Obama Faces a Chaotic World and the Limits of Power - VOA
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Obama Faces a Chaotic World and the Limits of Powerby webdesk@voanews.com (Jim Malone)
Two months before midterm congressional elections that will have a huge impact on the last two years of his tenure, President Barack Obama faces dueling foreign policy crises that pose a leadership test both at home and abroad. The growing threat from Islamic State militants in the Middle East and Russia’s latest military move into Ukraine have brought into clear focus the challenges for the United States in an age where Washington policy makers are acutely mindful of the U.S. public’s waning appetite for overseas military engagements. President Obama’s acknowledgement that the U.S. doesn’t “have a strategy yet” with regard to containing Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria suggests the administration wants to take some time to explore its options both militarily and diplomatically before reaching any decisions on whether to expand the U.S. air campaign into Syria. As the president said, “Syria is not simply a military issue, it’s also a political issue.” Obama’s comment drew some immediate fire from some of his Republican critics. Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Mike Rogers of Michigan, said the president’s comment “confirmed what we have been talking about really for almost two years. There has been no real strategy.” Another Republican had a different view. Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma told MSNBC television said he thought the president “was being commendably cautious about being involved in the middle of the Syrian civil war.” Cole also said the administration should go to Congress for authorization on ramping up its military strikes on Islamic State fighters in Syria, something several Democrats have also said they would support if a decision is made to expand attacks beyond northern Iraq. Obama is also warning that Russia is likely to face more Western sanctions over its latest moves in Ukraine, but he also said the U.S. will not be taking military action “to solve the Ukrainian problem.” Foreign Policy and the Midterm Elections As Congress returns to Washington from its lengthy August recess, the president can expect even more Republican pressure to act decisively and boldly in light of the twin challenges in Syria and Ukraine. Both issues could resonate with voters in November's midterm elections, which present Republicans with their best opportunity in years to seize control both of both houses of Congress for the final two years of the Obama presidency. President Obama’s overall public approval ratings remain low—just above 40 percent in most national polls—and that usually spells trouble for the president’s party in a midterm contest. But the public so far seems supportive of air attacks on Islamic State militants in Iraq, also known as ISIL, and the recent beheading of American journalist James Foley seems to have galvanized U.S. public opposition to the group. But lingering public wariness of U.S. ground troops engaging in overseas conflicts in the wake of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq means the president must still confront the limits of U.S. military power in the context of what the American public is willing to support in any given crisis. It is far easier to build public support for limited, successful drone and air attacks than a more open-ended military commitment that could involve ground troops. Foreign policy issues usually don’t become critical factors in midterm elections. But given recent events in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, the Obama administration’s overall foreign policy approach has come under fire from congressional Republicans and is being highlighted by some Republican candidates for the House and Senate. President Obama has been getting some negative public approval ratings on his handling of foreign policy and that, combined with continuing apprehension about the economy, have driven his overall ratings to some of the lowest points of his presidency. Some analysts believe that a firmer hand against Islamic State militants in both Iraq and Syria could help alter public perceptions about the president’s management of foreign policy, an area where he was given solid marks in previous years. Immigration Showdown Looms Immigration reform also looms as a political flashpoint once Congress returns to Washington in early September. Leaders of both political parties are eagerly awaiting what executive action President Barack Obama may take on the immigration issue, having vowed in June to take action if Congress did not. Well, they did not. Now the stage is now set for yet another political confrontation on immigration reform less than two months before Americans go to the polls in November. Several Republicans are already warning the president that whatever he wants to do on his own on immigration reform will spark a strong reaction on their side. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a likely Republican presidential contender in 2016, wants to tie the immigration issue to the impending congressional debate over renewing funding for the federal government. The budget will be one of the top priorities for Congress when it returns, and some conservative Republicans in the House are already raising the possibility of another government shutdown if the president takes unilateral action on immigration that they deem as too sweeping. Risks for Republicans Republican leaders in both the House and Senate are resisting any shutdown talk for now. But one of the leaders of the anti-immigration reform movement in the House, Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa, told the Des Moines Register newspaper that if the president takes “unconstitutional” action to “legalize millions…the public would be mobilized and galvanized and that changes the dynamic of any continuing resolution and how we might deal with that.” Some Republicans may also be tempted to revive talk of impeachment depending on what the president does regarding immigration. In a fundraising letter to conservatives, King warns President Obama against any amnesty plan for immigrants who arrived in the country illegal. As he puts it: “That means any unconstitutional amnesty order must be met with articles of impeachment.” In his latest comments on immigration reform, the president raised the possibility that whatever he decides to do may not happen for a while yet, a timeline that might slip until after the midterm elections. That would no doubt please several Democratic senators in tight races who fear a backlash from conservatives on Election Day should the president act unilaterally on the immigration issue. Expect the political battle over immigration to play out right through the elections on November 4. Democrats are eager to highlight the Republican talk about a possible government shutdown and even impeachment. They believe a Republican focus on bringing the government to a halt would help them in the midterm battle for control of the Senate, where several close races will tip the balance of control one way or the other. Most analysts and pollsters give Republicans an excellent chance of picking up enough Senate seats in November to claim a majority next January. Republicans need to gain six Senate seats now held by Democrats to gain a majority without losing any of the seats they currently held. University of Virginia analyst Larry Sabato reports that Republicans are likely to gain six to seven seats in November, just enough to claim a majority. He and others also predict modest gains for Republicans in the House of Representatives, where they already have a sizable majority.
