What’s Next in US-Saudi Relations

On March 22, Foreign Policy at Brookings hosted the minister of foreign affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, H.E. Adel Al-Jubeir, for an Alan and Jane Batkin International Leaders Forum. In his remarks, the foreign minister provided perspectives on Saudi Arabia’s role as a regional leader for stability and reconstruction.

France: President Macron to Outline His Foreign Policy in Key Speech to Ambassadors

Complete Third Presidential Debate on Foreign Policy 2012: Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney
The third presidential debate on foreign policy between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama in the run up to the general election in November.

Sarah Palin On Foreign Policy

Bob Ainsworth criticises Barack Obama over Afghanistan
THE TELEGRAPH: Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, has blamed Barack Obama and the United States for the decline in British public support for the war in Afghanistan.

He took the unprecedented step of publicly criticising the US President and his delays in sending more troops to bolster the mission against the Taliban.

A “period of hiatus” in Washington - and a lack of clear direction - had made it harder for ministers to persuade the British public to go on backing the Afghan mission in the face of a rising death toll, he said.

Senior British Government sources have become increasingly frustrated with Mr Obama’s “dithering” on Afghanistan.

However, Mr Ainsworth is the first minister to express in public what amounts to personal criticism of the President’s leadership. >>> James Kirkup, Thomas Harding and Toby Harnden | Wednesday, November 25, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Iraq war files: British colonel's scathing attack on 'arrogant, bureaucratic' Americans >>> | Monday, November 23, 2009

DIE PRESSE: Auf Bush-Kurs: Obama lehnt Landminen-Verbot ab: US-Präsident Obama behält die Politik seines Vorgängers Bush bei: Die USA schließen sich als einziges Nato-Land nicht der Konvention zum Verbot von Landminen an. >>> Ag. | Mittwoch, 25. November 2009

Turkey's Turn From the West
WASHINGTON POST: Turkey is a special Muslim country. Of the more than 50 majority-Muslim nations, it is the only one that is a NATO ally, is in accession talks with the European Union, is a liberal democracy and has normal relations with Israel. Under its current government by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), however, Turkey is losing these special qualities. Liberal political trends are disappearing, E.U. accession talks have stalled, ties with anti-Western states such as Iran are improving and relations with Israel are deteriorating. On Thursday, for example, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan walked out of a panel at Davos, Switzerland, after chiding Israeli President Shimon Peres for "killing people." If Turkey fails in these areas or wavers in its commitment to transatlantic structures such as NATO, it cannot expect to be President Obama's favorite Muslim country.

Consider the domestic situation in Turkey and its effect on relations with the European Union. Although Turkey started accession talks, that train has come to a halt. French objections to Turkish membership slowed the process, but the impact of the AKP's slide from liberal values cannot be ignored. After six years of AKP rule, the people of Turkey are less free and less equal, as various news and other reports on media freedom and gender equality show. In April 2007, for instance, the AKP passed an Internet law that has led to a ban on YouTube, making Turkey the only European country to shut down access to the popular site. On the U.N. Development Program's gender-empowerment index, Turkey has slipped to 90th from 63rd in 2002, the year the AKP came to power, putting it behind even Saudi Arabia. It is difficult to take seriously the AKP's claim to be a liberal party when Saudi women are considered more politically, economically and socially empowered than Turkish women.

Then there is foreign policy. Take Turkey's status as a NATO ally of the United States: Ankara's rapprochement with Tehran has gone so far since 2002 that it is doubtful whether Turkey would side with the United States in dealing with the issue of a nuclear Iran. In December, Erdogan told a Washington crowd that "countries that oppose Iran's nuclear weapons should themselves not have nuclear weapons." >>> By Soner Cagaptay | Monday, February 2, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Eurozone to Speak with One Voice?
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNAIONAL: The EU's monetary affairs commissioner has called for far-reaching new powers for the European Commission. He would like Brussels to have greater control over economic policy in euro zone countries -- and even wants its members to speak with one voice on the international stage.

Opponents of the European Union claim that Brussels already has too much influence over the internal affairs of the EU's 27 member states. They are unlikely to be thrilled by the news that a leading EU official is calling for far-reaching new powers for the EU's executive branch when it comes to member states' economic affairs -- and even foreign policy.

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia (more...) wants the European Commission to have more clout in all areas of economic policy. In the future, the Commission should be able to supervise and coordinate reform efforts in the countries of the euro zone, in order to promote more competition in Europe's product and services markets, including the market for financial services. The proposals are contained in a report marking the 10-year anniversary of the euro which Almunia will present on Wednesday. EU Commissioner Wants Far-Reaching New Powers for Brussels >>> | May 5, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

*Carne Ross’ Blog on the Possible Corruption Between BAE and the Saudi Government
THE GUARDIAN: The story of possible corruption between BAE and the Saudi government, and how the British government ignored it, is shocking. But we should not regard this episode as an aberration. Instead, it should force us to question the way foreign policy is thought about and practised in government today.

For decades British policy towards Saudi Arabia has been dominated by al-Yamamah, the massive BAE deal to provide aircraft and supplies. When I worked on the Middle East at the Foreign Office in the mid-90s, it was widely assumed that, along with uninterrupted oil supplies, this was what Britain's Saudi policy was "about". Any other concern, whether of human rights or the export of radical Wahhabi Islam, was by and large secondary.

This assumption was never questioned by officials or ministers. It was just the way things were. To think otherwise, that British policy - "our" policy as we called it (though it was never democratically debated, of course) - should be about human rights or Saudi Arabia's contribution to global security, would have been dismissed as naive or fanciful. We were just being realistic. To the blog - We could pay a grave price for our addiction to arms deals: Working at the Foreign Office I saw how exports took precedence over human rights. With the Saudis, this could backfire

* Carne Ross, a former diplomat, runs Independent Diplomat, a non-profit advisory group. He is the author of Independent Diplomat: Dispatches From an Unaccountable Elite Independentdiplomat.org

Mark Alexander