Jim Lobe

Four years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraqis have never been more pessimistic about their lives and antagonistic toward their purported liberators, according to a major new poll [.pdf] released Monday by BBC, ABC News, USA Today, and the German ARD television network. The survey of some 2,200 people throughout the country found that security has … Continue reading “Iraqis Increasingly Pessimistic, Anti-US”

Accounts of a Feb. 28 “literary luncheon” at the White House suggest that President George W. Bush’s reading tastes – until now a remarkably good predictor of his policy views – are moving ever rightward, even apocalyptic, despite his administration’s recent suggestions that it is more disposed to engage Washington’s foes, even in the Middle … Continue reading “Uh Oh, the President’s
Reading Again”

It was just nine months ago when Newsweek spoke for the conventional wisdom at that moment when it pronounced “The End of Cowboy Diplomacy.” The phrase signaled the apparent victory – at last – of the State Department-led “realist” wing over hawks led by Vice President Dick Cheney and then-Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld in gaining … Continue reading “End of Cowboy Diplomacy,
Part II?”

A majority of people from around the world hold predominantly negative views of Israel, Iran, and the United States, according to a survey [.pdf] of more than 28,000 respondents in 27 countries. The survey, which was sponsored by the BBC World Service and designed by Globescan and the Washington-based Program for International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), … Continue reading “Israel, Iran, US
Least-Liked Countries”

In a move that has surprised many foreign policy analysts here, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has appointed a prominent neoconservative hawk and leading champion of the Iraq war to the post of State Department Counselor. Eliot A. Cohen, who teaches military history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) here and … Continue reading “Rice Picks Neocon Champion of Iraq War as Counselor”

The State Department plans to send its top refugee official to Damascus in the coming weeks to discuss how best to deal with the estimated 500,000 to one million Iraqis who have sought safe haven in Syria, a Department spokesman confirmed here Thursday. The trip by Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration … Continue reading “U.S. to Send Top Refugee Official to Damascus”

Two weeks after making major concessions for a nuclear accord with North Korea, the administration of President George W. Bush said Tuesday it was prepared to sit down with Iran and Syria as part of a regional conference to stabilize Iraq. In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, widely considered … Continue reading “Bush Backing Into Baker-Hamilton After All?”

If, as she insists, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is determined to make concrete progress toward achieving George W. Bush’s vision of a two-state solution, one in which Israel would be required to make major territorial concessions, it appears that she faces a major foe in the White House. No, not only Dick Cheney and … Continue reading “Rice Faces Formidable White House Foe”

A violent clash between Islam and the West is not inevitable, according to a majority of respondents in a survey [.pdf] of more than 28,000 respondents in 27 countries released Monday. An average of 56 percent of respondents agreed with the proposition that "it is possible to find common ground" between members of the two … Continue reading “Clash of Civilizations Not Inevitable, Poll Finds”

For several weeks now, Washington has been abuzz with rumors that U.S. President George W. Bush is preparing to attack nuclear and other sites in Iran this spring – rumors deemed sufficiently credible that lawmakers from both parties are hastily preparing legislation precisely to prevent such an eventuality. The evidence cannot be ignored. As cited … Continue reading “The Neocon Dog That Isn’t Barking”