WPR Blog Archive

We collected a range of reactions to President Barack Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy rollout over at WPR’s video section that should be of interest: In case you missed it, here is Obama’s full speech from West Point. Afghans show skepticism in this Al Jazeera video. Jim Lehrer, David Brooks and Mark Shields examine the president’s speech in this video. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and conservative leader David Cameron get into a heated discussion in this video. Our video sectionis updated daily. I’ll highlight videos we post there from time to timeon this blog. Got a tip for where we […]

In a nutshell, President Barack Obama delivered a very effective — if imperfect — speech last night, outlining in appropriate detail the reasons for both the war’s ongoing significance and the announced troop increase, the overall objectives and approach, and to a lesser degree the regional context. Most importantly, he embedded the entire discussion into a compelling vision of balancing America’s national security interests with its broader national interests, while placing both in the context of America’s enduring yet changing global role. By appropriate detail, I mean that there wasn’t much, but that’s not what this speech was about. As […]

Swiss voters’ passage of a referendum banning the construction of minarets next to mosques in Switzerland has unleashed international outcry from rights advocates and thrown a harsh light on European countries’ efforts to integrate immigrant populations. The nationalist Swiss Peoples’ Party sponsored the vote, claiming that minarets represent the first steps toward encroaching radical Islam and the threat of Sharia law in Switzerland. The referendum was opposed by the government and widely expected to fail. Instead, 57 percent of voters approved the measure. The ban comes into effect immediately. Switzerland is home to only four mosques with minarets, and Muslims […]

Despite including what’s expected to be an enormous troop increase — one tied to a dialed-in strategic and tactical approach and accompanied by “exit ramps” — President Barack Obama’s speech tonight outlining his new Afghanistan war plan is widely expected to leave everyone, both war supporters and opponents, at least partially disappointed. As the pre-speech chatter would have it, there are not enough troops or commitment for the former camp, and not enough firm conditionality for the latter. That’s quite a contrast with the initial strategy rollout back in March, which managed to satisfy almost everyone, and represents the delayed […]