The Council on Foreign Relations has launched its very first weblog, The Candidates and the World, which aims to track the campaign through the prism of foreign policy, trade, international economics, and national and homeland security issues out on the stump on a daily basis.
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Obama said the United States would “begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.” He also promised to work “tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.”
Obama characterized his administration’s approach to relations with the Muslim world. “[W]e seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect,” he said.
He also promised to work to relieve poverty around the world. “To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds,” Obama said. “And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect.”
Posted on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 by campaign2008
After meeting with his top economic advisers on Tuesday, President-elect Barack Obama warned of the potential of “trillion-dollar deficits for years to come” (NYT). He promised to enforce tighter fiscal discipline in his government.
BIDEN: Vice President-elect Joe Biden will visit Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan during his trip beginning at the end of the week, he told reporters Tuesday (Politico).
Posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 by campaign2008
President-elect Barack Obama said in his weekly address on Friday that his economic team is forging a two-year Economic Recovery Plan that will create 2.5 million new U.S. jobs. Here is the video of Obama’s address:
AFGHANISTAN: Obama told Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a phone call on Saturday that he will increase U.S. aid (WSJ) to Afghanistan, according to a statement from Karzai’s office. The call was the first reported contact between Karzai and Obama.
APEC: The Washington Post reports leaders at this weekend’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum focused their attention on U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, cautioning him not to take too protectionist a tack on trade.
Posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 by campaign2008
Journalist and author Tariq Ali warned that U.S. military action in Pakistan and escalation of the war in Afghanistan would create widespread instability in the region. Speaking Tuesday in a public discussion with Chicago Council on Global Affairs president Marshall Bouton. Ali said he was “extremely disturbed” by President-elect Barack Obama’s assertion during the presidential campaign that he would be willing to strike al-Qaeda targets inside of Pakistan with actionable intelligence if the Pakistani government was unwilling or unable to do so.
Ali, a native of the Pakistani city of Lahore, disputed what he called “the most common view on Pakistan in much of the Western world,” that Pakistan is “a nuclear state and a group of bearded jihadi terrorists might be on the verge of capturing this nuclear facility.” Rather, Ali insisted, jihadi groups in Pakistan represent a “tiny minority of the population as a whole,” and said it is “virtually impossible” that these groups would be able to capture the nuclear facility.
Ali urged Western leaders to develop a “serious exit strategy” for the war in Afghanistan, and questioned the premise of the war’s start. The al-Qaeda group responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 disappeared in the weeks before the war’s beginning, he said. “They had no particular links to Afghanistan as such they could function from everywhere,” Ali said, noting that no Afghan or Pakistani citizens were implicated in the attacks.
Ali called for a regional strategy involving the region’s “big players,” like Pakistan, India, Iran and Russia, to try to stabilize Afghanistan. He said United States should seek a political solution to the conflict, rather than a military one.
In Pakistan, Ali said, a major project, perhaps through UNESCO and Western civil society groups, could lift Pakistan out of poverty. He called for land reform and proposed that the United Nations build six large teacher training universities across Pakistan to improve the education system.
For more analysis and research about Pakistan and U.S. policy, see this CFR.org Issue Guide.
Posted on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 by Joanna Klonsky
Middle East expert Juan Cole reviewed President-elect Barack Obama’s positions to date on Iraq and Afghanistan in a lecture at the University of Chicago on Wednesday evening. Cole, who tracks events in the Middle East on his Informed Comment blog, said many of Obama’s campaign positions on the Iraq war have recently become “more plausible” as a result of developments there.
Here are some of Cole’s main points:
BASES: Cole praised Obama’s opposition to building long-term military bases in Iraq. He argued that Iraq “is not actually very much like Japan, and even less like South Korea,” where the United States continues to maintain a military presence decades after the end of conflict. Cole said Obama recognizes “the lack of feasibility with regard to trying to keep bases in Iraq,” and said such bases would likely be an “irritant.”
AQI: Cole also said Obama “rightly dismisses” the argument that a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq will allow al-Qaeda to take over the country. Because Iraq is a majority Shiite country with a largely Shiite army, the idea that Iraq could be taken overtaken by al-Qaeda is “bizarre,” Cole said. “There are no Shiite al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda is all about killing Shiites wherever you find them.”
AFGHANISTAN: Cole said Obama’s plan to provide Afghanistan with $1 billion in civilian aid is “very necessary, but a drop in the bucket compared to the real needs.” He noted Obama’s plan to send more troops to Afghanistan is not popular among NATO allies whose publics do not necessarily support the war effort.
