Free Republic

President Obama insulted many Americans last week when he raised events in Ferguson, Missouri, during his United Nations speech. They chafed at the implied moral equivalence of a shooting still in legal dispute with the many lethal foreign threats besieging the world. While such rhetoric is divisive at home, there is another problem. The president does not seem to understand that most of the world is completely unmoved by such apologies. Most of the world does not see an earnest moralist struggling with America’s complicated past or a humble man admitting his own foibles. Instead, they see a weak leader...

This year the votes for the World’s Most Powerful — an annual look at the heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs who truly rule the world — went with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He climbs one spot ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama, who held title in 2012. He’s Not No. 1: This is the first year that Putin carries the crown. Obama has been on the top of the list for every year with the exception of 2010, when Hu Jintao, the former political and military leader of China, was No. 1.

The National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another US government department, according to a classified document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The confidential memo reveals that the NSA encourages senior officials in its "customer" departments, such the White House, State and the Pentagon, to share their "Rolodexes" so the agency can add the phone numbers of leading foreign politicians to their surveillance systems. The document notes that one unnamed US official handed over 200 numbers, including those of the 35 world leaders, none of whom is...

The reason why President Obama is not meeting with any foreign leaders during this week's United Nations General Assembly in New York is, as one aide to the president explained, because "If he met with one leader, he would have to meet with 10." The reasoning was explained that way to the New York Times. "Mr. Obama was scheduled to attend a reception for world leaders at the United Nations on Monday night. But a campaign adviser acknowledged privately that in this election year, campaigning trumped meetings with world leaders. 'Look, if he met with one leader, he would have...

On "Fox News Sunday" Chris Wallace asks Robert Gibbs why Pres. Obama isn't meeting with other World Leaders, but is finding time to appear on the "View".

U.S. President Barack Obama has made no plans to meet privately with any of the world leaders gathering in New York next week for the UN’s General Assembly. With six weeks until the American elections, Obama is instead using his time to reach voters by going on the talk show “The View,” and leaving his schedule open to return to campaigning in the nation’s swing states thus putting the burden on Secratery of State Hilary Clinton to meet with the various ...

White House photographer David Souza has done it again. From The White House flickr: Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom, President Barack Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, and others watch the overtime shootout of the Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich Champions League final, in the Laurel Cabin conference room during the G8 Summit at Camp David, Md., May 19, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Seeing as Bayern Munich lost the shootout, we hope Angela Merkel isn't gong to push for double austerity out of some sense of...

World leaders from Washington to Islamabad are increasingly engaged in a frantic attempt to contain the political damage of the WikiLeaks disclosures. The fact that many of the leaked cables expose U.S. foreign policy in a seemingly negative and contradictory light -- officials saying one thing in public and doing something entirely different in private -- has embarrassed an administration that has made multilateralism a key component of its grand strategy. But what is less clear, particularly in media coverage of the leaks, is what the new WikiLeaks documents say about the policies and behavior of foreign governments. Indeed, just...

U.S. President Barack Obama laughs with Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron (C) and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the G8 Summit at the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario June 25, 2010

As the sun begins to set on an America whose dollar set the standard and whose capacity for manufacturing was unchallenged, a new superpower is emerging and it is China.

(IsraelNN.com) The first anniversary of Israel's counterterrorism Operation Cast Lead in Gaza is set to be a catalyst for a series of anti-Israel protests worldwide. A mass march to the Erez Crossing between Gaza and Israel is to include several Western VIPs. From December 27 through early January, the dates of Operation Cast Lead last year, international pro-Palestinian groups are set to hold "Gaza Freedom Marches" in North America, Europe and Israel. The Gaza Freedom March in Hamas-controlled Gaza itself is slated for December 31. Organizers of the latter event are expecting around 50,000 local participants, with over 1,000 from...

World leaders at a U.N. summit on food security in Rome are vowing to take "urgent action" to eliminate global hunger. But they did not agree in their final declaration to a U.N. request for $44 billion a year in farm aid. The World Food Program says for the first time ever, more than one billion people in the world are going hungry. That's more than one out of every six people on Earth. World hunger and food security are the focus of a three-day U.N. summit that opened Monday in Rome.

