CUBA/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN: “The Trump administration on Monday [Jan. 11, 2021] re-designated Cuba as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism,’ hitting the country with new sanctions that could hamstring President-elect Joe Biden’s promise to renew relations with the communist-governed island… The designation, which had been discussed for years, is one of several last-minute foreign policy moves […]
Category: Foreign Policy
12/29/2020
CLIMATE CHANGE/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN: “Meeting the most daunting threats of our time requires American engagement and leadership — but none of them can be solved alone. https://twitter.com/i/status/1343939833765519361″ ––Joe Biden, Twitter.com, December 29, 2020 4:20 am […]
12/28/2020
BIDEN PEOPLE/BIDEN TRANSITION/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/NATIONAL SECURITY: “This afternoon, I was briefed by members of my national security and foreign policy agency review teams. Tune in as I deliver remarks on the challenges our administration will inherit. https://t.co/EbPUT6jjXX?amp=1″ ––Joe Biden, Twitter.com, December 28, 2020 9:09 am […]
12/10/2020
ISRAEL/FOREIGN POLICY: “Israel and Morocco have agreed to normalize relations, President Donald Trump said Thursday, marking the fourth Arab-Israeli agreement in four months. As part of the deal announced near the end of Trump’s term, the United States will recognize Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara region. Trump said Israel and Morocco would restore […]
12/8/2020
FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN: “The threats we face today are not the same as those we faced 10 or even five years ago. We must prepare to meet the challenges of the future, not keep fighting the wars of the past. We must build a foreign policy that leads with diplomacy and revitalizes our alliances, putting […]
11/24/2020
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN/FOREIGN POLICY/NATIONAL SECURITY: “Today, I’m pleased to announce nominations and staff for critical foreign policy national security positions in my administration… And while this team has unmatched experience and accomplishments, they also reflect the idea that we can not meet these challenges with old thinking and unchanged habits. For example, we’re going to have […]
11/24/2020
2020 ELECTION/BIDEN TRANSITION/FOREIGN POLICY: “America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it. Once again sit at the head of the table. Ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies. Ready to stand up for our values. In fact, in calls from world leaders that I’ve had, about 18 or […]
11/24/2020
BIDEN TRANSITION/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/NATIONAL SECURITY: “We have no time to lose when it comes to our national security and foreign policy — I need a team that’s ready on day one. Tune in as I introduce key members of that team for the first time. https://t.co/eYC4hDwV05?amp=1″ ––Joe Biden, Twitter.com, November 24, 2020 7:01 am […]
11/23/2020
BIDEN PEOPLE/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/NATIONAL SECURITY: “Today, I’m announcing the first members of my national security and foreign policy team. They will rally the world to take on our challenges like no other—challenges that no one nation can face alone. It’s time to restore American leadership. I trust this group to do just that. https://twitter.com/i/status/1330967606585593857″ ––Joe […]
11/22/2020
AIR FORCE/FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP ADMIN: “The Trump administration formally shut the door on the Open Skies treaty Sunday, exiting the agreement while moving to get rid of the U.S. Air Force planes that have been used to carry out the nearly three-decade-old accord. President Trump had served notice in May that the U.S. would withdraw in […]
10/25/2020
FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN: [Norah O’Donnell: “Let’s turn to foreign policy. What do you think is the biggest foreign threat that America faces?”] “Our lack of standing in the world. Look what he does. He embraces every dictator in sight, and he pokes his finger in the eye of all of our friends… You have our […]
10/24/2020
2020 ELECTION/CLIMATE CHANGE/FOREIGN POLICY/INDIA/JOE BIDEN/KAMALA HARRIS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump called India ‘filthy.’ It’s not how you talk about friends—and it’s not how you solve global challenges like climate change. @KamalaHarris and I deeply value our partnership—and will put respect back at the center of our foreign policy.“ ––Joe Biden, Twitter.com, October 24, 2020 9:15 […]
10/21/2020
FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “We’re going to put our military first. We’re going to protect our country. We’re going to rebuild our military, and so many other things. Basically, I say we’re going to put America first. And you know, other countries don’t like it, but I say to them, and I know all of […]
10/15/2020
FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: [Audience member: “Does President Trump’s foreign policy deserve some credit?”] “A little, but not a whole lot. We find ourselves in a position where we’re more isolated in the world than we’ve ever been… You have Iran closer to having enough nuclear material to build a bomb. North Korea has […]
9/15/2020
FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN: “Under a Biden-Harris administration, the United States will put democracy and human rights at the center of America’s foreign policy. We cannot stand up for these principles around the world if we do not first do the same for all Americans at home. When I am President, authoritarian leaders will never have […]
8/5/2020
