I hate
to admit it, but I've been suckered by the Obama administration. A few
weeks ago the secretary of State announced, in effect, that the "war on
terror" was over. From now on, the mass media informed us, the United
States would be fighting only "overseas contingency operations." There
was so much buzz about the end of the war that I was moved to write a column, do radio interviews, the whole bit. Very exciting!
US President Barack Obama
will give a major policy talk at Cairo University on 4 June, intended
to start mending the rift between the United States and the Arab world.
During the Bush years, many Arabs turned against the United States
because of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the abuses
at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. But the issue that is really at the crux
of the tensions with the United States is the intractable conflict
between Israel and Palestine, and what many perceive as a one-sided US
policy in support of Israel.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Waziristan, the remote area that's the
epicenter of Taliban and al Qaida militants in Pakistan, is set to
become the next war zone in the nation's fight against Islamic
extremists, where clashes between insurgents and the army erupted over
the weekend.
If the Oval Office guest list is an indicator, President Obama is making
good on his commitment to try to revive the long-dead Arab-Israeli peace
process. On May 18 President Obama received Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu; today he met with Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestinian
Authority in Ramallah.
Horror
movies usually follow the same script. The monster - whether
genetically modified, abused as a child, or flown in from Alpha
Centauri - picks off the frightened teenagers one by one. After many
thrills and chills, the hero drives a stake through the heart of the
beast. Finally, just as we're finishing off the last of our popcorn in
relief, the not-quite-dead monster makes one last attempt to dispatch
the hero. It fails, but not before we've dumped popcorn all over our
laps.
Obama has indeed done the right thing to initiate diplomacy with Iran.
Most Iranians, government officials or not, welcome it. However, the present historical moment is still fraught with danger even as it represents the greatest opportunity to date to resolve longstanding US/Iran bilateral issues.
To begin with, Israel does not favor lessening of tensions between the US and Iran.
WASHINGTON - Sunday's underground nuclear test by North Korea drew strong condemnation here Monday from U.S. President Barack Obama who suggested that Washington will seek strong international sanctions by the U.N. Security Council and possibly impose tough unilateral measures of its own.
According to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna, the blast slightly exceeded the force of Pyongyang's first nuclear test in 2006. Analysts here said the test was likely to pose an especially difficult policy challenge for China, which also condemned it.
Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon spoke to Channel 2 on Saturday about the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama, held earlier this week, saying that Israel's government will not allow the U.S. to dictate its policy, and that "settlement construction will not be halted."
Former US President Bill Clinton has been
named by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as his special UN envoy to Haiti. Clinton will reportedly travel to the country at least four times a year.
“[It’s] an opportunity to bring in resources to address the economic insecurity that plagues Haiti,” says Brian Concannon, a human rights lawyer who works extensively in Haiti.
WASHINGTON - While reaffirming the "special relationship" between their two countries, U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared unable to bridge major differences in their approaches to Iran and Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts following their White House meeting here Monday.