PAKISTAN: Obama has said he would authorize U.S. air strikes inside Pakistan with “actionable intelligence” and if the Pakistani government refused to act. Cole said this position is “not really that controversial,” and that it gradually has become the policy of the Bush administration. Still, Cole said, “you don’t ordinarily in diplomatic relations pronounce that you will bomb your allies.”
Cole urged Obama to act as “diplomat-in-chief” in Iraq and Afghanistan, and emphasized the importance of strong leadership in the Obama administration’s approach to the Middle East.
Posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 by campaign2008
With the U.S. presidential campaign headed into its final weekend, Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) made final pushes for votes, and analysts began looking ahead to the transition of administrations that will follow the November 4 vote. The Financial Times reports Obama’s campaign is sticking largely to its economic message as it enters the final few days of campaigning. The Los Angeles Times looks at McCain’s final days of campaigning in potential swing states Ohio and Florida, and says both candidates have sought to highlight differences in their economic plans.
A new CFR.org Daily Analysis looks at how foreign policy issues have played out over the course of the campaign, dominated in its later stages by the financial crisis. The article says despite the recent focus on economic concerns, questions of national security and U.S. global influence stayed in focus throughout the process. In a Newsweek cover story, CFR President Richard Haass presents a foreign policy plan for the next U.S. president.
PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow he plans to try to “facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and resolve the Kashmir crisis.” Obama also discussed his plan to send more troops to Afghanistan and said he will provide alternatives to farmers in the poppy trade there.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), Sen. John McCain’s runningmate, spoke broadly (CNN) about national security Thursday after meeting with a group of McCain campaign national security advisers. “It used to be we could place domestic and foreign concerns in more or less distinct categories — and choose a president according to which seemed the greater priority at the time. But the world has so drastically changed and those days are gone,” she said. “Even if a most immediate concern is economic, our recovery will still depend on leadership that can protect and advance our security and our vital interests in the world.”
Posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 by campaign2008
In an interview with TIME, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) said opportunities to negotiate with the Taliban should be “explored.”
The Democratic ticket met with its Senior Working Group on National Security on Wednesday. The group includes former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, former UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and former Sen. Sam Nunn, among others. At the event, Obama discussed his views on Afghanistan and Iraq.
The New York Times examines how the presidential candidates’ personal histories have shaped each of their views on the use of U.S. power.
Posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 by campaign2008
“It’s time to heed the call from General McKiernan and others for more troops. That’s why I’d send at least two or three additional combat brigades to Afghanistan. We also need more training for Afghan Security forces, more non-military assistance to help Afghans develop alternatives to poppy farming, more safeguards to prevent corruption, and a new effort to crack down on cross-border terrorism. Only a comprehensive strategy that prioritizes Afghanistan and the fight against al Qaeda will succeed, and that’s the change I’ll bring to the White House.”
–Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), in a speech Wednesday in Richmond, Virginia on national security policy.
Posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 by campaign2008
U.S. Vice Presidential candidates Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sparred on U.S. military deployments in Iraq and several other foreign policy issues in their only television debate before November’s election. On the financial crisis, Biden reaffirmed statements from Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) that any federal government package created to deal with the turmoil should be focused on the middle class (FT). Palin attacked “predatory” lending practices on Wall Street and said Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) past positions cast him as an economic reformer.
On Iraq, Palin criticized setting a timetable for a major troop drawdown, which is favored by Obama and Biden, saying “it would be a travesty if we were to quit now in Iraq.” Biden reaffirmed Obama’s plan to shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan and said the United States is wasting money in Iraq that could be spent more effectively fighting extremism in Afghanistan.
Here is a run-down of some of the candidates’ statements on other foreign policy issues:
Climate change: Neither candidate disputed climate change is occurring. Palin indicated it was caused both by human activity and by “cyclical temperature changes on our planet.” Biden asserted that climate change is manmade.
Darfur: Both candidates expressed support for a no-fly zone over Darfur. Biden said the United States should provide helicopters to get 21,000 African Union forces into Darfur. Palin cited her support for pending legislation that would divest the Alaska Permanent Fund from Darfur.
Iran: Palin said the U.S. president should not meet without preconditions with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Biden stressed the importance of going “the extra mile on diplomacy” with Iran to resolve the crisis over its nuclear program.
This candidate bio outlines Biden’s statements on foreign policy topics. This one profiles Palin’s.
