Recap of Obama's Foreign Policy to date

Anna in the Middle East

Went to a presentation/book signing last night by Anna Baltzer. She's a Jewish American, a graduate from Columbia, and a Fulbright scholar--brilliant woman. Almost a decade ago, while teaching English in Turkey, she began to hear stories about the Palestinian occupation that didn't agree with the history she'd traditionally known. She spent months researching, growing increasingly unsettled as she learned more. Still incredulous, she decided to visit the occupied territories. This changed her life--and now her mission is to work, as a Jew, for peace and justice for the Palestinians. She wrote a book "Witness in Palestine" and is currently travelling throughout the US to tell "the real story."

It was such a powerful presentation, and so refreshing to hear someone non-Arab speak so passionately about the injustice and oppression of another people. I bought her book, and you can learn more at www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com . I HIGHLY recommend you either get her book/dvd or visit occupation101.com and get their's. They are both balanced (containing Jewish as well as Arab, American, and European contributions) and powerful stories of the injustices that have gone on far too long.

One of the things that stuck with me the most was her statement,

"We all look back at apartheid and the civil rights movement and think, 'Yeah, I would be one of those people standing up against apartheid. I would have fought for justice if I had been alive back then'. But here is what I say: these things are still happening, right now. Are you going to be complicit, or are you going to step up and work for justice?"

It's so easy to revert to the "out of sight, out of mind" mentality, but there a millions around the world (in Palestine and elsewhere) who can't afford to be forgotten.

I brought four friends with me who had not previously been aware of the 'real' condition in Palestine--they all told me afterwards that it was a shocking but invaluable experience. One of my friends is actually going to study abroad in Israel this summer...she was still reeling when I left her.

"The problem isn't Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. The problem is militant Zionism. The desperation is mounting, so the acts of desperation (i.e. terrorism) will continue if we don't realize that something must change...And criticizing the state of Israel isn't anti-Semitic. What does that mean anyway? Arabs are Semites too."

--Anna Balzter (Jewish American, granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor.)







This is why I want to be a journalist...to tell these stories...to know my voice was not in vain.


Visit http://www.fiveforpalestine.org . In the words of Anna--we just need to collaborate and organize. There is power in unified voices.

Pakistan-Taliban tension (click for full story)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Pakistani paramilitary forces rushing to protect government buildings and bridges in a Taliban-infiltrated district just 60 miles from the capital were met with gunfire Thursday that killed one police officer, authorities said.

It was not immediately clear if the gunmen were Taliban militants, but the clash in Buner district is likely to heighten concern about the viability of a government-backed peace deal with the Taliban in northwest Pakistan.

The deal imposes Islamic law in a large segment of the country's northwest in exchange for peace with Taliban militants in the neighboring Swat Valley.

In recent days, the valley's militants have entered Buner in large numbers — establishing checkpoints, patrolling roads and spreading fear. Their movement has bolstered critics' claims that the deal would merely embolden the militants to spread their reign to other parts of the province bordering Afghanistan.

The U.S. has become one of the deal's foremost critics.

"I think the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told lawmakers in a hearing Wednesday in Washington. But on Thursday she added that she thought Islamabad was beginning to recognize the severity of the threat posed by militants.

.....

Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the Pakistan Army's chief spokesman, insisted the situation in Buner was not as dire as some have portrayed — saying militants were in control of less than 25 percent of the district, mostly its north.

"We are fully aware of the situation," Abbas said. "The other side has been informed to move these people out of this area."

However, a meeting between tribal elders and the Taliban on Thursday in Daggar, Buner's main town, ended without any indication that the Taliban would withdraw.

Police and government officials in Buner appear to have either fled or are keeping a low profile, and there was no sign of the Frontier Constabulary forces in the town.

Two Taliban representatives declined to comment after the meeting, driving away in a pickup truck full of gun-toting associates. However, a Taliban leader who goes by the name Commander Khalil said the militants had agreed to stop patrolling in Buner, though they would still keep armed guards in their vehicles.

