Posts Tagged ‘Russia’
President Obama’s Diplomatic Outreach
The U.S. has for long sought to define and relate to its allies in unambiguous terms. President Bush epitomized this approach in his famous ‘either with us or against us’ speech and through his policy of pre-emption. The Obama Presidency appears to have opened with the objective of de-categorization of countries in U.S. foreign policy. President Obama is challenging the traditional tags for casting friends, enemies, competitors or facilitators while discarding the rigid criteria of ‘either with us or against us’. President Obama’s foreign policy approach puts Lord Palmerstone’s contention into action: “We have no permanent allies, we have no permanent enemies, we have only permanent interests.” This change of policy goes beyond a simple transition from Republican to Democratic administrations; it involves a transformation of global relations. Click to continue…
Is The Afghanistan Crisis Helping Global Reconciliation?
Reformulation of the international approach to manage the Afghanistan crisis is currently dominating political dialogue in most Capitals and strategic headquarters. A host of international conferences scheduled for the next fortnight are expected to explore the best possible alternatives for dealing with the multifaceted challenges in Afghanistan. The Obama Administration has undertaken a comprehensive review of the U.S. strategy for Afghanistan. Suggestions and proposals on the issue are pouring from all quarters and it appears that Afghanistan is poised for a grand moment in history. Will the Afghanistan challenge emerge as the Noah’s Ark – a common platform for global cooperation sheltered from the vagaries of divergent ideologies, political ambitions and nationalistic aspirations? In an atmosphere where power politics of the Realist School is dominating international relations, can Afghanistan serve as a common cause for which ideological differences will be shed and new forms of global engagement will emerge? Click to continue…
After Bipartisanship at home, its multilateralism abroad
“On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.”
With these words was inaugurated the Presidency of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009. The promise of change that had dominated President Obama’s election campaign was expected to graduate as America’s new political philosophy at home and abroad. The emphasis on changing partisan bickering to bipartisan dialogue and hard power based unilateralism to cooperative multilateralism arrived with the new President to re-define America’s image and conduct.