Title: Obama's Foreign Policy updates
Description: summits, state visits, etc.
Description: summits, state visits, etc.
MSantor - November 7, 2008 05:04 AM (GMT)
A CNN report titled: "China's Obama challenge"
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/200...nn?iref=24hours
And another one about problems in East Asia he will have to deal with:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/05/asi...ysis/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/200...nn?iref=24hours
And another one about problems in East Asia he will have to deal with:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/05/asi...ysis/index.html
| QUOTE |
| Analysis: Asia stacked with problems for Obama Story Highlights Riminton: Afghanistan, Pakistan top of Obama's list of challenges in Asia North Korea and possibility of nuclear-armed Iran also high on list Powell: Obama ready to face unpleasant surprises By CNN Correspondent Hugh Riminton HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Donald Rumsfeld was much pilloried for his musings on the "unknown unknowns" that bedevil defense planning. But an echo of that warning was floated Wednesday by another former Bush administration official as the election result became known. "Something's going to come along," former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told me in Hong Kong. "Somebody out there will try to take advantage of a change in administration and the newness of a new administration." But his "stronger point," he said, was that something will happen that has nothing to do with testing a president. "It's just going to happen." Barack Obama, the 44th President, will face a tough enough time with the "known unknowns." Remarkably, Iraq is not the first challenge. Saving Afghanistan and strengthening a crumbling Pakistan are top of the pile. After meeting with senior Pakistani officials, including President Asif Ali Zardari this week, the new head of U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus, said extremism in the Pakistani borderlands now poses an "existential threat" to the state of Pakistan. "All parties recognize the nature of the threat, the significance of the extremist activity and the threat it poses to this country, to Afghanistan and beyond this region," he said. Joe Biden made plain the incoming administration's view during the vice-presidential debate. He identified Pakistan as a bigger danger even than a nuclear-armed Iran. "I promise you, if an attack comes in the homeland," he said, "it's going to come from al Qaeda planning in the hills of Afghanistan and Pakistan." The message seems clear: The primary focus is not Iraq. It's back to fixing up after 9/11. A nuclear-armed Iran, however, would be -- in Biden's words -- "a game-changer." Having risked campaign capital with his offer to talk with Iran, President-elect Obama can be expected to follow through. "We might be able to make progress and other countries are more likely to join us," says Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former National Security Adviser. The universal expectation: a different tone under a President Obama. Brzezinski says allies are more likely to engage with the U-S and the Iranians be drawn in "if we don't conduct the negotiations in an atmosphere of mutual abuse or of military threats." North Korea is another challenge. Kim Jong Il, the leader of the world's weakest nuclear power is in uncertain health. With no obvious succession plans and with recent bellicose threats to resume a nuclear program, North Korea needs close watching. The six-party process that draws in North Korea's four neighbors, plus the United States, will remain the strategic platform, with China the key player in nudging Pyongyang along. Meanwhile, China, Japan, South Korea, and other Asian export-driven nations will be nudging the new U.S. President to do what will be his first priority anyway: fix the U.S.economy. To face the security risks, known and unknown, Colin Powell believes Americans have chosen a man with "every potential to be a great president." Powell wept as he watched Obama's victory speech. But he says "we haven't elected Superman. We've elected a human being with strengths and weaknesses...we all have to work together to help him." But the Republican Powell, who endorsed Obama in the last weeks of the campaign, says he is "reasonably comfortable [Obama] will be ready for that first crisis, even if it is a surprise." |
MSantor - February 19, 2009 05:56 AM (GMT)
Just an update on the eve of Obama's visit to Canada:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/02/18/...ieff-obama.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/02/18/...ieff-obama.html
| QUOTE |
| Obama 'will listen to us' on Afghanistan: Ignatieff Last Updated: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 | 2:39 PM ET Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says he will press U.S. President Barack Obama during their meeting on Thursday in Ottawa for a clear, consistent strategy for Afghanistan, while also urging the U.S. leader to take more action against protectionist trade measures and ensure a free-flowing border. Ignatieff reiterated that the Liberals would not accept an extension of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan, which is scheduled to end in February 2011. Ignatieff, who is scheduled to meet briefly with Obama at Ottawa International Airport on Thursday afternoon before the U.S. leader departs for Washington, said he has "a lot to say" about Canada's experience in Afghanistan and the direction of the NATO-led mission beyond the 2011 end date. "We are looking for a strategy that will provide for some coherence and consistency in the NATO mission," he said. "Were at the centre of that mission and we believe that Mr. Obama will listen to what we have to say about the Canadian experience in Afghanistan, and well be sharing all of that with him." Ignatieff said Canada must pursue its engagement in Afghanistan after 2011 by focusing on development, as well as political and diplomatic efforts. "We have a great deal to contribute even in terms of strengthening our presence on the humanitarian and development side," he said. "And we will be able to continue the mission, but not on a military basis." 'You can certainly do a lot in 20 minutes' Protocol dictates the president meet with the leader of the Official Opposition during a visit to Canada. But the Liberals have questioned the selection of a less-than-public location for the meeting and its brevity details they say were determined by the Prime Minister's Office. Ignatieff, who counts some of Obama's advisers as his friends from his days teaching at Harvard University, scoffed at the idea he had the right to demand a minimum amount of time with the president. But he said he expects an amount equal to the 20 minutes then Opposition leader Stephen Harper had in a meeting on Parliament Hill with George W. Bush during a presidential visit in 2004. "You don't make demands to the president of the United States," he said. "My problem is with Prime Minister Harper and not with President Obama. You can certainly do a lot in 20 minutes." When asked whether he was concerned about his relative lack of visibility with the highly popular American leader, Ignatieff said he expects Thursday's visit to be the first of many. "This president is going to be around for a long time; it will be up to the Americans to decide how long," he said. "If hes here for five hours or five minutes, hes welcome on Canadian territory. Hes a neighbour, an ally and a friend, and we hope to see him much more in the future." |
MSantor - February 19, 2009 06:25 AM (GMT)
Check out the insane "gunship" SUV featured in the motorcade:
http://www.stephentaylor.ca/2009/02/obama-...ives-in-ottawa/
http://www.stephentaylor.ca/2009/02/obama-...ives-in-ottawa/
MSantor - April 1, 2009 07:51 PM (GMT)
Read the last line of this article to see another example that show that Obama is also "reaching across the aisle" to meet halfway with Conservatives there, even in another country.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090401/ap_on_re_eu/eu_obama
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090401/ap_on_re_eu/eu_obama
| QUOTE |
| Obama arrives at Buckingham Palace to meet queen 2 hrs 23 mins ago LONDON President Barack Obama has arrived at Buckingham Palace for a private meeting with Queen Elizabeth II. Several thousand well-wishers crowded the traffic circle in front of the gated palace on Wednesday to cheer and wave as the limousine carrying Obama and first lady Michelle Obama rolled past. On the eve of a global economic summit, Obama promised world leaders he would listen, not lecture, as they seek a common fix to the financial crisis. "We can only meet this challenge together," he said Wednesday as the U.S. and Russia spoke on the summit sidelines about nuclear warhead reduction. The flurry of diplomacy came as Obama stepped on the world stage for the first time as president, aiming to shore up both America's economy and its reputation across the globe. He met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao and promptly accepted invitations to visit Russia in July and China sometime in the second half of the year. Thousands of protesters converged on central London to rally against the economic summit. In the most dominant development, Obama and Medvedev announced talks to limit the number of nuclear warheads, the first major negotiations in years over what Obama called the "gravest threat to humanity." Meanwhile, speaking directly to anxious families back home, Obama sought to restore consumer confidence and encourage people to think about spending now to help their future. (...) Brown said he was confident Sarkozy would still be at the table when the dinner was complete. In London, Obama is also meeting with Brown's main rival David Cameron, the leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party. |
MSantor - April 14, 2009 07:03 AM (GMT)
A prelude to the eventual end of the US embargo on Cuba?
