Foreign Policy
10/6/2008 | Foreign Policy, Presidential Issues
Biden's Fantasy World
The Wall Street Journal
In the popular media wisdom, Sarah Palin is the neophyte who knows nothing about foreign policy while Joe Biden is the savvy diplomatic pro. Then what are we to make of Mr. Biden's fantastic debate voyage last week when he made factual claims that would have got Mrs. Palin mocked from New York to Los Angeles? Start with Lebanon, where Mr. Biden asserted that "When we kicked -- along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said and Barack said, 'Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don't know -- if you don't, Hezbollah will control it.' Now what's happened? Hezbollah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel." The U.S. never kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, and no one else has either. Perhaps Mr. Biden meant to say Syria, except that the U.S. also didn't do that. The Lebanese ousted Syria's military in 2005. As for NATO, Messrs. Biden and Obama may have proposed sending alliance troops in, but if they did that was also a fantasy. The U.S. has had all it can handle trying to convince NATO countries to deploy to Afghanistan. Speaking of which, Mr. Biden also averred that "Our commanding general in Afghanistan said the surge principle in Iraq will not work in Afghanistan." In trying to correct him, Mrs. Palin mispronounced the general's name -- saying "General McClellan" instead of General David McKiernan. But Mr. Biden's claim was the bigger error, because General McKiernan said that while "Afghanistan is not Iraq," he also said a "sustained commitment" to counterinsurgency would be required. That is consistent with Mr. McCain's point that the "surge principles" of Iraq could work in Afghanistan.
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7/31/2008 | American History, China, Foreign Policy
Bush to attend church in China, urge religious freedom
Breitbart.Com
US President George W. Bush plans to attend church while in China for the opening of the Olympic Games next month, and will speak about freedom of religion, a top aide said Wednesday. "When he goes to church on Sunday (August 10) he will make a statement afterwards in which he discusses his view on religious freedom in China," said national security council director of Asian Affairs Dennis Wilder. "You can deliver the message of freedom without politicizing the events of the game," Wilder said. "The president will have diplomatic meetings with the Chinese leadership that are separate from the games. And in those meetings with the Chinese leaders he will of course bring up these issues." Bush, a devout Christian, has walked a diplomatic tightrope over the Olympics, repeatedly insisting the games are not a political venue while recently stepping up his public criticism of Beijing's rights record. Bush will attend the August 8 opening ceremonies of the games, having rejected human rights activists' appeals for him to boycott the gala in protest of China's overall rights record, including a crackdown in Tibet in March.
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7/10/2008 | Foreign Policy, Iran, Presidential Issues, Terrorism, U.S. Military
Iranian War Games Test Candidates' Resolve
The Bulletin - Philadelphia
News that the Iranian government test fired nine long- and medium-range missiles with the capability of reaching Israel drew a quick rebuke from the major U.S. presidential candidates yesterday. Republican John McCain used Tehran's war games as justification for pursuing a missile defense shield and Democrat Barack Obama called for the U.S. to aggressively pursue diplomacy and threaten sanctions. "Iran's most recent missile tests demonstrate again the dangers it poses to its neighbors and to the wider region, especially Israel," Mr. McCain said. "Ballistic missile testing coupled with Iran's continued refusal to cease its nuclear activities should unite the international community in efforts to counter Iran's dangerous ambitions."
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7/9/2008 | Foreign Policy, Iran, Radical Islam, Terrorism
Defiant Iran angers US with missile test
Breitbart.Com
Iran on Wednesday test-fired a missile it said is capable of reaching Israel, angering the United States amid growing fears that the standoff over the contested Iranian nuclear drive could lead to war. The Shahab-3 was among a broadside of nine missiles fired off simultaneously at 8:00 am (0330 GMT) from an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert, state television pictures showed. State-run Arabic channel Al-Alam said the missiles test-fired by the elite Revolutionary Guards included a "Shahab-3 with a conventional warhead weighing one tonne and a 2,000-kilometre (1,240-mile) range." The firing comes at a time of growing tension over Tehran's nuclear drive, which Iran insists is peaceful but the West fears could be aimed at making an atomic bomb. "The aim of these war games is to show we are ready to defend the integrity of the Iranian nation," Al-Alam quoted Revolutionary Guards air force commander Hossein Salami as saying.
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7/9/2008 | China, Economy, Foreign Policy, Presidential Issues
China's economy to become world's biggest in 2035: study
Breitbart.Com
China's economy will overtake that of the United States by 2035 and be twice its size by midcentury, a study released Tuesday by a US research organization concluded. The report by economist Albert Keidel of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said China's rapid growth is driven by domestic demand more than exports, and will sustain high single-digit growth rates well into the 21st century. "China's economic performance clearly is no flash in the pan," Keidel writes. "Its growth this decade has averaged more than 10 percent a year and is still going strong in the first half of 2008. Because its success in recent decades has not been export-led but driven by domestic demand, its rapid growth can continue well into the 21st century, unfettered by world market limitation." Keidel said the rise of China to the world's biggest economy will happen regardless of the method of calculation. Under current market-based estimates, China's gross domestic product is about three trillion dollars compared to 14 trillion for the United States. Based on a more controversial purchasing power parity (PPP) measure used by the World Bank and others to correct low labor-cost distortions, he said China's GDP is roughly half of that of the United States.
