Morning Update: Sovereign Wealth Watch
In a Bloomberg TV interview Wednesday, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) again called for the IMF and World Bank to enforce transparency in sovereign wealth funds.
PostGlobal’s Amar Bakshi says despite candidates’ willingness to promote themselves as change agents, the subject of change in the United States “often makes people anxious” abroad. On Fox’s Republican South Carolina debate, Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani urged voters not to be seduced by the word, and to realize that “change is either good or bad.” “That’s a truism Giuliani probably wouldn’t need to state in Beirut, Manila or Seoul, where people watch America ‘change’ with cautious eyes,” Bakshi writes.
U.S. News and World Report political writer Michael Barone and CFR’s Peter Beinart discussed the candidates’ stances on U.S. policy toward the Middle East in a Washington Institute for Near East Policy forum Wednesday. Barone said a pro-war Republican candidate “could present a serious challenge to the Democratic contender if the sustained security and political gains in Iraq were highlighted.”