2020 ELECTION/FOREIGN POLICY: “If we didn’t have an election right now, two things would happen. Number one, our stock market would be even higher, and it’s already setting some records. And the other thing is Iran, China, everybody will be at the table the first day… They’re all waiting now to see, and they don’t […]
6/17/2020
CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/HUMAN RIGHTS/OFFICIAL STATEMENT: “Today, I have signed into law S. 3744, the “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020” (the “Act”). The Act holds accountable perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses such as the systematic use of indoctrination camps, forced labor, and intrusive surveillance to eradicate the ethnic identity and religious beliefs of […]
6/15/2020
FOREIGN POLICY/GERMANY/MILITARY/NATO/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “So we have 52,000 soldiers in Germany. That’s a tremendous amount of soldiers. It’s a tremendous cost to the United States. And Germany, as you know, is very delinquent in their payments to NATO. And they’re paying 1 percent, and they’re supposed to be at 2 percent. And the 2 percent […]
3/1/2020
AFGHANISTAN/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/TALIBAN: “I was against surging troops to Afghanistan in the first place. We’re not nation builders. We can’t build that nation. We should not be in the business of that. But we should have a small footprint to be able to determine whether or not there are terrorist organizations operating in the region […]
2/21/2020
DEMS/FOREIGN POLICY/GOP/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “When Stephen E. Biegun was sworn in as deputy secretary of state, it was in front of an unusual crowd at the State Department — one that included loyalists to President Trump, but also a mix of Never Trumpers and Democrats. Denis R. McDonough, President Barack Obama’s White House chief […]
1/6/2020
FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/JOE BIDEN/OBAMA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “RT @GOPChairwoman: How terrible was the Obama-Biden Iran policy? In 2016, their Secretary of State John Kerry admitted that some Iranian s…” –Donald Trump, Twitter.com, January 6, 2020 9:06 am […]
1/3/2020
ASSASSINATION/DEMS/FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/MIDDLE EAST/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The American strike in Baghdad that killed the Iranian general Qassim Suleimani thrust foreign policy to the center of the Democratic presidential race, drawing expressions of grave concern from the leading candidates and stoking a new debate in the party about the American military presence in the Middle East. The […]
1/3/2020
FOREIGN POLICY/MIDDLE EAST/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “RT @LeeSmithDC: Trump Middle East policy. Seems sound. https://t.co/Xrevi6wiVV“ –Donald Trump, Twitter.com, January 3, 2020 11:02 am […]
12/11/2019
DEMS/FOREIGN POLICY/IMPEACHMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “RT @JennaEllisEsq: In the Dems’ crazytown, the President should be impeached for: ✅Setting foreign policy ✅Ensuring foreign aid was not us…” –Donald Trump, Twitter.com, December 11, 2019 9:24 am […]
12/10/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/HUMAN RIGHTS/SANCTIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is imposing sanctions on at least 20 more people accused of human rights abuses, targeting government officials, businessmen and others in countries from Myanmar to Pakistan — but still avoiding penalizing some world leaders deemed critical partners. The new sanctions, announced Tuesday [12-10-19], are the latest in […]
12/9/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “RT @KatrinaPierson: ‘He did it pursuant to US policy’?? Um, who sets U.S. policy other than the President of the United States? They refu…” –Donald Trump, Twitter.com, December 9, 2019 11:46 pm […]
11/27/2019
DRUGS/FOREIGN POLICY/IMMIGRATION/MEXICO/TERRORISM/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A border wall. Mass deportations. Punishing tariffs. A halt to foreign aid. An end to a decades-old trade deal. For years, President Trump has pressured or wielded threats against Mexico, hoping to force a policy change, excite his political base, or both. This week, he did it again, announcing that he […]
11/19/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “RT @SteveScalise: Important reminder from @RepStefanik: The President sets U.S. foreign policy, not unelected staff. https://t.co/GjAETob5jm” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, November 19, 2019 1:46 pm […]
11/18/2019
EU/FOREIGN POLICY/ISRAEL/MIKE POMPEO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UN: “Does it deliver a hefty domestic political payoff, reverse an Obama administration position, upturn international law and irritate the European Union? If so, it’s probably a Trump administration foreign policy decision. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday [11-18-19] that the US now rejects a 1978 State Department legal opinion […]
10/15/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UKRAINE: “….They call it ‘serving at the pleasure of the President.’ The U.S. now has a very strong and powerful foreign policy, much different than proceeding administrations. It is called, quite simply, America First! With all of that, however, I have done FAR more for Ukraine than O.” –Donald Trump, Twitter.com, November […]
11/11/2019
CIVIL RIGHTS/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN: “Look, we should not make our policy based on who we get to sell weapons to. What — I mean, what a foreign policy. I mean, it makes no sense to me. It makes no sense. Look — look what’s happened in China now. They have a million Uighurs, Muslims, in […]
