Obama

Libya Clashes Escalate But a Diplomatic Compromise Looms

By June 27, 2011

As NATO’s war in Libya entered its 100th day on Monday, an end to the conflict may be in sight — but not necessarily a decisive one. Military and diplomatic signs point increasingly towards some measure of compromise by both sides in shaping an outcome that neither the regime nor the rebels would have countenanced when their …

Reality Checking Obama on Afghanistan: Five Questions on Ending the War

By June 23, 2011

First, credit where it’s due: President Barack Obama has burst the spin bubble by telling Americans that the U.S. military has largely achieved that which can be achieved militarily in Afghanistan, and by admitting that the Taliban will be part of Afghanistan’s political future. He’s also ditched the notion of a “conditions-based …

Following U.S. Lead, France Announces Afghan Troop Withdrawal

By June 23, 2011

Just hours after U.S. President Barack Obama announced his timetable for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, his French opposite Nicolas Sarkozy followed suit by revealing Paris’ plan to also gradually bring soldiers in its Afghan contingent home. The swiftness of Sarkozy’s decision—which clearly followed consultation with …

In Libya, the Clock Is Ticking Toward NATO Failure

By June 22, 2011

Western leaders may insist that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is weakened, isolated, irrelevant, and about to bow out, but their words hide hide a growing anxiety in Western capitals about the implications of his tenacity. Three months and counting into a bombing campaign that has yet to force out the regime, there’s growing …

Four Decades Later, It’s Time to Scrap the Dead-End Drug War

By June 17, 2011



I recently returned from the desert city of Durango, Mexico, where forensic officials are still trying to identify some 240 corpses discovered this year in mass graves. More than 200 other bodies have been found in similar fosas across northern Mexico. All were victims, many of them innocent victims, of the drug-trafficking …

Obama Pulls A Bush On Libya Vote

By June 16, 2011

For a man whose sobriety, intellectual rigor, and oratory skills have often impressed supporters and opponents alike, U.S. President Barack Obama certainly seems comfortable in his current re-enactment of Bill Clinton’s infamous Lewinsky-era attempts to spin reality with heavy-handed semantic ploys. With Clinton, the issue of whether …

On Mideast Peace, Europeans Hold Obama to His Words

By June 14, 2011

When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there’s sometimes a certain disconnect between what President Obama says and what he does. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proven adept at widening that gap, and ensuring that he’s not pressured to meet Obama’s expectations. But America’s European allies appear …

Puerto Rico: Obama Visits a Commonwealth’s Uncommon Problems

By June 13, 2011

It has been 50 years since a U.S. President traveled to Puerto Rico, and that’s indicative of how little Washington ponders America’s Caribbean island commonwealth. Only rarely, like the controversy over the U.S. naval base at Vieques a decade ago, do Americans even remember their ties to Puerto Rico. Even President Obama’s visit …

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