http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/foreignpolicy/ en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:19:08 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2416864/posts "Yesterday, President Barack Obama said, “We will continue to bear witness to the extraordinary events (in Iran)"...Bear witness? That’s it? That’s not what he promised! We take you back to December 1st, 2009. In his address to the nation from West Point, the President promised to be there for those oppressed by tyranny. From the Official Obama Administration Scandals List # 842: (12/1/9) "Tonight, the President of the United States told a brazen lie about Supporting Freedom. Barack Obama tonight said “America will speak out for” those living in tyranny! That’s a dang lie! He was silent when voices oppressed... ConservativeAmerican.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2416864/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:19:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413953/posts Preventing nuclear war between Iran and Israel would be more difficult than it ever was to avoid a nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Here's why. Foreign Policy http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413953/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:37:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412155/posts WASHINGTON (AP) - Military force would have only limited effect in stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons but must remain an option, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday. Baghdad shows no signs of backing down in the standoff over what the United States and other countries say is its drive for a nuclear bomb, Adm. Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, told his staff in an annual assessment of the nation's risks and priorities. "My belief remains that political means are the best tools to attain regional security and that military force will have limited... Breitbart (AP) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412155/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:25:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2405273/posts As the majority of the country applauds Obama’s defense of a robust American foreign policy in Oslo, we should examine our assumptions. Is it really self-evident that we want to see an activist foreign policy employed by acolytes of Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright who accused Israel of racism? Would we really be comfortable with the foreign policy initiatives of Bill ”Pentagon Bomber” Ayers? Of Van “I am a communist” Jones? Of Anita “My favorite political philosopher was Mao” Dunn? Is it unfair to point out that many in the Obama administration and in his past are not in the... The Virginian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2405273/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:43:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2403734/posts Remember all those polls during the Presidential Campaign, how Europe desperately wanted Barack Obama to win. The European leadership all fawned over Obama when he made his summer tour tour around the world. One of the President's campaign promises was that he was going to "repair" our relationship with Europe (as if they needed to be repaired). Ever since he was inaugurated, President Obama has done his best to diss our allies in Europe especially Great Britain. Almost one year into the Obama Presidency, our "relationship-repairer-in-chief" has done more to increase the divide between Britain and the US than to... UK Daily Mail/The Lid http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2403734/posts#comment Wed, 9 Dec 2009 15:47:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2394534/posts President Barack Obama failed to wring any concessions from China in his maiden voyage to Beijing last week. But the disappointing visit is only a symptom of the Obama administration's dysfunctional and poorly conceived China policy, which, though well-intentioned, threatens to undermine U.S. objectives and wreck its global image. Dubbed "strategic reassurance," the policy envisions a tacit bargain whereby the United States mollifies Chinese fears of containment, while Beijing assuages U.S. concerns about its global intentions and shoulders more international responsibilities. But so far, the policy has confounded more than clarified. Some China watchers wonder where Obama will strike the... The Woodward Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2394534/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:10:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2394530/posts Obama's China Policy: Neither Strategic Nor Reassuring The Woodward Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2394530/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:07:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393081/posts If you have been following what America's right-wing bloggers and radio talk-show hosts have been saying about President Barack Obama's just-concluded trip to the Asia-Pacific, you would be under the impression that Obama was not treated by officials in that region as the leader of the world's only remaining superpower and the largest and most advanced economy.... Top Stories Pittsburgh.