11/5/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IMPEACHMENT/INTELLIGENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UKRAINE: “The Ukraine-linked impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump could prove a golden opportunity for foreign intelligence agencies seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in America’s security apparatus. Hostile spy services now have vivid confirmation of what was long suspected: that Trump is willing to use outsiders to pursue his foreign policy goals; that […]
10/29/2019
CABINET/FOREIGN POLICY/RELIGION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Ralph Drollinger, who has spent much of the last three years teaching the Gospel to President Trump’s cabinet, dresses like a man of the world. One morning this summer, during a layover at Miami International Airport, he was the very picture of American business — a friendly-looking, dark-suited, jowly man […]
10/21/2019
FOREIGN AID/FOREIGN POLICY/IMPEACHMENT/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UKRAINE: “A July 25 call between President Trump and the president of Ukraine is the basis for an impeachment inquiry into whether Mr. Trump withheld American military aid until Ukrainian officials investigated former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son, Hunter. Last week the acting White House chief of […]
10/19/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/HILLARY CLINTON/OBAMA/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “RT @charliekirk11: Obama foreign policy: —Let Syria cross his ‘red line’ —Hillary’s Failed Russian Reset —$150 Billion in cash to our en…” –Donald Trump, Twitter.com, October 19, 2019 11:05 am […]
10/16/2019
AMBASSADOR/FOREIGN POLICY/HOUSE OF REPS/IMPEACHMENT/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A former top White House foreign policy adviser told House impeachment investigators this week that she viewed Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, as a potential national security risk because he was so unprepared for his job, according to two people familiar with […]
10/16/2019
AMBASSADOR/FOREIGN POLICY/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “A former top White House foreign policy adviser told House impeachment investigators this week that she viewed Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, as a potential national security risk because he was so unprepared for his job, according to two people familiar with her […]
10/14/2019
ETIHCS/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “After three weeks of sustained attacks from President Donald Trump over his son’s overseas business deals, Joe Biden is no longer reacting with a mix of silence and counter-accusations. The former vice president is rolling out a new ethics policy banning White House family members from foreign entanglements. His son, […]
10/14/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IMMIGRATION/ISIS/NATIONAL SECURITY/SANCTIONS/SECRETARY OF STATE/SYRIA/TERRORISM/TREASURY/TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS/TURKEY: “I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that the situation in and in relation to Syria, and in particular the recent actions by the Government of Turkey to conduct a military offensive into northeast Syria, undermines the campaign to defeat the Islamic State […]
10/7/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/KURDS/MIDDLE EAST/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TURKEY: “President Trump threw Middle East policy into turmoil on Monday [10-7-19] with a series of conflicting signals after his vow to withdraw American forces from the region touched off an uprising among congressional Republicans and protests by America’s allies. Defending his decision to clear the way for a Turkish military […]
10/7/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/KURDS/MIDDLE EAST/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TURKEY: “President Trump threw Middle East policy into turmoil on Monday [10-7-19] with a series of conflicting signals after his vow to withdraw American forces from the region touched off an uprising among congressional Republicans and protests by America’s allies. Defending his decision to clear the way for a Turkish military […]
10/4/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IMPEACHMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UKRAINE: “One person stands out in the flurry of impeachment-related texts cascading onto Washington this week: The guy who says what’s happening is ‘crazy’ and that he might have to quit. William Taylor, the veteran diplomat in charge of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, is being hailed within foreign policy circles as […]
10/1/2019
CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump congratulated the People’s Republic of China for its 70th anniversary Tuesday [10-1-19] morning. Senate Republicans were in no mood to celebrate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) compared China under President Xi Jinping to a ‘modern version of Maoist China’ and criticized the government for violence against […]
9/20/2019
ELECTION/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UKRAINE/WHISTLEBLOWER: “President Trump pressed the Ukrainian president in a July call to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son, according to a person familiar with the conversation, an apparently blatant mixture of foreign policy with his 2020 re-election campaign. Mr. Trump also repeatedly told the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, […]
