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Sitting here in Singapore as President Obama went through China and flew home from his 8-day trip to Asia, it is perhaps easier to see the true truth of his trip—it’s deep failure....

Obama Blunders Through Asia Undoing Bush's years of deft diplomacy. by Ross Terrill 11/30/2009, Volume 015, Issue 11 Much dire rhetoric has been unleashed in liberal quarters about the damage done by George W. Bush's foreign policy. The alleged damage, however, is not evident in Asia. When Ken Lieberthal, a respected China specialist and Democratic loyalist, spoke at Harvard early this year, I asked him to name a single year in memory when Washington had as good relations with India, Japan, and China as under Bush. He changed the subject. The White House stated as Obama left Asia for home...

Diplomacy: The restoration of a president with dictatorial dreams in Honduras is being touted by the administration as a triumph of "dialogue." In truth, it's just old-fashioned yanqui interventionism. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed Thursday night's agreement in Tegucigalpa as "a restoration of the constitutional order," and praised it highly. "I cannot think of another example of a country in Latin America that, having suffered a rupture of its democratic and constitutional order, overcame such a crisis through negotiation and dialogue." What worked here, though, wasn't dialogue, but U.S. diplomatic muscle. A last-minute mission from Assistant Secretary of State...

In a black BMW outside a chalet-style hotel in the foothills of the Swiss Alps, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used high-drama cellphone diplomacy to clinch a historic Armenian-Turkish deal. "There were several times when I said to all of the parties involved that 'this is too important, this has to be seen through, you have come too far,'" the chief US diplomat recalled afterward on the plane from Zurich to London.

An openly gay Jewish attorney has been nominated by Barack Obama as America’s new ambassador to New Zealand. David Huebner, 49, who is currently based in Shanghai, is Obama’s first gay appointment, and the third openly gay ambassador in American history. Obama’s nomination Wednesday of Huebner, who has also acted as general counsel for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, must be approved by Congress. A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, Huebner will also become the non-resident ambassador to Samoa, where homosexuality is illegal. Huebner is also on a list of Jewish leaders of the homosexual...

Chicago's bid to win the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games is an important strand in President Barack Obama's diplomatic efforts to reach out to the world, his senior advisor Valerie Jarrett told AFP on Thursday. Jarrett, who was given personal responsibility by Obama of the first ever White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport, said that the President and the First Lady Michelle Obama considered the Olympic Movement and the Games itself as vital to diplomacy.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS ABROAD The View from Amman, Jordan 09/10/09 SNIPPET: "We opened our international office in Amman, Jordan on January 11, 2001—exactly eight months before the attack on the World Trade Centers. Today, in the post-9/11 era, our presence in Jordan and elsewhere overseas is more important than ever to our security at home. The FBI has more than 60 international offices—called Legal Attachés, or Legats—located around the world. Our agents who lead them act primarily as diplomats, building relationships with host countries and fostering the exchange of information with our international law enforcement partners. “Our mission is to develop...

The White House today would not confirm or deny a report by Iranian media that President Obama has sent a second letter to Iranian authorities. "There have been multiple ways that communication has taken place with Iran,” said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. “We do not discuss the details or modalities of those communications." The Iranian website Tabnak reported that President “Obama has reportedly sent his second direct message to Iranian authorities.” "The first letter was dispatched in Ordibehesht, before the elections," Tabnak said, referring to the Persian month that ran from April 21 to May 21. "The leader at...

War On Terror: The election in Afghanistan serves as a reminder that force is often more important to liberty than votes. That said, why does the U.S. refuse to go all out against al-Qaida?Taliban terrorists reportedly prevented hundreds of polling stations from operating on Afghanistan's election day Wednesday. It was the second presidential election ever for the troubled country and dozens were killed in attacks by the Islamofascist Taliban, which ruled there until the post-9/11 U.S. invasion. A lower-than-hoped-for turnout, especially in the violence-plagued south, was bemoaned by many. Voting will apparently end with far less than the 70% turnout...

Former President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton has returned from Pyongyang, North Korea, with Al Gore's employees Laura Ling and Euna Lee. The two women, reporters for Gore's Current TV operation, were seized by North Korean border guards March 17 along the frozen Tumen River -- the border between North Korea and China. On June 8, following a five-day "trial," Pyongyang's Central Court convicted the women of "committing hostilities against the Korean nation and illegal entry" and sentenced them to 12 years' hard labor. On Tuesday, Aug. 4, Mr. Clinton, accompanied by a doctor and his former chief of staff John...

