Foreign Policy Archives - Page 32 of 40

Obama Gathering a Flock of Hawks to Oversee U.S. Foreign Policy

January 30, 2009 By admin

In disc golf, there’s a shot known as “an Obama” — it’s a drive that you expect to veer to the left but keeps hooking right. In no other area has this metaphor been truer than Barack Obama’s foreign policy and national security appointments. For a man who was elected in part on the promise to not just end the war in Iraq but to “end the mindset that got us into war in the first place,” it’s profoundly disappointing that a majority of his key appointments — Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, Dennis Blair, Janet Napolitano, Richard Holbrooke and Jim Jones, among others — have been among those who represent that very mindset.

Holbrooke: Insensitive Choice for a Sensitive Region

January 30, 2009 By admin

Obama’s choice for special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, arguably the most critical area of U.S. foreign policy, is a man with perhaps the most sordid history of any of the largely disappointing set of foreign policy and national security appointments….

Daring to Hope on the Washington Mall

January 23, 2009 By admin

I was among the two million people who assembled on the Washington Mall to witness the moment. I was willing to come all the way from California, pay the air fare — and leave the carbon footprint — in order to join my daughter Kalila, a student at Earlham College in Indiana, in watching history being made….

Virtually the Entire Dem-Controlled Congress Supports Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza

January 13, 2009 By admin

In a direct challenge to the credibility of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Red Cross and other reputable humanitarian organizations, an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both houses of Congress has gone on record supporting President George W. Bush’s position that the Israeli armed forces bear no responsibility for the large and growing numbers of civilian casualties from their assault on the Gaza Strip.

Interview: Obama’s foreign policy appointments (audio)

January 11, 2009 By admin

Redeye: Vancouver Cooperative Radio

Secretary of State nominee Hilary Clinton supported the Iraq War from Day One and has denounced Obama’s intention to negotiate with Iran. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates is an advocate of continuing the war in Iraq. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is known for his unswerving support of Israel. To discuss what these and other appointments will mean for U.S. foreign policy, we speak with Stephen Zunes, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco.

Democrats Back Bush, Reject Human Rights Groups, in Support for Israeli Assault on Gaza

January 7, 2009 By admin

The Democratic leadership’s strident support for the ongoing Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip underscores how the Democrats suffer from the same illusions as the outgoing Republican administration: that placing an Arab territory under debilitating sanctions that punish the population as a whole, bombarding heavily populated civilian areas — resulting in widespread casualties among innocent people — and invading and occupying territories with a long history of resistance to outsiders will somehow lead to greater moderation from those afflicted….

America’s Hidden Role in Hamas’s Rise to Power

January 4, 2009 By admin

No one in the mainstream media or government is willing to acknowledge America’s sordid role interfering in Palestinian politics.

Hillary Clinton Brings Hawkish Record to State Department

December 5, 2008 By admin

The appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State is nothing less than a betrayal of the anti-war constituency responsible for Barack Obama winning the Democratic Party nomination and his subsequent election as president of the United States. The quintessential Democratic hawk, Senator Clinton has proven to be one of the leading militarists on Capitol Hill and her appointment as the country’s chief foreign policy representative serves notice to the international community that the change they had hoped for will not be forthcoming….

Hillary Clinton’s Disdain for International Law — PART TWO

December 2, 2008 By admin

Hillary Clinton’s Disdain for International Law — PART ONE

December 1, 2008 By admin

For those hoping for a dramatic change in U.S. foreign policy under an Obama administration — particularly regarding human rights, international law, and respect for international institutions — the appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State is a bitter disappointment. Indeed, Senator Clinton has more often than not sided with the Bush administration against fellow Democrats on key issues regarding America’s international legal obligations, particularly international humanitarian law.

Is Obama Screwing His Base with Rahm Emanuel Selection?

November 11, 2008 By admin

I had really wanted to celebrate Barack Obama’s remarkable victory for a day or so before becoming cynical again. I really did….

Bush’s Unauthorized Attack on Syria Killed Civilians; Dems Silent

November 10, 2008 By admin

A raid by U.S. forces into Syria last month was not only a major breach of international law, but has resulted in serious diplomatic repercussions which will likely harm U.S. strategic interests in the region. On October 25, four U.S. Army helicopters entered Syrian airspace from Iraq, firing upon laborers at the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal; two of the helicopters landed and eight commandoes reportedly stormed a building. By the time it was over, eight people had been killed, at least seven of whom were civilians, including three children.

Rashid Khalidi: The Republicans’ Latest Smear of Obama

November 2, 2008 By admin

The smear campaign by John McCain, Sarah Palin and their supporters reached a new low this past week with their attacks on Democratic nominee Barack Obama for his former ties with Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi. This is just one of a series of desperate guilt-by-association tactics by the Republicans to make the staunchly pro-Israel Obama appear to be anti-Israel and may be designed less to harm the Democratic nominee’s chances of election as to limit politically his options for addressing urgent matters of Israeli-Palestinian peace upon becoming president….

Republicans Embrace the Cootie Effect

October 31, 2008 By admin

Back in the 1950s, at the height of the McCarthy era, simply being friends with someone suspected of being a Communist could ruin your career. It became known as “guilt by association.” During this year’s presidential campaign, however, it’s been extended to guilt by spatial proximity, which could appropriately be called the “cootie effect.” If you sit on the same board, have appeared at the same event or otherwise have been in close physical proximity of someone deemed undesirable, you therefore must have been infected by their politics or, at minimum, have no problems with things they may have done in their past….

What the Prospective VPs Got Wrong

October 3, 2008 By admin

The October 3 debate between Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Delaware Senator Joe Biden was disturbing for those of us hoping for a more enlightened and honest foreign policy during the next four years. In its aftermath, pundits mainly focused on Palin’s failure to self-destruct and Biden’s relatively cogent arguments. Here’s an annotation of the foreign policy issues raised during the vice-presidential debate, which was packed with demonstrably false and misleading statements….

The VP Debate: Dishonest Foreign Policies

October 3, 2008 By admin

Distorting Obama’s Views on Israel

October 2, 2008 By admin

Barack Obama has alienated key sectors of his progressive base with statements and policy proposals regarding Israel in which he allies himself with right-wing Republicans. These have included: rejecting calls by human rights activists to condition military aid to Israel on an improvement in the government’s human rights record; defending Israel’s massive 2006 assault against Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure, which killed more than 800 civilians; disputing findings by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other reputable human rights organizations citing Israeli violations of international humanitarian law; calling for an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel without supporting the right of the Palestinian-populated eastern half of the city to be the capital of a Palestinian state; making exaggerated claims about Iran’s threats towards Israel while refusing to express any concerns regarding Israel’s threats towards Iran; and bringing in Dennis Ross — a prominent supporter of Israeli government policies — as his principal Middle East advisor….

Biden’s Foreign Policy ‘Experience’

September 23, 2008 By admin

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s choice of Joseph Biden as his running mate has drawn sharp criticism from many Democrats as a result of the Delaware senator’s support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, his flagrantly false claims about the alleged Iraqi threat, and the abuse of his position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to suppress antiwar testimony before Congress prior to the invasion.

The 2008 Democratic Party Platform and the Middle East

September 5, 2008 By admin

The excitement over the nomination of Barack Obama as the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party has been tempered by some key foreign policy planks in the 2008 platform, particularly those relating to the greater Middle East region. These positions appear to run counter to Obama’s pledge early in the primary race to end the mindset that led to the Iraq War.

Video interview: Biden and the anti-war constituency

August 27, 2008 By admin

The Real News

Stephen Zunes: Obama’s anti-Iraq war stance wiped out by choosing hawk Biden