9/18/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/NATIONAL SECURITY/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Even his many critics conceded that the former national security adviser John R. Bolton brought useful credentials to the job: decades of foreign policy experience and a keen grasp of how the gears of government turn. Mr. Bolton’s main problem, as it turned out, was that he knew too […]
9/18/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s fired national security adviser, harshly criticized Trump’s foreign policy on Wednesday [9-18-19] at a private lunch, saying that inviting the Taliban to Camp David sent a ‘terrible signal’ and that it was ‘disrespectful’ to the victims of 9/11 because the Taliban had harbored al […]
8/9/2019
BUDGET/FOREIGN AID/FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump‘s budget office on Friday [8-9-19] ended its pause on several pots of foreign aid amid mounting bipartisan backlash. A senior administration official said the funding halt, which the Office of Management and Budget requested last weekend, was ‘temporary.’ OMB had asked for ‘an accounting’ of billions of […]
8/8/2019
AUSTRALIA/CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Mike Pompeo, the United States secretary of state, came to Sydney a few days ago and described the American relationship with Australia as an ‘unbreakable alliance.’ I was there, at the State Library of New South Wales, surrounded by Australia’s foreign policy elite (including Malcolm Turnbull). I noticed both Mr. Pompeo’s […]
8/8/2019
CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In the past week, President Donald Trump has described China’s trade practices as ‘an anchor on us,’ saying Beijing is ‘killing us’ and wants to ‘hurt’ U.S. jobs. Yet as Chinese officials increasingly hint at a potentially violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong, Trump has remained largely silent. […]
8/8/2019
ELECTION/FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump had hoped to head into the 2020 campaign season as the world’s consummate deal-maker. He may instead enter his reelection campaign not just empty-handed, but vulnerable to the charge that his policies have helped sow chaos across the globe. His trade war with China keeps escalating, with mounting […]
7/26/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WAR: “This week President Donald Trump demonstrated one of the most consistent themes of his presidency — speak loudly but carry a very small stick. Talking about Afghanistan in his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office ‘I could win that war in a week. […]
7/19/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/SANCTIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump confirmed Friday [7-19-19] that Sen. Rand Paul is involved in diplomatic talks with Iran, referring to the country as ‘nothing but trouble.’ The Kentucky Republican has long been an opponent of U.S. intervention in Iran. POLITICO reported earlier this week that he had asked for Trump’s blessing […]
7/18/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/NUCLEAR/SANCTIONS/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Iran’s foreign minister said on Thursday [7-18-19] that he was willing to meet with American senators to discuss possible ways out of the nuclear crisis with the Trump administration and, for the first time, floated an opening bid of modest steps that Tehran would be willing to take in return for […]
7/11/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “After spending two weeks sparring with his presidential primary opponents, Joseph R. Biden Jr. sought once more to rise above the Democratic fray on Thursday [7-11-19], delivering a sweeping foreign policy address that denounced President Trump as incapable of global leadership and called for a new commitment to multilateral diplomacy. […]
7/11/2019
CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As he tries to tackle the greatest challenges to American power in Asia, President Trump is overturning policy toward China and North Korea that for decades was as canonical as Confucian ritual. With North Korea, he is engaging with the enemy in hopes that negotiations will yield a surrender of […]
7/5/2019
ELECTION/FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/NATO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Former Vice President Joe Biden savaged Donald Trump’s foreign policy agenda in an interview that aired Friday [7-5-19] morning, warning that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will be completely disbanded if the president captures another White House term in 2020…Biden also accused Trump of ‘stiff-arming our friends’ on the world […]
7/2/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “As President Donald Trump wrestled on the evening of June 20 with how to respond to Iran’s downing of a U.S. drone, Jack Keane was making his second appearance of the day on the Fox News Channel. Keane, a retired four-star Army general, said that Trump, who had speculated earlier […]
7/1/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/JOE BIDEN/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday [7-1-19] lambasted Donald Trump over recent foreign policy decisions, dismissing the president’s historic trip into North Korean territory over the weekend as a photo-op, while blaming Trump for the deterioration of relations with Iran. Over the weekend, Trump met with Kim Jong […]
6/25/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/JAPAN/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The next Trump-Putin meeting in Osaka, Japan is only days away, but the White House is maintaining radio silence about what it hopes to achieve there. Meanwhile, three senior voices with experience of dealing with Russia, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford, the NSC’s in-house Russia expert Fiona Hill, […]