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Mediators resumed talks on the Ukrainian conflict on Monday, even as President Vladimir V. Putin accused Kiev of seeking to avoid autonomy for southeastern Ukraine.
KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia on Monday of "direct and open aggression" which he said had radically changed the battlefield balance as Kiev's forces suffer major reverses in the war with pro-Moscow separatists.
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US To Push for Coalition to Fight Islamic State: Kerry
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Government forces lost more ground to Russian-backed separatists in heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine a day after European leaders threatened to impose more sanctions on Moscow if it doesn't end its support for the rebels.
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 New York Times |
John Kerry: The Threat of ISIS Demands a Global Coalition
New York Times IN a polarized region and a complicated world, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria presents a unifying threat to a broad array of countries, including the United States. What's needed to confront its nihilistic vision and genocidal agenda is a global ... |
 New York Daily News |
'TOO CAUTIOUS:' Lawmakers blast Obama's foreign policy approach to ...
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 MarketWatch |
Kiev loses ground to Russian-backed rebels ahead of cease-fire talks
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 The Guardian |
Vladimir Putin calls on Kiev to enter 'statehood' talks for south-east Ukraine
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Ketchum’s staff members who provide public relations advice to Russia must avoid being seen as defending acts contrary to American interests while still providing some luster for a lucrative client.
Obama to Reassure NATO Baltic Statesby webdesk@voanews.com (Luis Ramirez)
President Barack Obama leaves Tuesday for a trip to Estonia and later Wales, in Britain, for a gathering of leaders of NATO countries. Russia's latest actions in Ukraine are making the trip an especially important one. The arrival of U.S. troops in Estonia last April was a concrete sign of American support for Baltic nations feeling threatened by Russia's aggression in Ukraine. Obama's stop in Estonia -- a NATO member -- is meant to reaffirm America's defense...
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President Barack Obama leaves Tuesday for a trip to Estonia and later Wales, in Britain, for a gathering of leaders of NATO countries. As VOA White House correspondent Luis Ramirez reports,...
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MOSCOW — Seeming to be searching for the right word during a prerecorded television interview, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Sunday that one of the issues to be resolved in the Ukrainian conflict is “statehood” for the eastern regions now controlled by separatists.
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The Senate’s top foreign policy official was unequivocal on Sunday: Ukraine needs weapons from the West to defend itself against Russian aggression.
During an interview with CNN’s State of the Union, Senate Foreign Relations Chair Robert Menendez said Kiev needed both sophisticated weapons and stronger sanctions to help repulse Moscow’s incursions.
“We should be providing the Ukrainians with the type of defensive weapons that will impose a cost upon Putin for further aggression,” Menendez told CNN from Kiev, where he is on a fact-finding mission. “We have to give the Ukrainians the fighting chance to defend themselves.”
Menendez went on to describe the Kremlin’s incursions in Ukraine as a “direct invasion.”
The Democrat from New Jersey stopped short of suggesting that American or NATO troops should be deployed in Ukraine.
The senator’s words come as President Barack Obama prepares to visit Estonia next week, before heading to the U.K. for a NATO summit, where the alliance’s representatives will discuss the increasingly violent conflict in Ukraine.
The Obama administration continues to advocate for the isolation of Russia through targeted economic sanctions, while providing the embattled government in Kiev with non-lethal aid.
On Aug. 6, Obama said that if Russia were to launch an invasion of Ukraine, the White House’s calculus might change.
“Now if you start seeing an invasion by Russia, that’s obviously a different set of questions. We’re not there yet,” Obama told reporters at the time.
However, last week NATO published satellite images that appeared to show Russian armored columns fighting in Ukrainian territory in a bid to prop up the pro-Moscow insurgency that has been taking place since April.
In the face of mounting evidence, more politicians are advocating that the U.S. take firmer action against the Kremlin.
“I think it is appropriate to up that level of aid, to make them a more capable fighting force to resist this incursion and to make it as painful as possible for Putin to make any progress in the Ukraine,” Congressman Adam Smith, the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, told CBS’sFace the Nation on Sunday.
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Lavrov Urges Ukraine Cease-fire as Parties Hold Talksby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
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Fox News |
Ukraine forces lose more ground to rebels as Putin calls for 'statehood' talks
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