Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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OSCE PA Bureau meets in Lisbon
The 2009 OSCE PA Spring Bureau Meeting took place in Lisbon on 18 and 19 April. The Speaker of the Portuguese Parliament, Jaime Gama, welcomed all participants to Lisbon and said he continues to believe that the Assembly plays a vital role within the OSCE.
The Spring Bureau Meeting, which traditionally takes place in Denmark – the host country of the Assembly’s International Secretariat – is a regular meeting of the Assembly’s elected leadership. This year it also included several Heads of Delegation, Special Representatives and heads of Ad Hoc Committees.
The main purpose of the meeting is to prepare for the Assembly’s upcoming Annual Session, which this year will take place in Vilnius from 29 June to 3 July, and to assess the important issues of concern to the Assembly.
Nicholas Burns, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs
February 21, 2007A Global Leadership Series Event with R. Nicholas Burns, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs. This event was aired on C-SPAN and can be viewed on their website. Please click here to read the transcript.
Madeleine Albright
One Hundred Days
Today is President Obama's 100th day in office. Despite the flood of commentary this anniversary invites, the number means little because the world moves according to its own dynamic, unwedded to any calendar.
We should not forget that, although every new American president inherits headaches, President Obama inherited the entire emergency room. The list of perils includes the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes; hot wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; an ongoing confrontation with al Qaeda; rising nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran; a broken Middle East Peace Process; a potential flu pandemic; the lack of effective international policies on energy and climate change; and that scourge of the 21st century -- Barbary Pirates with cell phones.
The administration is called to meet these challenges despite a depleted treasury, an over-stretched military, an impatient American public, and a deeply divided world. Objectively, the president's job is impossible and certainly, success on many fronts will not be evident in the next one hundred or even the first one thousand days of his term. The fair question is whether, under his leadership, we have begun moving in the right direction.
The answer is yes. First, the president has assembled a strong and experienced national security team. Leaders such as Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton will not shy away from hard problems nor refrain from telling the president what he needs to know. Second, Mr. Obama has hit the right notes internationally by extending an open hand to every country, while showing that he is willing to maintain tough policies where required.
Third, he has made good use of his time -- sitting down with neighbors, touching base with allies, reaching out to potential adversaries, and assigning some of our nation's best diplomats to work on the globe's most complicated challenges. Fourth, he has taken steps to restore America's reputation as a leader on the environment and international law.
Finally, he has wisely avoided the trap of offering a bumper sticker slogan to characterize his approach to the world. Mr. Obama knows that success in foreign policy is usually relative, that few victories are permanent, and that lasting gains require a long term effort. In this context, a slogan can easily become a straitjacket, while the flexibility to approach each issue on its own terms is essential. Pragmatism is both a habit of mind and a strategic necessity.
Even admirers of the president, and I am one, must admit that he has had it easy in one respect. By last January, the world was more than ready for a new face in the White House. Thus, the president was well received during his recent overseas trips both because of who he is and because of who he is not. This second advantage will not last. It is also a legitimate question whether the president is trying to do too much, but the truth is that he has had little choice. A firefighter surrounded by flames cannot ignore the heat coming from any point on the compass.
The toughest tests of this presidency, as Mr. Obama well knows, are still to come. Will our disengagement from Iraq proceed smoothly or be accompanied by fresh outbreaks of sectarian violence? Will our newly invigorated effort in Afghanistan make a decisive difference or drag on for years without a clear result? Will our struggle to engage Pakistan effectively ever bear fruit? Will our overtures to Iran strengthen or weaken our hand in dealing with that pivotal country? Will our promise to lead in curbing climate change be embraced or rebuffed by Congress? Will the first glimmers of economic recovery brighten or prove a false dawn, plunging us into a deeper and ever-broadening cycle of misery?
Likely as not, the answers to these questions will land somewhere in the middle. Many problems are not susceptible to solution, but instead must be managed to create new opportunities while limiting harm. Progress comes not dramatically, but gradually. To smooth the way, President Obama hopes to create a new role for America in a world that no longer feels comfortable following the dictates of any one or two countries. His goal is to lecture less without leading less -- to use words and to adopt a tone that will make it easier for others to join us. This makes sense, because with most countries most of the time, persuasion works better than bullying.
