I'm definitely overdue here, but better late than never. I lost my bet with Kevin that John Bolton would win confirmation as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. I lost it quite a while ago, but this statement from putative new Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden seals the deal. When I get back to NY (and...
The midterms have already had a dramatic effect on foreign policy through the Rumsfeld resignation. I wanted to add, however, to the dialogue Roger Alford began yesterday on foreign policy impacts by focusing on another hot button issue: climate change. When withdrawing from Kyoto, President Bush acknowledged that the U.S. at the time produced almost 20% of the...
Rep. Charles Rangel of NY, slated to become the new Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has called congressional legislation granting permanent normal trading status to Vietnam "uncontroversial" and probably pass in the lame duck Congress next week. Rangel is not exactly a free trader, but he is not reflexively against all free trade deals. ...
News involving Saddam to report: Saddam's principal defense attorney, Khalil Duleimi, has accused the U.S. military of confining the defense team in the Green Zone since the verdict was announced, preventing them from returning to Amman. Dulemi believes that their confinement represents a deliberate attempt on the part of the military to deprive them of access to the media and...
File this one under "not such a good idea":Part of a Nazi leader's speech was played over the public address system before a high school soccer game, prompting an apology by the home team's principal. Forestview High School principal Robert Carpenter said neither he nor his team's coach knew about the speech before the 90-second excerpt was played during warmups Saturday,...
In a move likely to have a significant impact on U.S. foreign policy, particularly with respect to Iraq, President Bush announced today that Donald Rumsfeld is resigning as Defense Secretary and that Robert Gates is replacing him. Here's an excerpt from the ABC News Report: Donald Rumsfeld will resign as Defense Secretary in a stunning consequence of yesterday's midterm election results...
Before weighing in on U.S. elections, I wanted to follow-up on Chris Borgen's helpful earlier posts (see links below) on the battle over the U.N. Security Council seat to note the final results of that Tuesday election. In the 48th round of voting, Panama decisively won the seat. I include an International Herald Tribune story on the final...
Steve Clemons thinks that among other things we’ll see the CIA’s secret detention centers be de-funded “for sure” and that we’ll see a “modern version of public hangings” in the form of oversight hearings on Iraq-related issues. Roger similarly suggests below that there will be sharp confrontation on executive power. I wonder. Executive power and detainee treatment...
Although this was an unusually foreign policy-focused congressional midterm election here in the States, international trade was not on any candidate's radar screen. Still, one early indicator of the new Congress' internationalist temperamant will be whether it swiftly approves Vietnam's accession to the WTO. Although the WTO General Council formally approved Vietnam's application for membership yesterday, the U.S....
So how will the mid-term elections affect international relations? Here are my predictions of ten things to look for in the next two years: 1. House investigations on the war in Iraq. 2. House spending limits on the war in Iraq. 3. Cabinet level changes. 4. Democratic infighting about the road ahead in Iraq. 5. Trade Promotion...
The WaPo story here. As the International Criminal Court shows itself to be a responsible institution (note the report that prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has rejected several hundred petitions to initiate actions against US officials), the policy fear factor inevitably dissipates, and the possible strategic benefits for the US come into clearer focus. But how long will it take to overcome...
As election day proceeds apace in the United States, it’s worth turning our gaze southward to note that the OAS’s Electoral Observation Mission has declared that the November 5, 2006 Nicaraguan elections were “peaceful and orderly, had a massive turnout and took place in accordance with the law.” It found an average citizen participation of approximately 70%, with only...
