Posted by seumasach on February 10, 2013
M.K.Bhadrakumar
10th February, 2013
The United States has neatly sidestepped the remarks by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei which apparently shut the door on direct talks between the two ancient adversaries. In sum, the Barack Obama administration ran a fine comb through Khamenei’s remarks and estimated that it is not at all as if the door for US-Iran talks has been slammed shut and the key thrown away.
Posted in Iran | Tagged: Obama agenda, Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 8, 2013
James M.Wall
7th February, 2013
On one side are fierce Hagel critics such as McCain and Bill Kristol (left), Washington’s neocon-in-chief, who refuse to back down from their belief that the Iraq invasion of nearly a decade ago was just, and who continue to support the aggressive projection of U.S. military power abroad, especially in Syria.
On the other side are Obama, Hagel, and others who warned—quite presciently—of the pitfalls of that policy, and who are running away from military intervention abroad at full speed, even as they ratchet up the “small footprint” use of drones.
And now the neocon hawks fear that, like Shakespeare’s Richard III, there will be no place for them at all in Obama’s “weak, piping time of peace.” It is truly the winter of their discontent.
Posted in Syria | Tagged: Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 7, 2013
M.K.Bhadrakumar
7th February, 2013
President Barack Obama’s decision to make Israel his first official visit abroad after the inauguration is both symbolic as well as hugely substantive. Symbolic in the sense that he will be underscoring the centrality of the Middle East in the United States’, foreign policy agenda, and signaling that carrying Israel along is useful.
Posted in Iran, Syria | Tagged: Obama agenda, Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 7, 2013
Thierry Meyssan
4th February, 2013
Hillary Clinton’s departure was carefully orchestrated to preserve her chances of becoming the Democratic Party’s candidate for the next presidential election. The former first lady still contemplates returning to the White House and all the bets are on for a spectacular duel in 2016 between the two political dynasties, with Jeb Bush (GWB’s elder brother) as the other contestant.
Posted in Syria | Tagged: john kerry, Obama agenda, Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 6, 2013
Kaveh Afrasiabi
5th February, 2013
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – Iran and the United States are on the verge of a historical opportunity to repair their frozen relations and thus reverse the spiral of conflict spiral that for years has dominated their interactions. It is the right thing to do and at the right time, given the fact that more often than not past opportunities were lost simply because one side or the other was not “ready”.
Posted in Iran | Tagged: Iran, Obama agenda, Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 1, 2013
Justin Raimondo
1st February, 2013
We have to be thankful to Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of our more theatrical solons, for dramatizing the way in which the Israel lobby intimidates members of Congress: by asking Chuck Hagel if he could name a single Senator who was so intimidated he merely underscored how thoroughly each and every one of them is cowed. The whole spectacle of this public interrogation, with its tiresomely repetitive demands for pledges of undying loyalty to Israel, brought home the truth of Hagel’s remark.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 23, 2013
Cailean Bochanan
23rd January, 2013
You don’t have to regard Barack Obama as the the embodiment of ultimate virtue to support the recent shift towards a certain realism in Washington. He has declared an end to “war without end”. It doesn’t matter that this is only an accommodation to new realities and not the reflection of some inherent goodness in the US leader. What matters is that he is aware of reality and is accommodating to it: this is what leadership is about. He has recognised that the policy options chosen by his administration have not worked. They could have worked perhaps but they didn’t . The government of Bashar-al Assad has not collapsed in the face of Western sponsored Islamist movements and is not going to. The eurozone is not going to collapse to accommodate the US dollar. America is not going to dictate the course of world events over the coming years. The New World Order, at least not the one envisaged by Washington, London and Tel Aviv, will not come into being.Let us then applaud Barack Obama for providing us with change we might even believe in: a shift in Washington towards an acceptance of the facts, of a return to planet earth.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Obama agenda, Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 20, 2013
Cailean Bochanan
20th January, 2013
Every cloud has a silver lining and the terrible events in Algeria at least enabled David Cameron to postpone his long-awaited speech on Europe. He must be hoping he could call it off altogether and that the leaking of its contents by dribs and drabs would steal some of its thunder and render its eventual delivery a relative non-event. But what has got him into such a quandary? “Events, my dear boy! Events!”
Posted in Battle for Europe | Tagged: Obama agenda, Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 20, 2013
Brendan O’Reilly
12th January, 2013
See also: Let’s build a strategic partnership with China!
News of Chuck Hagel’s nomination to Secretary of Defense has been warmly received in China. Hagel, like most of the contemporary leadership of the American military, favors closer engagement with his counterparts in the People’s Liberation Army. China’s top leadership has interpreted Hagel’s recent public statements as reassuring signals of American cordiality.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Chinese soft power, Obama's realist turn, US-Chinese partnership | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 20, 2013
President Obama effectively announces the end of the Syria destabilisation campaign
19th January, 2013
Killing Osama bin Laden (or rather, signing off on the ongoing military operation that killed him) might have given Barack Obama a great electoral pitch, but what exactly did it accomplish for the security of the United States and its interests? Al-Qaeda is back – big time.
Posted in Syria | Tagged: Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 18, 2013
The shift in US policy is now clear. Realism has dictated that Assad will not be overthrown in Syria and that the euro will not collapse. By relaunching the “war on terror” against Al Qaeda Washington signals a diplomatic settlement in Syria and , at the same time, seeks to reforge its alliance with Europe and strengthen NATO.Hollande’s Mali campaign and Cameron’s travails over Europe both flow directly from Washington’s new stance.
18th January, 2013
The outgoing US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, has said there must be a fundamental change in the transatlantic alliance, as the west faces challenging global threats, including that from al-Qaida terrorists.
Posted in Battle for Europe, Syria | Tagged: "War on Terror", Obama's realist turn | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 