Global Paradigms

Business Times - 27 Jul 2011 Widening ideological differences Clashing TV addresses indicate that while Obama is calling for compromise, Boehner is preparing for confrontation By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT US PRESIDENT Barack Obama remained his usual cool self - and yet sounded a bit combative - during a brief televised address to the nation on Monday night, warning voters that Congress was at a 'stalemate' over raising the federal debt ceiling. He called on them to put pressure on their elected representatives to come up with a compromise that would avoid the possibility of a devastating default, and allow the federal government to continue borrowing money to pay its debts after Aug 2. 'America, after all, has always been a grand experiment in compromise,' President Obama said, as he invoked several Democratic and Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan - the political icon of conservative Republicans who had raised the debt ceiling and made deals on ma...

Business Times - 26 Jul 2011 Tripping the fiscal fantastic Liberal Democratic pro-spenders and conservative Republican crusaders are both living in parallel fantasy lands By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT ACCORDING to the latest reports circulating in Washington, after the collapse of their talks last Friday, US President Barack Obama and the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives have returned to negotiating a deal aimed at reducing the federal government deficit, which would allow for the raising of the debt ceiling before Aug 2. The good news for the American taxpayers (Main Street) and the financial markets (Wall Street) is not only that the US Treasury is not going to run out of cash to pay its debt and run the government, but the leaders of the two major political parties may be moving in the direction of getting - or at least, trying to get - the US fiscal house in order. If the reports are correct - a big 'if' - it is not inconceivable that the White Ho...

Business Times - 22 Jul 2011 Time for Obama to exert trade leadership By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT IF YOU are getting depressed following the never-ending bickering in Washington over extending the debt ceiling and cutting the budget deficits, the continuing legislative deadlock over global trade policy is not going to cheer you up. US President Barack Obama is sending the proposed free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to Congress for approval. But officials in the White House are not very optimistic that the lawmakers will approve the trade pacts before they leave for the summer recess next month. The Obama Administration has integrated the promotion of global trade into its overall economic strategy, arguing that trade agreements with emerging markets like Korea help accelerate the fragile economic recovery while creating new well-paying jobs for American workers. Many pro-free-trade Republican lawmakers share President Obama's sentiments bu...

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/syrias-house-borgia-5646 Syria's House of Borgia June 22, 2011 Leon Hadar In a geostrategically located region riven by political upheaval and military conflict, providing an arena for competition between great powers, the members of a powerful ruling family had a reputation for ruthlessness and immorality. Their exotic ancestral roots and clannish and secretive modus operandi raised doubts about the legitimacy of their rule and played into the hands of rivals at home and abroad, encouraging family leaders to exercise brute force and deceit in order to maintain their hold on power. But after years of betraying friends and co-opting adversaries, of switching regional alliances and playing one local competitor against the other while relying on the support of foreign powers, the cunning balancing act performed by this dynasty of political survivors proved to be an ineffective strategy to holding power for the one of its young descendants. Americ...

According to a report in The Washington Post, Representative Joe Pitts, a Republican from Pennsylvania and other U.S, lawmakers received financial contributions from pro-Pakistan lobbyists who were being funded by the Pakistani military, including by its infamous Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). In return, Pitts and other Pak-paid congressman, including Dan Burton, Republican from Indiana, and Dennis Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio were being asked by the ISI men in Washington to promote the Pakistani position on Kashmir, the border region claimed by Pakistan and India. It seems that Pitts and the other lawmakers ended up delivering the goods to their paymasters. Hence, a few days after he had received $2,000 campaign contribution from the Pakistani lobbyists, Pitts introduced a resolution in 2004 which, reflecting Islamabad’s stance, called for a more activist U.S. role in resolving the dispute over Kashmir. The FBI has charged that two U.S. citizens of Pakistani desce...

Business Times - 19 Jul 2011 Kicking the deficit-cutting can down the road to Election Day Both US parties need to find a way to square the debt-ceiling circle through some legislative trick and political gimmicks By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT US President Barack 'No-Drama' Obama tends to refrain from employing hyperbolic language in discussing policy issues. But last Friday, he was close to sounding apocalyptic. 'Let's avert Armageddon', was the way he addressed the American people during another press conference on the debt-ceiling negotiations. Unless Republican and Democratic lawmakers raise the current debt limit of US$14.29 trillion by Aug 2, America would plunge towards what could be described as 'Debtmageddon'. The federal government would not be able to pay back its loans or gain access to new ones, leading to soaring interest rates, igniting a financial meltdown and bringing to a halt the fragile economic recovery. Two major plans to avert...

