Friday open thread

By David Kaiser, Editor

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Race for White House 2012 on Feb 3 

Unemployment and the state of the economy have been among the hottest topics during the GOP primary season, and will likely remain so during the general election. There are several potential foreign policy issues that could spike between now and November, which could quickly shift the tenor of the race.

Among some of the potential flashpoints is the continuing possibility that Israel could strike Iranian nuclear production facilities, the U.N. considering its options in Syria despite Russian warnings to stay out, and more outbreaks of violence in Egypt.

Which of the remaining Republican candidates is best equipped to handle these potential issues and why?

Romney details revolutionary new policy on Cuba

By Jarret Herrmann

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Power Rankings Only 2012 on Jan 27 

One of the great things about a primary is the blatant pandering. Yesterday, Gingrich literally promised Florida voters the moon. Today, Romney is offering them Cuba. Granted, there is a good segment of Floridian voters who have made it absolutely clear that they don’t want Cuba through, you know, leaving Cuba and coming here. However, Romney figures they can have Cuba back all to themselves if his plan comes to fruition.

Romney’s ingenious policy? Wait for the Castro brothers to die. That’s literally the height of his creativity. Granted, this has been the policy of the United States since President Castro kicked out our sugar plantations and fruit companies for essentially using the islands rural populace as slave labor, but it’s bound to work eventually! Romney went on to claim that Obama’s policy, which he dubbed appeasement, of letting Cubans visit their relatives in Cuba and send them money for food has, somehow, helped President Raul Castro stay in power.
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The Great Italian Experiment

By PD Administrator

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, General on Nov 17 

A guest submission from Rochelle Edvalson

Italian Premier Mario Monti formed a government of bankers, diplomats and business executives Wednesday, saying the absence of politicians in his Cabinet will spare political parties the “embarrassment” of taking the tough decisions needed to steer the country from financial disaster.

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Reason #912 that Ron Paul will never be president

By Jason Wright, Editor

Filed Under Foreign Affairs on Sep 30 

Paul says al Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki should have been tried in a U.S. court:

Manchester, New Hampshire (CNN) – Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul criticized President Obama Friday for “assassinating” al Qaeda operative Anwar al-Awlaki, saying that the American-born Muslim cleric should have been tried in a U.S. court.

Al-Awlaki, who preached terror as the public face of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in Yemen Friday when an airstrike hit his motorcade, a Yemeni government official said. A “successful joint intelligence-sharing operation” between Yemen and the United States led to the attack that killed al-Awlaki, a Yemeni government official said Friday.

This position will appeal to the 6% of GOP voters who support him, and no one else.

This will, of course, turn into a discussion about why Paul is right and anyone who disagrees is an idiot who doesn’t understand the constitution. My point, however, has nothing to do with the right or wrong. The point is that you can’t win with positions outside the mainstream.

Ron Paul: A dangerous President?

By Scott A. Robinson, Editor

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Race for White House 2012 on Sep 5 

Ron Paul would leave Iran alone, leaving them to develop weapons of mass destruction as they see fit. Meanwhile, per the AP, a recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency says that Iran’s nuclear weapons development is well underway, despite everything done by the “international community” to prevent it to date:

The U.N. nuclear agency said Friday it is “increasingly concerned” about a stream of intelligence suggesting that Iran continues to work secretly on developing a nuclear payload for a missile and other components of a nuclear weapons program.

In its report, the International Atomic Energy Agency said “many member states” are providing evidence for that assessment, describing the information it is receiving as credible, “extensive and comprehensive.”

The restricted 9-page report was made available Friday to The Associated Press, shortly after being shared internally with the 35 IAEA member nations and the U.N. Security Council. It also said Tehran has fulfilled a pledged made earlier this year and started installing equipment to enrich uranium at a new location – an underground bunker that is better protected from air attack than its present enrichment facilities.

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The Libya bump

By Steve Feinstein

Filed Under Foreign Affairs on Aug 22 

With the rebels overtaking Gaddafi’s last stronghold in Tripoli, it seems as if the Administration’s numerous past predictions of “Gaddafi’s days are numbered” are finally coming true.

