Foreign policy.....

[Guest]

While I am 100% opposed to just about anything this President does on the domestic front with all the politics being played instead of the nations well being, I have, for some reason, held out hope for him regarding foreign relations.

He has confused the Israel situation by waffling all over the place in just 9 months...both China and NOW GERMANY have issued warnings to the US on financial policy....Afghanastan, his war to fight terrorism, has been waiting for about 3 months for its SECOND strategy.

All of this can be remedied if he gets at it, but reading this from Financial Times today is a bit depressing...

Foreign policy tests Obama-Clinton bond

..........But that is not the full picture. Many problems with the administration’s message – including its inconsistent policy on Israel-Palestine – can be traced back to the White House, which under Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff, keeps a firm grip on foreign policy. Some ex-diplomats say they have never seen power so centralised.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8f3cc580-d5fb-11de-b80f-00144feabdc0.html


Let us hope they get it together SOON !!

[Guest]

I am going to be egotistical enough to bump this up because we dont seem to want to talk about foreign affairs and only health care but I am concerned that if we get so inward with ourselves we are going to get into trouble.

The world is much too small now days to allow our world situation deteriorate. Is anyone concerned as I am ?

Again, as much as I do not agree with this President in anyway on domestic issues, I surely want him to be successful in this area !

[Guest]

Perhaps the President is waking up a bit....

"When he entered office, US President Barack Obama promised to inject US foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it's not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming."

The White House did not even stand up for itself when it came to the question of human rights in China. The president, who had said only a few days earlier that freedom of expression is a universal right, was coerced into attending a joint press conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, at which questions were forbidden. Former US President George W. Bush had always managed to avoid such press conferences.

Anf this article ends with a telling sentence in my opinion....

"There are many indications that the man in charge at the White House will take a tougher stance in the future. Obama's advisors fear a comparison with former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, even more than with Bush. Prominent Republicans have already tried to liken Obama to the humanitarian from Georgia, who lost in his bid to win a second term, because voters felt that he was too soft. "Carter tried weakness and the world got tougher and tougher because the predators, the aggressors, the anti-Americans, the dictators, when they sense weakness, they all start pushing ahead," Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker in the House of Representatives, recently said. And then he added: "This does look a lot like Jimmy Carter."

The world began to hate America before George Bush and will not stop hating us because Barrack Obama is now President !!!

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,662822,00.html

[Guest]

And then add this to the story.....

"TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's armed forces launched large-scale air defense war games on Sunday to show off the country's deterrence capabilities in the face of pressure from the West over its nuclear program."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5AK0FZ20091122