| QUOTE |
| US President Barack Obama is to lift some restrictions that will allow Cuban Americans to travel more freely to Cuba, White House sources say. Cuban-Americans will also be allowed to send more money to relatives in Cuba. The move, to be officially announced later on Monday, comes after Mr Obama last month signed a spending bill easing some economic sanctions on Cuba. "Restrictions on the families will be lifted," an unnamed White House official told news agency AFP. The Associated Press quoted an unnamed "senior administration official" as saying that President Obama had directed his administration to allow unlimited travel and money transfers by Cuban Americans to family in Cuba. President Obama has indicated he would be open to dialogue with Cuba's leaders. But he has said that, like previous American presidents, he will only consider a full lifting of the embargo once Cuba's communist government makes significant moves such as the holding of democratic elections. Cuba's President Raul Castro has said he is prepared to negotiate with the new US administration, providing there are no preconditions. |
MSantor - April 17, 2009 07:44 PM (GMT)
And Obama arrives at the summit of the Americas. Apparently Cuba will be a hot topic there.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090417/ap_on_...cb_obama_summit
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090417/ap_on_...cb_obama_summit
| QUOTE |
| Obama heads to Americas summit with Cuba focus By MARK S. SMITH, Associated Press Writer Mark S. Smith, Associated Press Writer Fri Apr 17, 11:31 am ET MEXICO CITY After backing Mexico's ongoing battle against drug cartels, President Barack Obama is heading to a Western Hemisphere summit with a sudden spotlight on Cuba. The president is to fly Friday to the island of Trinidad for the 34-nation Summit of the Americas, a gathering to which Cuba, as the region's only non-democracy, is not invited. Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, a staunch ally of Cuba's communist government, vowed to torpedo a final summit communique in protest of the country's exclusion. But Obama's move this week to ease travel and some other restrictions for Cuban-Americans brought an unprecedented reply from Havana. Raul Castro, who took over from his ailing brother, Fidel, a year ago, offered to talk to the Obama administration about all outstanding grievances. Speaking from a meeting Chavez hosted in Venezuela, Raul Castro declared: "We have sent word to the U.S. government in private and in public that we are willing to discuss everything human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners, everything." Previously, Cubans had insisted their domestic politics were their own business, and administration officials were trying to determine what to make of the development. On Tuesday, Obama lifted limits on visits by Americans with relatives in Cuba, eased restrictions on family gifts and cash payments, and moved to allow U.S. telecom companies to expand service to the island. But the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo remained in place, despite pleas from U.S. allies that it's counterproductive. "The embargo has been there long before we were even born," Mexican President Felipe Calderon said. "And yet things have not changed all that much in Cuba." After talks with Calderon during a pre-summit stop in Mexico, Obama told reporters that further easing depends on Havana sending "signals that they're interested in liberalizing." He also sounded a note of caution. "A relationship that effectively has been frozen for 50 years is not going to thaw overnight," he said. Chavez said the summit's final statement and its call for greater democracy reflected American hypocrisy. "I have no doubt there's more democracy in Cuba," he jeered. Aides said Obama doesn't plan to meet with Chavez during a summit session, but if the fiery leftist approaches him, Obama would likely engage in polite conversation. Obama said the gathering, being hosted by the two-island country of Trinidad and Tobago off Venezuela's coast, "offers the opportunity of a new beginning" in the region. And he expected the major focus to be on the global economic crisis, which has America's Latin American neighbors reeling as their prime export markets shut down. The summit will aim to "jump-start job creation, promote free and fair trade, and develop a coordinated response to this economic crisis," Obama said. The president's brief stop in Mexico was a chance to talk about trade and immigration with Calderon, but also was a visible show of support for the Mexican's crackdown on drug trafficking. In the two years since it began, more than 10,000 Mexicans have perished as regional cartels target each other and Mexican security forces with contract killings and kidnappings. Obama lamented the bloodshed, saying it's been "sowing chaos in our communities and robbing so many of a future both here in Mexico and in the United States." But he said America must do its part to help stop it. "A demand for drugs in the United States is what is helping to keep these cartels in business," he said. "This war is being waged with guns purchased not here but in the United States." That said, Obama acknowledged he's unlikely to get Congress to reimpose the Clinton-era ban on assault-style weapons that he favored as a candidate, and which Calderon has urged to help stanch the flow of arms to Mexican drug traffickers. ___ On the Net: Summit of the Americas: http://www.summit-americas.org |
MSantor - April 18, 2009 11:20 PM (GMT)
He certainly has been active with overtures to Cuba (even if Cuba is not a member now) and Venezuela, etc. during this Summit.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090418/ap_on_...cb_obama_summit
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090418/ap_on_...cb_obama_summit
| QUOTE |
By MARK S. SMITH, Associated Press Writer Mark S. Smith, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 34 mins ago PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad President Barack Obama offered a spirit of cooperation to America's hemispheric neighbors at a summit Saturday, listening to complaints about past U.S. meddling and even reaching out to Venezuela's leftist leader. (...) To Latin American nations reeling from a sudden plunge in exports, Obama promised a new hemispheric growth fund, an initiative to increase Caribbean security and a partnership to develop alternative energy sources and fight global warming. As the first full day of meetings began on the two-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, Obama exchanged handshakes and pats on the back with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who once likened President George W. Bush to the devil. In front of photographers, Chavez gave Obama a copy of "The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent," a book by Eduardo Galeano that chronicles U.S. and European economic and political interference in the region. When a reporter asked Obama what he thought of the book, the president replied: "I thought it was one of Chavez's books. I was going to give him one of mine." White House advisers said they didn't know if Obama would read it or not. Later, during a group photo, Obama reached behind several leaders at the summit to shake Chavez' hand for the third time. Obama summoned a translator and the two smiled and spoke briefly. (...) The White House said Chavez was civil in his criticism of the U.S. during a summit meeting, but that there was no discussion of reinstating ambassadors who were kicked out of each other's countries last year. "Relationships depend on more than smiles and handshakes," Obama economic adviser Larry Summers told reporters later. Bolivia President Evo Morales, a close ally of Chavez, said Obama's pledge of a new era of mutual respect toward Latin America rings hollow. "Obama said three things: There are neither senior or junior partners. He said relations should be of mutual respect, and he spoke of change," Morales said. "In Bolivia ... one doesn't feel any change. The policy of conspiracy continues." Morales expelled U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg in September and kicked out the Drug Enforcement Administration the next month for allegedly conspiring with the political opposition to incite violence. Chavez expelled the U.S. ambassador in Venezuela in solidarity. The Bush administration subsequently suspended trade preferences to Bolivia that Bolivian business leaders say could cost 20,000 jobs. Obama also extended a hand to Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, whom President Ronald Reagan spent years trying to drive from power. Ortega was ousted in 1990 elections that ended Nicaragua's civil war, but was returned to power by voters in 2006. Ortega stepped up and introduced himself to Obama, U.S. officials said. But a short time later, Ortega delivered a blistering 50-minute speech that denounced capitalism and U.S. imperialism as the root of much hemispheric mischief. The address even recalled the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, though Ortega said the new U.S. president could not be held to account for that. (...) |
MSantor - May 19, 2009 03:41 AM (GMT)
Apparently the "new" Israeli PM Netanyahu is not as optimistic.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090518/...s_us_israel_usa
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090518/...s_us_israel_usa
| QUOTE |
