Foreign Policy

The Cartagena Summit Failure Marks the End of an Era – Finally

President Barack Obama and President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia. (White House Photo: Pete Souza)

ne would think that someone in official Washington would have had an inkling of what was coming. I mean, what is with all those “intelligence” agencies? And, wasn’t anybody awake at the State Department’s Latin America Desk? Couldn’t anybody have hipped President Obama before he left for Cartagena de Indias that he was headed for a train wreck?Now, in the wake of the uproarious … [Read more...]

Understanding Iran’s Diplomatic Strategy

By Gareth Porter

n January 2009, just before Gary Samore left his position as Vice-President for Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, he summed up his rather cynical view of how Iran would conduct negotiations."The logical position the Iranians are bound to take," he wrote in a post on the Council's website, "is: 'We're happy to talk forever, as long as we can keep building centrifuges.'"A few days … [Read more...]

Such Nice People: Washington Bets on the Gulf Royals

By Vijay Prashad

n late March, Hillary Clinton traveled to Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There she met with King Abdullah, the primus inter pares of the Arabian Peninsula. Shortly afterwards, she inaugurated the US-GCC Strategic Cooperation Forum. The GCC is the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Arab NATO, whose members include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab … [Read more...]

Save Money by Ending Costly Alliances

By Ivan Eland

ontinued U.S. economic sluggishness, induced by a massive national debt in excess of $15 trillion, should be causing soul-searching in the American foreign policy community about which unnecessary alliance commitments can be shed to save money. Yet, predictably, interest groups supporting empire continue to tout “American leadership” in “strategic” regions of the world.For example, … [Read more...]

God and Vietnam

By James Rhodes

Earlier this month I attended the 30th anniversary of the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha Foundation. In 1981 all national Buddhist sects and organizations became unified. This was also a celebration of the 2,000-year tradition concerning the teachings of Buddha in Vietnam as well as their 46,495 monks and nuns; 12,862 temples; 451 monasteries; and over 1,500 other facilities.The entire event was … [Read more...]

Havana and Hamas: Obama Can Chart a New Course at Last

By Tom Hall

As we lament the horrors in the Gaza Strip, currently playing out on our televisions, we might be well served to reflect on 50 years of Castro’s regime in Cuba, and what lessons and opportunities our history of opposition to the Cuban revolution might hold for the incoming Obama administration. … [Read more...]