John Tabin
Regarding an issue discussed here last week, an update from WashingtonPost.com’s Checkpoint Washington blog: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has promised a decision soon on whether the U.S. will sell new fighter jets to Taiwan. The move is part…
BBC News: A large explosion has hit near government headquarters in the Norwegian capital Oslo. The blast is thought to have caused damage to the offices of Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and a number of other official buildings. Initial…
In addition to the bombing in Oslo, there has apparently been a shooting at a summer camp on the island of Utøya (the shooting may be ongoing — reports are sketchy). Why a summer camp? This report from yesterday gives…
ABC News: Syria today declared today that foreign diplomats must seek approval to travel outside Damascus. The move comes after the U.S. and French ambassadors’ recent travel to the restive city of Hama ahead of major planned protests. The Associated…
The Washington Post reports that when Hillary Clinton said last week that Bashar Assad has “lost legitimacy” from the US perspective, it was completely impromptu — “not even her aides expected her to go that far”: The line, an unscripted…
Josh Rogin reports on the maneuvering in Washington over whether to sell F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan; Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) has put a hold on the nomination of Bill Burns for a deputy secretary of state to pressure the…
Today’s New York Times ratifies what I sensed yesterday: The White House is waking up and turning against Assad. They’re even starting to consider some of the diplomatic moves against Syria that they should have been pursuing months ago. One…
Are the Obama Administration’s delusions about the efficacy of engaging with the Assad regime finally falling away? Consider: Friday, Ambassador Robert Ford (along with French Ambassador Eric Chevallier) visited Hama to lend support to the largest protest against Assad yet….
I said last week that the Ames Straw Poll is probably going to be make-or-break for Tim Pawlenty. Jeff Zeleny’s report in tomorrow’s New York Times suggests that this is settling into conventional wisdom: AMES, Iowa – Tim Pawlenty was…
Josh Rogin attempts to profile the foreign policy advisors to four of the Republican presidential candidates. He really only succeeds with Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty; the Michele Bachmann campaign didn’t respond to requests for information, and the outside advisors…
