Word: progressives
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Suddenly the Obama Administration seemed wobbly on the Middle East; clearly, Clinton had been too bullish on Netanyahu's proposal (which had been negotiated over months with Middle East envoy George Mitchell and was seen, privately, by the Americans as real progress). But the Administration's mission was to get the parties into peace talks without preconditions. The Israelis were now in favor of talks. The Palestinians were setting preconditions. And Clinton had violated an essential rule of her job: boring is almost always better.(See pictures of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright...
...message McChrystal delivered in his Aug. 30 assessment, when he declared that "time is of the essence." He repeatedly stressed "the importance of time" and added that "the short-term fight will be decisive." McChrystal wrote that "we must act now to reverse the negative trends and demonstrate progress" and made clear that "time matters." Yet there are now hints that Obama may not make a decision on troops until late November, two months after McChrystal submitted his request. (Read "Is Escalation Obama's Only Choice in Afghanistan...
...incrementally reduced contacts with the regime and increased sanctions against it for its record of violating human rights and quashing democracy. Larry Dinger, the chargé d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Rangoon, was quoted in the state-run Myanmar Times this week saying Washington wanted to make progress on "important issues" but would maintain sanctions "until concrete progress is made." The State Department has referred to the trip as a "fact-finding mission...
...Chinese side of the equation, many economists believe, that remains unaddressed. Far from making the promised progress on needed structural reforms, China has either stood pat in the past year or has probably regressed in terms of taking steps that would reorient its economy toward consumption and away from savings and investment...
...faces the uncomfortable reality that this has also accelerated the decline of U.S. influence with the Arab states and mainstream Palestinian moderates. Having made resolving the Middle East's most intractable conflict a top foreign policy priority, the Administration now needs the symbolic resumption of talks simply to signal progress. The message from the White House to both sides over the past week has emphasized the urgency of doing that. Unfortunately, given the gulf between the demands and expectations of Israelis and Palestinians, that sense of urgency about getting back around a table may be felt more keenly in Washington...