When Barack Obama became the new U.S. president, one of the primary concerns for many observers was restoring America’s image in the eyes of the world. During the eight years of the Bush administration, the favorability ratings of the United States had declined dramatically. Nowhere was the U.S. image more negatively viewed than among publics in Muslim-majority countries. Anti-Americanism had intensified in the Arab world, and spread from Nigeria in West Africa to Indonesia in the Far East. Despite the administration’s vigorous efforts to win Muslim hearts and minds through innovative public diplomacy, when former president Bush left office, U.S. [...]
The Iraq War will surely stand as the greatest of foreign policy mistakes — a failure, and a tragic one, as no shortage of commentators have called it. What makes it more tragic is that it needn’t have been so. Whether or not one was firmly against the war from the start, the verdict on Iraq will ultimately be characterized by an unusual mix of anger, ambivalence, and, perhaps most of all, confusion. From the beginning, Iraq wasn’t just about a war. It raised a series of questions that many of us still have trouble answering. If the war was [...]
More from 2point6billion: While India has imposed restrictions on Chinese toys and the import ofsome types of steel, Vietnam has increased import tariffs on dairy andpaper products. Similarly, the Indonesian and Malaysian governments arepublicly prompting their people and ministers in specific to buylocally produced food, drinks, shoes, clothes, music and films or facepenalties. In China, farmers in certain provinces are being given a 13percent subsidy if they buy locally made refrigerators, televisions,mobile phones and washing machines. While construction companiesproducing publicly funded infrastructure projects in other parts ofChina are being encouraged to use locally produced steel, concrete,doors and windows, glass, wiring [...]
