Obama: A New Era? / IPS Inter Press Service

IPS Correspondent Gareth Porter talks to Democracy Now!

Despite Obama’s pledge, new evidence has emerged that combat brigades will remain in Iraq under a different name.

IPS Correspondent Gareth Porter talks to Real News.

The U.S. military establishment believed they could easily pressure President Obama to back down on his pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq within 16 months. Having found Obama unconvinced by their argument, they have now launched a campaign in Washington to blame Obama’s withdrawal policy for any future instability in Iraq.

Obama Sits Down With IPS

OBAMA: "Subsidising Big Oil Makes No Sense"

Q&A: "I Appreciate This Unique Moment"

US-INDIA: State Visit by Singh Could Smooth Bumpy Relations
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON - The close of U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to Asia this week brought rampant speculation about what a new U.S.-China relationship will look like, but next week's state visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will broaden the focus on the rising powers which Obama must balance during his administration.
MORE >>

AFGHANISTAN: Insurgents Infiltrate Security Forces
By Lal Aqa Sherin*
KABUL - A Taliban fighter infiltrated the Afghan police force, killing seven Afghan officers and British soldiers. Similar attacks have taken the lives of U.S. troops.
MORE >>

U.S.: Obama Returns to Greater Middle East Mess
Analysis by Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - As Barack Obama arrives home from his weeklong tour of East Asia, he confronts a growing list of ever more urgent problems in the Greater Middle East that he inherited from George W. Bush's "global war on terror".
MORE >>

MIDEAST: U.S. Credibility as Peace Broker Eroding by the Day
By Ellen Massey
WASHINGTON - In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, movement in the standoff between the two sides can be as often backward as it is forward. The past couple of weeks have seen moves from both sides that have garnered the attention of the world, but forward progress remains elusive.
MORE >>

RIGHTS-US: "New" Military Courts Still Lack Basic Safeguards

By William Fisher
NEW YORK - While conservatives complain about Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other terror suspects from Guantanamo coming to New York for trial, many legal experts and human rights groups are being equally outspoken in their criticism of the "new and improved" military commissions designated to try five other detainees.
MORE >>

JAPAN: Obama Visit Hailed, But Left Crucial Questions Unanswered
Analysis by Catherine Makino
TOKYO - Setting foot on the Land of Cherry Blossom over the weekend, U.S. President Barack Obama waxed nostalgic, recalling his first visit to Japan as a young boy, when his mother brought him there.
MORE >>

RIGHTS-US: Decision on 9/11 Trials Sparks Praise, Anger

By William Fisher
NEW YORK - The U.S. government's decision to bring five high-profile terror suspects to the United States to face trials in a civilian court has drawn reactions ranging from praise to condemnation to confusion.
MORE >>

GENDER: "Truly Exciting If the U.S. Could Ratify CEDAW" - Part 2
Miren Gutierrez* interviews INÉS ALBERDI, executive director of UNIFEM
ROME - CEDAW or the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1979.
MORE >>

U.S.-HONDURAS: Washington Stresses Urgency of Unity Govt
By Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - In a renewed effort to save a U.S.-sponsored accord to resolve the five-month-old political crisis in Honduras, the U.S. State Department Friday called on both sides to create a government of national unity "without delay" and on the Honduran Congress to "swiftly" consider the restoration of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
MORE >>

RIGHTS: U.S., Somalia Still Opt Out of Children's Treaty
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - When the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) commemorates the 20th anniversary of its landmark international treaty protecting the rights of children next week, there will be two countries skipping the celebrations: the United States and Somalia.
MORE >>

ECONOMY-US: "Green" Jobs Should Be Black and Brown Too
By Haider Rizvi
NEW YORK - The Barack Obama administration's drive to promote a "green" economy is not working in the interest of poor people in the United States, especially those who belong to minority communities, according to a new study by a leading think tank.
MORE >>

U.S.: Increasingly Isolated in Key Regions
Analysis by Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - More than a year after his election, President Barack Obama appears to be dashing hopes both in the Arab world and in Latin America that he would bring major changes in U.S. policy toward their respective regions.
MORE >>

U.S.: Obama to Meet Asian Leaders as China's Shadow Lengthens
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama's attendance at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum leaders' meeting in Singapore next week will chart a new direction for U.S. participation in Asian multilateral diplomacy and call attention to the new administration's policy of engagement with the reclusive military-led government in Burma.
MORE >>

POLITICS-US: The Healthcare Sausage Factory
By Camille Elhassani*AJ/IPS
WASHINGTON - Watching healthcare reform legislation pass through the U.S. Congress is like watching sausage get made. It is a gory and lumbering process of alliances and amendments, procedure and pandering.
MORE >>

POLITICS: Corruption in Afghanistan Cuts Both Ways
Commentary by Melek Zimmer-Zahine*
KABUL - Unfortunately for both Afghans and Americans, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Barack Obama, his counterpart in Washington, missed a chance to reset the critical relationship between their two countries and move the dialogue in an honest direction.
MORE >>

POLITICS: Big Breakthroughs May Elude Obama's Asia Trip
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in Tokyo Thursday for the first stop of his four-nation trip to Asia, but an ongoing disagreement over realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, new roadblocks to a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea, and continuing tussles over climate change, trade and currency issues with China have led the White House to downplay goals for the northeast Asian legs of the trip.
MORE >>

RIGHTS-US: Obama's Terrorism Courts Still "Fatally Flawed"

By William Fisher
NEW YORK - Human rights advocates and legal scholars are voicing sharp criticism of President Barack Obama's revisions to the George W. Bush administration's Military Commissions Act of 2006, characterising them as unnecessary and saying the new law will lead to further delays and create a system of "second-class justice".
MORE >>

Next >>

	News Feeds RSS/XML
	Make IPS News your homepage!
	Free Email Newsletters
	IPS Mobile
	Text Only

Barack Obama's presidency is resonating with people around the world who hope for a new era of international cooperation and engagement with the tarnished superpower. But Obama has inherited wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a tanking economy, and global crises like climate change. IPS reports on the implications of the Obama administration not just for U.S. citizens, but for the world.