Section: Foreign Policy (USA)
U.S. Can’t Confirm Pakistani Ban on JuD, Haqqani Network; Abdullah in Talks Over Dual Citizen Nominees; New Details on Obama India Visit
Pakistan U.S. can’t confirm ban on JuD and Haqqani Network On Friday India’s NDTV reported that U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said that the United States could not confirm that Pakistan had banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa, designated by the United States as a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Haqqani Network (NDTV, ET, Dawn)....
FP’s Situation Report: The patriarch of the House of Saud dies; When a body count is not a body count; Someone’s missing in Davos; and much more from around the world.
By David Francis with Sabine Muscat The patriarch of the House of Saud is dead. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud died Thursday at the age of 90. His passing comes as the oil-rich kingdom battles low oil prices and the rise of extremism across the Middle East and Africa. And relations with the United States, a long-time...
Open the Trade Gates: U.S., India Revive Ties With Enterprise
If U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Premier Narendra Modi had written down national resolutions for 2015, they would have a lofty one in common: “ramp up bilateral trade again between the world’s largest democracies.” America’s top diplomat John Kerry just last week finished a two-day trip to the 7th annual “Vibrant Gujarat”...
The Death of Ukraine’s Cyborg Army
On Tuesday night, in a State of the Union speech that was heavy on domestic policy, President Barack Obama heralded a list of American accomplishments abroad, none more dubious than his claim that America was demonstrating “strength” in its response to the Ukraine crisis. “We’re upholding the principle that bigger nations can’t bully...
FP’s Situation Report: No good deed goes unpunished in Somalia; Bibi gets a Churchill moment; Republicans are tripping over Iran bills; and much more from around the world.
By David Francis with Sabine Muscat In Somalia, no good deed goes unpunished. Retired Delta Force soldier Brett Fredricks went to Somalia to train Ugandan soldiers to fight al-Shabab. On Christmas Day, he was gunned down when members of the terror group, some dressed as Somali soldiers, overran a base in Mogadishu. An exclusive report by...
Davos Diary: Ukraine’s New Leader Struggles to Woo Foreign Investors
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko had a hard time pitching his country as an investment destination this year, at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Nevertheless, the former confectioner tried to send two conflicting messages simultaneously. One, Russian troops in Ukraine pose an imminent threat and the...
The 2015 State of the Union, by Google Autocomplete
What do Americans really want, and did the president give it to them? Each year, the State of the Union address offers a field day to pundits and pollsters. They get paid to offer predictions, reviews and analyses, but why not cut out the middlemen? If you want to put your finger right on the beating heart of America, go straight to Google...
FP’s Situation Report: President Obama reluctantly takes on the Islamic State fight; Obama faces lingering and difficult foreign policy challenges; A key U.S. ally in the Middle East is in peril in Yemen; and much more from around the world.
By David Francis with Sabine Muscat President Barack Obama used the I-word — Iraq — only twice in last night’s State of the Union. But he boasted of stopping the Islamic State’s advance there and in Syria. FP’s Kate Brannen: “[T]he president’s view is that by sticking to airstrikes and keeping U.S. troops solely in a...
Keeping Score on Obama’s State of the Union Address
President Barack Obama spent much of his State of the Union address on Tuesday touting improvements in the United States economy and advocating for new domestic initiatives including free community college and tax cuts for the middle class — ideas that are virtually certain to be dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate and House. When...
Watch (and Read) Live: The State of the Union
President Obama goes before the nation Tuesday to deliver his seventh State of the Union address. Watch live here: The full text of the president’s remarks, as prepared for delivery: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans: We are fifteen years into this new century. Fifteen years that dawned with terror...
