Posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 by Joanna Klonsky
At her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton said the United States should “pursue a strategy of smart power in the Middle East,” and should not “give up on peace” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In her opening statement Tuesday, Clinton:
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Emphasized the U.S. commitment to nuclear nonproliferation. She said the United States would work with Russia to forge agreements for more reductions in nuclear weapons, and to take both country’s missiles off hair-trigger alert. She also pledged to work with the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to restart negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty.
- Stressed a commitment to human rights, especially for women and children. “We still have a long way to go and the United States must remain an unambiguous and unequivocal voice in support of women’s rights in every country, every region, on every continent,” Clinton said.
- Said the United States would press Iran and Syria to become “constructive” actors in their region. With regard to Iran, Clinton asserted, “we are not taking any option off the table at all.”
Posted in Iran, Palestinian-Israeli, Russia, Transition | 0 Comments »
Posted on Monday, November 10th, 2008 by campaign2008
President-elect Barack Obama spoke to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (AP) by phone Saturday. The Kremlin said Obama and Medvedev “expressed the determination to create constructive and positive interaction for the good of global stability and development.”
GUANTANAMO: Obama’s advisers are creating a plan to send Guantanamo detainees to the United States to face criminal trials (AP).
TRADE: In an interview with ABC’s This Week Sunday, Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Congress should not couple an economic stimulus package with a free trade agreement with Colombia. “You don’t link those essential needs to some other trade deal,” Emanuel said.
Posted in Morning Update, Russia, Trade | 0 Comments »
Posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) said in a statement he supports Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s proposal for the economy. He said the plan should be coordinated with the G-20. “We are facing a global financial crisis and the United States can take a leadership role in coordinating a global response to the present crisis, as well as greater regulatory cooperation and alignment to prevent future crises,” he said.
PALIN: Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) said she believes Iraq is the central front in the war on terror, and said war with Russia should be “off the table” in the second installment of an interview with FOX’s Sean Hannity on Thursday.
INDIA: Deutsche Welle’s Across the Pond blog looks at the U.S.-India nuclear deal and its potential effect on the presidential race.
Posted in Economy, General Election, India, Iraq, Morning Update, Russia | 1 Comment »
Posted on Friday, September 12th, 2008 by campaign2008
In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) said Georgia and the Ukraine should be admitted into NATO, despite Russian objections. Asked whether the United States would have to go to war in response to a Russian invasion of Georgia, she said: “I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you’re going to be expected to be called upon and help.” She called Russia’s August military invasion of Georgia “unprovoked.” Palin also said a nuclear Iran would threaten “everyone in the world.”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) participated in a forum on national service (AP) on Thursday. McCain said immediately after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he would have called on Americans to serve by helping guard nuclear power plants or by joining neighborhood watch groups. Obama criticized the military draft, calling it unfair because “the wealthiest found ways to avoid” serving. Both candidates said ROTC recruiters should be allowed on college campuses (TIME).
Posted in General Election, Military, Morning Update, Russia | 0 Comments »
Posted on Tuesday, September 9th, 2008 by Robert McMahon
It may not be a new Cold War but a definite chill has set in between the West and Russia following Russia’s military occupation of Georgia and recognition of its two breakaway provinces. The Russia-Georgia conflict has made its way into the U.S. presidential race as well. Seeking to chart a way forward, the Economist has kicked off an important two-week debate in response to the proposition: “The West must be bolder in its response to a newly assertive Russia.”
Anne-Marie Slaughter, who heads Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson school, argues in favor of bolder action: In her opening post, she writes:
“As popular as Vladimir Putin and his party are, they are delivering a heady nationalist brew rather than actually providing badly needed economic and social benefits to the population at large. It is that domestic political equation that the West must counterbalance by making clear that the diplomatic, political and economic costs of external adventures outweigh the domestic benefits.”