"We are here peacefully preaching for Sharia. We don't want to fight," Khalil told an AP reporter by phone.

According to officials, the Taliban have established a base in the village of Sultanwas and set up positions in the nearby hills. Residents say they have been broadcasting sermons by radio about Islam and warning barbers to stop shaving men's beards.


Supporters say the deal takes away the militants' main rallying call for Islamic law and will let the government gradually reassert control — a theory yet to be seriously tested.

Also Thursday, dozens of militants armed with guns and gasoline bombs attacked a truck terminal near Peshawar, also in northwest Pakistan, burning five tanker trucks carrying fuel to NATO troops in Afghanistan, said Abdul Khan, a local police official.

Security guards fled, and the assailants escaped before police arrived, Khan said.

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Is this our 21st Century?

I spoke today with a friend of mine—a nineteen year old girl who is half-Mexican, half “white”. With bloodshot eyes, she described to me how she had been forced to break up with her boyfriend last week—simply because, after a year of dating, her mother decided it was simply “too much” to bear to have her daughter dating a black man.

I am LIVID. I can’t believe that my generation is still dealing with such chasmal ignorance and overt hatred. I won’t apologize for this woman’s mother—I won’t say that she is a helpless victim of the sociological model that she knew as a child. I can’t justify racism, no matter how you frame it.

Honestly…how is this still happening? That’s a rhetorical question—I know about the different forms of fear, insecurity, rivalry, etc that are ‘factors’ in this. But I mean, how can such trifles be blown so out of proportion to the point that they trump our universal human-ness? How does the irrational override the rational—and the spiritual?

This hurts me. I hurt for my friends, Sunshine and Marcus, who aren’t together anymore. I hurt for the older generation that remembers life before the civil rights movement. I hurt for the children today who are inheriting the injustices that should have expired long ago.

I want to write an apology to the world…but the only thing that will make any difference is if the perpetrators realize the reality of their depravity.

US boycotting anti-racism meeting at UN (click for full story)

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will boycott "with regret" a U.N. conference on racism next week over objectionable language in the meeting's final document that could single out Israel for criticism and restrict free speech, the State Department said Saturday.

The decision follows weeks of furious internal debate and will likely please Israel and Jewish groups that lobbied against U.S. participation. But the move upset human rights advocates and some in the African-American community who had hoped that President Barack Obama, the nation's first black president, would send an official delegation.

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Ah, politics...so limiting...such a necessary evil.

"No One Dares Threaten Iran"

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- The Iranian president on Saturday hailed the nation as "one of the strongest in the region" during a celebration to mark Army Day, according to the semi-official Mehr News Agency.

"Today our nation is one of the strongest in the region and a great part of the world," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, according to Mehr. "And no country dares to threaten it."

Ahmadinejad delivered the speech during a ceremony at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, Mehr said. Khomeini led the 1979 revolution that toppled the shah of Iran and helped usher in an Islamic state. He died in 1989.

Army Day pays tribute to the nation's military and showcases its resources.

"Our army uses the most advanced equipment, which safeguards national security and because of its inherent power plays a great part as a deterrent force," Ahmadinejad said.

An aerial display of 140 planes planned for the event was canceled because of bad weather, according to Mehr

Pakistan Heading Toward Islamist State (click for full story)

WASHINGTON (FROM MCCLATCHY)— A growing number of U.S. intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials have concluded that there's little hope of preventing nuclear-armed Pakistan from disintegrating into fiefdoms controlled by Islamist warlords and terrorists, posing the a greater threat to the U.S. than Afghanistan's terrorist haven did before 9/11.

