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President Obama will forego a visit to the Taj Mahal during his visit to India in order to travel to Saudi Arabia for King Abdullah’s funeral, the White House announced early Saturday morning. Vice President Biden was initially scheduled to lead the U.S. delegation, but he will instead now remain in Washington and Obama will add the stop onto his return from India, where the president is embarking on a three-day trip to foster economic ties with the nation. “President Obama and the First Lady will travel to Riyadh on Tuesday, January 27 in order to pay respects to King...

United States President Barack Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet with new King Salman to pay respects after the death of King Abdullah, the White House said on Saturday. The White House had originally planned that US Vice President Joe Biden would lead a delegation to Saudi Arabia, but now that Obama will travel to Riyadh, Biden will remain in Washington. “The President is very much looking forward to this visit. It is a genuine honour to be invited as the guest for Republic Day” and Obama “is looking forward to see the festivities associated with...

When Xi Jinping took the reins of a booming China two years ago, President Barack Obama saw an opportunity to remake America’s relationship with the Asian power. But even after Obama’s unusually robust efforts to forge personal ties with Xi, the two leaders are meeting in Beijing amid significant tensions, both old and new. Xi has consolidated power since taking office, deepened China’s provocative maritime disputes with its neighbors and stands accused of continuing cyberattacks against the United States. U.S. officials have new concerns over the potential for a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and are warily watching...

What is it with this guy?Obama bowed to Chinese President Xi JinPing today. Obama greets Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in China.Obama bowed to the last Chinese leader too.

The administration criticized Saudi Arabia’s denial of a visa for a Jewish White House correspondent wanting to cover President Obama’s visit to the kingdom on Friday, but when asked Tuesday whether it would “reconsider going to Saudi Arabia or anything like that,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said “no.” Michael Wilner, a U.S. citizen who covers the White House for the Jerusalem Post, applied for a visa with other members of the White House press corps but was turned down on Monday. […] “That didn’t cause you guys to reconsider going to Saudi Arabia or anything like that?” a...

Report: Obama Arranging Tehran Visit for Next Year Daniel Halper December 2, 2013 10:46 AM The Kuwaiti news outlet Al-Jarida reports that President Obama is seeking to arrange a trip to Tehran, Iran next year. The headline of the article reads, "Obama would like to visit Tehran, official invitation after details resolved." "Al-Jarida has learned from a U.S. diplomat that President Barack Obama is seeking to visit Tehran in the middle of next year," the report reads, based on a translation using Google Translate. "The source said that the desire to visit is shared, and that Tehran and Washington are...

Bun Rany, Cambodia's first lady, gives President Obama a "sampeah" greeting at a tilt usually reserved for servants.

EXCERPT In agreeing to Boehner's schedule, Obama's address will compete with the opening game of the National Football League season — a conflict the White House wanted to avoid.

These people disgust me. Absolutely disgust me.President or Former President notwithstanding, the United States of America not only publicly bowing in Asian subservience (their culture) earlier this afternoon to a much less powerful nation, but one with one of the worst human rights records on the face of the earth, complete with concentration camps as we speak.Carter arrived today. And did the deed immediately upon arriving at the airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, to a DPRK official. Go to URL here: LINK and hit the arrow to stream.Do these naive morons honestly believe we can gain the friendship with these...

With the situation in North Korea having gotten pretty dicey in recent months, Gov. Bill Richardson – a favorite of the North Korean government – may be heading back there next week. That’s according to the Washington Post: “Adm. Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, is off this week to South Korea to tell officials that the United States is standing with them. And there’s talk that outgoing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson may be off to North Korea next week for a private chat with top officials at the invitation of key people in the nuclear crowd...

Beyond the gossip, the indiscretions and the petty lies, the cables released by WikiLeaks tell a sad story. They depict the fall of the American empire, the decline of a superpower that ruled the world by dint of its military and economic supremacy. President Barack Obama emerges from the cables as a weak, flimsy leader, whose good intentions and lofty visions dissipate like dust in the wind in the face of the conservatism and stubbornness of his Middle Eastern counterparts. The days when American ambassadors were received in world capitals as "high commissioners" are long since gone. The diplomats who...

Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday the South and the United States were pushing the peninsula to "the brink of war" with their plan to conduct large-scale military drills, days after the rival Koreas exchanged artillery fire. "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war due to the reckless plan of those trigger-happy elements to stage again war exercises targeted against the (North)," the North's official KCNA news agency

Obama delivers only hot air By Donald Kirk SEOUL – Theodore Roosevelt, a great American president with a clearly imperialist agenda, uttered one of the most famous lines in US history in 1901 when he advised a crowd, "Speak softly and carry a big stick". These days, US President Barack Obama seems to have gotten that aphorism reversed. He speaks a lot but doesn't seem to be carrying a big stick. That was the impression he gave after winding up his 11-day Asian odyssey in Japan at a tepid weekend gathering of Pacific rim leaders banded together in the Asia...

Go to the Link HERE.Stream the one minute report--by hitting the white triangle in center of page, showing Obama meandering throughout Asia country by country, but ending on the tone that "his Asian trip basically accomplished little", and saying that President Obama now heads into a weakened situation back home with the emboldened and multiplied Republicans waiting for him in D.C.Most computers can stream this short JNN video, voice over is in Japanese but good visuals of Obama "in action"; it will be up for a day or two.

SEOUL, South Korea — President Obama’s hopes of emerging from his Asia trip with the twin victories of a free trade agreement with South Korea and a unified approach to spurring economic growth around the world ran into resistance on all fronts on Thursday, putting Mr. Obama at odds with his key allies and largest trading partners. The most concrete trophy expected to emerge from the trip eluded his grasp: a long-delayed free trade agreement with South Korea, first negotiated by the Bush administration and then reopened by Mr. Obama, to have greater protections for American workers. And as officials...

Where is the substance in the just-concluded Obama jamboree, asks Rajeev Srinivasan. A casual observer, the proverbial Martian, would have concluded from the breathless media coverage during the Barack Obama love-fest that this was a visit of the King-Emperor of India's colonial master. The pageantry and pomp and circumstance hid the sad fact that the emperor had no clothes, that is to say, there was precious little of substance in evidence. Lots of style, though: An Obama trademark. But then Indians love a good party, and this was like a Big Fat Punjabi Wedding: Plenty of dancing, much drinking, and...

MUMBAI: Implicitly acknowledging the decline of American dominance, Barack Obama on Sunday said the US was no longer in a position to "meet the rest of the world economically on our terms".Speaking at a town hall meeting in Mumbai, he said, "I do think that one of the challenges that we are going face in the US, at a time when we are still recovering from the financial crisis is, how do we respond to some of the challenges of globalisation? The fact of the matter is that for most of my lifetime and I'll turn 50 next year -...

Obama bowed today to the Indian Parliament...GatewayPundit reports. Obama submits to foreigners but mocks Tea Party Patriots (videos).

Japanese news today over here (newspapers above the fold, magazines, non-stop TV networks) are filled to the brim with news of Mr. Obama's humiliating defeat at the hands of the Republicans.Many of this is bringing Japanese up to speed as to how unpopular Mr. Obama really is, as for the last two years by and large they perpetuated the image of him being successful and popular (mostly in order to sell books and English instruction tapes using his speeches). What a rude awakening.Well, my favorite title is from this morning's Hokkaido Shimbun: Essentially: "Obama Agenda For "Change" Delivered Strong...

Chugoku Shimbun (News), in Japan, is from the Hiroshima region of the country. Their online report of the election just appeared in original Japanese. During these wee hours in the USA, I'm happy to "FReepranslate" the first paragraph and article headline as follows: "US Midterm Elections: Republicans Heading For Landslide?" "Washington Reporter, Tohru Mukai: "Polls one day before the big US midterm elections show a 15 point lead of popularity of the Republican Party over the Democratic Party. For all intents and purposes, tomorrow's vote in the US is a vote of confidence or no confidence against President Obama....