In 2017, US President Donald Trump’s new administration found itself in a quandary. Should it continue providing weapons for use in Saudi Arabia’s murderous war in Yemen that had been raging for two years? In June 2017, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unexpectedly declared neighboring...
In this edition of The Interview, Fair Observer talks to former US Ambassador Carey Cavanaugh. US foreign policy is a hot topic of discussion in the media. Since his inauguration in 2017, President Donald Trump has been embroiled in controversy with world leaders: from hanging up on...
Washington must show compassion to the migrants at the US-Mexico border that its foreign policy had a hand in creating. Announcing the US withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, told the media, "I want to make it crystal clear...
From the G-7 dustup to the flashy photo shoot with Kim Jong-un, US foreign policy is now determined solely by the president's pettiest personal preferences. In the wake of the disastrous G-7 meeting in Canada and the successful summit in Singapore, it’s hard to know what to call US foreign...
China is a force to be reckoned with. Not only should the US take notice, but the rest of the developed world should do too. A recent issue of Foreign Affairs, “Letting Go: Trump, America, and the World,” questions the extent to which the United States under President Donald Trump has...
A modest increase in US troop numbers is unlikely to reverse worsening insecurity in Afghanistan in the coming year. Afghanistan has experienced a violent 2017, with the government continuing to steadily lose territory to the Taliban. According to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan...
Pakistan’s refusal to confront its demons could leave it out in the cold. US President Donald Trump has drawn battle lines in South Asia that are likely to have a ripple effect across Eurasia: a stepped-up war against the Taliban in Afghanistan; a tougher approach toward Pakistan’s selective...
Barack Obama failed to execute an economic and military pivot to Asia. Will Donald Trump pick up the fumble and run with it? James Mattis visited Asia this month on his first foreign trip as the new head of the Pentagon. It was less a get-acquainted visit than a damage control tour. His boss,...
Obama has his faults, but he will go down as a president who impacted everyone around the world. As the US president leaves office, journalists, publications and prominent figures are assessing Barack Obama’s legacy and achievements over the past eight years. We cling on to the values and...
Last year’s lowlights from world politics, the culture wars and the military-industrial complex. Each year, Conn Hallinan gives awards to individuals, companies and governments that make reading the news a daily adventure. Here are the awards for 2016. The Golden Lemon Award The Golden Lemon...
One or two bomb throwers can blow up the international community. Donald Trump is appointing a whole cabinet of them. Shortly after the November election, a friend sent me a photo via Facebook. It was a sandwich board outside a bookstore in Massachusetts. It read: “Post-apocalyptic fiction...
Erdogan’s government must seek a political resolution to the deepening conflict in Turkey, which has no end in sight. With the latest terrorist attack on Turkish soil—twin blasts close to the Besiktas football stadium in Istanbul that killed at least 38 people and injured many more—the...
US-China cooperation and a coherent strategy are necessary to roll back the nuclear ambitions of North Korea. In response to North Korea’s fifth nuclear test in September, Chinese and American diplomats are negotiating sanctions to limit the nation’s energy trade, according to sources at...