6/24/2019
CENTRAL AMERICA/ELECTION/FOREIGN POLICY/HISPANICS/IMMIGRATION/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Former Vice President Joe Biden criticized President Trump’s ‘racist invective’ and called for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and a new foreign policy direction in Latin America and the Caribbean as part of his presidential campaign’s first glimpse of his immigration policy. Biden’s announcement, which appeared Monday […]
6/22/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/JOHN BOLTON: “I have John Bolton, who I would definitely say is a hawk, and I have other people that are on the other side of the equation. And, ultimately, I make the decisions, so it doesn’t matter. But I want — for instance, I disagreed very much with John Bolton — his attitude […]
6/20/2019
CANADA/FOREIGN POLICY/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Canada’s prime minister left a meeting in the Oval Office Thursday [6-20-19] with a mixed political blessing: A proclamation of friendship from President Donald Trump. Justin Trudeau doesn’t want to be seen as chummy with Trump, since Trudeau’s liberal base back home despises him. But the reality is Canada — […]
6/17/2019
DEMS/FOREIGN POLICY/HOUSE OF REPS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “House Democrats are largely pursuing flashy, partisan, made-for-TV investigations targeting President Donald Trump, but one panel is taking a different approach — and getting results. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is quietly amassing documents on allegations of politically motivated retaliation at the State Department. It’s looking into whether Trump […]
6/11/2019
DEMS/FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Facing questions on the trail about whether his campaign has put forward enough big ideas, Pete Buttigieg plans to make one area his own: foreign policy. The South Bend, Ind., mayor will give a major address on his national security and foreign policy platform Tuesday [6-11-19] morning at Indiana University, delving […]
5/29/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WAR: “In repeating his readiness to pursue a new nuclear deal with Iran, President Trump this week left unmentioned his administration’s aim to hobble what officials call Tehran’s ‘expansionist foreign policy’ — an ambitious priority that is far more likely to lead the United States into war. The expansive, open-ended mission of […]
5/27/2020
FOREIGN POLICY/JAPAN/NORTH KOREA: “President Trump conducted summit meeting with North Korea together with Chairman Kim. He agreed on the denuclearization of Korean Peninsula and he signed the document. There was great significance in that. He cracked open the shell of distrust so that a future — bright future — can be shared and urge North […]
5/21/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/HOUSE OF REPS/REX TILLERSON/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with a handful of House members and staffers for seven hours Tuesday [5-21-19] to discuss President Donald Trump’s foreign policy decision-making, including on issues related to Russia. Tillerson served roughly a year as America’s chief diplomat before the president fired him […]
5/17/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/OBAMA/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Pressed this week to define President Trump’s goals in escalating military and economic pressure on Iran, one of his top foreign policy aides ticked through a familiar list: End the country’s support for terrorism, stop its missile launches and then, most important, keep Iran more than a year away from the […]
5/16/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/INTELLIGENCE/IRAN/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, who chairs the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been briefed by the Trump administration about the escalating tensions with Iran. But Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the chairman of the equally powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, had not as of Thursday [5-16-19] […]
5/15/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/MEDIA/MIDDLE EAST/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Fake News Washington Post, and even more Fake News New York Times, are writing stories that there is infighting with respect to my strong policy in the Middle East. There is no infighting whatsoever….” –Donald Trump, Twitter.com, May 15, 2019 2:10 pm […]
5/14/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/TARIFFS/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump’s tariffs were initially seen as a cudgel to force other countries to drop their trade barriers. But they increasingly look like a more permanent tool to shelter American industry, block imports and banish an undesirable trade deficit. More than two years into the Trump administration, the United States […]
5/10/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/MUSLIMS/TERRORISM/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In Kuwait, the Muslim Brotherhood is vocally pro-American. In Iraq, the Brotherhood’s political party has steadfastly supported the American-backed political process and still forms part of the governing coalition. And in Yemen, the Brotherhood-linked party is cooperating with some of America’s closest Arab allies in a war against a faction backed […]
5/8/2019
CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/VENEZUELA: “Shortly before he was sworn in as president, Donald J. Trump vowed that the United States would stop ‘racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about, that we shouldn’t be involved with.’ He promised to end ‘this destructive cycle of intervention and chaos.’ Two and a half years into […]
