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Barack Obama will mark a radical break in American foreign policy this week by unveiling a team of diplomats tasked with ushering in a new era of dialogue with enemies abroad. As Hillary Clinton prepares for Senate confirmation hearings this week, she will head a group of advisers who are virtual opposites to the appointees made by President George W Bush. While Bush favoured aggressive neoconservative ideologues, Obama has selected people whose doveish credentials seem impeccable. They will be responsible for reversing the political unilateralism of the Bush years and opening direct negotiations with hostile states, potentially ranging from Syria...

News that Barack Obama is the president-elect of the United States has already sparked a global conversation about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how American foreign policy will shift in the coming months...US troops will be pulled out of Iraq in the next 16 months, while the American force in Afghanistan will be substantially reinforced, reversing what is widely seen as one of the fundamental strategic blunders of the Bush era. The US military effort is to be focused once more on al-Qaida and its allies. Obama has vowed that if necessary, American forces would, as under the...

(IsraelNN.com) Following the deal with Hizbullah, the Arabs of Judea and Samaria ("Palestinians") feel more strongly than ever that "Israel only understands strength," according to a Saudi newspaper. The paper, Al Sharq Al-Awsat, reported that this attitude has been strengthened by Israel's reported flexibility toward Hamas's demands to free prisoners who were involved in hurting Israelis as part of the deal to free abducted soldier Gilad Shalit. The paper says that the prisoners' relatives have "begun to lose hope" that the Fatah-PA will be able to secure their release through negotiations with Israel. Deal 'invites violence' The PA-Fatah's "Minister for...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A soldier used the Quran -- Islam's holy book -- for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond apologizes after a soldier admitted using the Quran for target practice. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, apologized to leaders in Radhwaniya, in the western outskirts of Baghdad, for the staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader assigned to the headquarters of the 64th Armored Regiment. He also read a letter of apology by the shooter. It was the first...

Looks like Obama adviser David Axelrod isn't the only key player talking about the effect the Bhutto assassination will have on the Dem primary. Here's Hillary supporter Evan Bayh, saying that the killing is a reminder that the Republicans will use such occasions to paint Dems as weak, which is why we need to nominate Hillary: “When there are unfortunate calamities like this, the Republicans [will say], ‘See. See what we told you? We have to have someone who’s strong to defend America at a time of concern.’ Well, Senator Clinton is strong,” he said. “And she’s experienced. And she’s...

Dollar's weakness to intensify, experts warn By Richard Blackden Last Updated: 5:53pm BST 18/10/2007 The dollar tumbled to a record low against the euro, breaching the $1.43 level for the first time, as the prospect of the US economy falling into recession increases. Renewed weakness for the greenback comes a day after the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for the American economy next year and predicted China will contribute more to world growth next year than the US for the first time. The latest data from the troubled US housing market suggests that the steepest slump since the early...

WASHINGTON — Despite pressure from Congress, the Bush administration on Wednesday refused to cite China as a country that manipulates its currency to gain unfair trade advantages. That finding was quickly challenged by a group of senators who said they would introduce legislation to make it easier for the United States to pursue economic sanctions against China if the country does not allow its currency to rise in value more quickly against the dollar. American manufacturers contend that China is undervaluing its currency by as much as 40 percent. That has been a boon for American consumers, providing them with...

MADRID, Spain - The seismic shift that midterm elections brought to Washington's political landscape was welcomed by many Wednesday who oppose the war in Iraq and the harsh methods the Bush administration has employed in fighting terrorism. From Paris to Pakistan, politicians, analysts and ordinary citizens said they hoped the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives would force President Bush to adopt a more conciliatory approach to global crises, and teach a president many see as a "cowboy" a lesson in humility. But some also expressed fears that a split in power and a lame-duck president might stall global...

Galatians 5:23 (23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Go to this verse on Bible Tools Contrary to popular belief, the meek do not take everything "lying down." Notice Moses, who was the meekest man of his time. He did not hesitate to order the execution of about three thousand of the idolaters who worshipped the Golden Calf while he was with God on the mountain (Exodus 32:25-28). Against evil this meek man was as stern as steel. How a meek man reacts depends upon what he discerns God's will is for him within the circumstance. Because...