Diplomacy: In a quiet victory for a tiny democracy, U.S. buttinskies have stopped trying to restore a dictator to power in South America. Tiny Honduras is winning its fight for freedom.In a welcome about-face, the State Department told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Richard Lugar, R-Ind., in a letter Tuesday that the U.S. would no longer threaten sanctions on Honduras for ousting its president, Mel Zelaya, last June 28. Nor will it insist on Zelaya's return to power. As it turns out, the U.S. Senate can't find any legal reason why the Honduran Supreme Court's refusal to let Zelaya stay...

J.E. Dyer makes an excellent point about Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s very real efforts to develop ties with countries outside the immediate American sphere. It should be pointed out that Israel enjoys deep and extensive relations with governments around the globe — from Latin America to Africa to southern Asia — mostly but not exclusively of a military nature. According to recent reports, Israel surpasses the U.K. as the fourth-largest military exporter in the world (after the U.S., Russia, and France).

Another day, another gaffe. A few minutes ago in a joint appearance with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines, Obama stepped in it again.David Jackson of USA Today provides the details in his White House pool report:Obama praised Arroyo for her efforts to fight terrorism, and her help in dealing with the problems of Burma and North Korea. He noted the Philippines is hosting a conference next year on nuclear non-proliferation. "We're going to have a busy agenda together," Obama said. He said the Philippines is a small country, but, to use a boxing metaphor, it "punches above its weight...

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the Obama administration gave Middle East envoy George Mitchell a treat to bring to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad when Mitchell stopped off in Damascus on Sunday: a presidential fiat will ease sanctions on Syria. According to the Journal, “the U.S. decision targets spare aircraft parts, information-technology products and telecommunications equipment, sales of which have been restricted by U.S. sanctions on Syria enacted in 2004.” All of which is very nice for the Assad family and Alawite-minority business that runs that country, while it helps their ally Iran export terrorism via Hamas and Hezbollah...

The Obama administration lacks a foreign policy ideology as a matter of ideology. Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, Secretary of State Clinton asserted, "Rigid ideologies and old formulas don't apply."...But even lacking an ideology, the administration does have a doctrine. The defining principle of President Obama's foreign policy is engagement with America's adversaries...expressing respect for legitimate grievances, apologizing for past wrongs and offering dialogue without preconditions. Six months on, how fares the Obama doctrine? Concerning North Korea and Iran, the doctrine is on its deathbed. North Korea responded to administration outreach by testing a nuclear weapon, firing missiles...

In a New York Times op-ed, Haaretz editor Aluf Benn analyzes the reasons President Obama has lost the confidence of virtually all Israeli Jews (a recent poll indicated only 6 percent consider the administration pro-Israel): Mr. Obama’s quest for diplomacy has appeared to Israelis as dangerous American naïveté. The president offered a hand to the Iranians, and got nothing, merely giving them more time to advance their nuclear program. In Israeli eyes, he was humiliated by North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests. And he failed to move Arab governments to take steps to normalize relations with Israel. . . ....

Sources say White House cadre bypassing agencies, jeopardizing security JERUSALEM – A small group of officials working mostly from the White House are tightly controlling U.S. foreign policy, bypassing other government agencies and making decisions without employing the expertise of those agencies, according to diplomatic sources speaking to WND. The sources said some of the decisions may be jeopardizing U.S. security. A senior Middle East diplomatic source said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently apologized to a Mideast leader, explaining to him U.S. policy regarding his country is being dictated by the White House and not her agency. The diplomatic...

I know that the Russians have characteristically been less than hospitable to American Presidents, but I don't recall them ever openly disrespecting (yeah, I KNOW it's a made-up word) a US President like this before... or maybe it's just that previous presidents have been savvy enough not to put themselves in such a position. Who knows? Maybe I'll figure it out when I stop laughing.

