With Al Arabiya News Channel's exclusive coverage on the newly-leaked Syrian security documents coming to an end, the time has finally arrived to voice an opinion about some of the things that have been said.
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.
As the spectacle of UN Week commenced against the backdrop of Syrian bloodshed, a discussion of structural UN reform could not be more timely.
Syria's continuing carnage and chaos have led to tens of thousands of people (mostly non-combatants) being killed and maimed. With things already so horrific, it's hard to imagine them getting worse. But the regime of Bashar al-Assad is steely cruel.
It is not clear whether the signs coming from NATO point to contradiction or cooperation among its member states. The answer about the fate of NATO's role in Syria is primarily held by Turkey, which holds all the trump cards, and in this is second to none, except perhaps Washington.
Representative Paul Ryan has bragged about his ability to catch fish barehanded. However, in the debate he could not catch the vice president, whose lengthy experience with foreign policy and domestic issues worked in his favor.
This week Syrian writer and journalist Samar Yazbak was awarded the Pen Pinter prize jointly with Carol Ann Duffy. Ms. Yazbak was recognized for her courage in opposing the Syrian regime in her book, a woman in the crossfire.
I can think of few better examples of American exceptionalism than the ability to produce genetically-modified flora that will give us the wealth we need to pay for Romney's world order. If we are to take Romney's cue and follow his lead, we better all get our shovels out.
On Canadian Thanksgiving Monday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave a major foreign policy address to the faculty and students of the Virginia Military Institute. He did not mention Canada once despite the fact that his vision of U.S. global leadership is like the Hollywood-budget version of Canada's indie foreign policy sensation. Should Romney become the 45th president of the United States, it will be essential, though, for him to recognize that U.S. leadership must be exercised in a spirit of partnership for it to be successful. The message to Ottawa in January can't be "Thanks Canada for doing the right things in world affairs -- we'll take it from here."
On the rhetorical front, we learned that candidate Romney supports a "freer, more prosperous and more peaceful world"; believes in showing "resolve"; and would promote "freedom and opportunity." Who wouldn't?
What I'm seeing now is a dangerous amount of simplistic thinking and Cold War-era political rhetoric. It hovers over most of our national policy debates, very much like an ominous black cloud.
As intractable as the Syrian war looks, there is room for a political resolution, but only if the protagonists and their supporters stand down.
If only there were magic carpets and genies. Why that messy Middle East would surely bend to a President Mitt Romney's will. With just one wave of his magic wand the good governor's foreign policy address at the Virginia Military Institute was a slapdash jaunt into "make believe" foreign policy -- not a realistic roadmap to a better Middle East. Long on polemics and short on the very strategy the address claims to extol, Romney's speech reads like a mediocre freshman foreign policy essay restating the obvious -- simplistic, long-winded window dressing masquerading as effective, reasoned strategic policy. If this is the best the Republican national security team around Romney can offer in the way of a viable alternative to current U.S. Middle East policy, consider me unimpressed.
What is happening in Syria now shows the futility of the words we use to conduct international diplomacy...We in Labour must not hide behind a naïve belief that any western intervention is an imperialist plot.
Her Majesty Queen Noor embodies the spirit of generously, kindness and compassion. An American woman, who married the King of Jordan, did not see differences between the people of her new country and herself.