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7/8/2008 | Foreign Policy, Iraq, Presidential Issues
Vehicle bombings in Iraq at lowest level in nearly 4 years
USA Today
WASHINGTON — Car and truck bomb attacks have fallen to their lowest level in Iraq in almost four years, according to the military command in Baghdad and a private firm that tracks violence there. In May, there were 23 car and truck bomb attacks, the fewest since August 2004, when there were 18. Last month, the Multi-National Force-Iraq reported 24 such attacks. Cars and trucks packed with explosives have been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in Iraq. Roadside bombs generally target a single vehicle; terrorists use car bombs to inflict mass casualties, often aiming them at ethnic or religious rivals.
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7/7/2008 | Foreign Policy, Israel, Presidential Issues
Israel successfully tests missile interceptor: report
Breitbart.com
Israel has successfully tested a new defence system designed to intercept rockets fired from southern Lebanon and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, public radio reported on Sunday. The "Iron Dome" system is expected to be fully operational within a year and will be able to intercept the military-grade Katyusha rockets used by Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and the cruder Qassam rockets favoured by Hamas. Citing Israeli security officials, public radio said the system would also be effective against mortar fire which has a much smaller window of warning.
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7/4/2008 | Foreign Policy
Bush will attend opening ceremonies of Olympics
Breitbart.Com
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing, the White House said Thursday, quashing any talk of a presidential boycott over China's violent crackdown on Buddhist monks. The White House had been reluctant to confirm Bush's plans for the opening event, although there was no doubt he would attend the Olympic Games. While other world leaders have talked of boycotting the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies, Bush's aides have signaled for weeks he was unlikely to do so. White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush will travel in August to South Korea, Thailand and China and will attend the opening ceremonies of the games with first lady Laura Bush. The specific dates of travel were not released.
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7/3/2008 | Economy, Foreign Policy, Oil and Gas
Fears, Again, of Oil Supplies at Risk
New York Times
THEY are the nightmares, the worst confluence of misguided decisions and startling violence, that politicians and oil executives ponder briefly and then shoo away: That sympathizers of Osama bin Laden sink three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and choke off the narrow, bow-shaped channel that funnels 14 million barrels a day from the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world. That the United States attacks Iraq, and Israel launches a huge strike against the Palestinians, driving them from their camps and staking out more land -- all of which spurs the Persian Gulf states to cut off oil for the West. Or perhaps that a popular uprising, led by sympathizers of Mr. bin Laden, topples the ruling Saud family in Saudi Arabia, by far the world's largest oil producer.
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6/27/2008 | Foreign Policy
North Korea destroys nuclear reactor tower
My Way News
YONGBYON, North Korea (AP) - North Korea destroyed the most visible symbol of its nuclear weapons program Friday in a sign of its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs. The demolition of the 60-foot-tall cooling tower at its main reactor complex is a response to U.S. concessions after the North delivered a declaration Thursday of its nuclear programs under an agreement at international arms talks.
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6/26/2008 | Foreign Policy, Presidential Issues
Bush says he will lift sanctions against N. Korea
My Way News
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said Thursday he will lift key trade sanctions against North Korea and remove it from the U.S. terrorism blacklist, a remarkable turnaround in policy toward the communist regime he once branded as part of an "axis of evil." The announcement came after North Korea handed over a long-awaited accounting of its nuclear work to Chinese officials on Thursday, fulfilling a key step in the denuclearization process. Bush said the move was "a step closer in the right direction" although he made clear the United States remains suspicious about the communist regime in Pyongyang. "The United States has no illusions about the regime," Bush said in a statement that he read to reporters in the Rose Garden.
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6/20/2008 | Foreign Policy, Presidential Issues
EU to lift sanctions on Cuba
USA Today
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Thursday agreed to lift its diplomatic sanctions against Cuba, but imposed tough conditions on the communist island to maintain sanction-free relations, officials said. The U.S., which has maintained a decades-long trade embargo against Cuba, criticized the move, saying there were no significant signs the communist island was easing a dictatorship. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the bloc felt it had to encourage changes in Cuba after Raul Castro took over as the head of the country's government from his ailing brother Fidel. "There will be very clear language also on what the Cubans still have to do ... releasing prisoners, really working on human rights questions," she told reporters at an EU summit. "There will be a sort of review to see whether indeed something will have happened." The largely symbolic decision takes effect Monday. The diplomatic sanctions, which banned high-level visits to EU nations by Cuban officials, have not been in force since 2005. They were imposed in 2003 following the arrests of dozens of dissidents but suspended two years later.