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday pressed a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict but failed to win a commitment from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to back Palestinian statehood. In their first White House talks, Obama also urged Netanyahu to freeze Jewish settlement building but sought to reassure Israelis wary about his overtures to Iran that he would not wait indefinitely for diplomatic progress toward curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The two leaders tried to paper over their differences as Obama waded into the thicket of Middle East diplomacy four months after taking office, but the divisions were hard to ignore between Israel and its superpower ally. "It is in the interests not only of the Palestinians but also the Israelis, the United States and the international community to achieve a two-state solution," Obama told reporters with Netanyahu sitting beside him. Netanyahu, who heads a new right-leaning Israeli coalition, reiterated that he supported self-government for the Palestinians but made no mention of a state, a position underscoring a rare rift in U.S.-Israeli relations. "I did not say two states for two peoples," Netanyahu said later at a solo briefing with reporters. "We need to deliberate to clarify this. Does it mean a Hamas state? I hope not. So how do I ensure it's not a Hamas state, an entity that threatens Israel security? I think that's a fundamental question," Netanyahu said. Hamas Islamists, who have rejected Western calls to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace accords, took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, leaving Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas governing essentially only in the West Bank. NETANYAHU DISAPPOINTS PALESTINIANS Nabil Abu Rdainah, senior aide to Abbas, lauded Obama's commitment to a two-state solution, the cornerstone of U.S. Mideast policy, but called Netanyahu's words "disappointing." Obama sees engagement in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking as crucial to fixing America's image in the Muslim world and drawing moderate Arab states into a united front against Iran. After two hours of talks, Obama offered no new remedies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has defied efforts by successive U.S. administrations. He has yet to formulate a detailed Middle East strategy. There have been signs, however, that Obama hopes to sway Netanyahu with the prospect of normalized ties between Israel and all Muslim countries, a comprehensive deal that would require extraordinary diplomatic work by the United States. With Israeli leaders mostly skeptical of Obama's efforts to engage Iran diplomatically, Netanyahu stressed Israel's concerns about Tehran's nuclear program. Israel, which has not ruled out military strikes against Iran if diplomacy fails, had urged a deadline for moving to tougher actions. In response, Obama set a rough timetable for his diplomatic outreach to Iran for the first time. "By the end of the year we should have some sense ... whether we are starting to see serious movement on the part of Iranians," he said. Obama also said he was not closing off a "range of steps" against Iran, including sanctions, if it continues its nuclear program, which Washington believes is aimed at producing an atomic weapon but Tehran says is for peaceful purposes. Netanyahu said that it was clear to Obama "that Israel retains the right to defend itself". But the Israeli leader said he hoped the president's diplomatic efforts succeeded. If Netanyahu remains resistant to talks with the Palestinians on tough issues such as borders and settlements, it could cause friction in U.S.-Israeli relations. Obama said both Israel and the Palestinians would have to meet obligations under the 2003 Middle East "roadmap," which call on Israel to halt settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and for the Palestinians to rein in militants. "Settlements have to be stopped in order for us to move forward," Obama told Netanyahu. In his briefing to reporters, Netanyahu gave no indication he would do so, citing the need for Palestinians to carry out their road map commitments. The Palestinians say settlements, which the World Court has deemed illegal, could deny them a viable state. Despite diverging views, Obama and Netanyahu chatted amiably as reporters filed into the Oval Office, but became more businesslike when they started speaking. It was a contrast to the chumminess President George W. Bush often showed to visiting Israeli leaders. They had been expected to tread carefully in talks seen as helping set the tone for a U.S.-led peace efforts. With his strategy still in the formative stage, Obama seemed in no position to push Netanyahu too hard for concessions to a Palestinian leadership weakened by internal divisions. Netanyahu can ill afford the perception at home that he is alienating Israel's chief ally. Neither can he be seen giving up too much if he wants to keep the right-wing core of his coalition intact. (Additional reporting by David Alexander and Ross Colvin; editing by Chris Wilson and Philip Barbara) |
epigone - May 21, 2009 06:05 PM (GMT)
MSantor - June 4, 2009 08:32 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| Obama seeks common cause with Muslim world AP White House Correspondent Jennifer Loven, Ap White House Correspondent 16 mins ago CAIRO Stretching out a hand to the Islamic world, President Barack Hussein Obama on Thursday invoked the Quran, his middle name and an American evenhandedness he says too few Muslims see. Obama drew a respectful response from unlikely places an Iranian cleric called it "an initial step for removing misconceptions." The president, speaking at a seat of Islamic learning, delivered a 55-minute speech that was heavily promoted, carefully watched and had as its guiding themes the need to "speak the truth" and "seek a new beginning." "So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace," the president said. Obama made no specific references to his predecessor in the White House during his Cairo University speech, but others quickly did. "There is a change between the language of President Obama and previous speeches made by George Bush," said Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas. But he added that Obama did not specifically note the suffering in Gaza following the three-week Israeli incursion earlier this year. "So all we can say is that there is a difference in the statements, and the statements of today did not include a mechanism that can translate his wishes and views into actions," said Barhoum, whose group the U.S. considers a terrorist organization. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in advance of the speech that any statements by Obama were just "words, speech and slogan" that would leave in place sanctions designed to persuade the nation to stop its nuclear weapons program. But Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a cleric who was vice president under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, called the speech "compensation" for a hostile environment created by Bush. "This can be an initial step for removing misconceptions between world of Islam and the West," he said. Obama's remarks were designed to reset relations after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Yet he also called sternly for Israel and Palestinians to live up to their obligations in seeking peace, demanded Iran bow to international demands to halt its nuclear weapons program and bid Muslim countries help in eradicating the threat of fundamentalist' violence across the globe. In doing so, the Christian son of a Kenyan Muslim father and a Kansas mother sought common cause in part by addressing his own roots and using a middle name that opponents used against him at inflammatory moments in the presidential campaign. "Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected president," he said. "But my personal story is not so unique." He went on to say the dream of America exists for all who come there including nearly 7 million Muslims. The Israeli government issued a statement saying it, too, hoped for a new era. But it skirted any reference to Obama's calls for a settlement freeze in the West Bank and the creation of an independent Palestinian state demands that Israel's hawkish prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, continues to reject. Obama addressed the Israeli-Palestinian dispute pointedly in his address, knowing it goes to the heart of Muslim anger toward the West, "It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true," he said. "Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed." Obama's boisterous audience included several members of the nonviolent fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful opposition movement. Though banned by the President Hosni Mubarak's government, it holds 20 seats in parliament. Obama seemed upbeat after he spoke, touring the Great Pyramids at Giza. "This is huge!" he yelled at the base of the biggest, his voice echoing off the stone. Around the corner he joked about getting on a camel and then several of his closest aides promptly did. The president's brief stay in Cairo also included a visit to the Sultan Hassan mosque, a 600-year-old center of Islamic worship and study. He flew to Europe later in the day, with stops planned in Germany and France before returning to the United States on Sunday. Obama's remarks were televised on all radio and television stations in Israel; and with Arabic voice-over translations by Arab satellite stations. The Iranian government jammed signals to block satellite owners from watching. From its opening phrases, the speech was laden with respectful gestures to Muslims. Obama said it was part of his responsibilities as president "to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear." He quoted the Quran: "be conscious of God and always speak the truth" to underscore his call for a new relationship based on mutual interest and respect. He referred to Iran by its full name, the Islamic Republic of Iran, said Islamic countries had been victimized by colonialism as well as the Cold War era struggle between the United States and the former Soviet Union. "As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk," he said. "As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith." The battle against terrorists will continue, in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, Obama said, despite the animosity the operations have helped created toward the U.S. among Muslims. "America's commitment will not weaken." But calling Iraq, unlike Afghanistan, "a war of choice," he explained his plan to withdraw American combat troops next year and his reversal of Bush-era policies in the pursuit of terrorists that have enraged Muslims the world over. Obama said flatly that he has banned torture and will close the detested Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba next year. He asked Muslims to join the fight. "The sooner the extremists are isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities, the sooner we will all be safer," Obama said. Not all with hostile views of the U.S. were mollified. "Obama's speech is an attempt to mislead people and create more illusions to improve America's aggressive image in the Arab and Islamic world," said a joint statement by eight Damascus, Syria-based radical Palestinian factions, including Hamas. Still, many Muslim listeners praised the shift in U.S. attitude. "It is the first time I have ever heard such affectionate words from an American for Muslims," said Zahid Husain Gardezi, a landowner in the Pakistani city of Multan. "Apparently we can expect America to try to befriend the Muslim world in deeds as well. But let's see how long it will take to see this on the ground." |
MSantor - June 5, 2009 04:36 PM (GMT)
I'm just curious: does anyone here know the unit that his great uncle on his mother's side had belonged to, when they helped liberate one of these camps during WW2? Patton's US Third Army?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090605/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090605/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama
| QUOTE |