Business Times - 15 Jul 2011 How it became Boehner's Dilemma Making a deal on the US debt ceiling is easier said than done as both parties play a game of political one-upmanship By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT ANYONE who has taken an introductory course in one of the social sciences is probably familiar with one of the major problems in the field of game theory: the so-called prisoner's dilemma. It explains why two individuals (say, two suspects arrested by the police, who have insufficient evidence to convict either of them) tend to refrain from cooperating (by not betraying each other to the police) even if it is in their best interests to do so (since they will go free). Welcome to Washington's 2011 Great American Debt Limit Negotiations! Indeed, not unlike the two players in the game of the prisoner's dilemma, President Barack Obama and the leader of the Republican opposition in Congress, House Speaker John Boehner from Oklahoma, would be better off cooperati...

Business Times - 08 Jul 2011 US debt limit: Republicans playing a risky game By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT THERE is a general agreement in Washington and Wall Street that the US is in real risk of defaulting on its debt if Congress fails to approve legislation that permits the federal government to exceed the current national borrowing ceiling of US$14.3 trillion by the beginning of next month. In fact, Obama Administration officials insist that Republican and Democratic lawmakers need to agree on a deal by July 22 in order to allow for enacting the necessary legislation before the Aug 2 deadline. In the aftermath of the Great Recession and at a time when the recovery of the US economy remains in very slow motion and the global economy is threatened by ongoing political and economic crises in the eurozone and in the Middle East, you would assume that US legislators would put in place a deal to ensure the US can meet its financial obligations - and as soon as possible. It shoul...

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http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1233441.html w w w . h a a r e t z . c o . i l עודכן ב- 07:20 04/07/2011 לי-און הדר | היי שלום ניאו-שמרנות מאת לי-און הדר, וושינגטון בנימין נתניהו ובעלי בריתו בוושינגטון חולמים בהקיץ על השידוך המושלם אחרי הבחירות לנשיאות ארה"ב בשנה הבאה. לפי הפנטסיה הזאת, נשיא רפובליקאי יחבור לראש הממשלה מהליכוד, ושניהם יקימו לתחייה את ההגמוניה של ארה"ב במזרח התיכון ויחזירו לישראל את תפקידה כשריף אזורי. ישראל תקבל לאחר מכן אור ירוק מהבית הלבן להשמיד את אתרי הגרעין באיראן, לצאת למתקפה מחודשת על עזה, ולהפציץ את ביירות כדי לדכא את החיזבאללה. נתניהו, האיש שיש לו הכל לבד מהזמנה לשמש יועץ פוליטי למפלגה הרפוליקאית בבחירות 2012, פועל בהנחה שאם ברק אובמה יודח מתפקידו הוא יוחלף בהעתק של ג'ורג' בוש הבן, שיגבש מדיניות מזרח תיכונית הדומה לזאת של ממשלה בהנהגת הליכוד. נראה שמנהיג הליכוד צפה פעמים רבות מדי בנאומים של גלן בק ושרה פיילין ברשת "פוקס", שבהם הם תוקפים את "המוסלמי" בבית הלבן, והחליף אי-מיילים רבים מדי עם עמיתיו הניאו-שמרנים. דומה ג...

Published on The National Interest (http://nationalinterest.org) Source URL (retrieved on Jul 1, 2011): http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/saving-us-policy-the-mideast-5556 Saving U.S. Mideast Policy | More [1] | July 1, 2011 Leon Hadar [2] You don't have to be a strategic analyst or a regional expert to figure out that U.S. policies in the Middle East and Central Asia—ranging from Afghanistan to Libya—are reaching a dead end. In Afghanistan, more than 100,000 U.S. and NATO troops, a huge contingency of special operations forces and a bevy of private companies have failed to crush the Taliban-led insurgency and bring political stability and economic growth to the country. Instead, Washington has subsidized an ineffective and corrupt government in Kabul while the U.S. military presence has eroded U.S.-Pakistan relations. The American public's patience for war is running thin. Disdain for the nation-building effort in Afghanistan was compounded by the military intervention in...