Here is another prediction that will come true: The Administration will trumpet Gaddafi’s exodus out of Libya as the ultimate example of this administration’s deft, nuanced, sophisticated handling of a sensitive foreign-affairs matter that ended up going in America’s direction.

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Independence Day required reading

By Scott A. Robinson, Editor

Filed Under Congress, Domestic Policy, Foreign Affairs on Jul 4 

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,  Read more

Iran launches nuclear missiles

By Scott A. Robinson, Editor

Filed Under Foreign Affairs on Jun 29 

In my view, Iran is one of the top five most concerning countries to have nuclear weapons capabilities, especially considering the views of its leaders on Israel. Now reports are they have been test launching nuclear missiles.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they had fired 14 missiles in an exercise, one of them a medium-range weapon capable of striking Israel or US targets in the Gulf….

Iran had also announced plans to triple its capacity to produce 20 percent enriched uranium….

Western governments fear Tehran is seeking to develop a ballistic capability to enable it to launch atomic warheads under cover of its civil nuclear programme.

Read the rest here.

You get what you don’t tax

By Scott A. Robinson, Editor

Filed Under Domestic Policy, Foreign Affairs on Jun 23 

The economist axiom is you if tax something, you get less of it. This is the argument behind so called “sin” taxes on items such as cigarettes and alcohol.

This being the case, why do politicians continually rail about jobs leaving the US (or going to ATMs? Yup should have subsided the stagecoach and kept it around too) when corporations are continually taxed more for having employees?

Have a look below at how the makeup of corporate taxes has changed over the years from Political Calculations:

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The all important youth vote

By Contributor Archive

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Race for White House 2012 on Jun 7 

This last week I interviewed two college aged women, who both classify themselves as liberal. Both are community activists. Both supported Barack Obama at the beginning of his Presidency. I was curious to know what drew them to the President as a candidate. I was not shocked, but I was mildly surprised as to the answer.

One of them explained it this way: “I thought he was so great because he would be the first black president, and I thought he would be able to change how we were seen in the world, and it would make things better.” She went on to explain that she thought that President Obama would sit down with world leaders, and when they saw that we elected someone who had a different attitude toward the role of the USA in foreign affairs, those countries would like us and be willing to listen to us.
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America’s Defense of Freedom and Democracy in Oppressed Libya Act

By Jason Wright, Editor

Filed Under Foreign Affairs on May 23 

I received this note from a good friend who’s a heckuva lot smarter than I am. (I’ve been trying to talk him into running for office for years.)

Agree or disagree with his idea?

You know, if the Republicans wanted to get out in front on the issue of Libya, they would draft up an approval for President Obama and the actions in Libya.

And they would name it something like, “America’s Defense of Freedom and Democracy in Oppressed Libya”…

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Chris Wallace vs. The Administration

By Scott A. Robinson, Editor

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Media Clips and Issues on May 14 

Obama’s “gutsy” no-brainer

By Anthony W. Hager

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, POTUS on May 7 

President Obama made the correct decision in sending Navy SEALs into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden. But was it the “gutsy call” the media, and the administration itself, has led us to believe? Logically and politically the President had no alternative.  Read more

Bin Laden dead, does this help Obama?

By David Kaiser, Editor

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Military, Obama News, POTUS, Race for White House 2012 on May 2 

After the initial reaction dies down, does the death of Osama Bin Laden at the hands of United States commandos help the flagging Obama administration?

Could this be the foreign policy victory he needs to jump start his reelection campaign?

What say you people out there in PD land?

Understanding Obama’s worldview

By Steve Feinstein

Filed Under Foreign Affairs on Apr 29 

Here’s a truism about foreign policy:

Most of the time, it’s regarded by the general electorate as a “luxury” topic, something they care about and pay attention to only if everything else in their life is going along reasonably well.

Right?

If your job is secure (assuming you’re even employed!), you make decent money, you can pay your family’s expenses, your kids/parents/family are pretty healthy, the car is running reasonably well, your toilet isn’t leaking, hamburger isn’t $2.62/lb, gas isn’t $4.12/gal, your kid’s elementary school isn’t having an “alternative lifestyle” field trip, and the Red Sox aren’t in last place, then–and only then–do most people pay any real attention to “foreign affairs.”