| At death camp, Obama says evil must be confronted Mark S. Smith, Associated Press Writer 22 mins ago WEIMAR, Germany President Barack Obama witnessed the Nazi ovens of the Buchenwald concentration camp Friday, its clock tower frozen at the time of liberation, and said the leaders of today must not rest against the spread of evil. The president called the camp where an estimated 56,000 people died the "ultimate rebuke" to Holocaust deniers and skeptics. And he bluntly challenged one of them, Iranian President Ahmadinejad, to visit Buchenwald. "These sites have not lost their horror with the passage of time," Obama said after seeing crematory ovens, barbed-wire fences, guard towers and the clock set at 3:15, marking the camp's liberation in the afternoon of April 11, 1945. "More than half a century later, our grief and our outrage over what happened have not diminished." (...) Obama became the first U.S. president to visit the Buchenwald concentration camp. It was, in part, a personal visit: His great-uncle helped liberate a nearby satellite camp, Ohrdruf, in early April 1945 just days before other U.S. Army units overran Buchenwald. (...) |
MSantor - June 14, 2009 08:10 PM (GMT)
And Netanyahu signals his support for a Palestinian state- albeit an unarmed one.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090614/ap_on_...el_palestinians
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090614/ap_on_...el_palestinians
| QUOTE |
| Netanyahu endorses Palestinian independence By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer Josef Federman, Associated Press Writer 44 mins ago JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed an independent Palestinian state beside Israel for the first time on Sunday, dramatically reversing himself in the face of U.S. pressure but attaching conditions the Palestinians swiftly rejected. A week after President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim world, Netanyahu said the Palestinian state would have to be unarmed and recognize Israel as the Jewish state a condition amounting to Palestinian refugees giving up the goal of returning to Israel. Netanyahu, in an address seen as his reponse to Obama, refused to heed the U.S. call for an immediate freeze of construction on lands Palestinians claim for their future state. He also said the holy city of Jerusalem must remain under Israeli sovereignty. Senior Palestinian officials Saeb Erekat said the plan "closed the door" to negotiations. Still, it was a dramatic transformation for a man raised on a fiercely nationalistic ideology and who has spent a two-decade political career criticizing peace efforts. "I call on you, our Palestinian neighbors, and to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority: Let us begin peace negotiations immediately, without preconditions," he said, calling on the wider Arab world to work with him. Since assuming office in March, Netanyahu has been caught between American demands to begin peace talks with the Palestinians and the constraints of a hardline coalition. With his speech, he appeared to favor Israel's all-important relationship with the U.S. at the risk of destabilizing his government. Netanyahu laid out his vision in a half-hour speech broadcast nationwide during prime time. He spoke at Bar-Ilan University, known as a bastion of the Israeli right-wing establishment, and his call for establishing a Palestinian state was greeted with lukewarm applause. As Netanyahu spoke, two small groups of protesters demonstrated at the entrance to the university. Several dozen hard-liners held up posters showing Obama wearing an Arab headdress and shouted slogans against giving up West Bank territory. Across from then, a few dozen dovish Israelis and foreign backers chanted slogans including "two states for two peoples" and "stop the occupation." Police kept the two groups apart. The Palestinians demand all of the West Bank as part of a future state, with east Jerusalem as their capital. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war. Netanyahu, leader of the hardline Likud Party, has always resisted withdrawing from these lands, for both security and ideological reasons. In his speech, he repeatedly made references to Judaism's connection to the biblical Land of Israel. "Our right to form our sovereign state here in the land of Israel stems from one simple fact. The Land of Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish people," he said. But Netanyahu also said that Israel must recognize that millions of Palestinians live in the heart of the West Bank, and continued control over these people is undesirable. "In my vision, there are two free peoples living side by side each with each other, each with its own flag and national anthem," he said. Netanyahu has said he fears the West Bank could follow the path of the Gaza Strip which the Palestinians also claim for their future state. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and Hamas militants now control the area, often firing rockets into southern Israel. "In any peace agreement, the territory under Palestinian control must be disarmed, with solid security guarantees for Israel," he said. "If we get this guarantee for demilitarization and necessary security arrangements for Israel, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, we will be willing in a real peace agreement to reach a solution of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state," he said. Netanyahu gave no indication as to how much captured land he would be willing to relinquish. However, he ruled out a division of Jerusalem, saying "Israel's capital will remain united." Netanyahu also made no mention of uprooting Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Nearly 300,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in addition to 180,000 Israelis living in Jewish neighborhoods built in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem. He also said that existing settlements should be allowed to grow a position opposed by the U.S. "We have no intention to build new settlements or expropriate land for expanding existing settlements. But there is a need to allow residents to lead a normal life. Settlers are not the enemy of the nation and are not the enemy of peace they are our brothers and sisters," he said. Netanyahu also said the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The Palestinians have refused to do so, saying it would amount to giving up the rights of millions of refugees and be discriminatory to Israel's own Arab minority. Erekat said Netanyahu's plan was unacceptable since it effectively imposes a solution on the core issues of the conflict. "Netanyahu's speech closed the door to permanent status negotiations," he said. "We ask the world not to be fooled by his use of the term Palestinian state because he qualified it. He declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, said refugees would not be negotiated and that settlements would remain." Nabil Abu Rdeneh, another Palestinian official, called on the U.S. to challenge Netanyahu "to prevent more deterioration in the region." "What he has said today is not enough to start a serious peace process," he added. Netanyahu also came under criticism from within his own government a coalition of religious and nationalistic parties that oppose Palestinian independence. Zevulun Orlev, a member of the Jewish Home Party, said Netanyahu's speech violated agreements struck when the government was formed. "I think the coalition needs to hold a serious discussion to see where this is headed," he told Israel Radio. Israeli media speculated that Netanyahu might turn to the centrist Kadima Party, which heads the parliamentary opposition, to shore up his government if the coalition falls apart. Kadima, the largest party in parliament, issued a statement denying a report that there had been secret talks with Netanyahu over the matter ahead of the speech. |
MSantor - July 5, 2009 06:01 PM (GMT)
So is he going to speak to Putin...COUGH... I mean Medvedev much during the visit? :armywink:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090705/ap_on_...eu_obama_russia
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090705/ap_on_...eu_obama_russia
| QUOTE |
| Obama seeks new start in sagging US-Russia ties Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press Writer 42 mins ago MOSCOW Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev end a seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry on Monday, with each declaring his determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship. Both sides appear to want to use progress on arms control as a pathway to possible agreement on trickier issues, including Iran and Georgia, the tiny former Soviet republic. Those difficulties and many others have soured a promising linkage in the first years after the Cold War and pushed ties between Moscow and Washington to depths unseen in more than two decades. In advance of Obama's arrival, a White House official told reporters Sunday the presidents to announce progress on negotiations that could lead to a treaty to replace the expiring START I agreement that expires Dec. 5. Gary Samore, Obama's coordinator for weapons of mass destruction, did not offer details, but said the two leaders will "register some progress." It's important that any agreement be free of the "Cold War burden" of intrusive inspections," Samore said. The goal, he said, is to have a new treaty in place by the time START I expires. More broadly, the White House says it will use the summit in an attempt to overhaul the U.S.-Russian relationship. |
MSantor - July 6, 2009 08:34 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer 21 mins ago MOSCOW President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a preliminary agreement Monday to reduce the world's two largest nuclear stockpiles by as much as a third, down to the lowest levels of any U.S.-Russia accord, and counter what Obama called "a sense of drift" in the countries' relations. "We must lead by example, and that's what we are doing here today," Obama declared in a Kremlin hall glittering in gold. "We resolve to reset U.S.-Russian relations so that we can cooperate more effectively in areas of common interest." The document signed by the two leaders at a Moscow summit, Obama's first in Russia, is meant as a guide for negotiators as the nations work toward a replacement pact for the START arms control agreement that expires in December. The joint understanding also commits the countries to lower longer-range missiles for delivering nuclear bombs to between 500 and 1,100. The limit for warheads would be in a range of 1,500 to 1,675 each. However, there are disagreements on what to count. Medvedev called Monday's agreement a "reasonable compromise." A White House statement said the new treaty "will include effective verification measures" and Obama said it would be completed by the end of the year. He also held out hope to "move even beyond that in subsequent agreements and treaties" and said he wanted to host a summit on global nuclear security next year in the United States. More broadly, Obama needs Russia's help in pressuring Iran and North Korea to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, and also in tackling terrorism, global warming and worldwide economic woes. But ties are frayed over Moscow's war in Georgia last year and the U.S. plan for a new missile defense system in Eastern Europe, so Obama's desire to move forward is a huge test of his diplomatic skills. "The president and I agreed that the relationship between Russia and the United States has suffered from a sense of drift," he said at Medvedev's side. "President Medvedev and I are committed to leaving behind the suspicion and rivalry of the past." His host expressed similar good will. "This is the first but very important step in improving full-scale cooperation between our two countries, which would go to the benefit of both states," the Russian leader said. Injecting a note of caution, he said that discussions so far "cannot remove the burden of all the problems." The two leaders appeared together at a news conference where they and other officials from both countries signed and exchanged documents with great flourish and much handshaking. Among the side deals meant to sweeten Obama's two days of talks here and show progress toward improving badly damaged U.S.