The first one hundred days in a presidency are roughly comparable, arithmetically, to the first one hundred yards in a mile race. If we want President Obama to succeed, as patriotic Americans must, we will look for a runner who is proceeding at a brisk but sustainable pace, with energy in reserve, and a sharp eye for what other competitors may be planning. By that measure, our president may not have won anything yet, but he is off to a reassuring start.
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Brandon Friedman: Afghanistan and Pakistan: Obama's First 100 Days No one said this would be easy, and we can take heart that this administration--as opposed to the last one--has "shown up." |
Francine Hardaway: Obama's First Hundred Days: Torture, Transparency, and Swine Flu The 'net has changed everything, from the way we are viewed both by others and by ourselves, to how we think about the Somali pirates, to how we respond to Swine flu. |
Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Eerie Similarities Between President Obama and Bush's First 100 Days Obama's first days will be compared to FDR's first 100 days. And to a lesser extent JFK's first 100 days. But the better comparison is with his predecessor George W. Bush. |
Huffington Post: Obama's First 100 Days Report Card: HuffPost Bloggers Give Their Grades Overall Arianna Huffington: Obama's First 100 Days: The Good, The Bad, and the Geithner: In his appointments at almost every agency, Obama has demonstrated a... |
Steve Rosenbaum: Obama's Next 100 Days: The Top 4 Challenges Ahead The next 100 days are likely to be the ones where Obama will have to make history -- or have events overtake him. Here's why. |
Ben Rosen: The Big Mistake of the First 100 Days How could one person in such a responsible position be so wrong? Geithner was wrong not on a few things, not on a lot of things, but on everything. |
Heather Hurlburt: 100 Days of the Obama Doctrine Obama has shown a refreshing willingness to discard foreign policy dogmas that no longer apply or have proven false. |
Lincoln Mitchell: The First 100 Days: A Whole That Is Greater Than Its Parts When Obama became president, the country was reeling economically, directionless in foreign policy, losing credibility abroad and suffering a crisis of confidence at home. He has begun to turn all of this around. |
Lionel Beehner: Need Another 100 Days To Grade Obama's Foreign Policy Obama has had a remarkably productive first 100 days on the foreign policy front. It's hard not to like what I see. But let me try. |
Mitchell Bard: Obama's First 100 Days: Restoring the Good Name of the U.S. The task awaiting Obama was massive. And yet, there is a rush to decide how he's doing after 100 days. Donnie Walsh gets two years to revive the Knicks, but the president only gets 100 days to fix the country? |
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Robert Kuttner: Obama's First 100 Days: What's a Presidency For? Obama has repeatedly declared that he would govern as a consensus builder. He wasn't lying. However, there are two ways of achieving consensus. |
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Steve Clemons: My Vote Today: Barack Obama and Joe Biden I want a fresh run at getting America back on track to restoring health and solvency to its national security and economic portfolios. To my regret, McCain and Palin are not up to these challenges. |
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Bonnie Fuller: Hate-Mongering Conservative Commentators Using Swine Flu to Promote Racism! Talk about pigs! Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and more are using the new disease to demonize innocent immigrants! |
Spencer Green: "First 100 Days" Coverage May Result in Rectal Bleeding "It's pure journalistic olestra. The consistent barrage of 'first 100 days'-related news goes through people so quickly that their heads and now their bodies are unable to properly absorb or digest it all." |
Howie Klein: A Lot Of Audacity, But Not Much Hope -- Guest Post From John Laesch John Laesch: "I feel the need to go on the record and state that Rahm Emanuel has been consistently bad for working families." |
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About Me
- Syed Mohammed YASEEN
- My dominating passion in this life is to build my career through attaining a suitable position in an esteemed organization where my professional plus creative qualifications and capabilities can be effectively applied and exist to permit my long-term contribution. My dependable communication, interpersonal and presentation skills permit me to easily grasp new concepts, ideas, methodologies and sate-of-the-art technologies.