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393081/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:36:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2392758/posts The Japanese media has reported that Obama's recent state visit to their island nation was a big failure, but the U.S. media is mum on the mess that Team Obama made in Japan. He made multiple diplomatic gaffs and this is quite aside from the absurdly low bow that the incompetent president perpetrated upon greeting the Japanese Emperor Akihito. Before we get to his other multiple fluffs and diplomatic errors, let's explain what Obama was telling the Japanese people with his absurdly low bow. The sort of bow that Obama made is almost that of a "dogeza" bow. This is... Publius Forum http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2392758/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:49:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389354/posts Economic crisis, mounting national debt, excessive foreign commitments -- this is no way to run an empire. America needs serious strategic counseling. And fast. It has never been Rome, and to adopt its strategies no -- its ruthless expansion of empire, domination of foreign peoples, and bone-crushing brand of total war -- would only hasten America's decline. Better instead to look to the empire's eastern incarnation: Byzantium, which outlasted its Roman predecessor by eight centuries. It is the lessons of Byzantine grand strategy that America must rediscover today. Fortunately, the Byzantines are far easier to learn from than the Romans,... Foreign Policy Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389354/posts#comment Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:10:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388524/posts Reset Button The gaffes of Hillary Clinton. Michael Crowley November 16, 2009 | 12:00 am /snip As a senator, after all, she had made her name as a policy wonk who actually enjoyed reading to the end of her briefing books--and one who, moreover, was known for an almost animatronic ability to stay on message. Barack Obama is said to have marveled at her relentless message discipline over two dozen Democratic primary debates. In selecting her a year ago, The New York Times reported, aides said he “recognized that Clinton had far more discipline and focus than her husband.” A... TNR http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388524/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:27:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386766/posts Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican known for his efforts to block influence domestic immigration and health-care issues, has scored a foreign-policy coup by helping to compel the Obama administration to shift its stance on strife-ridden Honduras. After demanding for months that deposed Honduran President Mel Zelaya be restored to power, senior State Department officials now say they'll accept the outcome of Nov. 29 elections in the Central American country even if Zelaya doesn't reclaim his post. "We support the elections process there," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Thursday. "We have provided technical assistance. ... These elections will... McClatchy Newspaper http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386766/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:27:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2378961/posts Former president George W Bush thought that the United States could turn Kabul into Peoria, the archetypal American city in the state of Illinois. President Barack Obama thinks that Kabul is just as good as Peoria. America has shed idealist delusion - that imposing the outward form of democracy in Iraq or Afghanistan would implant its content - in favor of an even stranger delusion, which refuses "to elevate one nation or group of people over another", as Obama told the United Nations on September 23. It was mad to believe that America could remake the world in its own... Asia Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2378961/posts#comment Thu, 5 Nov 2009 07:34:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2375551/posts And so the captain ordered the entire ship’s company was assembled. Suddenly, Ahab cried out to them, “What do ye do when ye see a Middle East conflict, men?" "We negotiate!" was the rejoinder from a score of the sailors. "Good!" cried the captain, "And what do ye next, men?" “We offer unilateral concessions!” "And what tune is it ye sing as ye give them, men?" "The Peace Process Chanty!" More and more strangely and fiercely glad and approving, grew the countenance of the captain at every shout; while the mariners themselves began to get excited, especially the Conflicts’ Management... Rubin Reports http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2375551/posts#comment Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:47:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2374836/posts Via RealClearWorld comes this article from the Hindu. India is a fairly pro-American nation, and it serves to reason that this article is written by a Russian. Some of its funnier parts are: The American ideology produces a sublimated version, so to say, of human equality. It stresses that lineage, education, ethnicity and so on do not matter in making one a full-fledged member of the community or a citizen of the world. As the American Dream has it, anyone can get rich, become President… Such democracy brings unexpected fruits — it makes ordinary Americans conceited, and totally unlike, say,... Right Handed Pitcher http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2374836/posts#comment Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:07:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2373198/posts "God Is Dead." No. When Friedrich Nietzsche announced the death of God in 1882, he thought that in the modern, scientific world people would soon be unable to countenance the idea of religious faith. By the time The Economist did its famous "God Is Dead" cover in 1999, the question seemed moot, notwithstanding the rise of politicized religiosity - fundamentalism - in almost every major faith since the 1970s. An obscure ayatollah toppled the shah of Iran, religious Zionism surfaced in Israel, and in the United States, Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority announced its dedicated opposition to "secular humanism." FP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2373198/posts#comment Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:52:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2371303/posts Five years after his painful loss to George W. Bush, ending a presidential campaign in which he was accused of being an Iraq war defeatist who was too willing to talk to America's adversaries, Sen. John F. Kerry has finally found his place in the foreign policy spotlight. Not only has President Obama advanced many of the Massachusetts Democrat's ideas but Vice President Biden's election vacated for Kerry the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the legislative branch's leading foreign policy pulpit. Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2371303/posts#comment Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:19:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2370542/posts Try making sense of President Obama’s foreign policy and you might start wondering what it is that guides this Administration. Most of our leaders have followed a few guiding principles, whether it be promoting freedom and democracy, containing the spread of communism, or resisting terrorism. Whether right or wrong as judged by history, each American President has sent a clear message to the world that America was squarely on the side of freedom. What about Obama? Candidate Obama stressed that he would change the “failed policies of the past eight years.” He said he would do this on the economy... Main Street Radical http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2370542/posts#comment Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:29:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2369478/posts ObamaÂ’s envoys at risk of becoming a flop By Daniel Dombey in Washington Published: October 22 2009 23:53 | Last updated: October 22 2009 23:53 The  Obama administrationÂ’s policy of appointing special envoys to sort out the worldÂ’s biggest problems could turn out to be a spectacular flop. Just look at this weekÂ’s news from Kabul. President Hamid KarzaiÂ’s decision to agree to a run-off election was a rare moment of success for WashingtonÂ’s effort to get to grips with AfghanistanÂ’s raging insurgency and the countryÂ’s recalcitrant government. But who was the US official standing at the podium next to Mr... FT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2369478/posts#comment Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:12:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2367596/posts The significance of Israel to the west is out of all proportion to her size and in direct relation to her place, on the front line. The country is unambiguously western, and not only her institutions but the way they operate leave no doubt of this. When, for instance, there are allegations that Israeli troops have committed crimes, in the course of military operations, there is an investigation. The contents and conclusions of that investigation are invariably made known. There will most certainly be open public discussion, and Israel's press is remarkably free. Real Clear Politics http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2367596/posts#comment Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:53:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2364588/posts Part of the problem with the president’s agenda is that it is predicated on a number of radical ideas that are asserted, rather than proven. His experts and the elites assure us of a reality that most people in their own more mundane lives have not found to be true. In short, they may find Obama personally engaging, but they no longer believe what he says. National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2364588/posts#comment Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:31:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2363894/posts About the only thing more comical than Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize was the reaction of those who deemed the award "premature," as if the brilliance of Obama's foreign policy is so self-evident and its success so assured that if only the Norway Five had waited a few years, his Nobel worthiness would have been universally acknowledged. To believe this, you have to be a dreamy adolescent (preferably Scandinavian and a member of the Socialist International) or an indiscriminate imbiber of White House talking points. After all, this was precisely the spin on the president's various apology tours through Europe... Jewish World Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2363894/posts#comment Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:03:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2363691/posts About the only thing more comical than Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize was the reaction of those who deemed the award "premature," as if the brilliance of Obama's foreign policy is so self-evident and its success so assured that if only the Norway Five had waited a few years, his Nobel worthiness would have been universally acknowledged Real Clear Politics http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2363691/posts#comment Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:44:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2363620/posts The U.S. dollar isn't the only currency headed to new lows. After months of drifting along in "the winds of change," America's diplomatic credibility is sinking alongside the greenback. The Obama White House and the so-called mainstream media -- preoccupied with hoopla over "health care reform," meaningless drivel about the 2016 Olympics and the vacuous award of a Nobel Peace Prize -- barely have noticed the water flooding into our ship of state. Unfortunately, the Iranians, North Koreans, Russians and the Taliban all have been paying attention. Don't count on any of them to help bail out our boat. On... GOPUSA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2363620/posts#comment Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:38:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2361475/posts The notion that Mr Obama is a weak leader is now spreading in ways that are dangerous to his presidency. The fact that he won the Nobel Peace Prize last Friday will not change this impression. Peace is all very well. But Mr Obama now needs to pick a fight in public – and win it with a clean knock-out. ft.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2361475/posts#comment Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:20:43 GMT