Less than month after U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said that the UN Security Council was working on a resolution “with teeth that will bite in North Korea,” the Kim regime tested a battery of proscribed short- and medium-range missiles. So much for the teeth.How did the Security Council respond this time? It “condemned” the action, naturally. But, of course, the real concern of the “international community” isn’t the nuclear braggadocio of a rogue regime; it’s the mortal fear that another country might attempt to inhibit the mad brinkmanship of Kim Jong Il:

Fareed Zakaria enters the fray to explain why Iran’s Velvet Revolution is not about to happen. He makes some good points about why Iran 2009 is not Prague 1989 — the regime has money and guns and the religious establishment is not aligned behind the demonstrators. He also makes some less good points — that alleged U.S. support for armed groups fighting the regime, or U.S. rhetoric about a possible military strike, or U.S. support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war always rallied people around the regime.

The U.S. Embassy in Seoul will hold Monday a ceremony to donate U.S. President Barack Obama’s books to the National Assembly Library in Seoul’s Yeouido district. The embassy will give 350 copies of the Korean version of President Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope.” In return, the library will hand over two sets of five fact book series, including “2009 Power Elite of the United States of America” and “Overview of President Obama,” both published by the library. The library has been publishing fact books since last year to provide lawmakers with customized information necessary for legislative activities. “Overview of...

In February 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “We are going to work to support the aspirations of the Iranian people for freedom in their own country.” She requested, and was granted, $75 million dollars to be put toward the effort. What became known as the “Democracy fund” for Iran was routinely slammed as unnecessarily confrontational by critics of robust democracy promotion.

    Perhaps the Bermuda parliament is “fear-gripped”, too — or maybe just angry that their Premier cut a deal to admit al-Qaeda trained Uighur separatists into their country without consulting them or the British.  Bermuda’s House of Assembly scheduled a no-confidence vote against Ewart Brown, which would result in immediate elections and throw the Bermuda government in disarray: The United Bermuda Party today moved for a motion of no confidence against the Government led by Premier Ewart Brown.Opposition leader Kim Swan proposed the motion in the House of Assembly this morning.He said it was necessary as the Island is...

What Churchill called 'jaw-jaw' has produced nothing, except more provocations. In recent weeks, North Korea has detonated a nuclear bomb and violated U.N. Security Council prohibitions by launching ballistic missiles. It has threatened war against South Korea, repudiating the July 1953 armistice agreement and thus ostensibly reverting to a state of war with the United States. It has also sentenced two American journalists -- Euna Lee and Laura Ling -- to 12 years in a labor camp. These are extreme provocations. Only a military attack could exceed them. Our response, of course, must be diplomatic. But only a very special...

US President Barack Obama said Monday that the United States cannot impose its values on other countries, but argued that principles such as democracy and the rule of law were universal. In an interview with the BBC ahead of a visit first to Saudi Arabia and Egypt and then Europe, Obama said the United States must lead by example -- which firstly meant closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp on Cuba. "The danger I think is when the United States or any country thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a...

Within the space of a few days, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has stated that North Korea is a threat and isn’t a threat to global peace. First, Gates enumerated North Korea’s recent actions—nuclear bomb tests, missile launches, termination of the 50-year ceasefire agreement with South Korea that ended the 1950s war, and threats to attack ships of countries that support UN sanctions on North Korea—that he said were a threat to peace. Later, Gates shifted course and declared that “no one in the Obama Administration thinks North Korea is a threat.” Later still, Gates announced at an annual security...

A U.S. Embassy in a Muslim country has sponsored an event to celebrate the homosexual lifestyle. Last night the U.S. Embassy in Iraq held a "Gay Pride Theme Party" at a pub called Baghdaddy's. Embassy employees were encouraged to attend the Baghdad event dressed in drag or as a homosexual icon. Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, says homosexual activism at U.S. embassies was prevalent during the Bush administration, but it has gone a step further under the Obama administration.

Word coming recently that due to a series of diplomatic oversights, Queen Elizabeth was excluded from a planned U.S.-French commemoration of D-Day, despite her, as well as Britain's, role in the war and the D-Day campaign, has put renewed focus on the inner workings of the Obama State Department and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. According to State Department sources, while the U.S. State Department was not part of the full planning for the D-Day commemoration, American staff involved did not raise the issue of the Queen's involvement with the French. "It was French planning," says one State Department...

I know Iraq was supposed to have compromised America’s standing as a formidable global power, but it sure doesn’t look that way: “If North Korea stages a provocation, we will respond resolutely,” the South Korean military said in a statement, reacting to the North’s threats. Citing a “strong” military alliance with the United States, it said, “We advise our people to trust our military’s solid readiness and feel safe.”