-Russian relations was permission from Moscow for the United States to transport arms across its land and airspace into Afghanistan for the war there. Obama said the deal will save the U.S. "both time and money," to the tune of $133 million a year, by waiving transit fees and shortening flying time. They outlined other areas in which they said their countries would work together to help stabilize Afghanistan, including increasing assistance to the Afghan army and police, and training counternarcotics personnel. Among other agreements was the resumption of military cooperation, suspended after Russia invaded neighboring Georgia last August and sent relations into a nosedive. They also promised fresh cooperation on public health issues and revived a joint commission to try to account for missing service members of both countries dating back to World War II. The commission was first created by the first President Bush and President Boris Yeltsin in the early 1990s, but the Russians later downgraded their participation. The U.S. hope is that the Russians will now open some of their more sensitive archives to U.S. researchers seeking details about missing American servicemen. Yet, the two sides remain stalemated over the U.S. pursuit of a missile-defense system in Europe, pushed aggressively by Bush and still under review by Obama's 7-month-old administration. Both sides hardened their positions ahead of the summit, and Obama gave a lengthy rationale for the system at Medvedev's side. Obama suggested the United States has a right to pursue defensive systems separate from the offensive weapons that are the subject of most arms control negotiations. Obama repeated the U.S. position that the planned system is aimed at intercepting missiles from Iran and has nothing to do with countering" a mighty Russian arsenal," as many in Russia suspect. Medvedev called it "a difficult area for our discussion," but suggested that the new openness between the two countries could help. Obama said he trusts the Russian leader to follow through on the agreements they struck. And he refused to be drawn into a debate over who really holds the reins of power in Russia, widely believed to be Medvedev's predecessor and mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. "My understanding is, President Medvedev is the president ... and Prime Minister Putin is the prime minister," Obama simply said. Obama, who meets with Putin on Tuesday, caused a stir in Russia before his trip by telling The Associated Press that Putin has to learn that "the old Cold War approaches to U.S.-Russian relations is outdated." The summit starts a weeklong trip for Obama that also features G-8 meetings and a visit with the pope in Italy, and a speech in Ghana. After Obama landed in Moscow under drizzly gray skies, he introduced his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters to Russian officials waiting to greet them. The entourage then headed to a wreath-laying ceremony at Russia's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Having enjoyed adoring crowds in other parts of Europe, Obama will face a far more skeptical Russian population. He will outline his vision for U.S.-Russian relations at a speech Tuesday at the New Economic School. Just 15 percent of Russians say the U.S. is playing a positive role in the world; most said the United States abuses it power and makes Russia do what the U.S. wants, according to the University of Maryland's WorldPublicOpinion.org out Sunday. "I would like to see America meddle less in other countries," said Valentina Titova, a 60-year-old retired economist strolling not far from the Kremlin. Between them, the two countries possess more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons. The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, led each country to cut its nuclear warheads to about 6,000. The 2002 Treaty of Moscow called for further cuts to between 1,700 and 2,200 operationally deployed warheads by 2012. But Moscow and Washington have long argued over what weapons should be subject to cuts. Russia wants to limit missiles, bombers and submarines along with nuclear warheads, just as the original START treaty did. The 2002 agreement applied only to warheads. Also, the United States has been prepared to count only the warheads ready for launch, while Russia wants to count those in storage as well. |
| QUOTE |
| Agence France-Presse - 7/6/2009 5:30 PM GMT Obama wins Russian support on Afghanistan US President Barack Obama on Monday won Russian support for the war in Afghanistan with a breakthrough agreement allowing a dozen flights a day to transit US troops and weapons over Russian territory. "This is a substantial contribution by Russia to our international effort," Obama said at a joint press conference at the Kremlin with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Underscoring the deal's strategic value for Russia, Medvedev said: "We value the efforts by the United States and other countries to deal with the terrorist threat that came from and continues to come from Afghan soil." The deal marks a victory for Obama as he seeks to intensify the faltering campaign against the Taliban and "reset" US-Russian relations that were badly strained under his predecessor, George W. Bush. It allows the use of Russian airspace for the transit of US troops and weapons. Previously Russia had only allowed the United States to ship non-lethal military supplies across its territory by train. The need to diversify transit routes into Afghanistan has become more acute in recent months because of instability in Pakistan, which currently serves as the main transit route into the war-torn country. The agreement was signed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Undersecretary of State William Burns, who was standing in for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she recuperated from an elbow injury. A senior US official said that the deal permits up to 4,500 military flights per year -- or about 12 per day -- which can be loaded with troops, firearms, ammunition, military vehicles and spare parts. The US official said the military flights would not be charged overflight fees and that they would not stop on Russian territory. The agreement takes effect 60 days from its signing and is good for one year and then may be renewed automatically by mutual consent, the official said. The official added that the agreement would bring Washington annual savings of 133 million dollars (95 million euros) thanks to quicker transit. Cooperation on Afghanistan proves that Russia and the United States can get along on some issues despite bitter disputes in recent years, said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. "This is an issue with which the Americans and the Russians have found a way to improve their relations. It is one of the rare problem where their interests are very close -- indeed, identical," Lukyanov said. Moscow, which has grim memories of its own war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, views the US military presence there as protecting its southern flank, said independent Russian defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer. "Russia is not really a friend of the Taliban. It already has problems with the Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus, and the big risk is that the Islamist menace will infect Central Asia as well," Felgenhauer said. "There is a consensus in Russia on the fact that the US operation in Afghanistan is lost already, but the longer the Americans stay there, the more they will put off the danger to our borders," he added. Tens of thousands of international troops are in Afghanistan struggling to put down a tenacious Taliban insurgency. Since his inauguration in January, Obama has sent thousands more US troops to the country in a bid to crush the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, making the campaign there a central element of his administration's foreign policy. |
MSantor - July 11, 2009 04:37 PM (GMT)
And Obama sends a strong message in his Africa visit.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090711/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090711/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama
| QUOTE |
| Obama declares to Africa: End tyranny, corruption Mark S. Smith, Associated Press Writer 55 mins ago ACCRA, Ghana An American president who has "the blood of Africa within me" praised and scolded the continent of his ancestors Saturday, asserting forces of tyranny and corruption must yield if Africa is to achieve its promise. "Yes you can," Barack Obama declared, dusting off his campaign slogan and adapting it for his foreign audience. Speaking to the Ghanaian Parliament, he called upon African societies to seize opportunities for peace, democracy and prosperity. "This is a new moment of great promise," he said. "To realize that promise, we must first recognize a fundamental truth that you have given life to in Ghana: Development depends upon good governance. That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That is the change that can unlock Africa's potential." The son of a white woman from Kansas and a black goat herder-turned-academic from Kenya, Obama delivered an unsentimental account of squandered opportunities in postcolonial Africa. America's first black president spoke with a bluntness that perhaps could only come from a member of Africa's extended family. "No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or if police can be bought off by drug traffickers," he said "No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. "That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in there," he said, "and now is the time for that style of governance to end." He added: "Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions." Obama was on a 21-hour visit to the West African nation to highlight that country's democratic tradition and engagement with the West. His visit, his first to sub-Saharan Africa as president, was greeted as a "spiritual reunion" Saturday by Ghanian legislators. Before the flight home, Obama visited Cape Coast Castle, a seaside fortress converted to the slave trade by the British in the 17th century. In its dungeons, thousands of shackled Africans huddled in squalor before being herded onto ships bound for