The war of words over Iran’s nuclear program keeps expanding.
How Much of Romney’s Bellicosity Toward Iran Is Just Campaign Theatrics?
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Mitt Romney
Romney on the Middle East: Obama, but Worse
Mitt Romney’s foreign policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute, while trotted out as a major rejection of the current administration’s approach to the Middle East, mostly just rehashed President Obama’s policies, albeit with more hawkish bravado. But Romney’s speech also included a host of faulty assumptions about Arabs and Muslims, indicating a potentially reckless misunderstanding of America’s relationship with the Muslim world.
Romney and Ryan: Stabbing at Shadows
In an election season consumed by the sluggish U.S. economy, foreign policy has been a more marginal issue than usual in the U.S. presidential race. But when they have ventured to attack President Barack Obama’s record on global affairs, GOP nominee Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan have avoided substantive issues in favor of tired talking points and dog whistles, chalking up a series of gaffes and exposing their own inexperience in the process.
Off-Topic: The Presidential Debate — Does Aggressiveness Play With Swing Voters?
Like conservatives, progressives like to see their candidates in attack mode.
Dumb and Dumber: Obama’s “Smart Power” Foreign Policy
Barack Obama is a smart guy. So why has he spent the last four years executing such a dumb foreign policy? True, his reliance on “smart power” — a euphemism for giving the Pentagon a stake in all things global — has been a smart move politically at home. It has largely prevented the Republicans from playing the national security card in this election year. But “smart power” has been a disaster for the world at large and, ultimately, for the United States itself.
Korea and the U.S. Elections
It’s election time in the United States, and once again Washington doesn’t care about Korea. I realize that this is a difficult pill for Koreans to swallow. Koreans naturally believe that, since Korea is at the heart of East Asia and East Asia is at the heart of the global economy, American politicians and voters care deeply about what happens on the peninsula.
Global Problems for the New Gilded Age
Worried critics decry the similarities between the corruption-laden late 19th-century American Gilded Age and the crony capitalism of today, but similar historical lessons surrounding the problems of global trade and foreign policy have gone neglected.
Condi Rice Rumor Reveals Divisions in Romney Camp and on the Right
Remarks made by Condoleezza Rice are a window into the foreign-policy views that turn rich Republicans on these days.
A Bromance Made in Hell: When Mitt Met Bibi
Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu’s views on governing are mirrored by their views on investment management.
The Foreign Policy President?
Elections are decided by economics. Voters respond to pocketbook issues and are swayed by the huge sums that candidates lavish on advertising. Foreign policy issues, by contrast, are what the British call “noises off,” those sounds from off-stage that you hear occasionally to punctuate the main actions, sounds like exploding bombs and the distant cries of suffering people. According to recent polling, global issues barely register at all with Americans right now. Far below the economy, jobs, health care, the budget deficit, and gas prices, you’ll find Afghanistan at 6 percent (CNN), terrorism at 1 percent (Bloomberg), and, most distressingly, no global issue at all (CBS/New York Times).