"It's a disaster in the making on the scale of the Iranian revolution," said a U.S. intelligence official with long experience in Pakistan who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Pakistan's fragmentation into warlord-run fiefdoms that host al Qaida and other terrorist groups would have grave implications for the security of its nuclear arsenal; for the U.S.-led effort to pacify Afghanistan ; and for the security of India , the nearby oil-rich Persian Gulf and Central Asia , the U.S. and its allies.

" Pakistan has 173 million people and 100 nuclear weapons, an army which is bigger than the American army, and the headquarters of al Qaida sitting in two-thirds of the country which the government does not control," said David Kilcullen , a retired Australian army officer, a former State Department adviser and a counterinsurgency consultant to the Obama administration.

" Pakistan isn't Afghanistan , a backward, isolated, landlocked place that outsiders get interested in about once a century," agreed the U.S. intelligence official. "It's a developed state . . . (with) a major Indian Ocean port and ties to the outside world, especially the (Persian) Gulf, that Afghanistan and the Taliban never had."

Changing the game with Iran? (Click for full story...)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One of the main stumbling blocks to talk with Iran has been the condition that Iran suspends its uranium enrichment. Now, the Obama administration may take that option off the table, at least for now.

The United States and its European allies, which have just invited Iran to a fresh round of nuclear talks, are coming to the realization that if Iran's nuclear program isn't quite at the point of no return, it will be soon.

With 5,500 centrifuges, roughly enough for about two weapons worth of uranium a year, Iran isn't going to just shut down its enrichment facility as a goodwill gesture.

For years, Iran has been willing to endure sanctions and economic isolation. What it hasn't been willing to do is suspend enrichment.

Iran maintains enriching uranium for nuclear energy is its right. Now the West seems to have come around to Iran's way of thinking. Last week during a speech on proliferation in Prague, Czech Republic, President Obama admitted as much when he said, "We will support Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy with rigorous inspections."

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, has long argued to allow Iran to maintain a small face-saving nuclear enrichment program under the guise of "research and development."

Allowing such a program under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, at least while negotiations continue, would involve strict IAEA inspections -- something which may give the international community the kind of insight into Iran's nuclear program which it has long sought.

If adopted, the new strategy will undoubtedly be condemned by Israel, which has warned the U.S. that it has until the end of the year to put an end to Iran's uranium production before it takes matters into its own hands.

However, moving beyond the issue of enrichment helps Obama inch closer toward engagement with Iran, something he promised during the campaign and has begun to undertake with small, albeit significant, steps, most noticeably his New Year's message to the Iranian people.

Those who watch Iran closely say Obama's outreach is being warmly received in the region. While the response from spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamanei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems vague at first glance, experts argue the regime is being quite conciliatory, even flirting with the U.S. overtures and opening the door for talks.

North Korea: "Asia's Crazy Uncle" (click for full story)

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea vowed Tuesday to restart its nuclear reactor and to boycott international disarmament talks for good in retaliation for the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its rocket launch.

Russia, voicing regret over the move, urged Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table. The Foreign Ministry called the U.N. statement "legitimate and well-balanced," and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said all sides must stick to the current disarmament process. China, the North's main ally, appealed for calm.

In Washington, a senior U.S. official called the decision "unfortunate."

"It will further isolate the North from the rest of the international community, and the North will have to deal with that," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

North Korea's denunciation of the council's "hostile" move came just hours after all 15 members, including Beijing and Moscow, unanimously agreed to condemn the April 5 launch as a violation of U.N. resolutions and to tighten sanctions against the regime.

Slightly Softer Tone Towards Cuba (click for full story)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama lifted all restrictions Monday on the ability of individuals to visit relatives in Cuba, as well as to send them remittances.
The changes in Cuban policy was unveiled before President Obama's trip to the Summit of the Americas.

The move represents a significant shift in a U.S. policy that had remained largely unchanged for nearly half a century. It comes days before Obama leaves for a key meeting of hemispheric powers, the Summit of the Americas, in Trinidad and Tobago.

