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Arms Deal: President Obama signs away U.S. nuclear security and gives the Russians a veto over whether we can defend ourselves. Our nuclear umbrella is in tatters as another piece of paper proclaims peace in our time. Completing a process of disarmament and appeasement that manifested itself in the dismantling and defunding of U.S. military power that began with his inauguration, President Obama signed a new strategic arms limitation treaty with a grinning and very happy Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday in the Czech capital. How fitting this document was signed in Prague, which isn't far from Munich where...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has formulated a new policy for Sudan that proposes working with that country’s government, rather than isolating it as President Obama had pledged to do during his campaign. In an interview on Friday, President Obama’s special envoy to Sudan, Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, retired, said the policy, to be announced Monday by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, would make use of a mix of “incentives and pressure” to seek an end to the human rights abuses that have left millions of people dead or displaced while burning Darfur into the American conscience.

US President Barack Obama basked in new-found glory today, vowing to consider his surprise Nobel Peace Prize as "a call for action" to address the challenges of the new century. But critics argued the award may have been premature. A visibly surprised Mr Obama, 48, said he did not feel fit to join the honour roll of revered Nobel peace laureates, but vowed to use the prize as a “call to action” to lead the world in confronting its deepest challenges. As shockwaves from the Nobel committee in Oslo raced around the world, many saw the award as a final...

Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after midnight I was informed in a telephone call by President Barack Obama that (his) administration had decided to pull out from the planned missile defense shield installations" in the Czech Republic and Poland, the...

Strategic Defense: With Iran on the verge of a deliverable nuke, the administration tells our allies in the dead of night that we will scuttle missile defense plans in Eastern Europe to please the Russians.Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after...

Obama has begun discreet talks with Iran, Syria by Sylvie Lanteaume – Sat Jan 31, 9:54 pm ET Featured Topics: Barack Obama Presidential Transition … WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama has already used experts within the last few months to hold high-level but discreet talks with both Iran and Syria, organizers of the meetings told AFP. ...

The Bush administration conceded Thursday that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by a year-end deadline is no longer possible. "We do not think it is likely it will happen before the end of the year," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in Washington, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged as much at the outset of a Mideast trip meant to secure the modest gains from a year of U.S.-sponsored talks between Israel and one part of the fractured Palestinian leadership. Perino said U.S. advisers began to doubt the deadline months ago, as a corruption scandal and related political uncertainties occupied...

President George W. Bush is fond of comparing himself to Ronald Reagan. But as he meets with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Washington this week, his policy regarding North Korea's nuclear weapons program looks more like something out of Bill Clinton's or Jimmy Carter's playbook. In dealing with the Soviet Union on arms control, Reagan was famous for repeating the Russian phrase, "Doveryai, no proveryai" (trust, but verify). Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev reportedly once complained to Reagan, "You use that phrase every time we meet." To which Reagan smilingly replied, "That's because I like it so much." This administration...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the appointment of Washington's first-ever special envoy to the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference will help to promote principles that Muslims and non-Muslims alike "hold dear," such as human rights, liberty and the rule of law. "These are not American values or Western values," she told OIC ambassadors in Washington on Monday. "They are universal values, values that are lived and practiced by the majority of Muslims in the world, many of whom are citizens of democracies."

I've seen a lot of Condi-bashing on FR, mostly around issues regarding Israel. Condi's a genius, and helped end the cold war. She would be a powerful addition to McCain's ticket, and would bring a lot of people enthusiastically on board to support him. Just thinking about the possibility, charges me up for the first time in weeks. It would be a devastatingly effective ticket, and she would be a perfect VP. Might even drive a GOP sweep. Imagine majorities again...

Gordon Brown today received a personal invitation to the 2008 Beijing Olympics from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. The invitation to the games, which take place in August, came as Mr Brown and his wife Sarah visited the People's University on the outskirts of Beijing on the first day of his official visit to China. Mr Brown and Mr Wen joined a question and answer session with students and watched exhibition matches between young British table tennis hopefuls and their Chinese counterparts. During the session, Mr Brown was asked if he would attend the Beijing games - which London will host...

The Philippine government is drafting a constitutional amendment that would authorize the establishment of a federal homeland for Muslims in the south of the country. The proposed amendment is part of a complex peace process between the government and a major Muslim rebel group. Douglas Bakshian reports from Manila. Last November, an important agreement was reached between the Philippine government and the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The two sides agreed on the size of a proposed homeland for the country's Muslims in the south of the country. This definition of what is called "the territory" is part of...

John Burroughs is executive director of the New York-based Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy...What is needed is not another UN Security Council resolution strengthening existing sanctions. Rather the Bush administration should talk directly with Iran, and soon, because the U.S.-Iran confrontation is heating up dangerously...In a recent interview, Nobel Peace Prize winner ElBaradei said, "We are moving rapidly toward an abyss." It is not too late to step away.

LONDON (Reuters) - Six years after the September 11 attacks, a few cautious voices are beginning to suggest the unthinkable -- maybe it is time to consider talking to al Qaeda. The idea will revolt some people and raises obvious questions -- through what channels could such a dialogue take place and what would there be to negotiate? But proponents say al Qaeda has established itself as a de facto power, whether the West likes it or not, and history shows militant movements are best neutralized by negotiation, not war. "No insurgency or terrorism has been defeated by warfare or...

Baghdad | Talks between the United States and Iran this month will be an opportunity for Tehran to enter a "whole new era" in relations with Iraq, but first it has to stop aiding Iraqi insurgent groups, the U.S. envoy leading the discussions said Thursday. Both Iranian and American officials said Thursday that the talks, beginning May 28 in Baghdad, will be limited to the security situation in Baghdad and will not delve into the diplomatic deadlock between the two countries over Iran's nuclear program.

Edwards: Treaty With Iran Possible Candidate Talking About Nonaggressive Alternatives By TERRY MORAN Feb. 26, 2007 — - Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told a group of New Hampshire voters Saturday that he would consider pursuing a nonaggression pact between the United States and Iran. Edwards' statement came in answer to a voter's question at a house party in Nashua on Saturday morning. Asked about it later in an interview with ABC News, Edwards confirmed that he views such a treaty -- in which the United States would promise not to attack Iran -- as "a possibility down the road."...

The co-chairmen of the Iraq Study Group were at the head of a long table, and James Baker scrunched over as he draped his right arm around Lee Hamilton to underscore a point he was making. The move was prompted by my question about the Bush administration policy of using talks with antagonistic nations to reward behavior, rather as diplomatic tools toward a goal. That means the Bush White House is not willing to engage in direct talks with Syria and Iran to get their help on Iraq. President Bush reaffirmed his position at Thursday's press conference with British Prime...

North Korea's second most powerful leader has said that whether further nuclear tests are carried out depends on US policy, Japanese media report. Kim Yong-nam said the decision depended on how the US treated North Korea, Japan's Kyodo news agency said. He said US policy was also the main factor in determining whether to return to stalled six-party talks. The comments were the first from a senior North Korean official since the country's claimed nuclear test.

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert endorsed an emerging Mideast cease-fire deal late Friday, after a day of dramatic day brinksmanship including a threat to expand the ground war in Lebanon. The agreement calls for the deployment of 30,000 Lebanese and U.N. troops along the Israel-Lebanon border. It falls short of some of Israel's demands, including a strong mandate for the U.N. forces to take on Hezbollah guerrillas. However, the draft is the best chance yet for peace after more than four weeks of war that has killed more than 800 people, destroyed Lebanon's infrastructure and inflamed tensions across...