5/6/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/IRAN/MIKE PENCE/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “At the Munich Security Conference in February, the face of the Trump administration was Vice President Mike Pence, who urged longstanding American allies to pull out of a denuclearization deal with Iran. When President Trump needed an emissary to describe his proposed tax overhaul in 2017, Mr. Pence was deployed […]
5/3/2019
2016 ELECTION/FBI/FOREIGN POLICY/HILLARY CLINTON/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “In a London bar three years ago, a young foreign policy adviser for Donald Trump’s campaign told an Australian diplomat something astonishing: Russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton. Within months, the adviser, George Papadopoulos, was proven right as stolen emails damaging to Clinton surfaced online. Alarmed Australian officials […]
5/3/2019
DEMS/FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Democratic foreign policy strategists are hot commodities again. For the past two years, they have been frozen out under President Donald Trump. And during the 2016 election cycle, Hillary Clinton held a virtual monopoly on the Democratic foreign policy establishment. But now, with nearly two dozen Democrats running for president, these […]
4/26/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UN: “The Trump administration’s diplomatic darts this week flew as fast at friends as they did at foes. First, on Monday [4-22-19], came the end of permissions for important partner nations to buy Iranian oil without fear of American sanctions. Then, on Tuesday [4-23-19], American officials wrestled with allies over a United […]
4/19/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/LIBYA/MIKE POMPEO/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump on Friday [4-19-19] abruptly reversed American policy toward Libya, issuing a statement publicly endorsing an aspiring strongman in his battle to depose the United Nations-backed government. The would-be strongman, Khalifa Hifter, launched a surprise attack on the Libyan capital, Tripoli, more than two weeks ago. Relief agencies said […]
4/16/2019
CUBA/FOREIGN POLICY/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is expected to announce its plan to enforce a controversial provision of the decades-old trade embargo on Cuba Wednesday [4-17-19], a senior administration official tells CNN — a decision that will break with the precedent set by every President since Bill Clinton. US National Security Adviser John […]
4/16/2019
CUBA/EU/FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WTO: “The Trump administration will announce on Wednesday [4-17-19] a big shift in policy toward Cuba by allowing U.S. individuals to file legal claims against foreign companies that conduct business in Cuba, a senior administration official told POLITICO. The move represents a new hard-line stance against the island nation, which has been […]
4/16/2019
CUBA/FOFEIGN POLICY/LAWSUITS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump has approved a move intended to further choke off foreign investment in Cuba by lifting longstanding limits on American citizens seeking to sue over property confiscated by the Havana government going back to Fidel Castro’s revolution six decades ago, a senior administration official said on Tuesday [4-16-19]. The decision, […]
4/8/2019
DEMS/ELECTION/FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Democrats need to get serious about foreign policy in 2020 or risk losing to Donald Trump. That’s the blunt warning from Chris Murphy, a second-term Democratic senator with increasing sway on the Foreign Relations Committee who just maneuvered a bipartisan condemnation of Trump’s foreign policy through Congress. And Murphy, who’s making […]
4/4/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/HOUSE OF REPS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WAR: “The House on Thursday [4-4-19] approved a measure to cut off U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s bloody civil war, in yet another harsh, bipartisan rebuke of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. Trump is expected to veto the measure, which passed with support from Republicans and Democrats […]
4/3/2019
FOEIGN POLICY/MIKE POMPEO/STATE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named former Fox News contributor Morgan Ortagus, a previous critic of President Donald Trump, as the new State Department spokesperson Wednesday [4-3-19]…Ortagus, a Navy reserve officer, was the anticipated pick for the job and has extensive foreign policy experience. But in 2016, she slammed then-candidate Trump […]
3/12/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/GOP/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “When former Vice President Dick Cheney charged this weekend that Donald Trump treats American foreign policy like a ‘New York real estate deal,’ he demanded an answer not from the president but from Trump’s mild-mannered vice president, Mike Pence. To the audience of Republican insiders gathered in Sea Island, Ga., […]
3/11/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/GOP/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Dick Cheney lit into Vice President Mike Pence behind closed doors over the direction of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, flouting a set of agreed-upon subjects and forcing Pence on the defensive over President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. The former vice president interviewed Pence at the American Enterprise Institute’s annual […]