America. He, his wife Michelle, their daughters and the first lady's mother toured the grounds as a festive crowd of thousands milled outside, pounding drums and dancing in the streets. Obama smiled and waved, pausing after he exited the motorcade, before disappearing with his family and entourage into the courtyard. Michelle Obama is the great-great granddaughter of slaves. Earlier, people lined the streets, many waving at every vehicle of Obama's motorcade as it headed toward a meeting at Osu Castle, the storied coastline presidential state house, before his speech to Parliament. "Ghana loves you," said a billboard. The Obama administration sought a wide African audience for the president's speech, inviting people to watch it at embassies and cultural centers across the continent. The 33-minute address was in part a splash of cold water for Africans who blame colonialism for their problems. Obama spoke of the indignities visited upon Africans from the era of European rule. He said his grandfather, a cook for the British in Kenya, was called "boy" by his employers for much of his life despite his being a respected village elder. He said it was a time of artificial borders and unfair trade. But he said the West is not to blame "for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants." Nor for the corruption that is a daily fact of life for many, he said. "Africa is not the crude caricature of a continent at perpetual war," he said. Yet for "far too many Africans, conflict is a part of life, as constant as the sun. There are wars over land and wars over resources. And it is still far too easy for those without conscience to manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and tribes. "These conflicts are a millstone around Africa's neck." Obama started his day with typical calm. Wearing a gray T-shirt and gym pants, he walked through the lobby of his hotel almost unnoticed at 7:30 a.m. local time on his way to the downstairs gym for a workout. A short time later, his motorcade left the hotel, passed under hovering military helicopters and arrived for a delayed welcome ceremony with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills. "I can say without any fear of contradiction that all Ghanaians want to see you," Mills said. "I wish it were possible for me to send you to every home in Ghana." Before the flight home, Obama planned to tour Cape Coast Castle, a seaside fortress converted to the slave trade by the British in the 17th century. In its dungeons, thousands of shackled Africans huddled in squalor before being herded onto ships bound for America. The castle visit mirrored ones paid by Clinton and George W. Bush to the slave-trading post of Goree Island, Senegal with the added impact of Obama's mixed-race background and history-making election. In Ghana, too, Obama followed in Clinton's footsteps. In 1998, a surging crowd cheered Clinton in Accra's Independence Square and toppled barricades after his speech. Clinton shouted, "Back up! Back up!", his Secret Service detail clearly frantic. Bush's reception last year was less tumultuous, but equally warm. At a welcoming banquet, then-President John Kufuor noted huge increases in U.S. development aid and AIDS relief and named a highway after Bush. Obama avoided scheduling large public events, wishing to keep emotions in check in a singular moment in African-American diplomacy. The president pledged America's partnership in Africa's growth. Specifically, he said he would make sure U.S. aid gets to the people who need it most, such as farmers and entrepreneurs, not Western consultants and administrators. That's why $3.5 billion in food assistance will focus on new methods and technologies for farmers, instead of simply sending U.S. goods to Africa, he said. Obama flew to Ghana after the G-8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, approved a new $20 billion food security plan. It aims to help poor nations in Africa and elsewhere to avert mass starvation during the global recession. He also had a cordial first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. In their half-hour private audience at the Vatican, the two reviewed Mideast peace and anti-poverty efforts, aides reported. They also discussed abortion and stem cell research at length, subjects of disagreement between them. |
MSantor - July 13, 2009 09:24 PM (GMT)
Just an update on how Obama continues to engage China with this latest meeting/summit with President Hu.
From: Agence France-Presse - 7/13/2009 4:35 PM GMT
From: Agence France-Presse - 7/13/2009 4:35 PM GMT
| QUOTE |
| US-China strategic-economic dialogue set for July 27 Top US and Chinese leaders will meet for the first "strategic and economic dialogue" with the administration of President Barack Obama in Washington July 27-28, US officials said Monday. The dialogue "will focus on addressing the challenges and opportunities that both countries face on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global areas of immediate and long-term strategic and economic interests," according to a statement from the US Treasury and State Departments. "This first meeting of the dialogue will also set the stage for intensive, ongoing and future bilateral cooperative mechanisms." The meeting is the first in a series agreed by Obama and China's President Hu Jintao that replaces a "strategic economic dialogue" established by former president George W. Bush's administration and Beijing. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will be joined by their respective Chinese co-chairs, State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Vice Premier Wang Qishan. |
MSantor - July 22, 2009 04:01 AM (GMT)
Another update about the upcoming conference/summit:
| QUOTE |
| Agence France-Presse - 7/21/2009 8:24 PM GMT Obama to address China-US economic talks US President Barack Obama will address the opening of top level strategic and economic talks between Chinese and US leaders here next week, a White House official said Tuesday. "President Obama will address the opening session of the first US-China strategic and economic dialogue on Monday July, 27," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Gibbs added Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao "launched this dialogue during their meeting in London in April as a way of strengthening relationships between the two countries." The new high-level discussions, set for Monday and Tuesday, are an extension of economic talks begun under the previous administration of George W. Bush, but with a broader focus. The dialogue "will focus on addressing the challenges and opportunities that both countries face on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global areas of immediate and long-term strategic and economic interests," according to a joint statement from the US Treasury and State Departments last week. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will chair the American side of the dialogue. Hu and Obama agreed when they met in April that Clinton and Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo will chair the "strategic track" and Geithner and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan will chair the "economic track" of the talks. The US leader also accepted an invitation to visit China later in the year. |
MSantor - July 27, 2009 03:24 PM (GMT)
Another update:
| QUOTE |
Obama: US-China relations to shape 21st century July 27, 2009 Associated Press WASHINGTON President Barack Obama said Monday that the relationship between the United States and China will shape the history of the 21st century. Obama, speaking at the start of two days of high-level talks between the two nations, said that Washington and Beijing needed to forge closer ties to address a host of challenges from lifting the global economy out of a deep recession to nuclear proliferation. "I believe that we are poised to make steady progress on some of the most important issues of our times," the president told diplomats from both countries. Obama said he was under "no illusions that the United States and China will agree on every issue" but he said closer cooperation in important areas was critical for the world. The discussions in Washington represent the continuation of a dialogue begun by the Bush administration, which focused on economic tensions between the two nations. Obama chose to expand the talks to include foreign policy issues as well as economic disputes. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, welcoming the Chinese, said the two nations were "laying brick by brick the foundation for a stronger relationship." Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Vice Premier Wang Qishan, China's top economic policymaker, both spoke of hopeful signs that the global economy was beginning to emerge from its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Geithner said that the so far successful efforts of the two economic superpowers to move quickly to deal with the downturns with massive stimulus programs marked a historic turning point in the relationship of the two nations. Speaking through a translator, Wang said that "at present the world economy is at a critical moment of moving out of crisis and toward recovery." State Councilor Dai Bingguo said that the two countries were trying to build better relations despite their very different social systems, cultures, ideologies and histories. "We are actually all in the same big boat that has been hit by fierce wind and huge waves," Dai said of the global economic and other crises. http: //news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090727/ap_on_bi_ge/us_china_talks |
MSantor - July 30, 2009 04:53 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| WASHINGTON -- Could Russia become a member of NATO? The Obama administration is not ruling out the possibility. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday that the United States would consider Russian membership in the military alliance that was founded to protect Europe from Soviet aggression. Gordon said NATO should be open to European democracies. He added that "if Russia meets the criteria and can contribute to common security, and there is a consensus in the alliance, it shouldn't be excluded." NATO is often vilified in Russia, which has objected to NATO's expansion to include Russia's neighbors. But the Obama administration, seeking better relations, says it wants to convince Moscow that NATO is no longer a threat. The BBC, meanwhile, has reported that Russian specialists will be preparing proposals for the integration of Russian and NATO communications systems. The Omsk, Russia-based A.S. Popov Radio Plant production association said the enterprise had received an instruction to prepare proposals for further implementation of a Russian-Italian project to create a NATO-Russia integrated communications systems, the BBC reported. |
Thoughts anyone? Seems someone has taken a page from Tom Clancy's The Bear and the Dragon novel, a scenario where the US and Russia are pitted against an expansionist China, as a guide to run foreign policy. :armyroleyes: Or has taken too much Kool-Aid.
