Schlagwort: Obama

„Barack Obama traveled to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in what could be his last – and likely most futile – visit as president. It’s not just that there’s bad blood over Congress’ effort to make Riyadh liable for lawsuits from the families of 9/11 victims. These days, when the United States and…

„Saudi Arabia has reportedly told the Obama administration and congressional leaders that it will sell billions of dollars in U.S. financial assets if Congress passes a bill to make the Saudi government legally responsible for any role in the 9/11 attacks. The administration has tried to stop Congress from passing the…

„President Obama on Friday criticized Iranian leaders for undermining the ‚spirit‘ of last year’s historic nuclear agreement, even as they stick to the ‚letter‘ of the pact. In comments following the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Obama denied speculation that the United States would ease rules preventing dollars from being…

„As with the president’s comments, largely missing from this formulation was what the Palestinians have been doing. Neither the president nor the Times think the fact that the Palestinians have repeatedly turned offers of peace and statehood from Israel is significant. Nor do they seem to care much about the…

Von Florian MarklJeffrey Goldberg hat für das US-Magazin The Atlantic unter dem Titel „The Obama Doctrine“ einen ausführlichen Artikel über die außenpolitische Sichtweisen des 44. amerikanischen Präsidenten verfasst. Vieles darin kann nach den vergangenen sieben Jahren von Obamas Präsidentschaft kaum mehr überraschen. So etwa im Hinblick auf das Desaster in…

„The Romans had a word for it: principiis obsta, meaning ‚resist the beginnings‘ to avoid an unpleasant end. Syria is a perfect case study. Obama drew his vaunted ‚red line‘ over the use of chemical weapons in Syria before Bashar al-Assad massacred civilians with sarin, a nerve gas, in 2013.…

Von Florian Markl Die Obama-Administration spielt mit dem Gedanken, in den wenigen verbleibenden Monaten ihrer Amtszeit noch ein Ausrufezeichen im Hinblick auf den israelisch-palästinensischen Konflikt zu setzen. Dem Wall Street Journal zufolge werde ernsthaft über eine UN-Sicherheitsratsresolution nachgedacht, in der beide Konfliktparteien zu wesentlichen Zugeständnissen verpflichtet und die Umrisse einer…

„This week I found myself bombarded with just that kind of question triggered by the so-called elections in Iran. ‚Would this election lead to significant changes in the Khomeinist regime’s foreign policy?‘ The question stems from the fact that, for decades, the western democracies, led by the US, have shaped…

„A combination of war fatigue, the financial crisis, energy self-sufficiency, and a desire to shift focus to Asia contributed to a scaling-back of American strategic engagement in the region. This was demonstrated most concretely by what regional allies saw as a precipitous U.S. withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 and by…

„Instead of helping to topple Assad, the mass-murdering goon who drops barrel bombs on civilian areas, the White House launched a phony train-and-equip program that required rebel fighters to sign a document that they wouldn’t use their weapons against the dictator who was murdering their families. The administration’s anti-ISIS campaign…

„Despite the nuclear deal, and the best efforts of Iran’s president and foreign minister, there will be no détente. In fact, just like in 1988 at the close of the war with Iraq, Iran will only become more ‚steadfast‘ in the face of ‚imperialism.‘ The nuclear deal may have slowed…

„Die amerikanischen Optionen in Syrien sind fast auf null geschrumpft. Wie es dort weitergeht, scheint vor allem Moskau entscheiden zu können. Verantwortlich dafür ist Washington selber. … Wie andere Fehlentscheidungen rächen sich auch Versäumnisse. Man darf hoffen, dass der nächste Präsident der USA nicht wie Obama vor allem die Fehler…

„In a move uncharacteristic of U.S. policy as it has been carried out for decades, the Obama administration recently endorsed Europe’s version of a soft Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment (BDS) campaign targeting Israeli merchandise. In late January, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency changed its policy on imports from…

„Im fünften Jahr des Kriegs in Syrien, in dem Hunderttausende gestorben sind und Millionen ihre Heimat verloren haben, sprechen es zwar nicht alle offen aus, aber die meisten wissen: Es ist zu spät. Und der Blick zurück ist der Blick auf das Versagen … Gilt dies auch trotz der Einigung…

„The troubling thing is that the Putin policy on Syria has become hard to distinguish from the Obama policy. Sure, the Obama administration still pays lip service to the notion that Assad is part of the problem and not the solution, and that if the Syrian leader may survive through…