3/7/2019
AMBASSADOR/FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump threw out the diplomatic rule book when he took office, tweeting gleefully about sensitive global issues, be it the nuclear showdown with North Korea or burden sharing within NATO. Now he has spawned a squad of in-house imitators. John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, has tweeted more than […]
3/1/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The day after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, White House national security adviser Susan Rice gathered her staff for a pep talk. About a third of the room was crying. Everyone was in shock. Trump had defeated Hillary Clinton, an upset of historic proportions that promised, […]
3/1/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/SUMMIT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump embarked on his trip to Vietnam with a political cloud hanging over his head and keen to show progress on a thorny foreign policy issue that has befuddled many of his predecessors. Now, he is just back from a Hanoi summit with North Korea that collapsed and […]
2/26/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/MIKE POMPEO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “One of the first problems that Mike Pompeo solved for Donald Trump was the President’s Daily Brief. On every morning (or at least some of them), the president has traditionally received the most crucial findings of the United States spying apparatus, personally delivered in a solemn face-to-face exchange with a […]
2/25/2019
AMBASSADOR/FOREIGN POLICY/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/UN: “The woman President Donald Trump chose to represent America at the United Nations is a billionaire known for her bursting political Rolodex, disarmingly sunny disposition — and limited foreign policy experience. Kelly Craft pulled off one unquestionable achievement in her stint as ambassador to Canada under Trump: She maintained good […]
2/11/2019
CONGRESS/FOREIGN POLICY/MEDIA/SAUDI ARABIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Senate Republicans are fuming at President Donald Trump for telling lawmakers he would disregard a law requiring a report to Congress determining who is responsible for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The uproar among Republicans is just the latest example of their deep discontent with the president’s foreign […]
2/6/2019
CONGRESS/FOREIGN POLICY/SAUDI ARABIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Congress inched closer to a major foreign-policy rebuke of President Donald Trump on Wednesday [2-6-19] when the House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a bill to cut off U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen’s bloody civil war. In a party-line vote, the panel’s Democrats sent a War Powers […]
2/1/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “For all of President Donald Trump’s talk about ‘America first,’ the next two years of his presidency could shine a sharp spotlight on America abroad. His State of the Union address next week will be dissected for clues on how he’ll deal with a full plate of foreign policy challenges. His […]
1/31/2019
AFGHANISTAN/DEMS/FOREIGN POLICY/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Senate delivered a rare rebuke to President Donald Trump’s foreign policy Thursday [1-31-19], opposing his plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and shrink American forces in Afghanistan. In a bipartisan voteof 68-to-23, lawmakers advanced a measure sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warning against a ‘precipitous withdrawal’ […]
1/31/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/INTELLIGENCE/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A day after he lashed out at U.S. intelligence agency chiefs over their assessments of global threats, President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course Thursday [1-31-19] and said that he and the intelligence community ‘are all on the same page.’ Trump met with his director of national intelligence and other top […]
1/30/2019
CHUCK SCHUMER/FOREIGN POLICY/INTELLIGENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer swiped at President Donald Trump on Wednesday [1-30-19] evening, urging America’s top intelligence official to stage an intervention and educate the commander in chief about how important it is for him to back the U.S. intelligence community. Coats, who served with Schumer in the Senate, […]
1/30/2019
AFGHANISTAN/FOREIGN POLICY/INTELLIGENCE/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Trump lashed out at the nation’s intelligence agencies on Wednesday [1-30-19], accusing them of being ‘passive and naive’ about the dangers posed by Iran, and defending his handling of Afghanistan, North Korea and the Islamic State. A day after the agencies issued their annual assessment of global threats […]
1/30/2019
2016 ELECTION/FOREIGN POLICY/INTELLIGENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump lit into the U.S. intelligence community on Wednesday [1-30-19], telling his intel chiefs to ‘go back to school’ just one day after they publicly contradicted him on several of his foreign policy priorities…Trump’s tweets were a direct rebuttal of the public testimony his top intelligence chiefs gave […]
1/24/2019
FOREIGN POLICY/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/VENEZUELA: “President Trump has finally met a strongman he does not like. After making friends with autocrats around the world, Mr. Trump has drawn a red line with Nicolás Maduro, demanding that the iron-fisted president of Venezuela hand power to his opposition. Mr. Trump’s forceful challenge to Mr. Maduro is the first […]