http://www.military.com/news/article/russi...032310810&wh=wh
MSantor - November 13, 2009 08:12 PM (GMT)
Good. More multilateralism and cooperation on Obama's part.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091113/ap_on_re_us/obama
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091113/ap_on_re_us/obama
| QUOTE |
| TOKYO President Barack Obama is emphasizing cooperation on his first major trip to Asia, opening with a warning to North Korea that there will be tough, unified action by the U.S. and its Asian partners if the Koreans fail to abandon their nuclear weapons programs. The hard line on North Korea was to be a prominent theme of a Friday night speech that also was intended to more broadly showcase a United States that, under Obama's leadership, seeks deeper and more equal engagement in Asia. It was to be the fifth major foreign address of Obama's 10-month presidency, this one geared toward setting a new tone for the sometimes-rocky U.S. relationship with the world's fastest-growing region. In the speech, to 1,500 prominent Japanese in a soaring concert hall in bustling downtown Tokyo, Obama planned to give his most extended remarks in some time on North Korea, said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser. Previewing himself, Obama said after a meeting early Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama that "it's absolutely vital" that North Korea and Iran in the Middle East bow to international demands that they give up nuclear weapons ambitions. The U.S., Japan, China, Russia and South Korea are partners in talks to persuade North Korea to give up the active nuclear weapons program it has in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Pyongyang is widely believed to have enough weapons-grade plutonium for a half-dozen nuclear bombs If the North Koreans comply with the demands, "then they can open the door to a better future," Obama said. "If not, we will remain united in implementing U.N. resolutions that are in place and ... helping to shape a strategy that meets our security needs and convinces Pyongyang to move in a better direction." Obama made Tokyo the venue for his speech, a symbolically important choice that displayed respect for Japan's long history as the U.S.' chief ally in Asia and one of the region's foremost democracies. The U.S.-Japan relationship is on newly delicate footing after a change in leadership in Tokyo that has the Japanese moving toward greater independence from Washington and closer ties with the rest of Asia. The president's remarks came near the start of an eight-day Asian trip that is presenting him with risks at every stop. After Japan, Obama goes to Singapore, where he is to join a larger meeting that includes the leader of Myanmar's brutal regime, the first U.S. president to make such close contact. Then he flies to China, where relations with the U.S. are bedeviled by Beijing's growing economic and military might, as well as numerous issues including trade, currency, Taiwan, human rights and climate change. Obama ends his trip on an easier note in South Korea, an increasingly reliable U.S. ally. (...) |
MSantor - November 14, 2009 04:17 PM (GMT)
More details on Obama's Japan visit before he left for the APEC summit:
| QUOTE |
| Barack Obama bows and talks of green tea icecream as he pushes US ties in Asia President Barack Obama has bowed to the Emperor of Japan and revealed his childhood affection for green tea icecream as he pushes stronger US ties with Asia.  There was talk of green tea ice cream, memories of a childhood visit to Japan and even a reference to the remote fishing town Obama as the US President set out his vision for US relations with Asia in a keynote speech. He later bowed deeply to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, upon arrival at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo for a private lunch before he headed to Singapore on the next leg of his Asian tour. Beneath the signature charm and rhetoric, President Barack Obama's message was clear: the US fully intends to deepen dialogue with China and pursue greater cooperation with countries across Asia. ... Calling himself "America's first Pacific President" during a 40-minute address, Mr Obama said: "I want every American to know that we have a stake in the future of this region, because what happens here has a direct effect on our lives at home. <more> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...es-in-Asia.html |
MSantor - November 15, 2009 07:56 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| SHANGHAI President Barack Obama is walking a tightrope on his first trip to China, seeking to enlist help in tackling urgent global problems while weighing when and how or if he should raise traditional human rights concerns. Obama arrived in Shanghai late at night, in a driving rain, hustling through a phalanx of umbrella-holding dignitaries to reach his limousine. On Monday, the president is holding talks with local politicians and, in one of the marquee events of his weeklong Asian trip, conducting an American-style town hall discussion with Chinese university students. Thirty years after the start of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the ties are growing but remain mixed on virtually every front. The two nations are partnering more than ever on battling global warming, but they still differ deeply over hard targets for reductions in the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause it. China has supported sterner sanctions to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but it still balks at getting more aggressive about reining in Iran's uranium enrichment. China is a huge and lucrative market for American goods and services, and yet it has a giant trade deficit with the U.S. that, like a raft of other economic issues, is a bone of contention between the two governments. The two militaries have increased their contacts, but clashes still happen and the U.S. remains worried about a dramatic buildup in what is already the largest standing army in the world. Amid all that, Obama has adopted a pragmatic approach that stresses the positive, sometimes earning him criticism for being too soft on Beijing, particularly in the area of human rights abuses and what the U.S. regards as an undervalued Chinese currency that disadvantages U.S. products. Obama recognizes that a rising China, as the world's third-largest economy on the way to becoming the second and the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, has shifted the dynamic more toward one of equals. For instance, Chinese questions about how Washington spending policies will affect the already soaring U.S. deficit and the safety of Chinese investments now must be answered by Washington. Second, Obama wants not to anger Beijing, but to encourage it to pair its growing economic and political clout with greater leadership in solving some of the most urgent global problems, including a sagging economy, warming planet and the spread of dangerous weapons. Obama has talked warmly toward China, particularly in the days leading up to his visit. "The United States does not seek to contain China," Obama said in a speech from Tokyo on Saturday. "On the contrary, the rise of a strong, prosperous China can be a source of strength for the community of nations." One test of the line Obama is walking on China will be human rights, including religious freedom in the officially atheist nation. Aides said in advance that Obama would raise several human rights issues privately with Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao. But it was unlikely he would repeat those messages too stridently in public, out of concern for angering his hosts. Even before arriving in China, for example, he declined to get specific about human rights concerns with China in his Tokyo speech and eschewed the traditional presidential meeting with the Dalai Lama while he was in Washington in June. Obama said he would see the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader later, a decision welcomed by Chinese officials who pressure foreign governments not to meet with the Dalai Lama and spurn Tibetans' desires for autonomy from Chinese rule. The White House hoped Monday's town hall meeting with Chinese university students would allow Obama to telegraph U.S. values through its successes and failures to the widest Chinese audience possible. But those hopes will have their limits in communist-ruled, tightly controlled China. The particulars of the town hall, including whether it could even be called one, were the subject of delicate negotiations between the White House and the Chinese up to the last minute. It remained unclear, for instance, whether and how broadly it would be broadcast on television and how much of a hand the central government had in choosing those allowed to question the U.S. president. Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama would call at random on several of those in the audience, to be made up of hundreds of students hand-picked by the department heads of Shanghai-area universities, and would also answer questions solicited in advance by the White House from "various sources on the Internet." Even if the event is only aired on China's main English-language TV channel, which has very few viewers, the White House will stream the conversation live on http://www.whitehouse.gov, an unblocked site in China. From Shanghai, Obama was to be off to the capital of Beijing for the pomp and substance of a two-day state visit hosted for Obama by Hu. Obama's China visit features the only sightseeing of his high-intensity Asian journey. He will visit the Forbidden City, home of former emperors in Beijing, and the centuries-old Great Wall outside of the city. Visiting a country's noted landmarks is considered a sign of respect in the world of diplomacy. But Obama aides also have learned that finding some tourist time serves to both calm and energize their boss amid the always grueling schedule of a foreign trip. |
MSantor - November 16, 2009 06:14 AM (GMT)
Is it really wise to hold a "town hall-style" meeting as described below?
