Concerns about U.S. defense spending coupled with funding for and the stability of the NATO alliance are carrying over into the U.S. presidential race.

Though combat operations in Afghanistan were in the spotlight at the NATO summit in Chicago this week, underlying the meeting was the reality that the alliance has been weakened by the eurozone crisis, which has put pressure on countries to cut defense spending. Read more »

Voters approve more highly of President Barack Obama’s handling of foreign policy than of the economy, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which also shows a nearly even split between Obama and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney overall. Read more »

As NATO solidifies plans for Afghanistan withdrawal, the U.S. election provides more impetus for analysts to examine President Barack Obama’s strategy there.
Read more »

A new ABC/Washington Post poll shows that President Barack Obama still faces a number of obstacles on the economy this election year. Of those polled, 30 percent of voters said they are less well off financially now than they were when Obama became president, compared with 16 percent who said they are better off. More than 50 percent said things are mostly the same. Read more »

After a major human rights debate on the campaign trail over the fate of Chinese dissident, Chen Guangcheng, he slipped into the United States over the weekend (LAT) with comparatively little comment from the candidates. Chen made international headlines earlier in the month after escaping house arrest and hiding in the U.S. embassy in Beijing. Read more »

Voters differ on whether President Barack Obama or GOP likely presidential nominee Mitt Romney is better for economic issues they rank as most important, according the the latest Gallup poll. Read more »

While President Barack Obama and presumed Republican rival Mitt Romney run campaigns focused largely on the struggling economy, Congress is preparing for a new round of budget battles on debt reduction and tax cuts. Read more »

On this week’s views, we will start in Egypt, a country that has seen tremendous upheaval in the last year and is about to select a new president for the first time in decades. Presidential candidate Amr Moussa sat down with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Here is what he had to say: Read more »

As President Barack Obama takes a campaign pause to play host at back-to-back high-level international summits with leaders of NATO and the G8, analysts say the eurozone crisis is becoming a factor in the U.S. election already heavily focused on economic issues. Read more »

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is diving into the general election with his first ad, “Day One,” showing a Romney presidency that will approve the Keystone Pipeline, introduce tax cuts and reforms, replace Obama’s signature healthcare legislation with “common sense healthcare reform.” Read more »