"President Obama has directed that a series of steps be taken to reach out to the Cuban people to support their desire to enjoy basic human rights and to freely determine their country's future," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

Obama also ordered new steps to promote the "freer flow of information among the Cuban people and between those in Cuba and the rest of the world, as well as to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian items directly to the Cuban people," Gibbs added.

The president took "these steps [in part] to help bridge the gap among divided Cuban families."

Obama believes that the change in U.S. policy will ultimately help bring about a more tolerant, democratic Cuban government, noted White House Latin American policy adviser Dan Restrepo.

He thinks "that creating independence, creating space for the Cuban people to operate freely from the regime is the kind of space they need to start the process toward a more democratic Cuba," Restrepo said.

So..."a U.S. policy that had remained largely unchanged for nearly half a century." Hmmm. Without analyzing the pros and cons of this policy change (which I happen to support), I would argue that it's probably a good idea to bring up these sort of things every half a century or so. ;)

Violence Escalates in Thailand...

Medical Tourism: India

I meant to blog about this earlier, the video is from a few weeks ago...but I find situations like this absolutely fascinating. Of course, many in America, the UK, and elsewhere decry these sort of phenomena as destroying domestic job markets, etc. But my answer is, hey, we Westerners said we wanted free trade, and through our eagerness to globalize we've erased the obstacles of physical proximity. Here is what happens when people in other countries are eager to participate in our "free", "open" market, and get so good at it they start to undersell us. Isn't competition supposed to be the driving force of wealth creation in a capitalist system? Then I say, let the games begin.

What a story...

It always amazes me how a few determined individuals can command the world's attention. A few guns and a large dose of audacity, and countries like Somalia and Afghanistan become nuclei of world events, engaging governments and armies...

New Discovery: "GazaMom"

Just discovered this blog yesterday...
http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/

"I am a Palestinian from Gaza. I am a journalist. I am a mother. I am a Muslim. This blog is about the trials of raising my children between spaces and identities; displacement and occupation; and everything that entails from potty training to border crossings. My husband is a Palestinian refugee denied his right of return to Palestine, and thus OUR right to family life. Together, we endure a lot, and the personal becomes political. This is our story."

Very compelling--a very intimate look at how the situation in Palestine is affecting real people--not least of all this wife and mother of two. You can also follow her on twitter @GazaMom. Recently she chronicled her plight in an Egyptian detention cell, where she was held when trying to return to Gaza. She was eventually deported, but she and her kids are unharmed, (thank God, or alhumdulilah).

As she says "the personal becomes political" in instances like this...Regardless of your political leaning, I recommend you all check this out.

A lotta hoopla!

Okay, I just flew back from the East Coast, and I'm tired. Here's my opinion in a nutshell...

I think Obama is right to make an effort to improve relations with the Muslim world...Maybe he just got overeager? I mean, it is a bit of an odd and awkward gesture, but I don't think it's the end of America as we know it.

More on Obama's Turkey Visit

More on Obama's gestures towards Muslim nations. The most interesting part is the last bit--the poll that shows that half of Americans don't think we can trust "Muslim allies" as much as "other allies."

Yes, there have been some bridges burned.

"THE US IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE AT WAR WITH ISLAM"

Associated Press. ANKARA, Turkey – Barack Obama, making his first visit to a Muslim nation as president, declared Monday the United States "is not and will never be at war with Islam."

Calling for a greater partnership with the Islamic world in an address to the Turkish parliament, Obama called the country an important U.S. ally in many areas, including the fight against terrorism. He devoted much of his speech to urging a greater bond between Americans and Muslims, portraying terrorist groups such as al Qaida as extremists who did not represent the vast majority of Muslims.

"Let me say this as clearly as I can," Obama said. "The United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical ... in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject."



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What I really appreciate about Obama's policy in the Middle East is his great efforts to communicate a more open and respectful attitude. Although George Bush never equated his "War on Terror" to a "War on Islam" outright, it was very often percieved as such, and very seldom did he qualify or specify the difference.