Business Times - 01 Jul 2011 Don't write off the West and pin hopes only on the Rest By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT MUCH has been said and written in recent years about the growing challenge to US geo-strategic and geo-economic status by China, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the other rising global powers, including South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey. Indeed, in the aftermath of the US military debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, and especially since the financial meltdown and the ensuing Great Recession, small-time pundits as well as renowned futurologists have been predicting that the West is basically kaput and that the rest of the Twenty-First Century belongs to the 'Rest'. In this scenario, China replaces the US and the global hegemonic power sooner or later. As we study these America-is-finished-and-China- rules-the-world forecasts, it is important to recall that not so long ago many of the same pundits and futurologists were anticipating that glo...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leon-t-hadar/obama-afghanistan-_b_885478.html Leon T. HadarJournalist and foreign affairs analyst Barack Gorbachev: Adjusting To The Global Reality The political leaders and the generals were continuing to debate on whether to start pulling out the troops from Afghanistan at a time when political power was being consolidated by a relatively young reformer interested in mending relations with the rest of the world and despite the growing recognition that the war there was lost. But finally, in April 1988, Mikheil Gorbachev, the leader of the USSR, introduced a timetable for the departure of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, announcing that the withdrawal of about 100,000 troops will start in the following month. It took Gorbachev another four years to complete the withdrawal from South Asia while he was also trying to manage the gradual erosion in Soviet hegemony in Central and Eastern Europe and the broader restructuring of the global position of the Soviet ...

Business Times - 28 Jun 2011 US says hello to realism, bye bye to neoconservatism The majority of Americans agree the US should 'pay less attention to problems overseas' By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT IN A speech before an audience of Asian defence ministers and military commanders in Singapore early this month, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates pledged that the United States would sustain its military presence and diplomatic involvement in Asia. He was trying to calm anxieties among US allies in the region about rising isolationist sentiments that are seen to be affecting Americans these days as they confront the realities of skyrocketing budget deficits and a military overstretched in two major wars and a few small ones in the Middle East. But even Mr Gates admitted during his address in Singapore that 'fighting two protracted and costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has strained the US military's ground forces, and worn out the patience and appetite of the Ame...

Business Times - 24 Jun 2011 No QE3, so ball now in politicians' court By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT POLICYMAKERS at the US central bank have been surprised by the continuing weakness of the American economy - but they are hoping that things will pick up later this year. This sense of apprehension about the current slow pace of the economic recovery was expressed by the members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Wednesday, following a two-day meeting in Washington during which they agreed to shift policy and to end the US$600 billion bond-buying programme (aka QE2, or Quantitative Easing Part 2) as scheduled by the end of this month. Much of what the Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday should not have come as a big surprise to politicians in Washington or to investors on Wall Street, who share the growing anxiety about the feebleness of the recovery. The Fed in its statement, and chairman Ben Bernanke during a press conference, seem to be providing official ...

Business Times - 22 Jun 2011 High time for Republicans, Democrats to agree fiscally By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT WASHINGTON'S two leading political rivals made history over the weekend when they decided to leave their differences behind and work together to win a major victory. Indeed, US President Barack Obama and the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, playing a golf match as a team on Saturday, defeated Vice-president Joseph Biden and Republican Ohio governor John Kasich. It was only a friendly game of golf, but the event seemed to have acquired some political overtones. Observers wonder if the opposing Democratic and Republican sides facing each other in a long and exhausting legislative fight will be able to agree on a deal over the US federal budget. The White House said in a statement that the president and Mr Boehner defeated their counterparts on the 18th hole, each winning US$2. 'The foursome had great time and really enjoyed playing golf,' th...

Business Times - 16 Jun 2011 Obama is sitting pretty for now But if the economy gets worse, the Republican challenge will look more formidable By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT I DON'T know whether US President Barack Obama watched the televised exchange between the leading Republican presidential candidates. If he did, he may have felt reassured that none of the seven GOP members who gathered for the second debate of the season in New Hampshire - the state that will hold the first primary next year - and who are hoping to win his job next November pose any serious threat to him. But should he? Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, Representative Michele Bachmann from Ohio, former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, Representative Ron Paul from Texas, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former Ohio governor Tim Pawlenty and business executive Herman Cain are all accomplished individuals. They believe in their professional and political experience as wel...

Business Times - 10 Jun 2011 This is a struggle for power, not Arab Spring By LEON HADAR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT SKIM through old editorials that were published in the Soviet Communist Party's Pravda newspaper during the Cold War and you'll have a lot of fun, laughing out loud when reading about all those loopy notions that the people in Moscow held about the upheaval taking place in the Middle East at the time. Historians of the Middle East explain that the region was then going through major structural, political and economic changes resulting from, among other things, the collapse of the British and French empires, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the impact of secular Arab nationalism and socialism, the rise of military elites, and various religious, ethnic and tribal conflicts. But according to the old Pravda and the Soviet officials who published it, things were actually very simple. Whether it was the military coup in Egypt (1952), the periodic unrest in Syria and Iraq in the...