The Road To California

An official announcement on May 21 revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping will be visiting the United States in June, where he will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama at a Californian retreat. The visit is a fitting end to the first round of diplomatic outreach by the new Chinese leadership. Read Here – The Diplomat

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Why Sanctions Don’t Work

Sanctions, particularly economic sanctions, have long been a tool of U.S. foreign policy, and few presidents have leaned on them as much as Barack Obama or been as successful at rallying others to do the same. To thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the U.S. has cajoled and bullied much of the world to slash imports of […]

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Why Putin Wants U.S. Bases in Afghanistan

On May 9, Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced he would allow the U.S. to keep nine military bases in Afghanistan after direct U.S. participation in the Afghan war ends in 2014. How has President Vladimir Putin responded to the possibility that Afghanistan may turn into “one giant U.S. aircraft carrier,” as Kremlin-friendly political analyst Yury Krupnov recently put […]

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Hillary’s Stepping Stone

As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton helped restore America’s standing in the world, but she left office with no signature achievement. If she gets her way, her tenure as the country’s top diplomat will come to be seen simply as a stepping-stone to the presidency. Read Here – Foreign Affairs

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Leaders Of China And The US Have A Problem, People Don’t

Chinese-US relations come to the public’s attention mainly through official actions, yet linkages are conducted at two levels, observes Edward Gresser, executive director of Progressive Economy, a research program of GlobalWorks Foundation in Washington, DC. While relations among the nations’ leaders are competitive and tense, exchanges among students, business managers, tourists are amenable and lasting. […]

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Has Obama Blown His Credibility — And Syria?

The debate about what to do in Syria has been sidetracked by discussions of credibility and reputation. But both logic and evidence prove that reputations are mostly imaginary. Obama should not let fears that others might think him irresolute drive him to disaster. Instead, he should refocus on what U.S. interests really are in Syria, […]

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South Korea’s Not-Really-Iron Lady

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. During her ultimately victorious presidential campaign last year, South Korea’s new conservative president, Park Geun Hye, rarely touched on foreign policy. (Though it’s a fair question as to whether North Korea really constitutes “foreign” policy as far as Seoul is concerned.) When I traveled with Park as she campaigned across […]

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