The leaders of the G8 have wrapped up a two-day summit. Although tax, transparency, and trade (the so-called three Ts) were priorities on the official agenda, the civil war in Syria dominated the headlines. This change of plans demonstrates one of the biggest problems with huge international summits such as …
This week, President Obama is in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, for the G8 summit, an annual meeting of the world’s wealthiest countries: the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Last year, world hunger was on the agenda as the President hosted G8 leaders at his …
The White House is spinning the U.S.–China summit as “quite unique and important meetings” between Presidents Obama and Xi, which resulted in “quite a bit of alignment” on North Korea. Harvard Professor Joseph Nye gushed, “This was the most important meeting between an American president and a Chinese leader in …
Iran’s theocratic dictatorship has gone to great lengths to shore up its crumbling domestic legitimacy with a facade of democratic process. But today’s presidential election will be a tightly controlled exercise in political choreography that offers little real choice for the long-suffering Iranian people and even less hope for meaningful …
The White House announced yesterday that President Obama has authorized the transfer of arms to Syria’s rebels after concluding that Bashar al-Assad’s regime had violated the president’s red line against the use of chemical weapons. The Obama Administration needed to reverse course and take stronger action in Syria to enforce …
Another day, another State Department scandal. This time, allegations of sexual misconduct have surfaced against U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman. On top of that, high-level officials in the State Department, which at the time was headed by Hillary Clinton, are accused of shutting down a probe by State’s inspector …
Today, we celebrate the anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s great speech before the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on June 12, 1987. Coming two and a half years before the end of the Cold War, Reagan’s famous line on the Berlin Wall still has that chill-giving power. General Secretary Gorbachev, if …
Last year, the House of Representatives passed an amendment that called for the removal of all four U.S. Army Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) currently based in Europe. This year, four Congressmen want to take it a step further, seriously undermining U.S. national security interests. Representatives Mike Coffman (R–CO), Morgan Griffith …
The Obama Administration has been moving very slowly on the Syrian chemical weapons issue. Caution is in order, because the President’s credibility is on the line. President Obama has repeatedly warned Bashar al-Assad’s regime not to use its huge chemical weapons arsenal. In a December speech he proclaimed, “The use …