The Underpants Gnomes are those little creatures who sneak into your drawers and steal your shorts. They are also the Stars of a South Park Episode. They boys need to write a presentation to for school they they see the Underpants Gnomes and write about them. The Underpants Gnomes are businessmen of sorts, and they know a lot about corporations, and explain them to the boys in their underground lair. Their business plan is as follows: * Phase 1: Collect Underpants * Phase 2: ? * Phase 3: Profit! The Gnomes episode is a defense of Capitalism. Paul Cantor, a...

The Obama Administration issued its sternest warning yet against any further nuclear detonations by the Pyongyang regime. “If the North Koreans decide to carry out a second nuclear test, we will deal with the consequences of that, and there will be consequences,” Stephen Bosworth, senior U.S. nuclear envoy, vowed. First on the list of consequences according to Bosworth will be for the US to discontinue its practice of providing pastries at the ongoing negotiations with the regime. “This is one of the steps I’ve already been authorized to undertake without sending it up the line for the President’s approval,” Bosworth...

Iran’s Expediency Council Chairman, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, urged President Obama to choose another Secretary of State because “Mrs. Clinton’s tone is strident, grating and disrespectful. It is easy to see why her husband sought comfort from another woman.” Rafsanjani contended that “there is no chance for improving the relations between our two countries as long as this harpy continues to screech at us. It was bad enough that Bush humiliated the entire Muslim world by naming a female as its chief diplomat. But Mrs. Clinton is like the insolent wife who must be beaten regularly in order that her master...

When the game of Chatrang arrived in Sassanid Persia from India, it quickly developed into what became present-day chess. Not only did the Persian exclamations “Shah!” and “Shah Mat” (”check!” and “check mate!”) enter the chess lexicon but, most important, the game became part and parcel of the education of nobility at the Persian court. Chess is deeply ingrained in Iranian culture — certainly also in how Iran plays diplomacy with the world.

Responding to a reader’s comment, Max Boot has just raised a fundamental question — and exposed a profound misunderstanding — about Iran’s involvement in Afghanistan. Max says that “I’m not sure whether I’m an expert on Afghanistan, but I know enough to realize that Iran doesn’t view the Taliban as a threat — certainly not as an existential threat (like Nazi Germany was to both the U.S. and U.S.S.R) that could drive Iran into America’s arms.” He then goes on to note that while the Iranians were helping the Northern Alliance in the 1990’s and certainly disliked the anti-Shi’a flavor...

Given that the president's public diplomacy has been aimed so squarely at the Muslim world—aides say he still plans to give a "Muslim speech" from a Muslim-majority country in his first 100 days as president—I wonder if Obama is considering a Muslim for the job.

And now Barack Obama’s aid plan for Pakistan falls flat: U.S. envoys met with Pakistani leaders on Tuesday to ensure that the $7.5 billion that President Obama plans to send their way over the next five years will be used to achieve common goals in the fight against extremism.

President Obama was faced with a difficult task in his address to the Turkish parliament today. While he will get his share of brickbats for the latest edition of his foreign charm offensive, there is no denying the importance of trying to keep the Turks as U.S. allies. While much of the commentary about our relations with Turkey blames all the trouble on the usual scapegoat — former president George W. Bush — the truth is a lot more complicated than that.

At the recent G20 economic summit in London, President Obama violated tradition and diminished our national dignity by bowing deeply to Saudi King Abdullah. And the First Lady broke protocol by putting her arm around British Queen Elizabeth II.

Have you ever found yourself in the position of asking, on your own behalf or on behalf of others, how many or precisely which people it would be useful to kill in order to secure a benefit for yourself or your cause? And just how to do it? No? Others have. Their answers have ranged from Cain’s original “Abel, with my bare hands” to Hitler’s “all the Jews, mainly by gas,” and the widespread Hutu view in the Rwanda of 1994, “the Tutsis, with machetes.” The question burns today for the government of Sudan and in the Congo.

Israel is not bound by the 2007 relaunch of US-backed peace talks with the Palestinians, new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Wednesday, striking a hard line on his first day in office. Lieberman's rejection of the agreement signed in Annapolis, Maryland signalled a hawkish new approach to the peace process that could put Israel at odds with the international community and main ally the United States.