Poster's note: this is a long read, but well worth it. Solzhenitsyn describes succinctly what many of us feel, but cannot express.Text of Address by Alexander Solzhenitsyn at Harvard Class Day Afternoon Exercises, Thursday, June 8, 1978 I am sincerely happy to be here with you on this occasion and to become personally acquainted with this old and most prestigious University. My congratulations and very best wishes to all of today's graduates. Harvard's motto is "Veritas." Many of you have already found out and others will find out in the course of their lives that truth eludes us if we...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil and gold fell more than two percent and copper dropped nearly nine percent on Monday as investors feared a rally that has taken many commodities to or near record highs may slow economic growth.

The major United Nations powers last night agreed to offer Iran a stark choice of benefits or sanctions in the latest international gambit to persuade Teheran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.The initiative followed the failure of talks between the foreign ministers of Russia, China, France, Britain, America and Germany to resolve the deadlock on how to confront Iran. The "carrot or stick" plan came as US officials conceded that their hopes of pushing through this week a UN resolution mandating Iran's suspension of its nuclear enrichment programme were over. "I think the prospects for an agreement this week are not...

AMERICANS will certainly have 9/11 in mind when they vote today. But they should keep another date in mind, too — one almost exactly a quarter-century ago: Nov. 4, 1979. A clear path runs to 9/11 from the day of the raid on the U.S. embassy in Tehran and the seizure of American hostages. The 1979 embassy attack came at a time when the administration of President Jimmy Carter was trying to prop up the new Khomeinist regime in Tehran. Carter had decided to support Khomeini in the context of the so-called "Green Belt" strategy developed by National Security...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 – As Afghanistan's security forces grow and the country's political process moves forward, the Taliban has suffered major setbacks and has begun using more roadside and suicide bombs out of desperation, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan said here today. "If you're on (the Taliban's) side and looking at the trends that are out there right now, the tide of history is moving against you," said Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commanding general of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan. "So a shift in tactics is not necessarily a sign of strength. My belief is that a shift in...

The choice of Harriet Miers to be nominated to the Supreme Court, and her subsequent withdrawal, shows that caution is sometimes the most dangerous policy.  She was obviously chosen cautiously as a "stealth" nominee -- someone without a paper trail or a judicial record that could ignite controversy -- in hopes of avoiding a confirmation fight that the Senate Republicans had the votes to win, but had neither the unity nor the guts required to make victory certain.  Harriet Miers was a choice made from political weakness. Now she is gone but the political weakness remains. So celebrations in conservative...

I decided to end my self-imposed exile from posting due to information that I received this past weekend from ‘a little birdie’ in Washington, which I subsequently had confirmed by another ‘insider’ if you can call him that. You know I won’t tell, so don’t bother asking me for names, links, or further information. I trust these individuals, and have received accurate information from them before and shared it here on Free Republic. Of course, all are free to either accept or reject what I am about to share, but if you know anything about the Dog, I don’t change...

IRAN has hailed as a "significant victory" the EU climbdown from its demand that the UN nuclear watchdog send the Islamic state to the UN security council. Opposition from China, Russia, India and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) stopped the EU reporting Teheran to the UN's highest body for possible sanctions, Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said today. "The EU's withdrawal was a significant victory for Iran," Mr Saeedi, also a member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, said. The EU has dropped the demand from a revised draft resolution after nearly 15 of the 35 members of...

Once again, the world can see the barbarism, the recklessness, and the cruelty of what we have come to refer to generally as terrorism. The question however is, "what has changed?" Even still, there are those crying retreat. This, to me, is both incomprehensible and indefensible. A group endorsing a murderous ideology blows up several public transportation networks, killing scores of people and injuring hundreds more who are guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and some people still have the audacity to say that these savages are right and we should retreat...

Announce Filibuster Compromise

It uses a new technique to avoid virus software scans The longevity of the current Sober worm may be largely due to a new technique it uses to evade virus scans, according to antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab Ltd. The worm, variously labeled Sober.P, Sober.S, Sober.O and Sober.V by different companies, continues to circulate in large numbers; it made up 84% of all virus traffic as of Monday, according to Lynnfield, Mass.-based virus lab Sophos PLC. While researchers have attributed its success to the fact that it circulates in both English and German, and to its use of free World Cup...