The U.S. Middle East Challenge

Why did the Arab revolts in many Middle Eastern countries completely take the U.S. by surprise? Too often for decades Arab nations have ruled with an iron fist, abusing the rights of man for their own self serving interests. Of all the regions of the world, why is it that the Middle East ranks at the bottom of the "Freedom Index."

In 2003, President George Bush posed these questions; "Are the peoples of the Middle East somehow beyond the reach of liberty? Are millions of men, women and children condemned by history or culture to live in despotism? Are they alone, never to know freedom and never even to have a choice in the matter?

Many of these Arab leaders played a duplicitous policy as they dealt with the U.S., by advocating its either us or the Islamists. The U.S. consistently feared a repeat of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which brought the Ayatollah Khomeini to power.

The results of the past week have sent U.S. foreign policy, as it relates to the Middle East, into a tailspin. President Obama had repudiated the policy of the Bush administration by engaging with these despot leaders with an outstretched hand, only to have it bitten by many of these regimes.

The president's policy has placed the U.S. in a precarious situation, even his administration's actions were confusing in the initial days by supporting the regimes, and only now has the president begun to change his policy.

The president and his national security apparatus need a better coherent strategy as it move forward in the Middle East.

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Revolution Rocks the Middle East

This past week the attention in the U.S. has been on President Obama and his State of the Union Address. When the president addressed the nation, little was said regarding the situation in the Middle East. Currently demonstrations have taken place in Tunisia, which led to the toppling of that countries government.

Lebanon, a U.S. ally, witnessed the collapse of its government over tensions resulting from a Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which was to indict elements of Hezbollah for the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

Egypt, another U.S. ally in the region, is facing demonstrations against long time leader Hosni Murbarak, who has been the leader of that country since 1981.

This places the president in a unique situation, as he has said very little about the situation in the Middle East. Since coming into office the president has repudiated the Middle East policy of the Bush administration, especially as it relates to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Unfortunately, his own initiative to jump start the peace process has failed and only made the situation worse.

The president's naive approach to the Middle East was not grounded in reality, as he failed to understand the complex nature of the region.

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State of the Union Address is Over; Now What?

The president gave his annual State of the Union address last night to a national audience, which was followed by Republican Paul Ryan's rebuttal to the president's speech.

Currently pundits from both sides of the political spectrum are analyzing and dissecting every word and phrase like it was a professional football game. In our highly charged partisan political world we always have to assess who won and who lost. Like I wrote before, you cannot judge the address by how it was delivered, or what the response from the public will be. The end results will be in the months ahead, when those proposals by the president are put into action.

Right now both political parties are gearing up for the 2012 presidential election, and every action by Congress and the president will have that focus in mind. The American people have only one thing on their mind, and that is where are the jobs!

The economy is front and center on the public mind, not partisan warfare. If the economy improves it will help the president's chances for re-election, but if it is still mired in high unemployment, the president will have a tough time being re-elected.

All the American people want right now are jobs!

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President Addresses the Nation Tonight

Tonight President Obama addresses the nation in the annual State of the Union Address. This comes at a pivotal time for the president, and much different than last year when Democrats overwhelmingly controlled both the Congress and the Senate. Now the president is facing a Republican dominated Congress and a substantially reduced Democratic majority in the Senate.

Pundits will be debating and dissecting every word and phrase that the president utters this evening. The real question is not what the president articulates tonight, but what his actions are after the speech.

President's always give lofty grandiose speeches, but it's their actions that really matter. In the coming months we will begin to see the intent of the president's actions when he unveils his budget. The ensuing battle will begin over reducing the size of the federal budget, and the dreaded battle over raising the debt ceiling will continue to be a heated topic.

The American people will be listening to a different message, they want to know how the president will begin reducing the nation's unemployment rate and get the U.S. economy moving again.

Jobs are on the public's mind, and little else.

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The Battle Over the Federal Debt

The debate rages on how President Obama and the GOP will reduce the federal debt, and at the same time grow the stagnant U.S. economy.

This week the president will lay out his plan in Tuesday's annual State of the Union address to the nation highlighting his plan for the coming year, even as both parties plan for the presidential election next year.

Both parties will have to make major decisions in reducing defense spending and entitlement reform. Without major overhaul to both, the nation will never be able to rein in the enormous federal debt.

This is where the political warfare will begin, as both parties and the president will be looking at how this plays to voters in 2012. The stakes are high, as the nation is still reeling from the comatose U.S. economy, where unemployment has been stuck above 9% for almost two years.

The president has to lead and not keep blaming the previous administration when his own policies have failed to revive the U.S. economy. Republicans have to show that they are serious, and have a plan on how to jump start the economy without further increasing the federal debt.

The American people want jobs not partisan warfare.