A few weeks ago Britain decided to unfreeze “diplomatic relations” with Hezbollah, and the nonsensical phrases “political wing” and “military wing” have been used to describe the Iranian-backed militia ever since. Britain now says it’s okay to meet with members of Hezbollah’s “political wing” while maintaining the blacklisting of its “military wing,” but these “wings” don’t exist in any meaningful sense. If Hezbollah were actually two distinct entities with separate policies it might make sense for British diplomats to do business with one and not the other, but that’s not how Hezbollah is structured. Of course Hezbollah’s fighters and members...

North Korea must not have gotten its free pony yet. The Diplomacy of the Hug doesn't seem to be moving the world's madmen quite the way the Obama faithful thought it would. Earlier in the week Iran moved ahead with its plans and now it looks as if the commiest of the commies in North Korea are doing the same. Pyongyang has accused the U.S. and South Korea of using the ongoing annual joint military exercise Key Resolve/Foal Eagle as preparations to mount a preemptive attack on North Korea. Pyongyang warns that “a war may break out any moment due...

If the snub of British PM Gordon Brown at the hands of President Obama and his wife weren't enough, now British Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell is saying that Downing Street is finding it "unbelievably difficult" to get hold of officials from Obama's administration. British officials can't seem to ever get past the administration's answer machines as they call here to try and coordinate plans for the coming G20 summit.

While President Barack Obama tries to improve U.S. relations with rogue states like Syria and Iran, he might want to ensure ties with our closest ally aren’t strained in the meantime. Damascus and Tehran will remain hostile as long as they’re ruled by Bashar Assad and Ayatollah Khamenei, but Britain has long been a reliable friend no matter who is in charge. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair forged a strong personal friendship despite their ideological differences, yet President Obama is off to an embarrassing start with his Downing Street counterpart.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown felt half...

Nuclear Terror: Some Obama advisers have a dubious strategy to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran: Present "a common front" including Russia and China and "demonstrate U.S. respect" for the Islamofascist regime.It may be judged the most astonishingly naive analysis of Tehran's nuclear ambitions ever unveiled. Last week, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) — a think tank founded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and which should know better — released a report titled "Preventing a Cascade of Instability: U.S. Engagement to Check Iranian Nuclear Progress." Among the paper's signatories: Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; House Middle East...

The recent meeting between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama struck many observers as “odd.” During the meeting itself, Obama appeared bored and uninterested. The gift of home movies that he gave Brown was considered tacky and bizarre. And after the meeting, Obama said that one of his “life-long dreams” was to meet the Queen of England. “Those who are jumping on the President for what they consider his erratic behavior in this meeting are ignorant of several key facts,” insisted Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. “First of all, the meeting was running long. The President was anxious...

President Obama and his team may be robbing our nation blind, but at least they are good for a couple laughs every day. Can we hit the reset button on this past election, please, before Obama has to add a Secretary of Gift Giving position to his cabinet? First Barack gives Gordon Brown some DVD's as an official gift (A steal this week at Amazon for $29.99!). Then Michelle Obama gives Brown's boys some plastic helicopters from the White House Gift Shop. Now Hillary gives the Russian Foreign Minister a "Reset" button, to show how this administration is so not...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-Key-State-Department-Appointments/ THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 6, 2009 President Obama Announces Key State Department Appointments WASHINGTON – Today, President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals for key State Department posts: Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary for International Organizations; Phil Gordon, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs; and Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. President Obama said, "Each of these individuals brings a deep knowledge and expertise in their field, along with a commitment to strengthen American diplomacy to...

Does Obama dislike the British?That could be the interpretation of recent events during British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's visit to the US. After President Obama miffed PM Brown by canceling a scheduled news conference on his arrival, the British press were outraged. But on this side of the Atlantic the whole business looked pretty demeaning. The morning papers and TV last night featured plenty of comment focused on the White House's very odd and, frankly, exceptionally rude treatment of a British PM. Squeezing in a meeting, denying him a full press conference with flags etc. The British press corps, left...

Today in Ramallah, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Israel’s demolition of Arab homes in Jerusalem was “unhelpful.” It was to be expected that she would toss the Palestinians a few bones during her visit and, one supposes, she could have said a lot worse. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that homes demolished in Jerusalem were built without permits, a practice that is illegal in most countries. Moreover, as anyone who has visited Jerusalem in recent years can testify, building in Arab neighborhoods of the city has grown exponentially. So the implied charge that no Arab homes are...