One area in which the Obama administration has arguably fallen short of expectations is in its ability to persuade European countries to support its policies in the greater Middle East – and particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
(Credit: Jonathan Guyer) Jonathan Guyer is a Program Associate at the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force. Two weeks ago, Jordanian King Abdullah’s visit to the White House brought President Obama’s announcement that the Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian premiers would make field trips to Washington.
Among other firsts, President Obama is undoubtedly our first “New Media” president. The Obama team came into power through its revolutionary internet fundraising success and clearly intends to find new ways to use the internet to advance its agenda.
Tom Kutsch is a Program Associate at the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington on Monday represents the Obama administration’s first opportunity to implement a new American strategy for achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Steve Clemons is on the road today, but is really fascinated by the important new book by Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars.
Iraq’s central government appears likely to begin allowing the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) that controls northern Iraq to begin exporting oil through Iraq’s main pipeline, in the latest unexpected consequence of the global economic crisis. A year ago, this kind of decision would have been unthinkable in the absence of a comprehensive national hydrocarbons law….
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy The clip above features New America Foundation President & CEO Steve Coll and NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, who offer a frightening portrait of the profound weaknesses’ of both Afghanistan’s and Pakistan’s leaders.
Today at 11:45 am EST, we will stream an event titled “The Middle East Comes to Town — Expectations for Obama’s Visits with Netanyahu, Abbas, and Mubarak” taking place at the New America Foundation. It will end at approximately 1:30 pm.
Washington has been stuck in a free trade agreement rut for some time now, and the situation has been exacerbated by the economic crisis and fears that further trade liberalization will mean sending taxpayer stimulus dollars overseas.
(Photo Credit: BBC) Katherine Tiedemann is a Program Associate at the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program. Ahmed Rashid, a venerable Pakistani journalist, has an op-ed in today’s Washington Post in which he argues that the United States should remove its conditions from the 5 year, $7.5 billion aid package we have proposed giving to Pakistan….
