In Our Circles Archives - Page 3 of 62 - Foreign Policy In Focus

It’s All About Israel

by Jim Lobe | Feb 2, 2013

If former Defence Secretary-designate Sen. Chuck Hagel’s lacklustre performance at his confirmation hearing Thursday heartened neo-conservatives and other hawks opposed to his nomination, those who argued that the Israel lobby has been exerting too great an influence on U.S. foreign policy were ecstatic. In fact, the degree to which Israel and the threat posed to it by Iran dominated the hearing was somewhat understated: The full transcript revealed that Israel was brought up no less than 178 times, followed closely by Iran with 171 mentions.

Setbacks Push Mideast Peace to Back Burner

by Mitchell Plitnick | Feb 1, 2013

Speculation that President Obama might put significant effort into Israel-Palestine peace was fueled by his nominees for two key Cabinet posts: John Kerry for secretary of state and former Senator Chuck Hagel for secretary of defence. Since Obama’s re-election, however, there has been considerable debate in the U.S. media about whether he would re-engage in peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Hagel Hearings: The Last Best Chance for the Truth About a Lost War and America’s War-Making Future

by Nick Turse | Jan 31, 2013

While Chuck Hagel ultimately voted to authorize the war in Iraq — despite grave misgivings — there is a perception that, in the future, Hagel would be reticent to plunge the United States into yet more reckless wars and a strong belief exists among his supporters that he will stand up for America’s sons and daughters in uniform. However, his seeming unwillingness to face up to, no less tell the whole truth about, the Vietnam War he saw should raise serious questions.

Powering the Pacific “Pivot” With Leon and Chuck

by Winslow Wheeler | Jan 23, 2013

It’s old, and likely thoroughly forgotten now, but last summer the Washington Post ran an excellent article on the U.S. military‘s “pivot” toward Asia, its origins, and its budget implications. It presented some meaningful background on where the pivot came from, and how it so quickly became dogma in Washington as the decade-long ground wars receded in the national rear-view mirror.

Obama Misses Opportunity to Stem Gun Flow to Mexico

by Carey L. Biron | Jan 16, 2013

Unveiling the most extensive gun control proposal in generations, U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed nearly two dozen executive orders and called on the U.S. Congress to enact a legislative package to blunt the country’s growing trend of gun violence.

While many progressives are lauding the new moves, some are expressing regret that the president didn’t include basic initiatives to curb the significant flow of weapons from the United States into Mexico.

The Pentagon as a Global NRA

by Tom Engelhardt | Jan 13, 2013

In the U.S., the National Rifle Association (NRA), an ultra-powerful lobbying group closely allied with weapons-making companies, has a strong grip on Congress — it gives 288 members of that body its top “A-rating” — and is in a combative relationship with the White House. Abroad, it’s so much simpler and less contested. Beyond U.S. borders, the reality is: the Pentagon, with the White House in tow, is the functional equivalent of the NRA, and like that organization, it has been working tirelessly in recent years in close alliance with major weapons-makers to ensure that there are ever less controls on the ever more powerful weaponry it wants to see sold abroad.

What’s in Store for 2013

by Ignacio Ramonet | Jan 9, 2013

Having survived the announced end of the world on Dec. 21, we can now try to foretell our immediate future, based on geopolitical principles that will help us understand the overall shifts of global powers and assess the major risks and dangers. Looking at a map of the world, we can immediately see some hotspots lit up in red. Four of them represent high levels of danger: Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.

The MONUSCO Contradiction

by Moctar Aboubacar | Jan 9, 2013

Elevating the military role of UN peacekeeping forces would do little to address the root causes of instability and violence in the Congo. MONUSCO needs to be a force for stability in a diverse field of international actors, and it needs to help provide for a more durable system of civilian protection—one that resonates far beyond the battlefield.

“So Many People Died”: The American System of Suffering, 1965-2014

by Nick Turse | Jan 8, 2013

For all the dissimilarities, botched analogies, and tortured comparisons, there has been one connecting thread between the wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan that, in recent years at least, Americans have seldom found of the slightest interest: misery for local nationals. Civilian suffering is, in fact, the defining characteristic of modern war in general, even if only rarely discussed in the halls of power or the mainstream media.

Major Test for Israel Lobby As Obama Leans to Hagel for Pentagon

by Jim Lobe | Jan 7, 2013

With President Barack Obama reportedly primed to nominate former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel to head the Pentagon early next week, the powerful Israel lobby, led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), faces a major dilemma.