But the Carnegie Endowment’s Dmitri V. Trenin counters that under Putin, Russians are more affluent than ever and “capitalism is transforming Russian society on a daily basis.” He offers the following advice in his opening post:
“Rather than thinking about bold steps which would fuel nascent confrontation it makes more sense to subject old stereotypes to a reality check, and figure out whither Russia is heading, and what it actually wants. And then perhaps use the present crisis to structure a security relationship in Europe which would include Russia and reassure its wary neighbors. That, incidentally, may come in handy as other crises may jolt the world: a politico-nuclear meltdown in Pakistan, a Taliban comeback in Afghanistan, Iran’s nuclear weapons progress, North Korea’s proliferation regression and the like.”
Posted in Blogroll, DNC, General Election, RNC, Russia | 0 Comments »
Posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in his speech accepting his party’s nomination to run for president, seized on a theme of “change” and vowed to overhaul aspects of the Republican Party’s platform under the Bush administration. McCain highlighted times at which he has broken from his party’s policy line, arguing that such independence makes him more fit to lead the United States than his opponent, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).
In terms of foreign policy, McCain credited “the leadership of a brilliant general, David Petraeus,” for improving the security situation in Iraq, and discussed his own efforts to encourage the U.S. surge strategy, saying he was willing to make an unpopular decision for the good of the war effort. McCain focused significant attention on economic concerns, saying the best way to improve the competitiveness of U.S. corporations internationally is through tax cuts that enable them to operate more efficiently. He also said he intends to shift U.S. jobs to “industries that will be the engine of our future prosperity,” rather than attempting to prop up industries that aren’t competitive internationally.
The New York Times reports the Republican convention revealed a “fierce struggle” for the “foreign policy heart of John McCain” within the Republican Party. McCain’s speech, the Times says, offered “few hints” whether he would follow a “confrontational, go-it-alone approach” toward the world, or whether he would make steps to engage countries the Bush administration has sought to isolate. McCain did make reference to the Russia-Georgia conflict in his speech, saying both that he would attempt to establish good relations with Russia to avoid a “return of the Cold War,” but also more forcefully that the United States “can’t turn a blind eye to aggression and international lawlessness that threatens the peace and stability of the world.”
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports McCain’s running-mate, first-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has been given a crash course on foreign policy since her nomination.
Background:
- This candidate profile outlines McCain’s statements on an array of foreign policy issues. This one looks at Barack Obama’s.
- A new entry on CFR.org’s Campaign 2008 blog looks at hot debate in Minneapolis over Russia, Georgia, and the future of NATO.
Posted in General Election, Morning Update, RNC, Russia | 0 Comments »
Posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 by Robert McMahon
MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is in Georgia reaffirming U.S ties to its ally in the face of ongoing Russian threats. Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the GOP presidential convention in Minnesota, some analysts have registered concern over how the United States manages relationships with both countries.
At a CFR panel on democracy promotion this morning, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was critical of the U.S. push for a NATO membership path for Georgia. He said that introduced a provocative outside military element to a region already roiling with unresolved separatist issues. “We should learn that security is not always military arrangements, that there are some security elements that are better protected by a combination of political and tacit military arrangements,” said Kissinger, an architect of President Richard M. Nixon’s détente policy with the Soviet Union in the 1970s.
CFR President Richard N. Haass, said it would be unhelpful for both Russian and U.S. interests if Russia was ousted from the G8 or denied entry to the World Trade Organization, as some in the West have called for in response to the Kremlin’s moves in Georgia. Haass referred to the sharp decline in foreign investment in Russia since last month, noting that the principle penalty Russia has faced so far for its actions has come as a result of its financial integration in the world. “We want to keep them inside [global institutions] because with them on the inside they have a greater stake in normal international relations [and] don’t feel international relations is something being done to them,” Haass said.
But Kenneth Wollack, president of the National Democratic Institute, a U.S.-funded organization that has promoted democratic institutions in Georgia, noted Russia has played an unhelpful role in the international bodies it currently belongs to. He also disputed Russian charges that U.S.-backed organizations contributed to the downfall of the previous Georgian government headed by President Eduard Shevardnadze. He said the fall of Shevardnadze government in the 2003 Rose Revolution followed a popular outpouring of protest in response to efforts to seat an illegitimate parliament. “In Georgia you do have a population that overwhelmingly wants to join European institutions,” Wollack told the panel.