WASHINGTON (CNN)– As Barack Obama takes off for his first overseas trip as president, a new national poll indicates that more than eight in ten Americans think he will do a good job representing the U.S. to the world. And seven in ten people questioned in the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Tuesday, believe that leaders of other countries respect Obama. That last figure is in sharp contrast with George W. Bush. At the start of his presidency in 2001, only 49 percent believed that foreign leaders respected Bush.

(CNN) – The global economy may be undergoing a significant downturn, but the White House’s dinner budget still appears flush with cash. After all, world leaders who are in town to discuss the economic crisis are set to dine in style Friday night while sipping wine listed at nearly $500 a bottle. According to the White House, tonight’s dinner to kick off the G-20 summit includes such dishes as “Fruitwood-smoked Quail,” “Thyme-roasted Rack of Lamb,” and “Tomato, Fennel and Eggplant Fondue Chanterelle Jus.” To wash it all down, world leaders will be served Shafer Cabernet “Hillside Select” 2003, a wine...

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to host a summit of some 20 world leaders and key figures to discuss "progressive" governance, after a conference on the issue in London Friday, officials said. South African President Thabo Mbeki, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and former US president Bill Clinton are among participants at the summit of broadly centre-left leaders outside London on Saturday, said Downing Street. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy and national leaders from Australia, Chile, Cyprus, Ghana, Italy, Liberia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway and Slovakia are also scheduled, according...

Poll: World Doesn't Respect Bush 60% In CBS/NY Times Poll Say President Not Respected By Foreign Leaders NEW YORK, July 26, 2006 (CBS/AP) Fast Fact Just 32 percent said U.S. troops should be sent to the Mideast as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force, although 60 percent favor such a force. (CBS) Americans generally approve of President Bush's handling of the current Mideast crisis, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll, but six in 10 say the president is not respected by foreign leaders. The poll finds Americans are pessimistic about the prospects for Mideast peace and do...

UNITED NATIONS - History's largest gathering of world leaders fell far short Friday of completing the major changes U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sought to fight poverty, terrorism and human rights abuses — but the leaders took a first step. Their approval of a modest document, which commits governments to achieving U.N. goals to combat poverty and creates a commission to help move countries from war to peace, came alongside important developments in other areas. Meetings on the sidelines of the summit marking the United Nations' 60th anniversary produced rare Arab-Israeli contacts, further talks on Iran's nuclear ambitions and a new...

Ex-President Bill Clinton said Monday that he had to assure world leaders that there was nothing seriously wrong with America after the Congress impeached him in 1998. "During that time, a lot of world leaders would ask, 'What is going on? Is this serious?'" he told New York magazine. "I kept assuring them that nothing bad had happened to America," he recalled, "but that we periodically went through spasms." Interviewed while traveling in Africa, the ex-president claimed, "Africans saw [my impeachment] for exactly what it was: an abuse of power." "They got it here," he insisted. The magazine noted that...

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders in the Middle East paid a unanimous tribute to Pope John Paul II, emphasizing the late pontiff's efforts for peace in the troubled region. John Paul II, who visited five Middle East countries during his 26-year tenure and became the first pope to enter a mosque and a synagogue, drew praise for his insistence on inter-faith reconciliation. In the heart of biblical land, Jews praised his ground-breaking action for better ties between Judaism and the Roman Catholic Church, while Palestinians underlined his unwavering support for their cause. "We in the Holy Land...

LONDON (Reuters) - World leaders -- some at political loggerheads or even officially at war -- paid their final respects to Pope John Paul on Friday, uniting by joining in the Roman Catholic Church's handshakes of peace. Israeli President Moshe Katsav said he shook hands with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian President Mohammad Khatami at the Pope's Vatican funeral, but Syria later called it a formality that did not mark any change in policy. "I think it gave us a glimmer of hope that something can change in the Middle East," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told CNN. Syria's...