that President Barack Obama is having in passing his basic program, whether in health care, climate change, or financial reform, are hard to understand at first glance. After all, he is personally popular, and his Democratic Party holds commanding majorities in both houses of Congress. Yet his agenda is stalled and the country’s ideological divisions grow deeper.
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Read on | Project Syndicate - Obama in Chains
Posted using ShareThis
Labels: Barack Obama, Project Syndicate, United States
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vrijdag, oktober 23, 2009
Pressure on Dutch government to stay in Afghanistan
he NATO defense ministers put pressure on the Dutch government to keep their troops in the Afghan province Uruzgan, despite a clear no from the Dutch parliament.Read on in the two articles below and the White House debate on TPM media.
NRC- Handelsblad article | Dutch Afghanistan presence up in the air again
NYT article | NATO Defense Ministers Endorse Wider Afghan Effort
Senator Kerry on submitting more troops to Afghanistan in an unstable political situation with Karzai and election fraud. 18 oct. 2009
Obama praises President Karzai to restart elections. 20 oct. 2009
White House spokesperson Gibbs on criticism by former vice-president Cheney on "dithering" by president Obama. 22 oct. 2009
Labels: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, NATO, United States
- posted by DD @ 9:56 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
zondag, oktober 11, 2009
Big mistake by Nobel committee - Russia Today
he comments from Russia on the winning of the Nobel Peace Prize by President Obama were flat out negative. Labels: Barack Obama, Nuclear weapons, Russia, United States
- posted by DD @ 3:13 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Obama Nobel Peace Price for opposing nuclear weapons
he Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Price to President Obama, explicitly for opposing and aiming to get rid of all nuclear weapons.Labels: Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Nuclear weapons, United States
- posted by DD @ 2:59 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
vrijdag, juli 03, 2009
Positive upcomming visit Obama to Moscow
he mood of the upcomming US President Obama visit to Moscow is positive on Rusia Today.Labels: Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Russia, United States
- posted by DD @ 12:30 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
donderdag, juni 04, 2009
A great teacher lives among us
he speech by President Barack Obama at the University of Cairo today.Labels: Barack Obama, Egypt
- posted by DD @ 7:10 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
zondag, mei 10, 2009
Obama wants to lose his Cool
hite House correspondents dinner speech by President Obama.Very nice, funny and charming...
Labels: Barack Obama, Journalism
- posted by DD @ 3:24 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Russians believe in Conspiracy against Obama by Nato
n a broadcast by Russia Today it is suggested that the radical change in US policy after Obama took over from George Bush is confronted with opposition from Nato hardliners and that they plot against President Obama.At least what can be said about this conspiracy theory is that it shows the way Russians are thinking. Allways there is a conspiracy around the corner when they there is a change in policy they can not comprehend.
Fact is that under George Bush, most Nato countries were very unhappy with radical US policies and that they welcomed the change of policies with te comming of president Obama.
Labels: Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Russia
- posted by DD @ 1:34 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
donderdag, januari 29, 2009
Obama at the Pentagon: "Difficult dicisions ahead"
irst visit of Commander in chief at the Pentagon.Labels: Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, United States
- posted by DD @ 9:51 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
dinsdag, januari 27, 2009
Obama's first interview to Al-Arabiya TV
resident Obama to the Al-Arabiya tv network on Middle-East policy.Part 1
Part 2
Labels: Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Middle East, United States
- posted by DD @ 11:40 a.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
zondag, januari 25, 2009
Moïsi on the new America
eknown French intellecual on the new American foreign policy. Labels: Barack Obama, European Union, Foreign Policy, United States
- posted by DD @ 6:22 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
How Obama was elected...
video by the french newspaper Liberation analyzing the Obama campaign. (subtitled in french)Labels: Barack Obama, Election 2008, United States
- posted by DD @ 1:49 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
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