Steven Hill of the New America Foundation wrote a brilliant piece in today’s Financial Times. Frequently likened to Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hill argues that, for the coming battle over healthcare reform, he needs to step into the shoes of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Obama is a fine orator, but has not so [...]
It is only a question of time before North Korea becomes a nuclear weapon power with a missile capability that can reach, Japan and probably Hawaii. There are three good reasons why North Korea must not have nuclear weapons. First, it is obvious that it would be potentially catastrophic as the régime is not rational [...]
Like many others, I’ve always believed that peace in the Greater Middle East begins with resolving the Israel-Palestine issue. I have changed my mind. I now believe that the key to peace begins with the Iran-US axis, not on the Israel-Palestine dispute. And agreement with Iran is becomng a real possibility. Barack Obama’s approach is [...]
In a 2006 Gallup poll, 9% of the Muslim world thought that the Q’ran should be the only source of national law; 46% that it should be a source. Unsurprising? And what if I tell you that this is not true but is the transposition of the results of a poll of Americans, 9% of [...]
The post of 15 May on US ambassadorial appointments drew attention to the failure of President Obama to appoint ambassadors in Brussels and Beijing. Today, however, Utah’s Governor Jon Huntsman has been nominated ambassador to China. The appointment is very interesting for a number of reasons, not least of which is that he is a [...]
Like many others, I’ve always believed that peace in the Greater Middle East begins with resolving the Israel-Palestine issue. I have changed my mind. I now believe that the key to peace begins with the Iran-US axis, not on the Israel-Palestine dispute. And agreement with Iran is becomng a real possibility. Barack Obama’s approach [...]
We have a surfeit of leaders in the European Union (to borrow a phrase from The Economist’s Charlemagne) but a deficit of leadership. Barack Obama had recently to share the press briefing, following an uninspiring EU-US Summit in Prague on 5 April, with no less than the President of the Commission and the Prime Ministers [...]
The following interview in Chinese has appeared on over 250 Chinese websites. It is accurate except on the theme of the heading. You will see that I say that US policy substance has not necessarily changed. EU scholar says U.S. “policy substance” toward Europe remains unchanged by Xinhua writers Wu Liming, Ban Wei [...]
The first meeting (on 1 April in London) between Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev went very well. Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev have pledged to agree cuts in their countries’ nuclear arsenals by December of this year, as part of a “fresh start” in US-Russian relations and a step towards “a nuclear free world”. Obama [...]
This week’s meeting in London between Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev was very welcome. They are to seek to agree a new arms control treaty this year. Obama has ‘pressed the reset button’, as promised. The atmosphere of the meeting was good. With Barack Obama replacing George W Bush, hopefully western understanding of Russian [...]
Rated 6th most influential EU blog by Waggener Edstrom. European of British nationality, for nearly 30 years Bruxellois. Deep believer in the principle of 'mutuality' and Monnet's axiom "Thought cannot be divorced from action", equivalent to Wang Yangming's "Zhixingheyi". more.