I think Obama is very aware of this unfortunate and prevalent misconception, and knows the great detriment it brought to both American views of the Muslim world and vice versa. Reversing the effects of this prolonged misconstruction will certainly take time, but as someone who can understand the Muslim-Arab view as well as the American one, I appreciate Obama’s gestures.

Heartbreaking and Senseless (click for full story)

BINGHAMTON, New York (CNN) -- Layla Khalil escaped the bombs that rocked Iraq during three years of insurgent and sectarian warfare, only to be gunned down while trying to learn English in her adopted hometown, family and friends said Sunday.


Hundreds took part in a vigil in Binghamton Sunday after an interfaith service for the victims of Friday's shooting.

Khalil, 57, was buried Sunday afternoon, two days after she and 12 others were shot to death Friday at the American Civic Association, an immigrant service center in Binghamton. Before coming to the United States in recent months, she narrowly escaped suicide bombings and a kidnapping in Baghdad, Iraq, where she worked as a librarian.

"The situation in Iraq is dangerous, everywhere dangerous," her 17-year-old son Mustafa told reporters after the funeral. "But we came here, and we hoped we'll get better lives."

Obama's First Visit to Muslim Country (click for full story)

ANKARA (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in NATO member Turkey on Sunday in his first visit as president to a Muslim country.

Obama's visit, on the last leg of an eight-day trip that marks his debut as president on the world stage, is a recognition of the secular but predominantly Muslim country's growing clout and Washington's desire for its help to solve confrontations and conflicts from Iran to Afghanistan.

U.S.-Turkish relationship suffered badly in 2003 when Ankara opposed the invasion of Iraq. But Obama will seek help from Turkey as he pushes a new regional strategy in Afghanistan and as it prepares to reduce the number of troops in Iraq.

Obama's motorcade got plenty of friendly waves from small groups along a route from the international airport to the city center lined with security personnel. A few people waved tiny Turkish flags. Bush got a mostly indifferent response from the public in visits to the Muslim world.

Turkey will not be the venue for Obama's promised major speech in a Muslim capital, but his April 5-7 trip will be a way to emphasize his message of reaching out to Muslims.

Obama will stress Washington's support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union despite opposition from some member states. Obama urged EU leaders in Prague earlier on Sunday to accept Turkey as a full member of the 27-nation bloc, in remarks rejected outright by France and met coolly by Germany.

Rocket Talk....

UPDATE: More feedback on G-20, one-liner form :) (click for story)

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown: "This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession, not with words but with a plan"

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd: "People beforehand said there would be a divide, but in fact there was an overwhelming drive toward achieving real action, real commitments and real timelines."

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: "I am going back home very satisfied."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy "This represents immense progress; while there were moments of tension, we never thought we'd obtain such a big deal."

Barack Obama: "I think we did okay."

Women's Rights Take A Blow in Afghanistan (Click here for story)

(FROM AP, dateline: KABUL) The law's critics say Karzai signed the legislation in the past month only for political gains several months before the country's presidential election.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women, or UNIFEM, said the law "legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband." "The law violates women's rights and human rights in numerous ways," a UNIFEM statement said.

The U.S. is "very concerned" about the law, said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. "We urge President Karzai to review the law's legal status to correct provisions of the law that limit or restrict women's rights."

Wood added that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had met with female Afghan lawmakers in The Hague and had assured them that "women's rights are going to be paramount in this administration's foreign policy, not an afterthought."

Canada's Defense Minister Peter MacKay said he will use this week's NATO summit to put "direct" pressure on his Afghan counterparts to abandon the legislation.

The issue of women's rights is a continuous source of tension between the country's conservative establishment and more liberal members of society. The Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 banned women from appearing in public without a body-covering burqa and a male escort from her family.

Much has improved since then. Millions of girls now attend school and many women own businesses. Of 351 parliamentarians, 89 are women.

