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"

POLITICS-US: Afghan Elections Reveal Growing Doubts About War*
By Daniel Luban
WASHINGTON - Washington continues to wait on results from last week's elections in Afghanistan, but few analysts here expect the outcome to provide much of a boost to the U.S.-backed campaign against the Taliban, regardless of who wins.
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POLITICS-US: Health Reform Bogged in PR Battle
Analysis by Bankole Thompson*
DETROIT, Michigan - The message machine of the Barack Obama administration appears to need oiling, as the U.S. president's push for a Sep. 15 deadline for a bipartisan deal on healthcare reform in the U.S. Congress continues to meet stiff resistance.
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RIGHTS-US: CIA Probe Should Go Farther, Groups Say
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - Attorney General Eric Holder's decision Monday to investigate whether interrogators from the Central Intelligence Agency or its contractors violated any federal laws in applying "enhanced interrogation techniques" to detainees in U.S. custody overseas triggered immediate criticism from human rights advocates and appeared to widen the partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats.
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RIGHTS-US: Justice to Probe Detainee Abuses
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - The issue of detainee interrogation and abuse – lately eclipsed by the debate over U.S. health care reform – bubbled back to the surface Monday in a number of headline-making developments.
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MIDEAST: Republicans Attack Obama on Palestine Policy
Analysis by Helena Cobban*
WASHINGTON - Former Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has been in Israel and the occupied West Bank this week, stridently criticising Pres. Barack Obama's policies of pushing for an Israeli settlement freeze and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
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DISARMAMENT: U.S. Says No to Nukes, Yes to Conventional Arms
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - U.S. President Barack Obama’s pledge to take concrete steps towards "a world without nuclear weapons" has garnered overwhelming support from peace activists worldwide.
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AFGHANISTAN-US: Military Translators Risk Low Pay, Death
By Pratap Chatterjee*
WASHINGTON - Murtaza "Jimmy" Farukhi was killed while on patrol with the U.S. Marine Corps on Sep. 9, 2008, at the age of 23. He was not a soldier, but a local translator employed by Columbus, Ohio-based Mission Essential Personnel (MEP).
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AFGHANISTAN-US: Govt Withholds Information About Bagram Detainees
By Danielle Kurtzleben
WASHINGTON - The U.S. government continues to withhold even the most basic information about prisoners in the Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a New York-based legal rights organisation.
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MIDEAST: Big Challenges Ahead for Mahmoud Abbas
Analysis by Helena Cobban*
WASHINGTON - Mahmoud Abbas, the 74-year-old leader of the Palestinian Fatah movement, registered a significant achievement in holding the movement’s Sixth General Conference, which has been wrapping up its business in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank this week.
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POLITICS-US: Irish Ex-President Awarded Medal Despite Attacks
By Daniel Luban
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Irish President Mary Robinson Wednesday, despite a vigorous campaign from hardline supporters of Israel urging him to rescind the award.
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AFGHANISTAN: Holbrooke Heralds US Engagement Pre-Election
By Danielle Kurtzleben
WASHINGTON - Facing a worsening security situation in Afghanistan, as well as rapidly approaching elections in that country, the Obama Administration is touting a new, broad approach to winning the fight against insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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TRADE: China In Violation of WTO Protocols
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON - Since 2001 China has become an increasingly active member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and proponent of open and competitive markets, but yesterday the WTO released a report saying that China has violated WTO protocols by restricting imports of DVDs, software and books and limiting the ability of foreign suppliers to distribute their own products in China.
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AFGHANISTAN-US: Mission Essential, Translators Expendable
By Pratap Chatterjee*
WASHINGTON - Basir "Steve" Ahmed was returning from a bomb-clearing mission in Khogyani district in northeastern Afghanistan when a suicide bomber blew up an explosive-filled vehicle nearby. The blast flipped the military armoured truck Ahmed was riding in three or four times, and filled it with smoke. The Afghan translator had been accompanying the 927th Engineer Company near the Pakistan border on that October day in 2008 that would forever change his life.
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Q&A: "Punishment Has to Be Top Priority in U.S. Military"
Catherine Makino interviews ANN WRIGHT, retired U.S. army colonel
TOKYO - Ann Wright is a former U.S. diplomat who served in the military for 29 years.
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IRAN: Under Pressure from Hawks, Obama Tacks to the Right
By Daniel Luban
WASHINGTON - In the face of mounting pressure from hawks in Washington and the continued threat of military action from Israel, the Barack Obama Administration has been taking a harder line in its latest pronouncements about Iran.
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HONDURAS-US: Obama Administration Restating Its Position?
By Marina Litvinsky
WASHINGTON - A letter sent last week by the U.S. State Department has caused many to question the Obama Administration position on reinstating ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya.
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POLITICS: Saudi Arabia May Not Follow Obama’s Plan
Analysis by Helena Cobban*
WASHINGTON - Pro-Israeli lobbyists here won the support of 77 senators (out of 100) for a letter sent to President Barack Obama that urged him to "press Arab leaders" to consider making dramatic, upfront peace overtures to Israel.
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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.