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6/11/2008 | Foreign Policy, Iran, Radical Islam
Ahmadinejad Says Bush Administration Can't Hurt Iran
Bloomberg.com
June 11 (Bloomberg) -- George W. Bush's administration is in its dying days and won't be able to harm Iran, the Islamic Republic's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said. ``It's Bush's dream to harm Iran's nation,'' Ahmadinejad said today during a televised speech in the western Iranian city of Shahre Kord. ``You thought you would be able to do something but your term came to an end and you will not be capable of harming even 1 centimeter of Iran's sacred land.'' The Bush administration has accused the government in Tehran of supporting insurgents in neighboring Iraq who have fought American troops there, and of backing Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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6/6/2008 | Foreign Policy, Terrorism
Israeli minister says alternatives to attack on Iran running out
Breitbart.com
An Israeli deputy prime minister on Friday warned that Iran would face attack if it pursues what he said was its nuclear weapons programme. "If Iran continues its nuclear weapons programme, we will attack it," said Shaul Mofaz, who is also transportation minister. "Other options are disappearing. The sanctions are not effective. There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear programme," Mofaz told the Yediot Aharonot daily. He stressed such an operation could only be conducted with US support. A former defence minister and armed forces chief of staff, Mofaz hopes to replace embattled Ehud Olmert as prime minister and at the helm of the Kadima party.
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6/3/2008 | Anti-semitism, Foreign Policy, Presidential Issues
McCain criticizes Obama again about Iran
My Way News
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican John McCain raised the specter of a nuclear Iran in a speech to a pro-Israel group, once again chastising Democrat Barack Obama for his willingness to meet with leaders of Iran and other U.S. foes. McCain has criticized Obama for saying in a debate last year that he would meet leaders of Iran and other U.S. foes without preconditions. The Arizona senator argues Obama is naive and inexperienced to think that such a meeting would yield progress. "It's hard to see what such a summit with President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad would actually gain, except an earful of anti-Semitic rants, and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another," McCain told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
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6/2/2008 | Foreign Policy, Iran, Radical Islam, Terrorism
Ahmadinejad says Israel will soon disappear
Breitbart.com
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted on Monday that Muslims would uproot "satanic powers" and repeated his controversial belief that Israel will soon disappear, the Mehr news agency reported. "I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene," he said. "Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started." Since taking the presidency in August 2005, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly provoked international outrage by predicting Israel is doomed to disappear. "I tell you that with the unity and awareness of all the Islamic countries all the satanic powers will soon be destroyed," he said to a group of foreign visitors ahead of the 19th anniversary of the death of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Ahmadinejad also again expressed his apocalyptic vision that tyranny in the world be abolished by the return to earth of the Mahdi, the 12th imam of Shiite Islam, alongside great religious figures including Jesus Christ.
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6/2/2008 | Foreign Policy, Terrorism, U.S. Military
US accused of holding terror suspects on prison ships
The Guardian
The United States is operating "floating prisons" to house those arrested in its war on terror, according to human rights lawyers, who claim there has been an attempt to conceal the numbers and whereabouts of detainees. Details of ships where detainees have been held and sites allegedly being used in countries across the world have been compiled as the debate over detention without trial intensifies on both sides of the Atlantic. The US government was yesterday urged to list the names and whereabouts of all those detained. Information about the operation of prison ships has emerged through a number of sources, including statements from the US military, the Council of Europe and related parliamentary bodies, and the testimonies of prisoners.
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5/27/2008 | Abortion, Foreign Policy, China
China's one-child policy has exemptions for quake victims' parents
International Herald Tribune
CHENGDU, China: In response to inquiries from grieving relatives, local officials announced Monday that parents whose only child was killed or grievously injured in the May 12 earthquake would be exempt from the country's one-child policy. The exception, issued by the Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee in Sichuan Province, said qualified parents could apply for legal permission to have another child, according to The Associated Press.
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5/27/2008 | Foreign Policy, Iran, Radical Islam, Terrorism
Nuclear agency accuses Iran of willful lack of cooperation
International Herald Tribune
PARIS: The International Atomic Energy Agency, in an unusually blunt and detailed report, said Monday that Iran's suspected research into the development of nuclear weapons remains "a matter of serious concern" and continues to need "substantial explanations." The nine-page report accused the Iranians of a willful lack of cooperation, particularly in answering allegations that its nuclear program may be pointed less at energy generation than at military use.
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5/15/2008 | Foreign Policy
Bush links optimism for Mideast reform to democratic Israel
My Way News
JERUSALEM (AP) - President Bush said Wednesday that 60 years of Israel's existence is cause for optimism for democratic change throughout the Middle East. "What happened here is possible everywhere," Bush said, opening a trip divided between ceremonial duties and a new push for Israeli-Palestinian peace. "I suspect if you looked back 60 years ago and tried to guess where Israel would be at that time, it would be hard to be able to project such a prosperous, hopeful land," Bush said during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres. "No question, people would have said, 'We'd be surrounded by hostile forces.'" Yet Bush's message of optimism was immediately offset by troubling realities in the region.
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