It is important that the United States do a better job of defending its own interests in its negotiations with India. Nevertheless, there are areas of common strategic concern where we can work with the Indian government to the benefit of both nations.
Washington cannot unilaterally deal with the mayhem that the Islamic civil war has unleashed. The U.S. must enlist allies in multilateral responses to jihadist threats. Often, events can only be influenced at the margins. At times, the most prudent policy may be to do nothing at all.
Speculation remains as to what sort of foreign policy captain President Obama is and whether the president has articulated foreign policy doctrine specific to his administration.
Drones will be part of the future of warfare as their advantages can be exploited by political leaders. Yet, drones are only part of a wide array of surveillance and military options.
Rather than do something on behalf of Middle East peace, the Obama administration has buckled, proving unwilling to confront an Israeli government set on measures that will greatly diminish the prospect of creating a Palestinian state.
With less than 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. manages to emit nearly 20% of greenhouse gases. While Barack Obama’s election seemed promising to many environmentalists, it seems clear nearly 3 years into his term that the real U.S. position on climate matters is not all that much better.
Seniors and the elderly are going to pay for this new “American Austerity”, those who can least afford it. Lets face facts: if there are no revenue increases, there will have to be cuts in pretty much every part of the US budget. If there is no cut in military spending, it will be you and me, the average American taxpayer who will feel the cuts. Sadly, nothing good will come out of any of this.
Iran has outmaneuvered the United States in Iraq at every turn. It has done this through its tremendous foresight as to the direction Iraq was heading at different moments, as well as its keen understanding of its American adversary. These past successes have, in turn, given Iran the upper-hand vis-à-vis the United States as Washington and Tehran battle to define the future of Iraq.
Is Obama disregarding the United States’ moral values by shying away from closer involvement in the Arab Spring and subsequent negotiations between Egypt, Syria and Turkey? Or is he simply giving the Middle East a chance to sort out its own problems?
To seize the opportunity of this historic moment of political change and support democratization in the Arab world, Obama needs to fill in the details of how the USA and the international community will offer concrete, sizeable and sustained help towards securing political reforms throughout the region in the coming months and years.
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