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What is our goal in Libya?

By Steve Feinstein

Filed Under Foreign Affairs on Mar 21 

What are our actual goals there? Why are we allowing other nations to take the lead?

A few weeks ago, President Obama said that Gadhafi must step down. Now, just before the action commenced, he amended that to something along the lines of “We must protect the civilians of Libya.” In so doing, he has undercut the earlier position of his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was originally in the regime change camp.

So, which is it? Regime change or humanitarian protection? The two are very different. Both are laudable, worthy goals, but don’t you have to pick one? And isn’t it just a bit questionable when the President of the United States can’t stick to a tougher, higher standard (regime change of a terrorist who orchestrated the murder of 200+ Americans) and instead defaults to the softer, squishier level of simply “humanitarian protection”?
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Wars and rumors of wars

By Scott A. Robinson, Editor

Filed Under Foreign Affairs on Mar 21 

For the guy that ran on the evils of the war in Iraq and closing Gitmo, he does not seem to shy away from war. Afghanistan continues on as if we are at war with Eastasia and now we’re firing missiles into Libya. How long did it take to move from “enforcing a no fly zone” to firing missiles at a “compound [that] was targeted because it contains capabilities to exercise command and control over Libyan forces”? Yet U.S. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney says, “we are not going after Gadhafi”. Though if he “happens” to be killed, I doubt you will hear complaints.

Apparently we are only going after his compound, and we are not actually engaging in acts of war. We are also fighting the “real” war in Afghanistan, though it never ends, and closing Gitmo. When does this all blow up in our faces? How many wars are we going to enter? What if there is another uprising that becomes violent? Where does it end?

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Colonel Gaddafi needs a promotion

By Anthony W. Hager

Filed Under Foreign Affairs, Humor on Feb 26 

Any dictator worth his salt holds a rank or a title befitting his position. Hitler was der Fuehrer, Stalin a Premier and Castro the leader of the people’s revolution. Despots invariably come packaged with lofty monikers, either by personal choice or popular declaration. So what happened to Col. Muammar Gaddafi?

Gaddafi is no doubt the perfect thug. But he falls short when it comes to image. Gaddafi has ruled in Tripoli since shortly after Thomas Jefferson’s forces persuaded the Barbary pirates to give up the ship. Yet the highest rank he has attained is that of colonel? Read more

Restoring America’s standing in the world, one dollar at a time

By Scott A. Robinson, Editor

Filed Under Domestic Policy, Foreign Affairs, Obama News on Nov 8 

One of the positions President Barack Obama vigorously campaigned on was “restoring America’s standing in the world”. In fact, he commented after only one year from winning his election in an interview with CNN the he believed this had already occurred:

I think that we’ve restored America’s standing in the world, and that’s confirmed by polls.

I wonder what “the polls” have to say today as we are being openly mocked internationally. Indeed, the UK’s Daily Mail ran a piece on Saturday that began with this indictment:

Probably not since the days of the Pharaohs or the more ludicrous Roman Emperors has a head of state travelled in such pomp and expensive grandeur as the President of the United States of America.

While lesser mortals – the Pope, Queen Elizabeth and so on – are usually happy to let their hosts handle most of the security and transport arrangements when they venture beyond their home shores, the United States creates a mini-America on the move to ensure that nothing is left to chance. . . .

The White House has, according to some reports, booked the entire Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, the city’s most luxurious. It is not uncommon for the grander heads of state to reserve a floor or two, but a whole hotel is unprecedented.

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The First Amendment takes a hit

By Anthony W. Hager

Filed Under Domestic Policy, Foreign Affairs on Sep 22 

The Richter scale measures the magnitude of subterranean movements. But any recent seismic activity is more attributable to our Founding Fathers rolling in their graves than to tectonic shifts. Free speech has been sacrificed and it’s doubtful the Founders would be pleased.

Molly Norris is a former cartoonist for the Seattle Weekly newspaper. I say “former” because Molly no longer exists, at least not in her original form. At the FBI’s encouragement she has become something of a non-person.
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