Posted in General Election, RNC, Russia | 0 Comments »
Posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 by campaign2008
The Republican National Convention continued on Wednesday in St. Paul, with party leaders including former presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney addressing the crowd.
Vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AL) also spoke, giving voters a brief glimpse of her foreign policy views. Palin said domestic oil drilling would allow the United States to become less dependent on Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. She also implied that she opposes meeting with “terrorist states” without preconditions.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will speak to the convention Thursday.
CFR is cohosting a foreign policy symposium in Minneapolis. To view a live webcast of the program, click here.
GEORGIA: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) welcomed the Bush administration’s announcement of a $1 billion financial assistance package for Georgia on Wednesday. “The United States and our allies must stand firm in supporting Georgia’s economic and political stability, and opposing Russia’s efforts to undermine Georgia’s democratically-elected government,” Obama said in a statement.
Posted in Energy Policy, General Election, Morning Update, RNC, Russia | 0 Comments »
Posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 by Robert McMahon
Picking up where it left off last week in Denver, CFR today convened a panel on foreign policy on the sidelines of the GOP convention in Minneapolis that reinforced the difficulties facing a new administration. Here’s a brief look at the discussion on some of the vexing issues:
–Russia. CFR President Richard N. Haass said Russia’s new assertiveness in its neighborhood could be one of the dominant strategic issues facing a new administration along with Iran and Pakistan. Panelist Kim Holmes, vice president of the Heritage Foundation’s institute for international studies, called Russia’s invasion of Georgia a “watershed event” that looks to be a “revival of some of Russia’s 19th-century views of its power and interests in the region on its borders.” Holmes advised in the short term approving NATO membership for Georgia and bolstering the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
–Energy. CFR Senior Fellow Michael Levi called the notion of “energy independence” for the United States impossible. But he said the country can take a number of steps to lessen huge dependence on oil from unsavory resource-rich regimes. The collection of policy steps could include gas taxes and boosted support for research and development on alternative fuels and energy sources. Significant, says Levi, is a more “substantial role for government than we have been comfortable with.”
– Immigration. CFR Senior Fellow Edward Alden said the aim is to preserve the economic boost traditionally provided by an open U.S. immigration system while shoring up the problems that have allowed millions of illegal immigrants into the country, posing a security and humanitarian problem. “It would be impossible to secure the U.S. border with Mexico without comprehensive immigration reform,” says Alden but added it is not a priority for Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and will pose political difficulties for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
–Trade and globalization. CFR Senior Fellow Benn Steil raised concern about the rise of enormous sovereign wealth funds internationally and the prospect of them being used for politically strategic purposes. “We’re seeing a form of cross-border nationalization of businesses,” he said. Steil added that another concern is the prospect of countries like China, which hold large reserves of the U.S. dollar, looking for ways to diversify those reserves with strong currencies like the euro, a development that could pose challenges to Washington currency policies down the road.
Meanwhile, the U.S. public’s appetite for free trade appears to be ebbing, which Americans tend to equate with wage stagnation, says Alden. “We need to look at ways of distributing gains of trade more widely. Until we do so, we’re going to lack consensus on trade policy.”
Posted in Climate Change, Energy Policy, General Election, Homeland Security, Immigration, RNC, Russia | 0 Comments »
Posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 by campaign2008
The Republican Party kicked off a pared-down version (AP) of its national convention on Monday in Minnesota. President Bush, who had been scheduled to speak to the convention, instead traveled to Texas to be briefed on Hurricane Gustav’s management.
In Ohio, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) packed supplies for hurricane victims (NYT). Both the Obama and McCain campaigns urged supporters to donate to relief efforts.
A CFR.org Issue Tracker details the candidates’ positions on homeland security policy.
CFR will cohost a foreign policy symposium all week in Minneapolis. To view a live webcast of the program, click here.
EU: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) on Monday praised the European Union’s announcement following an emergency summit that Georgia’s “territorial integrity must be respected,” and that Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia should be rejected.
Posted in General Election, Homeland Security, Morning Update, RNC, Russia | 0 Comments »