But in this staunchly conservative country, critics fear those gains could easily be reversed.

"A Deep Process of Reform and Restructuring"

Ten-minute video...a bit dry, but I watched it twice and took notes. Here is a bit of a run-down on the raw speech; there is sure to be much expert commentary soon to come (this video is very recent.)

Gordon Brown, PM of England, outlines the "Six Pledges" the G-20 has established during their meeting in London.

1. "For the first time, we have come together to set principles to reform the world banking system..." Brown announced, reflecting on a "new global regulatory net" that would inlude new levels of accountability and a "financial stability board" that would serve as an "early warning mechanism."

2. Second, Brown claimed that there would be new efforts to "clean up banks" through a "common global approach." He did not go into much more detail...

3. In order to "hasten global recovery," the G-20 has decided to launch the "biggest macroeconomic stimulus plan the world has ever seen", which consists of injecting 500 trillion dollars into the global markets. He also promised the IMF (International Monetary Fund) a trillion dollars (I find it so ironic that all these figures were given in dollars...). Anyway, he insisted that the increased involvement of the IMF in regulating, advising, and assisting nations, including "the world's poorest" would help nations fight the recession.

4. Brown vaguely promised to "strengthen surveillence" via international independant institutions--it sounded like he was talking about UN bodies, but it wasn't clear. He emphasized the need for these bodies to assist emerging economies and combat poverty.

5. An important point he made was the need to stimulate world trade, promising "250 billion dollars for trade finance."

6. He vowed a continued commitment to the Millenium Development Goals and global aid pledges. Referencing the story of the Good Samaritan, he insisted that "we will not pass by the other side" when it is "in our power" to help those who are "suffering." He also reiterated the G-20 commitment to helping the world's poorest and to the continual pursuit of envoirnmental sustainablity."

Blaming America

This has been a humbling couple of years for the United States...quite interesting. I wonder if a decade ago we would have envisioned such a season of pessimism and anger towards our "land of the free."

I would not like to be in Obama's shoes right now.

G-20 Protests

Wow, riots against capitalism...in LONDON?

We live in interesting times.

"White people with blue eyes."

(NEW YORK POST, MARCH 28 2009)
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was stunned at a press conference yesterday when Brazil's president told him "white people with blue eyes" caused the world's financial crisis.

"I am not acquainted with a single black banker," the outspoken Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said after greeting Brown in Brasilia.

Brown is on a three-continent tour to drum up enthusiasm for the G-20 summit he will host in London next week.

But da Silva, a socialist who once worked as a lathe operator, told Brown that poor countries should not have to suffer because of mistakes made by the rich.

During a joint press conference, he suddenly pointed his finger at Brown and said, "This is a crisis that was caused by white people with blue eyes. And before the crisis, they looked as if they knew everything about economics."

Brown stood uneasily next to da Silva as he continued his lecture: "Once again, the great part of the poor in the world . . . they were the first ones to suffer.

"Since I am not acquainted with any black bankers, I can only say that this part of humanity that is the major victim of the world crisis, these people should pay for the crisis? I cannot accept that."

Brown gingerly said he would seek input from da Silva, along with the leaders of other developing nations, during the summit.

"I welcome Brazil's commitment to play its part," he said.

A Brown spokesman later said the remarks by da Silva -- who is white -- were intended for Brazil's "domestic consumption."

The Brazilian leader, widely known as just "Lula," is famous in his country for his simple explanations of complex issues. Among them: "International trades are like an egg without a yolk." In a CNN interview to air Sunday, he said he would take his experience as a poor, unemployed factory worker to the summit.

"When I'm sitting in the G-20 meetings with all those presidents and heads of state, I know I am the only one that definitely went through a lot of misery and hunger," he said.

"I lived in houses that were flooded by water . . . Sometimes, I had to fight over space with rats and cockroaches and waste would come in when it flooded."