Does he not realize that the average Mainland Chinese person is scared sh**less about talking against their government?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091116/ap_on_bi_ge/obama
Does he not realize that the average Mainland Chinese person is scared sh**less about talking against their government?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091116/ap_on_bi_ge/obama
| QUOTE |
| SHANGHAI Pressing for freedoms on China's own turf, President Barack Obama said Monday that individual expression is not an American ideal but a universal right that should be available to all. In his first presidential trip to Asia, Obama lauded cooperative relations with China but sought to send a clear message to his tightly controlled host country. Just as Obama said few problems can be solved unless U.S. and China work together, he prodded China to accept what he called "universal rights." (...) He added: "These freedoms of expression, and worship, of access to information and political participation we believe they are universal rights. They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China or any nation." Obama sought to find a political balance with China, addressing long-standing U.S. concerns about human rights but extending his hand to a critically important partner on economic and security matters. (...) |
MSantor - November 17, 2009 04:26 AM (GMT)
He should have expected this when he called for a "town-hall" style meeting...in Shanghai. At least he stood up for his ideals in spite of what everyone knew the PRC government would do.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091116/ap_on_..._china_internet
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091116/ap_on_..._china_internet
| QUOTE |
| BEIJING President Barack Obama prodded China about Internet censorship and free speech, but the message was not widely heard in China where his words were blocked online and shown on only one regional television channel. China has more than 250 million Internet users and employs some of the world's tightest controls over what they see. The country is often criticized for its so-called "Great Firewall of China" technology designed to prevent unwanted traffic from entering or leaving a network. During his town hall meeting in Shanghai on Monday, Obama responded at length to a question about the firewall remarks that were later played down in the Chinese media and scrubbed from some Chinese Web sites. "I'm a big supporter of non-censorship," Obama said. "I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged." (...) |
MSantor - November 19, 2009 04:41 AM (GMT)
And Obama concludes his Asia trip with a stop in South Korea:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091119/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091119/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama
| QUOTE |
| SEOUL, South Korea Treated to friendly roadside crowds and an elaborate welcome, President Barack Obama sped into the last round of his diplomacy tour in Asia on Thursday, a visit in South Korea. Obama joined President Lee Myung-bak at the Blue House, South Korea's version of the White House, where the U.S. leader took in spectacular views of the hills of Seoul on a chilly, gray morning. Obama stood on red-carpeted steps and looked out on military regiments in colorful garb and flagwaving children. The leaders walked down to the sprawling manicured lawn, taking in the pageantry as Obama shook hands. It was symbolic of America's ever-improving relations with South Korea, a crucial Asian ally. "This was the most spectacular ceremony for a state visit we have been involved with," Obama gushed as the two leaders began their meetings. Said Lee of Obama's Asia trip: "You saved the best for last." The two men were meeting privately before they were scheduled to make formal statements. In brief comments before reporters, Obama praised the success of the South Korean economy, saying it was one reason why the nation has become an important player on the world stage. A stalled trade agreement, though, still looms as a a concern for the economic powerhouses. Obama, winding up his weeklong Asian journey, is expected to emphasize the two nations' unified efforts to prod a defiant North Korea out of its nuclear weapons program. He's also welcoming South Korea's return to helping U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. Obama was embarking on perhaps the easiest leg of his whirlwind four-country Asian trip that has taken him away from Washington for the longest stretch of his presidency. He made brief stops in Tokyo and Singapore before a longer, ceremony-filled visit to China. Strongly pro-U.S., Lee took office in South Korea in early 2008, a year before Obama, and relations between the two countries have been improving. The tenure of President George W. Bush had seen anti-American sentiments become more common here. Not so much now. The South Korean president, for instance, was the first foreign leader in Obama's presidency to get the honor of a joint appearance in the Rose Garden, in June. "I hope to look at it as growing pains of a relationship maturing," said Lee Jung-hoon, an international relations expert and dean of Yonsei University in Seoul. "Certainly under Lee Myung-bak and Obama we are returning to normalcy." A remaining sticking point has been trade. To South Korea's dismay, a free trade agreement that was signed in 2007 by the two governments under previous leaders has been stalled ever since in Congress. The pact was already going nowhere on Democratic-run Capitol Hill during the Bush administration, which struck the deal after painstaking negotiations. Obama's election, with his concerns about U.S. access to the South Korean market for U.S. auto exports, put the deal in further doubt. After his talks, Obama then has a brief rally at Osan Air Base outside Seoul with some of the 28,500 U.S. troops who are stationed in South Korea. It will be the third time Obama has addressed U.S. troops with his decision still pending on how many more Americans to send into the Afghanistan war. With that decision deferred until after the trip "certainly before year's end," was the elastic timeframe Obama offered in an NBC News interview the South Korean visit is an opportunity to highlight international cooperation. Lee's government recently announced plans to expand a reconstruction team now helping to rebuild Afghanistan and to dispatch police and troops to protect them, two years after withdrawing all forces following a fatal hostage crisis. Dozens of anti-war protesters rallied outside the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday chanting "no more South Korea troops to Afghanistan." Later, though, more than 100 people waved U.S. and South Korean flags and yelled, "Welcome, Obama, U.S.A." North Korea is an area where little daylight separates the leaders, unlike before. They are united in their impatience with North Korea's habit of making overtures, getting rewards and then backtracking to raise tensions again, and Obama and Lee were expected to discuss next steps in detail. Seoul, fearing a military strike over its border or a rush of refugees from the North has historically resisted a sterner approach toward ending the impasse over nuclear weapons with it and China generally less interested than the U.S. and Japan in pursuing more sanctions. Those nations, as well as Russia, are in the six-party talks with North Korea over the active weapons program it has in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Lee, though, has changed tack, talking of a "grand bargain" in which Pyongyang would get a one-time offer of concessions to replace the step-by-step process that has yielded little so far. Obama, too, has made much of his desire to take a different approach. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said the country will return to the six-party process it abandoned earlier this year only if Washington engages separately in one-on-one talks with the North. Days before Obama's arrival in the region, administration officials said Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea, would visit Pyongyang on an unspecified date, probably this year. Trade, though, is trickier territory for the allies. Despite positive talk about wanting to move the trade deal, the South Korean government has received no official proposal from the Obama administration on how to do so, said a senior South Korean government official, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity. Obama reinforced the sense that the issue isn't on a fast track in a round of TV interviews hours before his South Korean arrival. "The question is whether we can get it done in the beginning of 2010, whether we can get it done at the end of 2010," he told Fox News. "There's still some details that need to be worked out." The accord would be the largest for the U.S. since the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s and the biggest ever for South Korea. Lee likes to talk of it as offering a $10 billion boon to the U.S. economy. The South Koreans have balked at any suggestion of reopening the agreement. ___ Associated Press writers Mark S. Smith, Yewon Kang, Soo Bin Park and Kell Olsen contributed to this story. |