Russia Asserts Itself as U.S. Plans Afghan Push

PapaG · Feb 4, 2009

I really can't say I'm surprised considering our President said he is going to send more troops to Afghanistan and has already bombed Pakistan.

Game on, President Obama.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123378027003448977.html

MOSCOW -- Russia is reasserting its role in Central Asia with a Kremlin push to eject the U.S. from a vital air base, along with a Moscow-led pact to form an international military force to rival NATO. The moves potentially complicate the new U.S. war strategy in Afghanistan.

The moves mark Russia's most aggressive steps yet to counter a U.S. military presence in the region that it has long resented. They pose a challenge for the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, which sees Afghanistan as its top foreign-policy priority and is preparing to double the size of the American military presence there.

...continued at link
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maxiep · Feb 4, 2009

Well, Joe Biden said that Barack Obama was going to be tested if he became Commander in Chief. I guess we'll see if he has "steel in his spine".

PapaG · Feb 4, 2009

maxiep said: ↑

Well, Joe Biden said that Barack Obama was going to be tested if he became Commander in Chief. I guess we'll see if he has "steel in his spine".
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President Obama gave his first interview to Arabic TV. Symbolic I suppose for his long-time supporters in the US, but likely setting off five-alarm fire bells for the regional powers who deal with these people on a daily basis.

I've said it before, but this is surreal.

PapaG · Feb 4, 2009

If I didn't think President Obama had all of the answers (since he promised them), I'd guess the rest of the real world is testing the guy.

India warns Obama on intervening in Kashmir

New Delhi has warned Barack Obama that he is "barking up the wrong tree" if he tries to broker a deal between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

MK Narayanan, India's national security adviser, said the new US president was in danger of dredging up outdated Clinton-era strategies in an effort to improve ties between the nuclear armed neighbours.

"I do think that we could make President Obama understand, if he does nurse any such view, that he is barking up the wrong tree. I think Kashmir today has become one of the quieter and safer places in this part of the world," Mr Narayanan said in an interview with CNBC TV18.

"It's possible that at this time there are elements, -perhaps in the administration who are harking back to the pre-2000 era."

(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
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PapaG · Feb 4, 2009

This is like a bad dream. The US media did us all a disservice by their non-stop promoting of this guy. Now even the EU, our supposed "ally", is calling the guy out for his campaign BS. Gee, maybe Bush wasn't such an idiot.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5655115.ece

President Obama to water down 'Buy American' plan after EU trade war threat

The European Union warned the US yesterday against plunging the world into depression by adopting a planned “Buy American” policy, intensifying fears of a trade war.

The EU threatened to retaliate if the US Congress went ahead with sweeping measures in its $800 billion (£554 billion) stimulus plan to restrict spending to American goods and services.

Gordon Brown was caught in the crossfire as John Bruton, the EU Ambassador to Washington, said that “history has shown us” where the closing of markets leads — a clear reference to the Depression of the 1930s, triggered by US protectionist laws.

“I agree that we can’t send a protectionist message,” he said in an interview with Fox TV. “I want to see what kind of language we can work on this issue. I think it would be a mistake, though, at a time when worldwide trade is declining, for us to start sending a message that somehow we’re just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade.”

Mr Brown does not want to join criticism of President Obama’s stimulus proposals, which he sees as vindicating his own, but the Prime Minister remains strongly anti-protectionist, resisting calls yesterday for more safeguards for British workers.

Trade unions demanded a tightening of the law on the use of foreign workers as hundreds again walked out at the Lindsey oil refinery in protest at the hiring of Italian and Portuguese workers, and energy workers around the country followed suit.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister refused to condemn the “Buy American” clause. When pressed, the spokesman said that Mr Brown had repeatedly made clear that he was opposed to protectionist measures. He would not say, however, whether Britain was lobbying the new Administration to drop the clause.

Mr Brown remained in favour of President Obama’s decision to inject cash into the economy. “We are supportive of the approach in the US in terms of their fiscal policy.”

The EU warnings came in letters to US political leaders in Congress, Timothy Geithner, the Treasury Secretary, and Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State. Mr Bruton urged them to respect the decision taken by the G20, the world’s leading economic nations, in Washington last November to resist protectionism as a defence against the crisis. They are expected to meet again in London in April.

“Failing this risks entering into a spiral of protectionist measures around the globe that can only hurt our economies further,” he wrote.

“Open markets remain the essential precondition for a rapid recovery from the crisis, and history has shown us where measures taken contrary to this principle can lead us.”

Under the “Buy American” clause passed by the US House of Representatives, American iron and steel must be used in construction projects that form part of the recovery plan. The US Senate wants to extend the scope of the clause before the Bill goes to the White House for approval.

The European Commission’s powerful trade department, a bastion of open markets formerly headed by Lord Mandelson, said yesterday that the “Buy American” clause was “the worst possible signal” that could be sent to world trade.

A spokesman said: “We are particularly concerned about the signal that these measures could send to the world at a time when all countries are facing difficulties. Where America leads, many others tend to follow.”

The Commission believes that the US move would violate international trade rules policed by the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO). The Commission also made clear that it was keeping an equally vigilant eye on protectionist moves within Europe as France prepared to insist that its motor manufacturers buy their parts only from French companies.

The White House later moved to clarify Mr Obama's remarks. Press secretary Robert Gibbs said that the president wanted the stimulus Bill to co-ordinate help for American workers with concerns for the world economy.

"The balance he wants to strike is to continue to get the economy going without unnecessarily starting something with our trade partners all over the world that will hinder [that process]."

Asked if that meant there would be a 'Buy American' component in the legalisation, Mr Gibbs replied: 'I'm not a trade lawyer."
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PapaG · Feb 4, 2009

Well, apparently the Shanghai Cooperative Alliance is what Russia and China are trying to resurrect to counter our new policies in the Middle East and to counter NATO. Of course, the EU sent official notification to the US regarding Obama's "Buy American" stance, so...

a dizzying pace.

PapaG · Feb 4, 2009

Should I laugh or cry at this point? If the messages are in favor of it, pass the freaking bill.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/04/voter.anger/index.html

Unhappy voters jam Capitol Hill phone lines

The recent debate over the nearly $900 billion economic stimulus plan and revelations of tax problems by three Obama administration appointees have voters angrily jamming phone lines on Capitol Hill to air their frustrations to their elected representatives.

Their reactions are putting pressure on Congress and benefiting watchdog groups on both sides of the political aisle.

Capitol operators tell CNN Radio that phone lines have been jammed for the past two weeks, sometimes prompting busy signals.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, said calls on the sweeping stimulus plan jumped from eight during all of January to hundreds a day now.

In a sampling of 12 Senate offices, half had so many messages that their voicemail boxes were full.
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SodaPopinski · Feb 5, 2009

I think PapaG just hijacked his own thread.

-Pop

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