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Looming Fiscal Crisis; the U.S. National Debt

Congressional conservatives demanded for a more drastic reduction in government spending then their GOP leaders have proposed. Many of these new conservatives were swept into office in Novembers mid-term election and have vowed to rein in the ballooning federal deficit.

Members of the conservative Republican study group want the party to keep its promise to reduce $100 billion dollars of non-defense spending from the budget. Spending would largely target all areas of the federal budget, exempting the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security.

The fatal flaw in this approach is that you can't reduce federal spending without tackling defense spending, which is akin to sacrilege to the Republican Party. Having spent over twenty seven years in the military, the Defense Department has spent billions on weapons systems only to see them canceled. Cost overruns are routine on weapons systems that never meet its expected costs.

This past summer the Washington Post ran a three day expose on U.S. intelligence, and since 9/11, no is really sure how much we spend, except that we spend more on intelligence than the entire world combined. Are we any safer, and how many mistakes has the intelligence community made since September 11th?

If we truly want to reduce the federal debt, entitlements and defense spending have to be included, as well as all areas of federal spending. Families have lived within their means since the recession began; now its time for government to follow suit!

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The End Result of U.S.-China Summit

Recent meetings between China and the United States are coming to an end following a state dinner President Obama afforded President Hu Jintao, usually afforded only to close allies. President Hu never forgave President Bush after denying the Chinese leader a full state dinner five years ago.

The real question, which will be known in time, is what was the real outcome of this meeting? President Hu was given the opportunity to meet a free press, which is denied to his own people, and was faced with answering questions regarding his nations dismal human rights record.

An unavoidable issue at stake for most Americans is the condition of the U.S. economy. This is the one area that Americans care most about, all other issues are secondary to the U.S. economy and jobs. China manufactures most of the products the U.S. uses on a daily basis, further reminding the public of lost jobs and the stagnate job growth.

If the president wants to be successful, and at the same time improve U.S. standing with China, he needs to jump start the comatose U.S. economy. China continues to finance the staggering U.S. debt- if left unchecked, will it hinder U.S. economic output for the Future?

The president needs to focus on the U.S. economy first and foremost.

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Obama Welcomes Chinese President

President Obama welcomed Chinese leader Hu Jintao with great affection and fanfare and reminding everyone that both nations have an enormous stake in each others success.

Today President Obama invited many corporate leaders such as the Chief Executive Officers from Microsoft Corp, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, General Electric, Boeing., Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, Lenovo Group LTD. to meet with the Chinese leader. The visit will touch on many contentious issues such as North Korea, Iran, international trade, China's currency policy, and finally human rights. The real unanswered question is what does the U.S. expect to gain from this high profile visit and lavish praise on the Chinese leader?

We have been down this road before and have gotten nothing in return. One only has to look to last year's trip to China and the president's disastrous Asian Summit in November. The president's foreign policy has always more about rhetoric than any substantial substance to his foreign policy initiatives.

Only time will tell from this U.S.-Chinese Summit.http://militarybriefingbook.com/browse.cfm?category=Asia&subcategory=China

Chinese President Hu Jintao Arrives in U.S.

Today Presidnet Hu Jintao of China will arrive in Washington to meet with President Obama and be treated to a State dinner usually set aside only for close allies.

The past year witnessed numerous clashes with the Chinese over trade, currency, North Korea and the South China Sea. President Hu is trying to damper fears of what China's intentions are as its power rises on the global scene.

President Obama will be focusing on China's human rights record, this after China refused to allow Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo who was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to attend because he is under house arrest in China.

Trade and China's currency devaluation policy will be huge part of discussions during the visit as China's currency policy makes Chinese exports cheaper but U.S. exports more expensive. Trade will be another source of contention between the two countries and it will be interesting to see how the Obama administration handles this topic.

Another issues is America's ballooning federal debt much of it financed by the Chinese, this is the one area where America needs to address if it still wants to remain the leader in global economics.

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Chinese President Visits the U.S.

This week Presidnet Hu Jintao of China will travel to Washington to meet with President Obama to discuss many high level issues with economic, defense and foreign policy sure to be high on the list.

The trip by the Chinese leader has already taken a controversial tone with the Chinese president suggesting that the global community move away from the U.S. dollar-dominated currency system a "product of the past" highlighted moves to turn the yuan into a global currency. This highlights differences by Washington which has accused China of unfairly boosting its exports by undervaluing its currency, therefore making its exports cheaper and U.S. exports more expensive.

Many of the topics to be discussed will no doubt be on trade and the volatile situation in Korea.

This coming year the president will face challenges at home and abroad as he tackles economic and foreign policy challenges. The debt should be his primary concern.

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Video of U.S. Military Helping the Afghan People

Too often you only see one side of the conflict in Afghanistan, now view for yourself a video of the U.S. military helping the Afghan people.

View this video for yourself and see how U.S. forces are helping the Afghan people.

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