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- Close Guantanamo, Don't Move It, Ken Gude
- Mr. Clinton Goes to Pyongyang, Nina
Hachigian
- Understanding Moscow, Eugene Rumer
- Next Steps with Turkey, Marc Grossman
- Relations with U.S. and Iran Not Mutually
Exclusive, Lawrence Korb
- Russians React to Biden Remarks, Sam
Charap
- Administration Debates Darfur Policy,
John Prendergast
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Ken Gude, "Close Guantanamo, Don't
Move It," The Guardian Comment is
Free, August 4, 2009
More than six months into its self-imposed one-year timeline for
closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, the Obama administration
finds itself in an increasingly tight box. Still grasping for answers
to admittedly difficult problems, it has now floated the idea of
transferring the detainees to a multi-tiered facility inside the United
States. The sketchy plan outlined in reports by the Washington Post and
the Associated Press would have some improvements on the situation
Barack Obama
inherited. But moving the location of the Guantánamo prison
within an
arbitrary timeline is secondary to correcting the serious errors of
Bush-era detention policy. And the ideas offered by the Obama
administration so far have fallen short of that objective.
Click here to
read the full article.
Nina Hachigian, "Mr.
Clinton Goes to Pyongyang," WorldFocus, August 4, 2009
Those
who have complained that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has too
many envoys are going to have a field day with this.
But the decision to send former President Bill Clinton to Pyongyang to
try to negotiate the release of the two Americans held there,
Euna Lee
and Laura Ling, is a smart move.
Click here to
read the full article.
Eugene Rumer,
"Understanding Moscow," Middle East Bulletin interview, August 4, 2009
[O]ne of the major issues in Russian foreign policy has been to regain
recognition as a major power; with not just a marginal voice in
international affairs, but a real vote and a real veto. To be a party
that other major powers, namely the United States, come to in order to
consult when they want to address major issues on the international
agenda. Clearly, the Middle East is one of those all-consuming issues
for the United States and for the European Union, as well as
increasingly for China and other countries. ... [T]his presence as a
major power does not occur in a vacuum. Russia has commercial and
economic interests. And this cuts in two ways. One, Russia is an oil
exporter and a gas exporter. ... The other, of course, is arms sales.
Click here to
read the full interview.
Marc Grossman, "Next
Steps with Turkey," Middle East Bulletin interview, August 4, 2009
The
President's speech was well received, but the Administration still has
a job to do with Turkey. That job encompasses several areas. Crucial is
a continuing commitment by this administration to follow on the efforts
made by previous administrations to visibly and effectively help Turkey
fight the PKK. ... Important also are the administration's efforts to
promote progress in the Middle East, and here what Special Envoy George
Mitchell is doing is very important. Third, America should strongly
support the Nabucco pipeline. ... Finally, as President Obama did in
his speech ... is to continue strongly to support Turkish membership in
the European Union; not half membership or three-quarters membership,
but full membership. One other important thing: Turkish leaders need to
speak out in favor of the U.S.-Turkish relationship.
Click here to
read the full interview.
Stars & Stripes - Lawrence Korb says
that the Iraqi government's crackdown on the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq is part
of a larger effort to repair relations with Iran: "They’re going
to have strong ties to Iran, but that doesn’t mean they
don’t care about the U.S. anymore ... Most of the governments in
that region do have a good relationship with Iran. It doesn’t
have to be a mutually exclusive thing."
Real Clear World
- Samuel Charap analyzes recent remarks by Vice President Biden on
Russia's status as a great power: "This is a major topic of discussion
among [Russian] elites ... They're wondering if it's calculated or a
change in official U.S. policy."
Washington Times
- Enough project co-founder John Prendergast notes the internal
debate in the Obama administration over policy towards Sudan: "We have
some pretty significant actors inside the administration who
have very different views about whether robust engagement is backed
principally by pressures or backed principally by incentives."
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